"The Last Samurai"

Analytical Essay # 64776

Film > Analysis, Criticism, Etc.
History > Asian

"The Last Samurai"

An analysis of Tom Cruise's movie "The Last Samurai."

1,000 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2005 Philippines

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the movie "The Last Samurai" with an emphasis on embellishing historical facts for pure entertainments reasons. It looks at how, even though the film was a blockbuster success, the screenplay fails in terms of the factual portrayal of a part of Japan's history by romanticizing the Samurai myth.

Outline
The Real Samurai vs The Movie Samurai
The White Samurai
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The character of Captain Algren was pro-Samurai, not necessarily as a supporter of their ideology but a follower of their values of discipline and loyalty. Algren's pro-Samurai inclination was obviously meant to show how, in the face of the modern Japanese man being coaxed by Americans, there was still some good left in the "white" man. Algren's character was simply too good to be true. He was a "victim" of the Civil war that saw him traumatized by the inhumane actions which he was forced to do against Native American Indians since he was a member of a cavalry tasked to exterminate the breed. Then, without explaining further that Algren and the American contact of the Japanese were civil war buddies, Japanese officials are forced to take a drunken excuse for a former soldier as a trainer of an army planned to quell the Samurai rebellion."