Violence In The Movie Rashomon

For years girls and women all around the world have been victims of rape culture and misogynistic views. Everywhere males are told that they are not in the wrong if a girl is dressed a certain way because she is “asking for it”. This is shown through public figures, social media and is even an issue in third world countries. Our society has deemed it socially acceptable to blame women for being rape victims if they aren’t dressed according to mankind’s standards.

From the time we are born, we are immediately introduced to influences that will shape and develop our character for the rest of our lives. Our character can be affected in a positive or a negative way by various influences that we encounter on a daily basis. We need to be aware of how much we absorb and let those influences change our behavior. External influences, such as video games, movies, and television shows impact our everyday lives, even when we are not conscious of them.

Akira Kurowasa’s film, Rashomon, (released in 1951) is a remarkable detective/crime film which revolutionized the film making industry and won many prestigious awards, and was said to the best foreign film out there. The scene took place in the Ancient Japan. The story of murder talked and showed a Japanese woman who got raped, and her husband getting killed in a sword fight. The Woodcutter who was one of the protagonists claimed that he saw the testimony through his very own eyes. However, there are four distinctive points of view, each telling their own side of the murder. Unfortunately, many of the Western movie critics misunderstood the film, or just simply oversimplified its meaning. They believed the true meaning of the story was the subjectivity of the truth, which is not what the story talked about but rather it’s about the quicksand of ego. The quicksand of ego is an important term since its one of the many moral implications shown in Rashomon which ties nicely with philosophical topics as well as moral dialogue itself. Rashomon effect which is defined as Kurosawa saying the film is not about the truth, but the quicksand of ego, which Priest who was another main character refused to accept. The true and pure meaning behind the Rashomon effect is that we cannot see the truth in everything, because we as a society are questioning our true believes and goals in life. It is very difficult to find truth, especially when

In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, Golding uses the theme of violence surfacing throughout the text. One reason for this was, Golding believed that every individual has the potential for evil and that the flawed human nature is seen in ‘mankind’s essential sickness’. His belief in this arrived through his time spent in war, so his aim was to challenge Ballantyne’s novel ‘Coral Island’, and in which Golding’s book the truth would be shown about his own thoughts of the darkness of mankind. As the theme of violence is in the heart of the novel, another reason of this is due to the quick breakdown of civilisation on the island. Through the breakdown, an ideal situation of

Nonetheless, the disclosure that surrounds the rape of the woman does not break away from the customary views on violence especially towards women. In the entire movie, women are depicted and viewed as extremely traditional and passive. They are supposed to follow whatever is required from them. Gender through the movie exists in the similar way through which race exists. The society in the movie is largely patriarchy, and gender is unconsciously used for the purpose of justifying oppression and patriarchal

“I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing (91).” In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck these “bad things” happen continuously. Do each of these instants prove that Lennie is violent? In this novel, Lennie is not a violent person because he doesn’t have mental stability, he doesn’t realize his strength, and he has never shown intentional violence.

Pan’s Labyrinth is an outstanding film. It tackled a lot of aspects of things that was going on during the movie’s timeline. The violence after the five year civil war and how it affected the vast majority of children dealing with these kind of violence on their time. Guillermo del Toro have executed this film wonderfully and went to a place where no regular film would dare to go. The movie started with a scene where a girl was shown dying and this I believe created a lot of interest right off the bat as to why was this girl dying? How can the main character of this film, a young girl, die on this fantasy film? I believe these are the prime questions the viewers were probably asking and it got them engaged right away. Of course these are just

The gangster movie Scarface was released in 1983. It was directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone. Al Pacino plays the main character of Tony Montana, best known as Scarface. Scarface was one of the best gangster movies of all times, I suggest everyone watch Scarface because it is full of action, drama suspense and violence but most of all greed. In the 1983 era Scarface was a big hit, I found this move breath taking, because of how Scarface murdered anyone who stood in his way, but most of all how his reputation lead him to become the biggest drug lord in Miami, and how his power helped him control all cocaine that went threw the states.

It’s a common misconception that women, young and old, fight with words rather than with violence. Examples in the media such as the movie Mean Girls come to mind, but it’s important to keep in mind that not all women have the same life experiences and background. Most media depicting young women occur in a white-washed setting; Mean Girls is set in Evanston, Illinois, a wealthy suburb outside of Chicago. While the characters defend their reputation, gain respect, and retaliate those who did them wrong through “symbolic violence” (page 65) such as rumors and verbal backstabbing, the young women who, in theory, live right next to them in inner-city Chicago face a gendered “code of the street” (page 63) riddled with physical violence.

