Throne of BloodThrone of Blood (1957), Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth, is widely considered the greatest film adaptation of Shakespeare ever made. In a detailed account of the film, Robert N. Watson explores how Kurosawa draws key philosophical and psychological arguments from Shakespeare, translates them into striking visual metaphors, and inflects them through the history of post-World War II Japan. Watson places particular emphasis on the contexts that underlie the film's central tension between individual aspiration and the stability of broader social and ecological collectives - and therefore between free will and determinism. In his foreword to this new edition, Robert Watson considers the central characters' Washizu and his wife Asaji's blunder in viewing life as a ruthless competition in which only the most brutal can thrive in the context of an era of neoliberal economics, resurgent 'strongman' political leaders, and myopic views of the environmenal crisis, with nothing valued that cannot be monetized. |
Contents
| 2 | |
Acknowledgments | 6 |
Introduction | 7 |
A Guided Tour through the Spiders Web | 16 |
Notes | 90 |
Credits | 93 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Akira Kurosawa ambition appears army arrows Asaji become believe birds body camera characters choose claim close comes contrast corresponding cuts dark death desire director earlier echoes effect efforts eyes face fate feel figure film film’s finally follows force Forest Spirit frame guards hands head hope horse human individual insists Japan Japanese kill King Kurosawa Lady Macbeth later leading less lines live look Lord Lord’s means Mifune Miki’s minutes moment moral moving murder nature never observation offering opening path perhaps play prophecy protagonist reinforced ride Running Samurai scene screen screenplay seems sense sequence Seven Samurai Shakespeare shot signals similar similarly soldiers spear Spider’s Web Castle story struggle suggests supernatural symbol takes tells Throne of Blood traditional trees Tsuzuki turn University wall warning warrior Washizu and Miki Western wife wipe wood