The Last Samurai

1933 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Intercultural communication between cultures

The Last Samurai

Think about your friends, family, and your loved ones for a second. Think about what luxuries you have and how you have come to love them. Doesn’t it make you feel blessed and lucky to be who you are? Now imagine being thrown onto enemy territory, a lonely and dangerous place with nothing. In order to survive you must communicate with the enemy and learn to live their way—the total opposite culture you hate. In the movie, The Last Samurai, the author portrays a Civil War veteran, Captain Algren, commander and trainer of Japan’s new technology-efficient military. His task is to defeat a rebellion of the remaining Samurai in Japan. After Algren is captured, he is taken into their village as an information tool. He begins to learn their way of life and finds himself caught up in two situations. As Algren misses his old way of life, he tends to love the way of the Samurai, along with a woman. The captain has now become the enemy he initially wanted to kill. This story presents the finest meaning of finding true identity and communication, through verbal and nonverbal expression. It shows the way a person’s identity and self-concept can be influenced through culture, gender, age, and even by stereotype.

Since the world was changing drastically in the 19th century, technology was new and indeed new for warfare. Captain Algren was asked by his commander and personnel from the Japanese consulate to train the Japanese military. The new technology will destroy the Samurai and make the Samurai way obsolete. He simply agrees to do this with money as his only purpose. Initially, he has no care about the Samurai, the Japanese, or his commander’s intent. In that scene, Algren shows disrespect to his commander and Japanese consulate through his nonverbal communication. His looks, the sucking of his teeth, drinking superfluously and dry sarcasm are the body orientations that show his disinterest (226). The consulate speaks Japanese to his secretary about how rude the Americans can be, which speaks on behalf of the entire country. The stereotype they develop is based upon the first impression of Algren—they have exaggerated overgeneralizations which associate with a categorizing system; the Americans (96). A scholarly journal shows that in a test of six studies, acceptance in stereotyping was more associated with implicit and explicit stereotyping of peculiar groups (Carter 1103). Groups such as

Show More
Related

  • The Go Masters And Turtleback Tombs And Japan's Impact Of War In Modern Japan

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    Much of what is considered modern Japan has been fundamentally shaped by its involvement in various wars throughout history. In particular, the events of World War II led to radical changes in Japanese society, both politically and socially. While much focus has been placed on the broad, overarching impacts of war on Japan, it is through careful inspection of literature and art that we can understand war’s impact on the lives of everyday people. The Go Masters, the first collaborative film between China and Japan post-WWII, and “Turtleback Tombs,” a short story by Okinawan author Oshiro Tatsuhiro, both give insight to how war can fundamentally change how a place is perceived, on both an abstract and concrete level.

    Read More

  • An Indepth Look at Warfare in Medieval Japan in Joseph Conlans' State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joseph Conlans “State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan” is an depth look at Japans emerging warrior class during a time period of constant warfare in Medieval Japan. His work however doesn’t revolve around the re-fabrication and in-depth analysis of battles sieged like many contemporary examinations of wars and battles won and lost. Instead the author vies to navigate the reader on journey into the warrior class’s lives and how they evolved through a statistical analysis of records. This illustrates how warfare changed and transformed with the constant evolving of the Samurai, but it also includes how their actions affected their Political environment as well as the society in which they dwelled from the bottom up. Through his survey of records and documents, Conlan is able to give readers a compelling look into the Warrior class and at times shatters in the process many of the pre-conceived general notions that one may hold about this ancient class of professional warriors. Many of the notions & common misconceptions debunked in this scholarly piece include the idea that the Samurai was a male only fraternity, reserved for those of impeccable candor and loyalty. When truth be known, woman and young men (boys) were also trained in the art of war and thus were as likely to be found on the battle fields as men when times were tough and solider numbers were depleted. Further, another misconception (Generally thought to be caused by the popular and well known; “The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai”) of the warrior class is that all of these men were truly Samurai which translated to “one who serves” when really, loyalty for the warrior class as Conlan points out only went as far as ones right to ...

