Thematic Issues Arising from Samurai Warfare - Essay Example

Film Analysis Visual arts include drawings, paintings, videos films, and crafts among others. Narrowing down to film arts which are a field of visual arts, it is a motion picture or still images shown on a screen. In watching films, themes are a major concern item as they usually depict the major idea revolving around the film. Generally, films are about some theme or topic and usually revolve around some characters and their diverse types. Some of the topics that may be highlighted from watching films are love and romance, revenge, insanity drama, man-woman relationships and so many others. Film report drafting It is therefore required after watching a film that one drafts a film report. This makes it critical to have an objective view of the film. Reflect on the themes and characters that are uniquely portrayed and try to relate them in the scenes or from how they were depicted. This is to say that you may look at the clothes worn by a character, how he/she communicates with other characters and so on. Understanding the context of the characters is usually of vital importance. One may evaluate the happenings in that time period; evaluate what the characters represent and also the symbolic scenes in that particular film. In the report, an argument is always put forward which forms a basis from which evident supporting reasons are sought. From the clearly supported argument, one can therefore relate the film with the occurrences in society for better understanding ourselves (Scott 17-27). Thematic issues arising from samurai warfare From the films on Samurai and warfare, diverse themes come into the limelight. However it is evident that the ancient use of swords in early time’s warfare was of great significance. The theme of armor and weaponry fortifications and later on the changing strategies upon the introduction of firearms is clearly depicted in Samurai. Fighters in ancient times considered the double edged swords as an important weapon in war. In reference to these wars, the samurai sword is probably the finest edged weapon ever made. How and why it achieve this distinction from its unique metallurgy to its wide use in combat where one stroke always decided the victor. There are perhaps very few movies beyond the samurai based films that clearly show the connection between the Japanese culture and their weaponry. The fact that most of them have war themes also means that the art of war or defense was a crucial aspect of the people’s culture. Unlike some of the more recent films that seek to illuminate the life and times of the early Japanese, the samurai movies come out more clearly as the creators have tried to isolate modernity from the movie set up and creation. For those, who like us, are of the later generations, we have been able to trace some of the things we learn about the Japanese culture to actual activities. A Samurai was a professional soldier who devoted hours to master skill in combat. The strategies were determined by the weapons used and the landscape on which they fought on. The commonly feasible locations were the open plains. They normally trained to ensure both mental and physical fitness. The Samurais were encouraged to develop a philosophy regarding death. They had disciplined attitude towards danger and life in general. Integrity in their behavior codes were essential which was referred to as Bushido to literary mean ‘the way of the warrior’. During wartimes, they used flags, fire and banners for the purpose of signaling danger and also as a means of identification. In the military at the time of Samurai, ideas and changes in technology led to massive revolutions in ageless tactics in war. The Samurai soldier and his efficiently mastered art of war using the sword were replaced by soldiers with guns and spears. This demanded a forced way to change their ways to enhance their military might and develop infrastructure that would otherwise support the war demands. They also developed a system which was clearly defined for the obligations of the retainers. As it would however normally occur, they experienced serious challenges including garnering support from warriors largely drawn from other houses. The Japanese on arrival of modern firearm, their subsequent development and use in war led to the discontinuation of large use of the sword. Other issues highlighted in the Samurai warfare include the various types of sword mountings. There existed certain ways in which these swords were mounted overtime. These styles had various origins which later underwent several style changes. There also lived martial art masters who taught martial arts to the willing members in the community. We can draw an example of Master Awa Kenzo who later became largely worldwide renowned. He lived at a time when the communities in Japan were passionate in practicing martial arts more solely for self cultivation. The communities also collected important objects which were at those times considered masterpieces. These included items such as suits of armor, masks, weaponry, helmet, horse which were illustrated in full color. The place of war and its subsequent demands is best illustrated in the film, Seven Samurai. The film is basically about a village under attack by marauding bandits, the bandits had attacked the village earlier and sought to repeat the attack when the crops were due. However, their plot leaked and the villagers were able to prepare for the attack. Falling short of the necessary war-fare skills they seek to recruit samurais to help safeguard the village and thus their crop. It is a grueling task trying to recruit samurais who are promised grains in return for their services. Eventually, the villagers succeed in the recruitment and the samurais also help teach war techniques to the villagers. This raises the villagers profile and many more have reasonable skills to help keep the enemy at bay. The numbers, the samurai’s techniques and Kambei’s (the samurai’s leader) expertise and strategy help keep the enemy away and translate to death for most of these attackers. Eventually, the village is successful in safeguarding their crop; however, four samurais are killed with the only survivors being Kambei and Shichiroji who had considered death in battle an honorable way to die. In their own reflections, the eventual winners are the villagers who now have the enemy completely destroyed and are once again expected to enjoy their harvests. The film samurai seven besides the theme of warfare discussed earlier also bring to the fore the aspect of unity among the early Japanese. The ability to unite and fight against the bandits was one of the critical reasons why the villagers were able to safeguard their grain. The fact that they also jointly agreed to scout for samurais who would be rewarded with grain is also demonstrative of this unity. In essence, we realize that as much as the samurai based movies help us look at the war aspect of the Japanese culture they also help in bringing to the fore other underlying themes such as unity, social class and leadership. The samurais were leaders in their own right especially at the time of battle. Conclusion From this essay we can say that various themes and issues can be passed across from the film related to the times of Samurai and that period of combat .The most conspicuous of these themes and clearly ones that tell us a lot about the Japanese culture was the supremacy of the sword, the art and place of war, the importance of the samurais and the unity of the Japanese. Other minor themes include hard work epitomized by toil in the fields. Read More