Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Blog Response #16--Seven Samurai

Please read this essay by Roger Ebert and respond to the following question...

Please discuss in three paragraphs (perhaps discussing three scenes) how the following statement is represented through the film's mise-en-scene.

"That purpose was to make a samurai movie that was anchored in ancient Japanese culture and yet argued for a flexible humanism in place of rigid traditions. One of the central truths of "Seven Samurai" is that the samurai and the villagers who hire them are of different castes and must never mix. Indeed, we learn that these villagers had earlier been hostile to samurai--and one of them, even now, hysterically fears that a samurai will make off with his daughter. Yet the bandits represent a greater threat, and so the samurai are hired, valued and resented in about equal measure."