Bizarre beauty

Gus 2021-12-24 08:01:19

Zato City is a folk hero in Japanese historical legends, and there are endless artistic works created based on this image. In 1962, Japanese director Kenji Misumi used Katsu Shintaro as the protagonist to shoot "Zatoichi Monogatari", and it was not available for release. In this series, a total of 26 films were shot in more than ten years, creating a miracle of samurai entertainment. Kitano Takeshi’s work is based on the essays of Japanese writer Sawahiro Hiroshi, and its expression style is quite different from the previous series of Zatoichi films.

This film is soaked in the style of Kitano Takeshi, which challenges traditional Japanese costume films. Construction and deconstruction coexist in the whole film, symbol resolution and discourse interpretation coexist, femininity and violence coexist, and expressionism and realism are merged in the midst of contradictions. The ordinary highlights the greatness, the truth sees the absurdity, and multiplies the discourse. The bizarre and sublime beauty after the subversion of power.

Lonely beauty


Zatoichi is a Blind Man, "Man" means born yet lingering lonely fate in the deep, plus a blind word, that would make people lonely in the deep dark Too cold. At the beginning of the film, Zato City sits alone by the dirt road in the mountains, with a face of silence and helplessness, so that the culprit mistakenly believes that he is just a blind man with nothing, so he instructs the child to steal his root. Beautiful walking stick. But this cane is not another cane, it is an extremely sharp samurai sword. Without the sword, the lonely warrior has no soul, and the powerful eruption in his lonely anger makes the unconquerable bandits fled. Loneliness is a major motif of life. People are destined to face loneliness when they are born. It can even be said that happiness is short-lived, while loneliness is eternal. Loneliness can not only induce depression, but also generate power. The loneliness of Zatou City belongs to the latter type. It is generated from the deep part of the soul, that is, the overall release of the soul over a long period of time. It is a cyclical process that can produce cathartic pleasure. . Zuotou City understands the truth well, and when he draws his sword to help each other, he swishes away the hatred and hatred heartily.

Another magic medicine to relieve loneliness is to find something to rely on. Regrettably, the film does not involve love, and the emotional state of Zatoichi's heart cannot be verified. The two people he relied on were from the bottom of society, one was a farmer woman who sold vegetables for a living, and the other was a gambler Xinji. Although the self-respecting noble Zatoichi is unwilling to be with these two people, the psychological balance brought about by the process of making friends makes Zatoichi like a child. He helped Fuzi pick up the heavy vegetable basket, laughed honestly as he walked, massaged her at Fuzi's house, and helped her chop wood. At this time, he has thrown the killing to the sky, enjoying the fun of escaping from loneliness. The appearance of Xinji brought another kind of spiritual experience that he rarely experienced, namely friendship between the same sex. Zatoichi cherishes this irreversible acquaintance very much. He helps Xinji win money at the casino, and he is willing to listen to Xinji at the casino, even when he finds a geisha, which he is not interested in. After getting acquainted with Yezi's sister and brother, Zatoichi has a sense of responsibility spontaneously. Zatou City is a prodigal son. He lacks the psychological awareness of the family, but he has an instinctive father complex to protect the younger generation. He had long known that Yezi was a man by his unpredictable and sensitive sense of smell, but he did not say it too early, deliberately dispelling this secret deep in his heart, until Yezi’s sister drew the sword, he too He didn't turn this kind of love into resentment instantly, but cleverly guided him to tell the truth in order to help the two of them. In the end, Zatou City killed the enemies of Yezi's sister and brother without leaving them, thus completing his extraordinary emotional journey. The cut he gave to the boss is not only a curtain call, but also a sign of another surge of loneliness.

There are two symbolic symbols in the film, one is the scarecrow that appears repeatedly several times, and the other is the stick that will never leave the hand of Zatoshi. The two symbols are full of incredible loneliness, and each symbol hides a wealth of explanatory words. The scarecrow and the walking stick may be regarded as functional symbols in this film, "As long as there is society, any utility can be transformed into the practical symbol. The utility of the raincoat is to prevent rain, but this utility is inseparable from a certain weather symbol." ① In the same way, the symbolism of the scarecrow and the cane cannot be separated from the existence of the connected object, because once it is separated from the connected object, it is in an isolated position. The scarecrow stood lonely in the field, seemingly useless, and was later used by a few urchins to play, and then abandoned after the tasteless play. The walking stick in Zato City is a pun. It has the dual functions of a walking stick and a sword, but it is only used by one person in Zato City. The image of loneliness lies in exclusiveness.

One of the aesthetic methods is the sublimation of the mind after the soul is quiet. What you can experience from each lonely body is a kind of holy and pure beauty like independent cold autumn and cold river fishing.