    Read More

  • The Caste System Ideology in Akira Kurosaw’s Seven Samurai

    421 Words  | 1 Pages

    Akira Kurosaw’s Seven Samurai is a film that encompasses various ideologies in order to allow the audience to understand the lives of Japanese people during the 1600’s. The film delves deep in social issues of the roles of the people within the society, the expectations as well as the obligations within the respected castes and elements within groups of ; suffering, working together, protecting family and working for the better good of the community.

    Read More

  • Kokoro and the Parallels of Historical Events

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of James Albert Michener’s Novel Tales from the South Pacific

    2509 Words  | 6 Pages

    The men stationed in the Pacific Theatre of World War II faced many challenges and hardships. The fighting that occurred with the Japanese far surpassed the level of brutality in the European theatre. Some American military units faced relentless fighting throughout the entire war, while other units waited for the entire war for orders to deploy into combat, and never actually saw any action. Only a few stories surrounding both ends of the spectrum of men in the Pacific Theatre exist, and even a fewer number do the men and women that served during that time justice. One of these authors who captured the nature of life during World War II in the Pacific Theatre, James Michener, did so in the novel Tales of the South Pacific. Michener not only offers an in-depth perspective of life during the time, but also brings up key themes of issues that existed during that period. He introduced a new outlook on the South Pacific during World War II, showing that a variety of people scattered around the Pacific joined for the common goal of a successful military operation. The primary purpose for this collection of tales from around the South Pacific focused on telling the tale of everyone who spent the war there. Michener used varying points of view within the plot line to strengthen this point. Within the main focus he brings up three themes: the first being of camaraderie and fellowship, the second the issues of power struggle, and finally racism in World War II. Michener utilizes diction to help characterize individuals to help literary convey these three themes. James Albert Michener brings up the issues of racism and power struggle in the South Pacific, while portraying the men that lived there during that period and the fellowship they s...

    Read More

  • Racial And Cultural Stereotypes In War Without Mercy By John Dower

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    In one New York Times Magazine, under the heading of “Jap Bullies”, the author analyzed childhood neglect as the reason why the “Jap” soldier is a truculent and vengeful bully. From his birth, his mother pets him inordinately until the arrival of his little sister, after which she dismisses him as her chief interest and hands him over to the indifferent care of servants. An academic paper presented to the academic audience in America by Geoffrey Gorer, an English social anthropologist, argued, “In spite of having adopted many trappings of modern society, he went on, the country still retained a worldview more consonant with an isolated and primitive tribe than with a major industrial nation.” Gorer was especially concerned with the brutal, often sadistic aggressiveness of Japanese males at war, which he linked such behavior directly to ethics peculiar to the Japanese, reflected in their

    Read More

  • Japanese Internment Case Study

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racial demeanor towards the Japanese has existed long before the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Even back in 1905 some Americans despised the idea of growing immigration from Japan. These white workers claimed that the typical Japanese man was “bumptious, disagreeable, and unreliable”, and that the country would be blessed to receive less “oriental labor” (Japanese

    Read More

  • Japanese Katana

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stories about war and implements of such can be observed throughout the course of Japanese history. This shows the prevalence of martial training and the profession of arms as a tradition that has not faded since ancient times (Friday and Humitake 13).

    Read More

  • Spirited Away

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human beings are fascinated by heroes. Joseph Campbell believes that throughout history heroes have followed a hero’s journey model or monomyth. This means that there are common patterns that can be found in many hero stories. Time after time, people have read about heroes leaving the ordinary world to complete the quest that will change mankind and better the hero. While many tasks and challenges may lie in the hero’s way they always return victorious. The Hero serves a dual purpose. Heroes are smart, brave and resilient. They show the world what is possible through hard work and perseverance. Heroes also reflect the fears and limitations that people are faced with. Heros inspires people to be the best versions of themselves. Chihiro the main character in Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spiri

    Read More

  • What's in a Name?

