Rashomon

1. A brief outline of the plot of “Rashomon” is that a scene of a married woman and her husband’s interaction with a bandit that encounters them being shared through the perspectives of each of the litigants plus a witness. Each story told is different from another because each person that was telling it was experiencing something else. Furthermore, it would not be a shock if they also twisted the story from the truth for their own sake and benefits. For instance, the woman told her story as if she was the only victim by presenting herself as vulnerable, and describes her husband as loathing at her, so she offered for him to kill her. 

2. I think that the main symbols in this film are the dagger, the swords of the bandit and the husband, as well as the rope. The dagger represents the fierceness in every woman. Even though women are stereotyped to be dependent and submissive, when it comes to times of desperate needs, all women have the ability to come forth and protect themselves or their loved ones. In the movie specifically, the woman pulled out her dagger when the bandit brought her to show how humiliated her husband looked, which completely surprised the bandit because his impression of her was gentle and goddess-like. The swords represent that there is something worth fighting for in life, whether it was their own life, or the woman. The rope represents freedom and control. When the husband was tied up in a rope, it seemed like he lost hope at that moment because he was able to be controlled by the bandit. However, when the bandit cut off the rope, and gave the husband his sword, he immediately grabbed it and was able to fight. 

3. I think that the main philosophical ideas being raised by the film is that it is human nature to be selfish and dishonest because not only do people lie to others, but they also lie to themselves. Furthermore, if men to men relationships are not properly fostered in this world, then the world would be hell. To expand, without establishing important components such as trust and respect with each other, it is hard for people to survive in a world where it requires cooperation and teamwork to thrive and grow continuously. These themes are still relevant today because people are people, and human nature in everyone’s the same. It just depends on how much people want to express their nature to others. There are still people that are extremely selfish and dishonest in the present day, the same way it was like in the 1950s. 

4. The structure of the film is important to the telling of this story because it gave a chance for everyone involved in the situation, a chance to speak about their experience, and even an outsider’s point of view was shared. This allowed for better interpretations and imagination of the situation from hearing to all the different perspectives. 

5. I find Tajomaru’s story most trustworthy because he is the one that started the whole situation, and this has been confirmed. In fact, he admits that he will be killed anyway, so there was no point for him to lie about what he did, especially when he admits the bad things he did. Particularly, he admits that he raped the women, and kept saying he didn’t want to kill anyone because he just wanted to have her. Furthermore, the fact that he wanted to win over the woman in an honorable way made Tajomaru less of an antagonist that he was subjected to be. Instead of forcing the win, he gave the husband a fair chance to fight with him. 

6. In the final scene, the priest chooses to hand the baby over to the Woodsman, and with this gesture, Kurosawa is probably trying to say that in the end, if you choose to trust that there is still good in people, then you will continue to have faith in others and find a purpose in life. In addition, it has been pointed out that the woodman stole the woman’s dagger he found, and to the priest, it is considered a sin. However, when he saw the guy take the abandoned baby’s blankets, the woodman was the first to run out and pushed him away from the baby. He has sympathy for the baby since he is a father with six kids at home. The priest understood the motive for him stealing the dagger, so when the woodman offered to take the baby, and said “one won’t make a difference”, the priest saw him as a good person after all. 

7. I think that the film provides a better picture of the story because the character’s facial expressions, and the way they speak is all presented better through actually seeing it, and if it were through text, then I think it would be harder for me to imagine. In addition, the actions are also more easily shown across, which allows me to better keep up with what they are saying, especially when it is spoken in japanese.