The term ‘rape culture’ was coined by feminists in the United States in 1970. The term itself was designed to illustrate the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault, and how the normalization of male sexual violence was acceptable. Rape culture can stem from the acceptance of rape as a daily occurrence, manifested as a male prerogative. There is a hesitation by the authorities to go against the patriarchal cultural norms, hence linking nonconsensual sex to the cultural disposition of society. The patriarchal perspective of rape culture, embedded with gender inequality and misogyny are passed through generations which ultimately leads to the extensive institutional and social acceptance of rape. Actions which advocate sexist ideals are utilized to justify and validate normative misogynistic perceptions. Rape culture sexualizes violence inflicted upon women, as it serves as a continuum of a society which views a women’s body to be sexually available by default, deriving from the overall domination and objectification of a female. The underlying cause of rape culture is localized as it based upon the social aspects of culture. For example, countries with a prolific ‘war culture’ tend to emphasize violence and masculinity, and therefore rape is viewed as a normal facet of society. I intend to parallel the element of rape culture to the enforcement of social rules and the conditioning of gender roles. I plan on analyzing the notion that within the encompassment of

Feminist scholarship has argued that rape ideology encourages and justifies sexual coercion, trivializes sexual violence and demeans and devalues women who have experienced sexual assault. The foundation of this argument is based on women's experiences in patriarchal societies. Due to the fact that

Being a woman, I can relate to this not only understanding the history of female oppression but also still witnessing sexual objectification of women in todays society. Sexual objectification of women is still embedded in our culture as media and advertising use women’s bodies in order to sell movies, music and products. Even my own experiences working at bars has shown me that some men see you as an object rather than a human being. In the Postmodernism era, the group that really furthered these ideas about female objectification and created a movement that wanted to bring to light women's oppression in art were the Guerrilla Girls. In their piece, Do women have to naked to get into the Met. Museum?, there is a nude women shown with a gorilla suit head which puts a comical spin on the topic. They stated in the piece that “Less than 3% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 83% of the nudes are females”. These two works are similar due to the fact that they enable the audience to question the roles of women in art. Both pieces of art were trying to implement social change. Magritte’s The Rape, is implanting the shock factor the viewer and it strips the woman of identity and

The future conditions of the woman’s potential marital worth were much poorer than any punishment the violator could have received. Once a woman was raped, her virginity was no longer available for her husband to have. “‘Virginity is the ornament of morals, the sanctity of the sexes, the peace of families and the source of the greatest friendships.’ Its existence was a precondition for marriage. To publicly breach it was to compromise honor, rank, even life; a ‘deflowered’ girl inevitably became a ‘lost’ girl. . . ‘The ravishing of virginity was the worst rape of all.’” (Cite Book 1) An innocent woman had now completely lost her worth to society and her own dignity due to a man’s egocentric and merciless actions.

Similarly, the character of Alex McDowell and his actions are presented with methods comparable to that of Bonnie and Clyde. Stanley Kubrick stresses the violence in A Clockwork Orange as a way to show the full extent of his harmful maniacal ways. Narration alone can only tell us so much about his personality and isn't able to comprehensively encompass the significance of the violence attributed to Alex. It isn't until we see the crimes being committed in vivid detail that we are able to recognize the true nature of Alex’s moral extent. This illustrates him as the character he is meant to be as per the novella written by Anthony Burgess. We learn through wide angle shots of the moments leading up to the raping of a helpless woman, that Alex is entirely comfortable with the sadistic action and even finds it amusing. Upward facing camera angles that specifically place his face as the focal point are used during this scene and many others like it to enunciate his sinister appearance. They are used to show that as a person, Alex enjoys these all to pernicious behaviors. The excessive realness of the scenes only supports our understanding of his lack of humanity. Alex’s aggressiveness is magnified by the way he senselessly beats the old man under the bridge and the husband of the raped woman. Incorporating an undisturbed shot of him doing so allows it make a greater impact on the audience's perception of the character. Just as in Bonnie and Clyde, violence is shown with no

Rape culture is an environment in which social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual violence against women and excusing it in the media and other popular cultures. Rape culture attempts to rationalize a continuum of sexual violence that range from sexist remarks to unwanted sexual touching, and rape itself. Rape culture has become so desensitized by society that perpetrators may not be aware of their wrongdoings and victims may not realize they are being victimized. It is a culture in which victims are suppressed when they decide to speak up about their traumatic attack, because they are seen as being dramatic or untruthful while the perpetrator's actions are left unpunished. While the majority of victims are women, rape culture is not solemnly an issue of female oppression, it is a general disconnect between human beings. It is a culture that many of us refuse to accept exist, however there are numerous examples that normalize rape and sexual assault on a daily basis. Rape culture is not a new topic. The term was first used back in the 1970’s by a group of feminist to raise the awareness of the normalization of sexual violence in society. In recent years the topic has become a popular, controversial issue and has come to permeate virtually every aspect of our lives through media, song lyrics, and everyday jargon.