Yojimbo (1961)

If you think a bit about the history of the Western, the appearance of Yojimbo in 1961 really marks a watershed moment. Although there are at least some exceptions (like maybe Shane (1953)) most of the Westerns before Yojimbo are pretty straight forward tales of good and evil. Good is generally identified with white characters portraying a certain kind of masculinity. Bad is frequently identified with a racialized other; generally Mexican or Indian (though these may also appear as subservient partners or relative innocents in need of protection). Yojimbo plays with and inverts these tropes. Most of the characters of the film are evil and the nameless Samurai hero (well Kuwabatake Sanjuro, 30 year old Mulberry field) is ambiguous...more a force of nature than a person. He is unstoppable and answers to a sense of justice or injustice that is known to him alone. Does he want to help or to hurt? Is he after the money? Does he love the weak or despise them? What is his history? Where will he go next? Can he be killed at all? All of these are unknown. What is for sure is that the Western genre was never the same after he showed up. Kurosawa's character (well the whole film) was rapidly copied by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood made his name playing The Man With No Name. However, that was just the beginning. Kurosawa's character and basic plot idea (and Eastwood's portrayal of Kuwabatake Sanjuro) was copied and reworked over and over creating an ever increasing mountain of meta cometary and performance. Consider, for example, that it's easy to see Javier Bardem's portrayal of Anton Chigurth in the Coen Brothers 2007 No Country for Old Men as a sort of inverted Kuwabatake Sanjuro, or one seen from a different perspective.

Kurosawa was deeply influenced by American Westerns, so it's appropriate to talk of Yojimbo as a Western. But, of course, it is also very distinctly Japanese and needs to be read in its historical context. Yojimbo is a Jidai-geki, a historical genre film set in the Edo period (1603-1868). In fact, it's from a sub-genre called chambara. Chambara are sword-play or samurai movies. The real founding film of the genre is probably Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (which, of course, has also been repeatedly remade as a Western), but Yojimbo doesn't come far behind.

One of the most important things about doing history is that the stories we choose to tell and the ways in which we tell them reflect our current concerns and worldviews. This is true of academic attempts to understand the past and it is far more true of fictional depictions of the past. Consider an easy example: most people are probably still at least a little familiar with the TV show M*A*S*H (1972-1983), one of the highest rated TV shows of all times. M*A*S*H was set in the Korean War (1950-1953) but was really a very long commentary on the war in Vietnam. Its popularity is only understandable in the context of the very widespread American rejection of that war and in the context of America's failure in Vietnam and subsequent disillusionment with the military. So, it was set in Korea in the early 50s but really about Vietnam in the late 60s and 70s.

Yojimbo is set sometime before 1868, but gains its meaning from the ambiguities of post-war Japan and Japanese attempts to come to grips with its 20th century history. And, of course, the thing that's on everyone's mind in the era: the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here's one possible read. There is an authentically positive Japanese tradition, represented in this movie by Gonji and, to a lesser extent, the Coffin-Maker. However, this positive traditional Japan has been destroyed by corrupt individual and families (principally Ushitora and Seibe) whose use of violence makes the town uninhabitable. Many of the town's people are corrupted by the "gamblers" including the town's mayor and the children of the farmers. Others either try to stay out of the way (like Gonji) or profit from the disaster but do not become part of it (like the coffin-maker). Enter Kuwabatake Sanjuro, our atom bomb in this interpretation. He's an outsider, a stranger. Who is he? What does he want? He does ultimately save the town... but only by destroying it. And he leaves control to Gonji. But he's an old man. Can he be successful in reviving it? It's easy to see some aspects of the ending of World War II and America's actions following the war reflected in the character of Kuwabatake Sanjuro. Read this way, Yojimbo becomes a reflection on tradition, on guilt, on both the necessity of outside intervention and the problems with it, and finally, on the ambiguity of the future.

The approach of Yojimbo and other chambara films is to celebrate some aspects of traditional society. These are action films with great sequences of sword fighting and exciting dramatic effects... Think of the scene at the end of Yojimbo where the samurai confronts the Ushitora with the wind blowing and dust swirling. The main-street shootout has never been done better. But these are also films that are deeply critical of their own society. Over and over, the principal source of evil comes from inside the society. The calls are coming from inside the house! And here's another easter egg for you. This one will take a little longer but will be worth it if you have the time. Choose one of the following great chambara films and write a review of it (you can use the same form as for the other film reviews) Harakiri (1962), The Sword of Doom (1966), or Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972). You can rent each of these on Amazon for $4 or less. Upload your response to canvas practice with the file name chambara by midnight on the last day of class. and I'll add 5 points to your first exam grade. Please note that this is an easter egg for students who make the effort read carefully and on time. This only works if you don't tell your classmates about it and don't ask me about it in class (if you do I'll deny any knowledge). It won't show up officially in gradebook but the points will be added to your grade. If you want to talk to me about it, please either come by my office or send me an email.

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