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first, the four main characters are all nameless but with the appellation---the father, the son, the daughter and the mother. Generally speaking, if authors want their writings to be understood easily, they always choose to set names for the characters, which also can avoid confusion. But in this novel, the author must mean to express a special meaning through the nameless main characters. On one hand, it is thought that the experiences of this nameless Japanese American family is not a single example but the epitome of what all Japanese American encountered at that time. Nearly 120,000 Japanese American were taken from their homes in the spring and early summer of 1942 and incarcerated in concentration camps by the United States government.(Roger Daniels, 3) On the other hand, what is more significant, the namelessness of the characters also indicates the loss of their identities. Because they are Japanese Ameican, they are different from the real American natives in their habits, w...

    Read More

  • The Japanese Military Force During World War II

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...the Japanese Army facilitated specific forms of gender identity, in which to be a soldier meant to be a real man. Men often think to achieve their manhood they have to go through military service in the army, especially through combat. As hard as it was to be in the army the soldiers say that it has made a man out of them, and in some cases army life was easy compared to the hardship they were going though just trying to make a living. The effects of discipline that the army puts upon the soldiers may vary depending on the class origins of the recruits; they come together towards the production of a dominant model of manhood. This also includes rape, plunder, and arson, which was to demonstrate their power or bravery. However, I argue that military versions of masculinity are deeply contradictory, in that feminization and masculinization are enacted simultaneously.

    Read More

  • Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior Essay

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone covers their unfavorable identity to submerge in the white mainstream. Asians change their native accents and learn American English pronunciations to make themselves more understandable. They have a new American name to replace their traditional name that might exhibit their ethnicity. African-Americans straighten their hair to make them professional. Arabs change their traditional clothes and wear suits in working. Yoshino admits to be intended to avoid association with the Asian-American group and act Americans. And covering has a clear purpose that is improvement and staying at the center of the western mainstream. Racial covering brings to him improvement and success instead of pessimistic thoughts about his own Asian-American identity. However, when he lives in Japan, he feels frustrated that he is unable to conform to the Japanese society because his every action reveals his western identity. Yoshino suggests that “Racial identity has a behavioral component” (300). Appearances and accents can be changed but habitual behavior and cultural mindset is implanted in individuals’ body and cannot be muted easily. For instance, Asians behave modestly and have a lower self-esteem than westerners. Indians prefer traditional cuisines than western foods. And religious beliefs and cultural heritage roots in the individuals’ mindset. Like Muchin in the example of “good

    Read More

  • Internment In Jeanne Wakatsuki's Farewell To Manzanar

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Japanese Americans underwent different experiences during the Second World War, resulting in a series of changes in the lives of families. One such experience is their relocation into camps. Wakatsuki’s farewell to Manzanar gives an account of the experiences of the Wakatsuki family before, during and after the internment of the Japanese Americans. It is a true story of how the internment affected the Wakatsuki family as narrated by Jeanne Wakatsuki. The internment of the Japanese was their relocation into camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the naval forces of Japan in 1941. The step was taken on the assumption that it aimed at improving national security. This paper looks at how internment impacted heavily on Papa’s financial status, emotional condition and authority thus revealing how internment had an overall effect on typical Japanese American families.

    Read More

  • Women In Japan Essay

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book depicts how Japanese behaved both before and after the World War II. In this book, it describes how Japanese military slaves (a.k.a. comfort women) was made, what motivated Japan to do these abuses.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Contrasting Elements in Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    In every direction the sea rages and growls, tumbling its inhabitants in an ever-lasting rumble. Glory, honor, and duty are washed upon the glimmering golden shores of the Japanese empire. The sturdy land-bearers clasp hands with those thrown into the savage arms of the ocean. This junction of disparate milieus forms the basis of an interlocking relationship that ties conflicting elements and motifs to paint a coherent, lucid final picture. In The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea, Mishima incorporates the impact of contradictory settings of land and sea, combative ideologies of the Western and Eastern hemispheres, and inherent dissimilarities amongst the characters’ lifestyles in order to reinforce the discrepancy between his ideal Japan and the country he observed.

    Read More

More about The Last Samurai

Open Document