Rashomon and Blowup: A Study of Truth
In a story, things are often not quite what they seem to be. Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and Michaelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up are good examples of stories that are not what they first appear to be. Through the medium of film, these stories unfold in different and exiting ways that give us interesting arguments on the nature of truth and reality.
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon tells the story of a murder. It flashes back to the event four times, each time as told by a different person. The present-time section of the plot occurs at a gate under which some characters take shelter from the rain. Three men can be found there - a woodcutter who repeatedly proclaims his misunderstanding, a priest who says that
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He forces the woodcutter's story out of him. The woodcutter's version is perhaps the most believable of all, and perhaps that's because it portrays everyone at their lowest common denominator. Yet his story could also be completely fictional, as if he had merely combined various parts from the previous tales. Perhaps by telling this lie and believing it, he is attempting to resolve his confusion over the issue.
The woodcutter's rendition begins with Tajomaru trying to persuade the woman to go away with him. She wants the men to fight for her, but the husband is disgusted with her and refuses. However, the wife quickly turns her tears into laughter and attacks the men's pride until they reluctantly begin their combat. The blundering sword fight that results contrasts sharply with the bravery and skill Tajomaru described earlier. It's interesting that the earlier fight seemed perfectly plausible within the framework of the story until the woodcutter's more realistic version makes it seem unlikely.
Rashomon plays with what we can perceive as truth. It paints a picture for us, and then tears it down when presenting another possibility which is equally likely. The film leaves us with myriad questions. What, here, is truth? Which tale, if any, is what truly happened? Do any of these stories have any truth in them? The image of the crumbling, rotted
Interestingly, visual techniques are also effective in portraying the theme of free will versus determinism to question the responder who and what controls our lives. The tripartite storytelling structure incorporating three wholly, self-contained alternate versions of events is an unconventional filming technique reinforcing the postmodernist perception of having minimal control over life. As Lola rushes past minor characters in the film, flash forwards offer alternate glimpses of the possible outcome of their future, suggesting that fee-will alone is not a sole determination of the outcome of life. In each run, Lola’s encounter with these minor characters varies, showing that even the slightest change can become a significant impact to life. An extreme close-up
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These films display ambiguous endings and leave the audience wondering as to what exactly happened, and allows them to create their own version of the ending in their own heads. This common theme displays a postmodern type of storytelling in both “The Worker Drone” and “Play”.
The common formula for these second act, rehashed tales often disappoint. The thrill is gone and producer’s resort to trickery such as, far fetched story lines and metaphors to capture our attention. They have to dig deeper into the psyche and personal lives of the leading cast, which often leaves a lackluster taste on our cinematic palates. It is very difficult to spin the same old tale time after time, this
The paradigm that director used was carefully selected. The story of the movie was told from a vision of Cardinal Altamirano, who was writing a letter to the pop for explaining what had happened. Within the story, the two main narratives were not on
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According to Arnold Isenberg (248), the most widely accepted definition of lying is: “a statement made by one who does not believe it with the intention that someone else shall be led to believe it”. It has been suggested that the lie is symbolic of Marlowe’s own journey into the heart of darkness; that he may have begun with a professed moral outlook on life, however, as a result of his experiences in the Congo and Kurtz’s influence on him, he progressively becomes more and more open to deception. On the other hand, Richard Adams (193), accuses Marlow of being untruthful throughout the story, with the lie to the bricklayer about the rivets, a prime example. In misleading Kurtz about his own supposed success in Europe, Marlow makes the excuse
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Rashomon was an amusing film about different perspectives. Each person involved in the crime had a different viewpoint on what had just happened. We were introduced to four different perspectives that all could have been true. It just so happened the last person who told his story, the woodcutter lied to the authority, but ultimately admitted what happened to the strangers at the gate. He hid the facts about what he saw to the authority because he had done something wrong as well. He stole the dagger from the scene of the crime due to its high value. The priest lost all hope in humanity when the woodcutter admitted to stealing the dagger and the stranger stole the orphan’s belongings. It was only restored when the woodcutter decided to take