Analysis Of Akira Kurosawa 's Seven Samurai And Yojieo Takita 's 2009 Film, Departures

The Disney Way of Death explains the unfortunate/sad reaction to the evident loss of a loved one (friends and family). The reactions associated were common characteristics that Americans experience when they encountered death- Invisibility, silence, dispassion, institutionalization and taboo. (Laderman, 2000)

“The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life” (Zwick). These are the words of Katsumoto, an important samurai warrior. The movie The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick is about an American War Captain named Nathan Algren who is hired to train, lead and modernize a group of Japanese soldiers to defeat a rebellion of the country's remaining Samurai in 1876. Algren is captured by the Samurai and soon becomes part of the village he is being held hostage in. There, Algren learns from the Samurai and comes to respect them. He finds that his true warrior is becoming unleashed as he trains to become a Samurai with the very people we once called his

Both the samurai/Japanese and the knights/Europeans had different beliefs for death. Before death the knights would pray to be forgiven for theirs sins since birth. They would believe if they did this that the angels would come down and bring them to heaven. While on the other hand the samurai’s would accept their death and would not believe in reincarnation nor their sins or going to heaven or hell.

Here is a Knight's death. The author for this poem is unknown. “God, I acknowledge my guilt and I beg for Thy mercy for all the sins, this way greater and lesser, which I have committed from the hour of my birth until this day when I lie here overcome by death!” I think you can tell the difference in the emotion between the Knight and Samurai.

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

The Disney way of death also introduces the audience to grief because of the death of a close relative. For example, the feelings we experience after Bambi’s mother is killed off camera are because of our own subconscious fears. This experience is

A common emotion towards death in the Buddhist culture is being scared to die. This is because Buddhists all believe in a never ending life cycle called reincarnation. This means that when somebody dies their spirit will be brought back but not in the same form as their former life. It was believed that when Genji passed away he was reincarnated as his son Kaoru who acts just like Genji did and displays the same heroism. Who or what they are in their next life all revolves around karma. If they were a bad person and they were something such as an emperor in their next life they will be reincarnated into a lower status such as being a peasant. If they were a good person, they will earn a better position in their subsequent life. No matter the status of the person in their current existence, they were all petrified of dying because even feeling simple emotions that can seem uncontrollable such as jealously or anger can be enough to be demoted in your next life. The only way to escape this reincarnation cycle was to become “enlightened”. Being enlightened is the ultimate goal when practicing Buddhism as it is the highest level that can be achieved.

Life is fragile, everything that knows life will eventually meet death; it is impossible to mention one without the other. Humans have grasped the concept of life and death more so than any other species, yet we still consider it one of the great unknowns. All man knows in regards to life, he learns from his experiences with death. Man can look to many classic and religious texts searching for the meaning of life, but the only way one can truly learn it is through experience. To many, finding happiness means first coming to terms with the finite stretch of life one has and then making the most of it. Many films try to breach the subject of the preciousness of life, but only a few seem to hit as deeply as ones told through the eyes of a

For thousands of centuries, Japanese artists had been breaking the boundaries with their relentless creations of shocking pieces that made people question if there was a life after death. The popular subject of restless spirits or dark beings drove many artists from the Heian Period to modern-day times to express their stylistic techniques and narrative stories through woodblock printing and other alternative forms of art. Unlike most Western art, Japan’s disturbing representations of decaying bodies and death did not promote unrealistic, commercial expectations of death that commonly exists in art today. While handling such abstract ideas of the afterlife alongside the uncensored authenticity of death, each piece arouses fear and empathy for

Twilight Samurai is a movie that revolves around the live of a samurai, years before the Meiji Restoration. The main issues that the movie looked at include stereotype of samurais, genders and social class differences. Unlike many typical samurai-themed movies which involve fighting, woman and pride, the director of Twilight Samurai focused on the everyday life and difficulties faced by the main protagonist, Iguchi Seibei.

In his film The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman openly addresses the human response to death. The film documents the return of Antonius Block and his squire Jons to their homeland after their ten years of fighting in the Crusades. During their return journey to Antonius Block's castle, the characters encounter death in many forms, including the devastating plague afflicting the population and (even less subtly) Death personified in his classic black garb. Each of Block's and Jons' confrontations with death provides opportunities for Bergman to display the different philosophies of death that he has intertwined with his characters. Through the manifestation of these philosophies, the audience is given a chance to

Everyman is a morality play from the 15th century with no known author, and The Seventh Seal is a 1950’s fantasy film about a knight returning from the Crusades. Although the timelines for these two pieces don’t match up, they share a lot of similarities: the most prominent of which being the personification of death into a character. Both pieces feature death as an ever-present entity and solidify the inevitability of death. However, through the characterizations of death within these two pieces, the two offer differing views on the role of religion in human mortality, and the creators offer interesting views of human relationships with death himself.

Yoshimoto embraces magic realism to highlight Japanese views on grief by interweaving “The Weaver Festival Phenomenon” and the scenic images of this event to convey the sorrowful mood (Yoshimoto 147). Yoshimoto describes the Weaver Festival Phenomenon as “the boundary between dream and waking blurred” (Yoshimoto 140). Yoshimoto utilizes imagery through the observations of her grieving characters to produce the image of confusion and hesitation exhibited by many people in a grieving state of mind globally. Yoshimoto’s depiction of grief within Japanese society highlights what Japanese society considers to be out of norm for their social harmony. However, Yoshimoto contrasts Japanese society’s belief that there cannot be any interruption, like grieving the death of a loved one, in a harmonious Japanese society with ‘The

The director choose this specific subjects to demonstrate the Japanese culture and hierarchy grading system. The Seven Samurai represents the spirit and wisdom, loyal, optimistic, martial arts. The film

  Cultures all over the world have different convictions surrounding the final, inevitable end for all humans - death. In the United States, and in most Westernized cultures we tend to view death as something that can be avoided through the use of medicine, artificial respiration machines, and the like. To us, death is not a simple passing, and usually, we do not accept it as a normal part of life. Death, to Westernized folk, is not celebrated, but is rather something to be feared, something that haunts us all in the back of our minds. However, this mentality is not held through all cultures -- in Mishima's The Sailor, a Japanese novel steeped