Rashomon Essay

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Recommended: Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon

Art is not art without meaning; this rule applies to all forms of art, including film. Rashomon, the Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1950, has a meaning that fits in with most other art of the time. The purpose is one which falls into a broader movement of art: modernism. Modernist literature makes use of unorthodox plot points and grim themes to create a distinct class of art unlike all preceding works. Rashomon’s unconventional structure and style and outlook on the world and humanity corresponds with the elements that made up the modernist movement.
Rashomon is not a story which progresses. In reality, it is the same story, repeated four times over, each varying in interpretation, but each recounting the same event. It lacks any real resolution, even within the four individual stories, or even any rising action, as one would typically find in a narrative. The four stories also are told as streams of consciousness and the point of view of the story …show more content…

One of the leading influencers of the modernist movement, Friedrich Nietzsche once proclaimed “God is dead.” This is the message many modernists took as inspiration for their work, including Kurosawa. Rashomon begins and ends with characters despising humanity. The opening scene of the beat up gate of Rashomon under a torrent of rain introduces three characters looking solemnly off camera shaking their heads in disbelief. Their state never

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