Film Analysis Essay on How Twilight Samurai Enhances Our Understanding of the History of the Samurai

Introduction

The twilight samurai is a film that enhances the understanding of the effects of the end of the feudal system in Japan. To be specific, the film focuses on the samurai and how their lives changed drastically as a result of the end of this system and how their skills in the war were no longer of any benefit. This essay shall focus on discussing how this film improves our understanding of the lives of the samurai during the fading times of the feudal system and how warriors now fitted into society.

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In the film, Seibei is the main character a lowly samurai who has just been reduced to a clerk of one of the wealthy landowners. This is despite his samurai skill the warriors is now irrelevant in this society because of the end of wars and the start of peace. Feudal society favored the warriors who were constantly in war and their prowess in using the sword gave the community protection at most times. Being a warrior like many other samurais, he has to contend with the annual stipend of rice that is not enough for his family. The low pay affects his family to the extent that his wife dies as a result of this poverty.

Poverty is another theme presented in the story especially for samurais who made a livelihood out of defending their communities. With the warrior now left alone with her two daughters and a sickly mother who does not even recognize him he is faced with a lot of responsibilities. The movie portrays how the samurai had to adapt to the new lifestyle of getting a salary and taking care of their families. In the case of Seibei, the death of his wife affects him as due to it he has to leave his old and even gets not the time to socialize with his friends. Due to his habits of going straight to take care of his daughters instead of drinking his name nicknamed his twilight.

Stress from his family as well as the demands from work affects the samurai who has to do the jobs to ensure that they do not suffer like his wife. Seibei faces trouble in his life as he has to go to the fields to farm so that his family can have enough and not die of hunger. In the process of trying to ensure her daughter and mother are well-taken care and do not suffer Seibei works extremely hard to the extent that he has no time to look after himself. His boss at work when he comes for an inspection realizes a foul for coming from the samurai. Despite this lack of hygiene not being tolerated ta the company, he is excused so that he can go and clean himself and be presentable at work. These lack of cleanliness is an indication of the importance of his late wife in his life who would often take care of his hygiene.

Another thing that this movie teaches us about history is how change affects the way of life in Japan. The end of feudalism was an extremely challenging time for the samurai warriors who were very much dependent on the presence of wars within the tribes in Japan. In trying to fit back into society, samurais had to adapt to new skills that would benefit them and their families. The Meiji restoration was a difficult one in history, and this can be seen in the society where the traditional Japanese cultures were negatively affected by the modernization of Japan. In the film, the warrior is seen doing very in his farm work, and one would be convinced that he is well suited for the job. In this instant, the warrior shows us how despite the end of the feudal system he embraced the change and focused on improving himself rather than drinking to relieve himself of the many troubles in his life. His hard work in the field makes him look more of a farmer than a warrior a change that teaches about how samurais fought to survive the poor life they led based on the poor earnings they got from their lords.

Historically as Japan modernized it is evident based on the warriors that live that certain skill is hard to forget. Seibei even though the feudal system was gone still trained hard to remind himself of his past. Deep inside he was still a warrior despite the fact he now had a job as a clerk. The film portrays how the samurai struggled to accept the fact that they were now commoners like other people and that they should focus on learning new skill stop help them survive in the modern world where fighting was not an important skill.

Importance of family is also another thing this film teaches us about Japanese culture. In the film, the death of the warrior's wife did not deter him from going out of his way to ensure his young girls are happy. It is evident in the film that the two girls are the only things that bring joy to the warriors. Every day he has to go to them instead of going to enjoy himself. This act by Seibei is an indication that this was not just a typical warrior but an individual who recognized that his family comes about everything else. The other fellows who went to drink could not think about their families, and this indicates that in this period in history there were individuals such as Seibel who were more concerned about their families and their wellbeing. Given that he was now left with his girls he did not abandon them just because of their gender. Historically it was common for a girl to be married off.

Twilight samurai also enhances our understanding about the importance of education especially in the Japanese culture just after the end of feudalism. In the film, Seibei is seen encouraging is girls to focus on learning instead of things such as sewing that would bring income to the family. His eldest daughter fails to understand why his father denies her an opportunity to sew and bring in more income to the family. Seibei was sure that without modern-day skill one would not be able to make a decent income. He wanted her children to gain knowledge about the world and use that knowledge to become better human beings who would easily be associated with other people.

