The Meaning of Life and Death in Kurosawa’s “Ikiru”

I wrote the majority of this essay hyped up on coffee while listening to Rush the day before it was due. I ended up getting a B+ overall in the class so I guess that means this paper can't be THAT bad. I'm sure its way to long for anyone to read in this format though. We had to do a scene analysis for a movie of our choice so I picked a scene from the movie "Ikiru".

The scene I chose is at 22:53 at this link
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10h1gk_ikiru-1952-pt-2_creation

“He is simply passing time without really living his life - in other words he is not really alive.” (Ikiru). These are the words used to describe the protagonist, Watanabe, in Kurosawa’s film “Ikiru”. This is said by the narrator early on in the film at a point in Watanabe’s life where he does not yet know that he is terminally ill. He is working at a job that requires him to follow the same strict meaningless routines everyday of his life. The narrator's statements about his life this early on in the film sum up the majority of what is being said throughout the length of the narrative. It’s the very core of the idea the audience is meant to take away after viewing this film. The title “Ikiru” directly translates to english as “To Live”. This title begs the question of what it means to live and when you ask that, you will inevitably be confronted with the question of what it means to die. “We only realize how beautiful life is when we chance upon death.” (Ikiru) In “Ikiru” themes of life and death are tied very closely together for it is not until after our protagonist learns of his imminent death that he starts to consider the meaning of his life. So it would be expected that in a movie about what it means to live our protagonist shouldn’t be living a dull meaningless life throughout the entirety of the plot. This is what gives the scene I chose to analyse such a crucial  role that the whole film is centered on.

I decided to refer to the scene I chose for this analysis as the “Happy Birthday Scene”. It starts out with Toyo growing increasingly uncomfortable around Watanabe while sitting across from one another. He compares how he feels about his life to an experience he had we he almost drowned as a child and explains his relationship with his son. “...Don't talk to me about my son. I have no son. I'm all alone. My son is somewhere far, far away. Just as my parents were when I was drowning in that pond.” (Ikiru). That is the most he talks about his parents the whole movie but it seems that his relationship with them mirrors his relationship with his son. Earlier on in the film he remembers not being there for his son several time throughout his life. Perhaps he feels that the decision he makes later about building a playground for the neighborhood children will somehow make up for his emotional neglect towards his son. He admits that the reason he spends so much time with Toyo is because she is the only person who really feels like family to him. He starts describing his depression to Toyo “I felt exactly the same way then. Everything seems black. No matter how I struggle and panic, there's nothing to grab hold of, …” (Ikiru) Watanabe’s depression is contrasted by the happiness shared by a group of young women at a party seen through a window behind him. This juxtaposition of emotion can be compared to the end of an earlier sequence in the film after a party with a man he met in a bar.

After receiving his diagnosis Watanabe tries to find meaning through drinking in a bar  as much as he can before his death. He admits to a stranger in a bar that all of this drinking with his stomach cancer is suicide. He explains to him both his fear of death and his weak will to live. Once he explains all the money he has made in his years of working he asks of the stranger to show him a good time and teach him how to spend all of the money he has on him in one night. The stranger is hesitant at first but instead offers to pay for their night out. He explains his hedonistic viewpoint and convinces Watanabe to experience as much immediate pleasure he can get from life. They go through drinking, gambling and dancing with beautiful women for a night. After his hat is stolen from him by a woman in a crowd he is convinced to buy a new one by his new found friend who says it will help create a new version of himself. This small act embodies his ideals of using material items to create new meaning in life. However this youthful overstimulation proves to be too tiresome. Watanabe soon realizes as the night dies down that this way of living would still not bring him any more meaning or joy. It would merely have him forget about life and push away the idea of death for another time. He sings a song “Gondola no Uta” which directly translates in english to “Life is Brief”. The final verse of the song as translated in English is as follows,“Life is brief / fall in love, maidens / before the raven tresses / begin to fade / before the flame in your hearts / flicker and die / for those to whom today / will never return” (Isamu Yoshii). The lyrics to this song parallel the struggle of clinging to life that Watanabe is going through at the time he sings it. In a sense he is singing it to tell the young people he is with to start the search for meaning in life before their youthfulness fades away. This way they can avoid being old and full of regret like the man he has become. Because of the juxtaposition of this scene and the “Happy Birthday Scene” he feels that no progress has been made in his search for a meaningful life.

Because he has come to face this depression surrounded by so much young energy yet again he feels as though he has been wasting even more time. Through his conversation with Toyo as he realizes how to bring meaning to his life in a moment of clarity. He asks Toyo what makes her so full of life in a moment of desperation. She says that she doesn’t know what can possibly be making her more happy in life than him. Upon further examination, she tells him that she spends her free time making toy bunnies for small children in Japan. She says that when she makes them she feels as though she is playing with every baby in Japan. Because of this she suggests that he make something as well but he responds saying that nothing can be made at his office. After he claims that it is too late to make a difference he has a long moment of reflection as he slowly accepts that he will die having lived a meaningless life. For the entirety of the film up to this point he had been searching for meaning through external sources but it’s only a change from within that gives him what he is looking for. It is after this moment that he realizes that it is not too late, that the meaning in life he had been searching for had be right in front of him the entire time. Once he finally changes his old perception of his job he can finally make a difference in his community by pushing towards the clearing of a cesspool in order to build a playground for the neighborhood children. Perhaps this is a realization of why he started this office job in the first place only to be bogged down by the tireless routine of the bureaucratic system. This is his rebirth out of his old way of thinking into a whole new perception of what he has been capable of his whole life. It is an epiphany on Watanabe’s acceptance of death but it is only after this moment in which he feels truly alive. He takes a hold of his life for the first time in this film and is actually motivated to get something done. It may be too late to cure his physical problems and fix his torn relationships with his family but it’s not too late to make a positive difference in his community. As he leaves the diner the group of young women at the party behind him appear to watch him go down the stairs as they sing Happy Birthday to a friend of theirs on the bottom floor. This is almost the extreme opposite of “Gondola No Uta” symbolizing the emergence of life and youthfulness and marks a new chapter in Watanabe’s life.

