The Good, the Bad and the Adaptation: A Comparative Analysis of Spaghetti Western and Samurai Genres
May 6, 2023
In feudal Japan, a lone samurai prepares to fight his enemies. In a dusty American frontier town, a cowboy braces for a shootout. Both will win handily. By comparing the Spaghetti Western genre in Italy and the Samurai genre Japan, I will demonstrate how the adaptations of the Western film genre in the 1960s contradict the traditional model of media flow. In this paper, I will be doing a close analysis of two films, Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961) and Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), in order to demonstrate the influence of Western film on Eastern film and vice versa. I will then use Thussu’s theory of global media contraflow to demonstrate how the evolution of the genre exhibits the flow of media from East to West. Finally, I will analyze the impact of the Spaghetti Western and Samurai film on contemporary cinema.
Genre describes a type of content which shares certain specific narrative and stylistic elements. In film, genre is a construct created by both the industry and audience. This construct creates certain expectations held by the audience about the film they are going to watch. A film that strongly fits into established genre conventions is known as a “genre picture.” While some dismiss the genre picture as unoriginal and formulaic, directors can remain true to the spirit of the genre, while innovating on the genre by playing with the audience’s expectations.
One classic example of a genre and genre innovation is the Western. The original Westerns took place in the American Southwest following the American Civil War. These films told the stories of outlaws, cowboys, settlers, and Native Americans. The rugged, sweeping landscapes of the lawless frontier provided the perfect backdrop for these action-packed tales. Common scenes included gun-fights, horseback riding and saloon stand-offs. Perhaps most importantly, the Western deals with themes of justice and morality in a land that is portrayed as lacking civilization. While figures of authority can often be unreliable, such as the crooked sheriff or corrupt lawman, it is often up to the protagonist to create their own justice. In classic Westerns, this protagonist is almost always a cowboy who embodies the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance. It is ultimately he who will triumph over the outlaw and bring freedom to the West. These themes of justice, freedom, and individualism found global appeal. In fact, though originating in the United States, during the 1960s, adaptations of the Western picture found success in two film markets: Italy and Japan.
Once Upon a Time in the East: The Cowboy Travels to Italy and Japan
Following the Second World War, Italy and Japan were both left impoverished by their defeat. Yet, they both experienced a sort of cinematic renaissance. By the 1960s, both countries were considered some of the finest cinema industries in the world, with top films reaching international acclaim.
The renowned Italian directors who emerged during the 1950s rejected the stilted, more stylized style of filmmaking favored under Mussolini, as well as many classical Hollywood conventions and studio production techniques. Instead, these directors turned towards stories of ordinary people, often shot on location, in a movement known as Neorealism. Many acclaimed directors came out of the Italian Neorealist movement such as Rossellini, De Sica and Fellini. By the time that the American Marshall Plan had somewhat revitalized the Italian economy, Italian cinema had already made its name for itself worldwide. This new influx of American money and influence manifested itself in film as well. Despite their abandonment of classical Hollywood film conventions, Italian directors did not necessarily reject American stories and genres. While the Western genre had become tired and overdone in the States, Italian directors, namely Sergio Leone, adopted it and injected the genre with new life. The early Italian Westerns combined the sensibilities of Neorealism with the codes and conventions of the American Western to create something new. In an interview, Francesco Zippel, director of Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America (2022), notes, “... Leone’s Italian Westerns made Americans see their own country –and their own film history– in a different way.” Furthermore, while these films still took place in the geographic American West, certain Italian values and themes found their way into these works. This included the value of family, a distrust of those in power (given the recentness of Mussolini), and use of catholic symbols and imagery. In fact, the Italian Western became so popular and ubiquitous that this sub-genre came to jokingly be called “Spaghetti Westerns.” At the same time that the Spaghetti Western developed in Italy, Japanese directors were adapting the Western genre in interesting ways themselves.
