Give a brief outline of the plot (action) of the film.
The film starts with three men taking shelter in front of a dilapidated temple, while two men keep stating “they don’t understand something”. The thing they don’t understand is how people, the woman, woman’s husband, and bandit, can recount different versions of how/why the woman was raped, and the murder of her husband, when it’s the same event that they experience. Indeed, the story told by the woodcutter was a partial story as well.
What are the main symbols in the film, and what do they represent?
The main symbol throughout the film is the valuable dagger with pearl inlay. It appeared in everyone’s confession but was held by different hands to kill different people. While it’s valuable, it was left in the forest and forgotten by everyone except the woodcutter, who keeps a secret from stealing the stagger while distinguishing himself from all three other participants.
How is the structure of the film important to the telling of this story?
The film story is told using flashbacks but none of their “confession” align with others. The order in which characters confess is important in influencing the audience’s stand. One thing that I found interesting was how the woodcutter was the first one to confess, and he was the narrator of this film. The audience, at least me, will consider his speech to be neutral and true, but it was not. It was not until the very end that the woodcutter was revealed as a liar as well, which disrupted the audience’s faith in him and the story he told about this event.
‘The Rashomon effect’, refers to the phenomenon where different individuals provide contradictory interpretations of the same event or phenomenon. The phrase has since been widely used in various fields, including psychology, sociology, journalism, and philosophy, to describe situations where subjective perceptions and biases lead to divergent accounts of the same event. This effect highlights the complex nature of truth and the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. In what ways does social media exacerbate the Rashomon effect by allowing for the rapid spread of conflicting narratives and perspectives on current events? Give examples.
To me, the most common way “the Rashomon effect” takes place is when individuals hide adverse details that seem to harm them. To cover the missing part, individuals might start to lie, and to cover a lie you will need more lies. Placing that into social media content, the fast spread of information through the web can easily cause information to be left out intentionally or unintentionally. It does not matter if that action was done purposely or not, it might start with missing small details that are not essential but unfortunately, it’s going to be turned into the wrong