Seibei knew the importance of education and through this acts in the move he portrays how the Japanese valued education. It also enhances our understanding of how certain things were not easy to accomplish because of lack of education. Seibei was a skilled warrior without education, but he knew that educating his girls would improve their lives within the society and further guide them accomplish other things in the society. Educating the girls was important to the Japanese, and through this movie, one can fully understand how people despite having little knowledge like Seibei valued education during this period in the history of Japan.

Twilight samurai also highlights the many societal problems that people faced in this era. Based on the film the main character 'Twilight" is facing poverty because of the poor pay he gets from his employer. Another societal problem portrayed in the film is the presence of conflicts within families. Tomoe the childhood from Seibei divorces his husband because of his habit of constantly abusing her. Through this film, we get to know that women were in this era often abused by their husbands and despite divorcing them, they could constantly come and torment them regardless of where they went.

Violence against women in traditional Japan was also evident based on how the husband of tomoe came to confront her in Seibei's house. It is at this point that we get to understand that despite him becoming a farmer and a clerk Seibei is still a warrior and can defend anyone in his house. When challenged by the husband of Tomoe he gladly accepts it. In this instant, he surprised many by defeating the skilled warrior despite being a farmer for quite some time. He also had no sword, but thus samurai skills came in handy in defeating the renowned swordsman by evading the blade many times before winning the fight. This indicates that despite the samurai in this period of history not engaging in feuds had not forgotten of their Japanese tradition taught them. Through this experience people also learned that Seibei is a great warrior who chose a different path aside from that of a killer to become a common man who earns from his sweat. Historically this portrays that the Japanese also had decent men who made decisions to do what is right despite their dark past.

Twilight samurai also teaches us about the problems that are so much entrenched in Japanese society. In the movie, Tomoe seems to be the perfect woman for Seibei, but despite choosing him as the potential husband over other wealthy guys, he rejects her. The warrior seems to be more concerned about his status within the society than marrying a woman who would help him. The woman had blended well with the daughters, and she was the most suitable person to marry, but he did not take into consideration that she would be a better addition to his family. Issues arise between the peasants and the samurais, and this can be seen when they are uncomfortable when

Despite the end of the feudal system the japes society still battled hierarchy issues. Despite the end of the feudalism and emergence of a modern way of life the samurai still had to conform to what heads of their clan ordered. The clan knew that as a samurai one cannot choose to abandon their duties and for that duty, Seibei was one of the warriors who could be asked to punish errant members of the society. The punishment was often meted in the Japanese culture to individuals who fail to perform rituals of the clan. The clan elders summoned Seibei and ordered him to use his sword against a high ranking member of the clan who refuses to perform the hari-kari for his master.

The refusal to perform hari-kari for his master in the film is a sign that traditional practices were crumbling in this period and the high ranking members of the clan had to use force. Requesting for Seibei to use his sword was also met with tough conditions if he fails to accomplish. Seibei could face banishment if he failed to perform his samurai duties. Through this scene in the movie, we get to know how the society who handled individuals who refused to conform to the traditional practices in this period.

As the film ends the two Seibei and Yogo the one he was supposed to realize that they share a lot of common views regarding the system of hierarchy, in the room where they were holed up, they learned of their negative views of the current system that was oppressive and showed no respect to warriors who placed their lives on the line before the end of the feudal period. The two interacting and realizing that they are not happy with the way the system was hell-bent against them helps get more understanding of how the samurais were unhappy during this period in history.

Twilight Samurai, however, majors more on explaining to us by bringing us a picture of how the samurais struggled with their new status in the society. One of the biggest challenges that samurai faced was the change in their status to a lower rank and the problem they faced as the struggled to secure a livelihood for their families. Differences between them and the peasants are that they worked for the wealthy lords, but the film portrays the main character as an individual who loves farming and is content with his situation of being poor. As the movie progresses, we see the individuals being a good family man but would rather protect his family than face the system that overworks him and pays him peanuts.

By being alienated by the ruling class in the society, the samurais continually caught motivated to resist the old system as they deemed that their rules could not apply if they are not recognized to be of upper class than the peasants. As the modernization began in Japan, many samurais felt that political position should not be hereditary but rather should be based on merit and opinion of the public. Twilight samurai focused more on highlighting the way samurais changed the Japanese political system through ad...