Using "Last Samurai" in class

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I'd been looking for some good visual depictions of samurai, bushido, etc. to add to my unit on Japan. After our last Saturday class and the peripheral discussion of the movie "Last
Samurai", I thought about using it or parts of it in class. Unfortunately, my original look at the movie via Amazon shows it has an "R" rating. Not the thing for 7th grade, but the review indicated there was a second DVD with special features. So I picked up a copy. Thankfully, I rented it rather than buying it. Maybe it's because I don't like Tom Cruise, but I thought the depictions of Japan (including the temple) were better done than the story line. I liked the costuming and they did a nice job with most of the sets, but I didn't see much I could use. The "History vs. Hollywood" segment on the second DVD was worse than useless, it spent more time on the movie than samurai.

Bottom line - I didn't really find anything useful in it.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed listening toProf. Notehelfer talk about how some of this movie was ludicrous and how disingenuous the producers of the film were in their dealings with him. I think my main problem with the film is the romanticization of the samurai and bushido. I don't find it much different from the romanticization of the old south like in gone with the Wind and southern hospitality. Both of these societies were built upon what amounts to slave labor costumed as some kind of morality. bushido to me is just a euphemism for a form of slavery. if i sound biased, i am. my family were farmers in Japan and some of the last samurai and the way people talk about samurai as so honorable makes me want to puke. i can't look at that kind of stuff in a decontextulized way. bushido and zen does not develop in a vacuum but on the back of those kept poor and under the thumb of daimyo and samurai. there were one million executions perfomed by the tokugawa shogunate over the approx. 250 years of their rule and that's the order Cruise is trying to preserve. "Oh, Rhett! Whatever will we do!"

dan

[Anonymous]

Dan, I couldn't agree more. My interest in the Samurai is that they are something the kids are somewhat familiar with and as the 7th grade curriculum is of medieval societies, it is a big part of the society. However, I have always tried to explain the other part of Bushido. It, like the European Code of Chivalry, is the glossy view of the society. There is an underside to both. I like to compare both later in the semester. Both codes gave "respect" but only to those of their class - the "common" person didn't receive the same treatment. While I have them study and create their own coat of arms, etc. I make sure they understand the totality of these societies. My quest is for visual information on the samurai to compare with the material I have on the European knights. "Last Samurai" was a great disappointment. I would prefer using "Shogun" as it was a far more balanced production, showing the brutality and the pagentry of the samurai. Unfortunatley, I don't have 10-12 hrs of class time to show it or even that much prep time to edit the mini-series.

[Anonymous]

I have thought about using the movie in my classroom but not showing it as a movie as such. I'll have to watch it again (it's been a while) but I do remember thinking I could show the kids how people dressed and lived etc. via small excerpts from the film. Also helps to get around the R rating by not showing any violence or sex. I agree the storyline is not the best and I also agree about the romanced view of the Samurai (like the knights in Europe) but for my students (ELL) it is important for them to get some visuals about the time period and it certainly helps to keep them interested. I not sure what else I would show.

Happy New Year
Karen

On a personal note: Dan, I have your jacket. I'll bring it on the 10th!

[Anonymous]

Karen! thanks for picking my jacket up. My mind must have been on everything I learned in class that day and not on my personal belongings. Thanks a million. That's my favorite jacket!

If you're only interested in showing dress and social possibilities of the time, why not try a Japanese film showing samurai and early Japan. Kagemusha is an interesting film with actual historical characters like Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga yelling a hilarious "Amen" to his Jesuit priest as he rides off to maim and destroy. It's color, too.

thanks for taking care of my jacket, dan

[Anonymous]

another heads up though not timely.

there's a documentary on KLCS tonight at 9:00 pm (1/4/06) on Japan called Japanland: Suburban samurai. can't tell exactly what it's about from the description but it's concerns the Tokaido road. maybe it will be useful in class if it's about the development of cities along the road or alternate attendance. dan[Edit by="dnakashima on Jan 4, 3:29:09 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Hey Dan,
Did you get to see the documentary? I got your message too late. Sounds interesting and if its worth it I'll try and find out when it is on again.

Is the movie you recommended one that I could pick up at the local video store?

Karen

[Anonymous]

I missed the video Dan mentioned too, but it sounds like one I "previewed" via LA City and County Library web sites. I believe it's on modern Japan. I also found one in my files, called "Samurai Japan". It was a copy and I don't remember who produced it but it was someone like History Channel or Discovery. I started to watch it and stopped after about 15 minutes. After about 3-5 minutes of period art depicting Samurai, it panned to a bookshelf filled office with a Professor from somewhere, who proceeded to pontificate for the next 10 minutes. What he had to say was interesting to me, but would have my BB and FBB kids climbing the venetian blinds.

I'm still looking.

[Anonymous]

EUREKA! Finally found a video worth using. No "talking heads", historically accurate and very visual. A TLC production from the "Ancient Tribes" series, vol. 15, "The Samurai". I posted more details on the Asia in my Classroom forum.

[Anonymous]

What grade level are you using the video for? sounds interesting.
dsenteno

[Anonymous]

I caught half of it after the Rose Bowl and it was on cultural aspects of Japan that have lasted from the old Tokaido days and prior till now. There was a section on Sumo, the horseback style of archery, and something else (??) that didn't make it to the storage section of my brain. The parts I do remember were interesting and appropriate for middle school. If I see it on again, I'll post.

Globe Trekker on PBS tonight (10 pm) is called "Ultimate China."

dan

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dan. I'll also keep an eye out to see if it is on again. Thanks for the heads up about Globe Trekker tonight. See you all tomorrow,

Karen

[Anonymous]

There is always a debate about the showing of videos in class, use a talking head documentary or an often inaccurate theatrical film. I usually choose the latter. It affords me the chance to narrate pointing out innaccracies and explain how it really was where they have at least a visual to grab ahold of. It also is a good tool forgetting into source doccuments, and discusssing their bias and inaccuracies as well.

Video is just a way of getting the kids to focus in a way text book, worksheets and lectures cannot.

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