Orientalism and 47 Ronin

1024 Words3 Pages

Film is one of many Medias to send messages to the world. Numerous examples of movies that insert messages, 47 Ronin is one of them. The movie 47 Ronin is based on true story of Ako Incident and specifically tell us that honor is everything. The image that we discuss in the presentation was taken from the movie 47 Ronin. The image is a representation of a specific Japanese culture, Seppuku. However there are differences in story of Ako incident and 47 Ronin, and these alterations applicable to the term Orientalism.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first evidence of usage the word Orientalism is in 1769 (Merriam Webster). In general Orientalism is an imitation or depiction of the eastern culture made by the western people. One simple example is Fortune cookies, it is made by the western people but it imitates the eccentricity of Asian desert.
In addition, Orientalism also explained in the book “Orientalism” written by Edward Said, a Palestinian post-colonialism scholar. In this book Edward Said explain about history and culture of Asia, Africa, and Middle East, also he explained Orientalism in this book more briefly. Said believe that orientalism has an explicit and implicit sides. Said wrote that connotatively, Orientalism is a tool for the west to get a political influences in the east which means, “It connotes the high-handed executive attitude of nineteenth-century and early- twentieth-century European colonialism.”(Said, 2). Which is the whole point of the book “Orientalism”. Moreover, Said also wrote “Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident.’ Thus a very large mass of writers, among whom are poets, n...

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...upposed to look. I assume that the Hollywood made such visual appearance to make us that Samurai have a modern and fashionable look, like Kai’s hair. It is also applicable to term orientalism since it tried to imitate the visual history of Samurai.
In conclusion, 47 Ronin is a movie that imitates the culture and history of Samurai in Japan, Therefore the movie is related to term the general term of Orientalism and the term Orientalism that Edward Said explained in his book.

Works Cited

"Orientalism." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 1979.
Mitford, Algernon Freeman. The Tales Of Japan. London: MacMillan and Co., 1871.
47 Ronin. Dir. Carl Rinsch. Perf. Keanu Reeves. 2013.
Louis, Thomas and Thomas Ito. Samurai: The Code of Warrior. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2008.

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