Following defeat in World War II, Japan was occupied by the United States. Any films produced went through a strict process of screening and censorship. After occupation ended in 1952, Japan entered a period known as its “Golden Age of Cinema.” Akira Kurosawa, acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, was at the forefront of this prosperous era in film. After his film Rashomon (1950) won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Kurosawa began to gain recognition outside of Japan, including among Western audiences. Kurosawa and other Japanese directors like Mizoguchi, came to prominence along with an international group of young auteurs. Ultimately, Kurosawa came to be known for his popularizing of the Samurai Film genre. Like the Western, the Samurai film, or Chambara, is a period drama that takes place at a time of political turmoil, albeit in Japan's past. Instead of a cowboy, these movies have ronin, or masterless samurai who wanders the countryside of feudal Japan. Lacking feudal lords to dictate their actions, these ronin, like the cowboy, are left to create their own ideal of justice according to their sense of honor and morality. Like Leone in Italy, Kurosawa’s films adapted the themes of the Western in innovative ways.
While American studios dominated the domestic and global cinema scene in the early 1940s, a 1948 antitrust lawsuit had dissolved the studio system. According to the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, by the 1960s, it was foreign markets which accounted for half of the Hollywood cinema revenues. While Hollywood was undergoing a financial crisis, and was unsuccessful in its production of new Westerns, other countries’ cinemas filled this void. The Japanese and Italian adaptations of the Western genre came at a time when both national cinemas were gaining international recognition. Essentially, these Italian and Japanese genre innovations came from both a place of fascination with and an animosity towards the United States and Hollywood.
Bringing a Gun to a Knifefight: A Close Analysis
I will now be analyzing two films which epitomize the new Western and demonstrate this fascinating dichotomy. I will first be looking at Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961), and then Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964).
Set in Edo period Japan, Kurosawa’s Yojimbo tells the story of a wandering ronin who comes across a town being held up by two rival gangs. The ronin, masterfully played by Toshiro Mifune, is crafty and ruthless. The film combines elements of comedy and horror to create a whole new type of Western. Throughout the film, the samurai demonstrates his cunning by playing the two gangs against one another. After being captured by the mob boss, Ushitora, who has him imprisoned and tortured, the nameless samurai makes his escape. After convalescing in a nearby temple, the samurai once again returns to the town.
In the end, the samurai faces off against seemingly impossible odds, armed only with his sword. In one shot, Mifune stands small in the center of the screen, framed on both sides by packs of Ushitora’s men. The abandoned town street stretches between them, as gusts of wind blow through the buildings. Reverse shot back to the lone samurai, his arms still hidden within his kimono, as if he was unconcerned about the imminent fight. Suddenly, we cut back to the group of opponents, with the leader revealing he has a gun hidden in his kimono. The addition of a pistol demonstrates how the era of the Samurai is waning, and a new era is beginning, perhaps one shaped by western industrialist forces. However, Mifune springs into action, throwing a knife at his opponent. It is still our sword-wielding anti-hero who easily triumphs over this extrinsic gunslinger.
Yojimbo situates conventions of the Western genre, such as the wandering protagonist or the lawless countryside, within a distinctly Japanese context. The lack of name for Mifune’s Ronin gives the film the quality of a Japanese folktale. To further this, by the end of the movie, Mifune’s character has achieved the status of myth. While the film ends in the classic duel scene, Kurosawa frees the Western from the easy clichés of good and evil.
This addition of nuance to the Western genre was further continued in Italy. Sergio Leone’s Fistful of Dollars was an unauthorized remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (Leone was later sued by Yojimbo’s production company). Fistful of Dollars became the first in the trilogy that ended with Leone's best known film, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). Mifune’s protagonist is played here by Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name. Eastwood’s nameless cowboy wanders into the American border town of San Miguel (though it was shot in the Spanish countryside). There, two rival families struggle for control of the town. After following a very similar plot to Yojimbo, the unnamed cowboy, too, finds himself in a faceoff.