US desire


the film fully demonstrates the individual pursuit of endless desire of warriors pursuit of dignity and the pursuit of money gang, wild child siblings to pursue repayment of life, the day holding a madman running guns may also have a subconscious self Pursue.

Japanese Bushido advocates the satisfaction of desire, which refers to the completeness of a whole set of moral systems. "Bushido literally means the way that a samurai must abide by in his profession and daily life." ②This moral system includes: righteousness-being moral, fulfilling obligations, resisting despicableness and cunning far away; courage-possessing Courage, the courage to assume responsibility, indomitable, perseverance and perseverance; courtesy-tolerant, compassionate, pay attention to etiquette and etiquette; benevolence-to be generous, loving, sympathetic to the weak; sincerity-honest and trustworthy, abide by promise. In the film, we can see the infinite desire and desire satisfaction of the samurai for the Bushido spirit from Zatoichi and the service source.

At the same time, the samurai's desire for reputation and loyalty often leads to tragic consequences. Underneath the cold and melancholic appearance of the service source is the anxiety and anxiety in the heart. He was hired by the silver and Tibetan forces, in appearance to make money to treat his wife, but in fact, to realize his desire to show his superb swordsmanship. Under the domination of this wretched desire, taking the infinite loyalty to the master as an opportunity, Hattori was able to kill and comfort his vanity. Japanese samurai swordsmanship emphasizes killing with one blow, and the unspoken rule behind swordsmanship is to kill everybody without leaving a living, so Hattori appears indifferent to helpless plea for survival. Later, in a painful meditation one day, he remembered that he had been defeated under the wooden cane of Yoshiro samurai Yamaji Isaburo. This was a shame for a senior samurai who is now a swordsman. In order to regain his reputation, he found Ronin and killed him in front of his wife who was seriously ill, and Yixue humiliated him. But the reality was unexpected. The Ronin in front of him was no longer the vigorous and arrogant attitude of the past, but became a seriously ill waste. At this time, the only thing Hattori could do was to sever the stick full of humiliating history.

When losing face, there is also Zatoichi who can't deny himself. In a gambling, he exposed the casino's deceptive tricks. After being scolded by the "damn blind man", he accumulates resentment and drew his sword to kill. First, he cut off the curse's arm, and then removed all the money in the casino. The candle went out, killing countless people in the dark, and there was a great potential to eradicate the casino. Zatoichi knows that he is furious, and being called blind is the second place. The main reason is that his samurai identity is not recognized. This lack of recognition is difficult for him to accept. For the sake of reputation and dignity, he cannot sit back and die.

Swords and swords are the souls of warriors, and to a certain extent, they have the power of oracle and the symbol of totem. They are incomparable sacred manifestations in the eyes of warriors. No wonder Zatoichi is always vigilant in order to protect the sword. No wonder the stupid robbers are thinking about how to dedicate a good sword to Lord Sakai. No wonder the gang members have no resistance in front of the sharp sword and are willing to bow their heads. .

Another reason for this desire is that in politics, morality is used to replace the law and the rule of morality is used instead of the rule of law. As long as it is moral and righteous, it is not necessary to stick to the legal principles. Yezi brothers and sisters were the fuse for the killing in Zatou City, because revenge for their father was the golden rule that ruled the hearts of the people in that era, and this way of revenge was not horizontal, but arranged vertically, always chasing to the culprit, killing The endless power of this also comes from this. The deeper reason for the pursuit of desire is the unique psychological characteristics of the Japanese nation. The Japanese asceticism prevailed in the samurai era, and at the same time, the Japanese had a strong curiosity-driven peeping psychology, and thus formed a peculiar Japanese peeping culture. As a result, the Japanese have a strong duality. They are "accustomed to obeying the will of the group and obliterating independent individuality" ③, and their prying mind makes them good at breaking various norms, and their desires are endless.

The contradiction between norms and destruction brings about conflicting beauty. Although it does not conform to instrumental rationality, it conforms to the rationality of survival. Under the control of desire, Hattori and his wife died almost at the same time, and they died so beautifully without pain. In the end, Zatoichi did not deprive the boss of his desire to survive, but turned him into a blind man for a lifetime, making this desire even more tragic. From the perspective of Zatou City, the blind man can feel the world more truly, at least in his life, the desire in the dark is more exciting.

