Social Functions of Samurai Film Genre from Ideologic and Ritual-Mythologic approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of Art studies, Faculty of Research Excellence in Art, Art university of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 faculty member of MA Animation& Cinema Department Tarbiat Modares University

3 Animation & Cinema Department, Art and Architecture Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran

Abstract

The notion to categorize and identify different kinds of literature and arts has a great importance. In order to investigate the essence and functions, a set of hypotheses known as the Genre Theory has been created. This theory can be followed to Aristotle’s thesis about kinds of poetry. In the middle of the 20th century, the neo-Aristotle school was formed to confront the new critique school which believed in literature free from any restraints, any cross-references or dependence and relationships with works of literature and they gave credit to avant-garde artists who didn’t pay attention to any established rules or conventions. Conversely, Aristotelians stood against these beliefs and supported the genre theory of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s which ultimately referred back to the romantic school’s period. It was this confrontation that lead other theorists of another art disciplines to attempt to renew the use of this theoretical device in their own specific fields of study. Genre Interpretation is one of the most common and important topics in cinematic arts criticism and theory. Andre Bazin and Robert Warshow were the first ones who examined the notion of genre in cinema. But serious and systematic studies were not done until the late 1960’s. Firstly, most of works that were examined were westerns and in the other genres the primary theories were not adopted by all. But it was just a beginning. Writers like Lawrence Alloway, Jim Kitses, Edward Buscombe, and Tom Ryall are among the first generation of Cinema’s genre theory scholars. They founded a fundamental tribune for future researches. Film genre is always attributed with three dimensions of the artistic production triangle: artist - work of art - audience. Then, there is no doubt that social function – i.e. basic thematic of the article - in relation with audience aspect of the triangle is a basic part of each film genre. Generally, in film genre and specially, in Semantic-Syntactic approach of Rick Altman which is the most comprehensive theorist about film genre, social functions are investigated in two contexts: ideology and ritual-myth. The ideological part is investigated in accordance with Althusser’s view of the ideology’s notion but the ritual-myth aspects mostly have been derived from Claude Levi-Strauss’s hypothesis about myths - although this is only a catalyst for Altman’s opinions of the ritual side of film genre. The article’s case study is “Samurai Genre” or “Chambara” (its Japanese name) as a famous and genuine non-Hollywood film genre. The Chambara ideology in contrast with usual reductive thoughts is not a uniform text but through several decades in line with political, social and cultural changes has been has shown variable phases. On the other hand, the ritual-mythological context roots in the feudal warriors’ culture in the name of Samurai and generally, Japanese society codes of honor in the feudal era. In this research, the examinations of the ideological and ritual-mythological aspects of Samurai genre reveal an apparent view on interactions of the genre with society and audiences through 1900’s to mid 1970’s.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts & Music
Volume 24, Issue 4
December 2020
Pages 43-54

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