Just like in Yojimbo, the Man With No Name is shot from a distance. Composer Ennio Moriccone’s classic sweeping themes lend the film an even greater sense of suspense. In the foreground we see the protagonist’s adversaries, while he appears small on the other end of the street. This highlights the seemingly insurmountable odds of the fight. However, we have already seen our protagonist's skill, wit, and willingness to kill. One of the men shoots at the protagonist, yet our hero somehow keeps getting up, reaching mythic status. The protagonist reveals a piece of metal he has been wearing under his shirt, protecting him from bullets. After, our Man With No Name fires lightning fast, killing all but one of his enemies, they are left to a classic cowboy quickdraw duel. Here, Leone employs his signature extreme close-up, cutting between the hero and his opponent's eyes. Unflinchingly, The Man With No Name shoots, killing his opponent and winning the duel.
Both Kurosawa and Leone clearly draw strongly from the Hollywood version of the Western. Yet, they each make it their own. Both films give audiences a gritty view of violence. By introducing nuance, and promoting a new sort of protagonist, the anti-hero, the new Western demonstrated the Italian and Japanese disillusionment with America. The Spaghetti Western and Japanese Chambara both pay homage to and satirize the American Western. Ultimately, these genre adaptations reveal the capabilities of film in an increasingly globalized world.
This Town is Big Enough for the Both of Us: The Western and Globalization
In a more and more interconnected world, the media we consume becomes progressively shared. In fact, people on opposite sides of the world can come to enjoy the very same genres and movies. The global success of the Western genre suggests that it is able to capture what Media scholar Shani Orgad dubs the “global imagination.” The global imagination is “..a collective way of seeing, understanding and feeling, at a global level”. In other words, the themes of the Spaghetti Western and Chambara struck a chord with international audiences. In his autobiography, Akira Kurosawa similarly wrote that films possess some sort of universal “cinematic beauty,” to him is it this, “that draws people to come and see a film, and it is the hope of attaining this quality that inspires filmmakers to make his film in the first place”. Whether taking place in Asia or North America, certain universalities were captured through these adaptations of the Western genre.
Perhaps most importantly, the legacy of the Chambara genre is a powerful example of global media contraflow. Released in the 1960s, these genre innovations developed alongside the emergence of certain technological, political, and cultural forces which changed the way media is produced and consumed. Essentially, the global flow of media used to be dominated by US-led Western media. However, the adoption of Samurai Cinema conventions by Italian directors and eventually by American directors counteracts this dominant flow of media. This flow of media from East to West, rather than West to East is known as global media “contraflow.” Contraflow offers an antidote to media imperialism, representing a step towards a more democratic global media system.
Furthermore, these films had a profound impact on cinema itself. Contemporary iterations of the Western are countless. The Star Wars (1977-present) series is a sort of space-western, beginning with Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine providing the classic desert setting. Tarantino’s revenge thriller Kill Bill (2003) directly pays homage to both films, with Uma Therman’s nameless character (“The Bride”) wielding a Samurai’s Katana. The popularity of the anti-hero protagonist in recent years, such as Deadpool’s (2016) central character of the same name, is in part due to the Western. Even television series like Breaking Bad (2008-2013) and Westworld (2016-present) heavily draw both stylistically and narratively from the Western. The modern cinematic legacy of the Spaghetti Western and the Chambara cannot be understated.
Into the Sunset: Reflection and Conclusion
As I gathered my research I realized there were some language based difficulties. Many primary sources from the 1960s were only in Italian and Japanese. Given more time and resources, I could find a scholar who could help me translate these works. However, I did a comprehensive research using English sources, revealing the connection between the Western adaptation and media contraflow. Furthermore, I suggest that the ability to use English sources to conduct research on the relationship between American, Italian, and Japanese film demonstrates the extent of media globalization. A further exploration may also extend to adaptations of the Western genre in other countries besides just the US, Japan and Italy, and other films in addition to Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars.
In conclusion, by looking at Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, this paper has shed light on how the adaptation of the Western film genre in Japan and Italy challenged the traditional model of media flow. By comparing the Spaghetti Western to the Samurai film, I have demonstrated how genre innovations demonstrate reverse flows of media from East to West, exemplifying contraflow. Overall, this paper has demonstrated the ability of cinema genres to transcend geographic and cultural boundaries. Ultimately, the developments of the Western genre in the 1960s and its influence today points to a new diversity in global film and media.
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