The beauty of deconstruction


Kitano Takeshi is a master of deconstruction, and it seems that when the various themes come into his hands, he immediately has the weird taste of ghost horses and spirits. In the past, the Zatoichi series of films appeared in the form of dramas, and the themes of anti-violence, peace and courage were also quite orthodox. The filming of the new Zatoshi movie according to the old routine is definitely not what Kitano did. With a revolutionary attitude that would rather be a jade but not be complete, he subverted the right to speak in the language of classic films, and brought a cleverly deconstructed Zato market to life. Show up. Takeshi Kitano has a profound mutated Zatoichi complex. He has a deconstructive shaping of Zatoichi in "Sex Rhapsody". An amateur actor turns Zatoichi into a funny troublemaker. The element of nonsensical humor.

Deconstructionism is a betrayal of logocentrism. It eliminates the dual structure opposition and makes the ultimate meaning of the text nowhere to be found. The deconstruction of "Zato City" lies in its partial or complete rejection of the character's personality in the audience's stereotypes, which brings about an aesthetic experience formed by the reaction of defamiliarization. In the film, the blonde hair of Zato City is the most obtrusive and nondescript, but this styling design complements the character's personality. It is reasonable that the unruly and unruly Zato City has a distinctive hair color.

Many of the funny scenes in the film may seem trivial at first, but there is a deep irony behind them. At the beginning of the film, the robbery samurai mistakenly wounded his accomplices next to him when he drew his sword. In addition to the scenes of taunting the samurai in the later section, there is a deeper reflection on the traditional Bushido spirit by Kitano Takeshi, that is, the samurai class of that era. Hegemony and the irrationality of the samurai system. In the film, there is a scene of Yezi and Xinji taking a bath. Xinyoshi asks Yezi: "Does makeup make people more beautiful?" Yezi replied, "Not necessarily, you have to look at your face." At the back of the film, Xinyoshi confronts Yezi. Said: "You can be a man again." Yezi replied: "I am so good now." Xinji could only be helpless. There is a concept of "third sex" in Japanese culture. The tradition of playing the opposite sex in drama has a long history. Sexual confusion has become an acceptable fact, and the pursuit of men with girlish looks is still prevailing today. This episode has Kitano Takeshi's retrospective criticism of this cultural phenomenon.

Kitano has always advocated the aesthetics of violence. What is different from the past is that the violence of "Zatoshi" further exaggerates the beauty of harmony with nature. In the film, there is a scene of a battle between Zatou City and the gang in the rain. The battle is over, and the rain and blood dissolve and dye the valley. Coupled with the extremely solemn music, the beauty of sadness is invisible. To create the super-powerful beauty under super-violence, Kitano took a step further in his interpretation of the aesthetics of violence.

The soundtrack of the film also shows the beauty of deconstruction. Composer Keiichi Suzuki combines jazz, Latin music, Japanese folk music and other musical elements into one. The overall style is both melodious and elegant, but also exquisite and pleasant. Although modern music has a strong smell, it is just right to merge with the film style. . The shot of Yeko practicing dance with the accompaniment of shamisen is very strange, and electronic music is suddenly mixed in the second half. Under the violent collision and fierce collision of tradition and modernity, it has more shocking and touching power. The film also combines farming, building, and other labor scenes with the soundtrack several times, and the monotonous labor also has an aesthetic effect. Of course, the most commendable thing is the super deconstructed tap dance at the end of the film. The original kimono, clogs and percussion are so dignified and gorgeous, cheerful and joyful, passionate and fascinating.

When the music stopped abruptly, Zato City tripped over a stone and said mischievously, "Even if my eyes are wide open, I can't see anything." The film ends with a funny situation full of philosophical implications, and a feast of deconstruction has also ended successfully.










Notes:


① [French] Roland Barthes: "Principles of Semiotics", page 32, Sanlian Bookstore, June 1999 edition;


② [Japanese] Nitoto Inazo: "Bushido", page 14, commercial seal


Shuguan , February 1993 edition; ③Wu Jiping compiled: "The Mysterious Japanese Cultural Psychology", p. 96, Chongqing Publishing House, August 1992 edition.

View more about The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi reviews

Extended Reading
  • Clemens 2022-04-22 07:01:38

    Kitano Takeshi's Bushido spirit, this old man is doing everything he can to make this movie. It's always very beautiful, and it also shows some good-looking dances. Suddenly, I am very interested in the kind of dance that Japanese geisha dances. It really sets off the feminine side of women very well. But I don't quite understand what the Broadway-looking tap dance at the end of the film means. . Maybe Takeshi Kitano wanted to show his childlike innocence after so much bloodshed

  • Joannie 2022-04-24 07:01:15

    The Zatoichi series has not been collected yet... Kitano Takeshi is too domineering

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi quotes

  • Zatôichi: Even with my eyes wide open I can't see a thing.

  • Shinkichi: Massuer, did you see that?

    Zatôichi: I don't see much