This moment of clarity is mirrored at the end of the film by the bureaucrats at his wake. They reflect on what Watanabe had done in the days before his death. In different flashback sequences from the perspective of separate men in the room during his wake they remember how motivated he was and just how much of his effort resulted in the playground being built. The men realize that Watanabe must have known about his impending death and that any of them would have acted the same way under those circumstances. However when one of the men say “But any one of us could suddenly drop dead” (Ikiru) they realize that they too have short and fragile lives. This is their moment of clarity similar to what Watanabe experienced when at the diner with Toyo. When they are all drunk that night they vow to live their lives according to the example set by Watanabe. Unfortunately this lesson learned does stick with them overnight as we see the same pattern of lazily pushing problems over to different departments instead of actually trying to make a difference. One worker takes a stand for what Watanabe fought for the next morning at work and wants to continue his legacy. However he is not as strong willed as Watanabe once was and backs down when his rebellion is followed by the defensive stares of his fellow bureaucrats in his office and the piercing scorn of the newly appointed department chief.. As he sits back down in his chair and lay his head on his desk he is completely blocked from view of the camera by a mountain of paperwork symbolizing his defeat. For the final scene of this film the same bureaucrat who tried stand up to the rest of them at the office looks onto the playground that was Watanabe’s final project. The song “Gondola no Uta” is playing in the background and after we see some children leave the swing set the camera holds on the movement of the swings as if Watanabe’s spirit is still present in some form looking over the children. This may hint that this bureaucrat may some day follow in a similar path as Watanabe.

            This “Happy Birthday Scene” is the fulcrum that this entire film rests on thematically as well as being a major turning point in the narrative. It splits the film into two main sections being before and after the death of our protagonist Watanabe. It’s a culmination of Watanabe’s search for meaning from the first half of the film as well as being the main force that pushes the entire second half of the film into motion. In this scene alone we can tell the meaning of what Kurosawa was trying to convey about life through this film and it’s story. The questions of life and death that Watanabe faces throughout this film are questions that we will all have to face at some point in our lives. This film forces you to ask yourself these same questions while giving you at least one answer for sure. It is never too late to make a difference.

Works Cited

"Akira Kurosawa's Screenplay for 'Ikiru' • Cinephilia & Beyond." Cinephilia Beyond. N.p., 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Bovkis, Elen A. "IKIRU: The Role Of Women In A Male Narrative." Cineaction 40 (1996): 13-20. Film & Television Literature Index. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Gordon, Jeffrey. “Kurosawa's Existential Masterpiece: A Meditation on the Meaning of Life”.Human Studies 20.2 (1997): 137–151. Web...

Ikiru. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Prod. Sōjirō Motoki. Perf. Takashi Shimura, Shin'ichi Himori and Haruo Tanaka. Toho Studios, 1952. Art Film Reflections. Toho Studios. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Kaufman, Aryeh. "A Study of Kurosawa’s Ikiru, Part 1 What It Means to Live." Offscreen. N.p., Apr. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Kaufman, Aryeh. "A Study of Kurosawa’s Ikiru, Part 2: Rebirth, the Creative Act, and the Moral Dimension." – Offscreen. N.p., Apr. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Kurosawa, Akira. The Seven Samurai and Other Screenplays : Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood. London ; Boston: Faber and Faber, 1992.

A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies. Dir. Hisao Kurosawa. Perf. Akira Kurosawa. 2000. Youtube. 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Nakayama, Shinpei, orch. By Isamu Yoshii. Gondola No Uta. Isamu Yoshii. 1915. Vinyl recording.

Richie, Donald. "Ikiru." RSS. The Criterion Collection, 5 Jan. 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Richie, Donald. "Kurosawa On Kurosawa." Sight & Sound 20.7 (2010): 34-37. Film & Television Literature Index. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Paul Schrader's "Taxi Driver"

       So at CSUN there is a script library with a bunch of physical copies of screenplays. Needless to say, I have been taking full advantage of it since I started this semester. I've been reading one after another as fast as I can. So far I have read: "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Midnight Cowboy", "The Truman Show", "Being John Malkovich", "Pulp Fiction", "Big Fish", "The Big Lebowski", and "Taxi Driver".
       I have learned a lot from these screenplays about formatting and story telling but my favorite thing to read in these are the, sometimes, subtle notes left in by the writer to the reader. Sometimes writers will leave vague descriptions or motivations that add so much more to portray what the character is feeling and what the actor should keep in mind while filming. I haven't seen a better example of this (yet) than in Paul Schrader's "Taxi Driver" and I wanted to share some examples that I especially liked.

       This line didn't even make it into the movie but this whole chunk of a page perfectly describes Travis up to this point in the screenplay. It's little details like this that not only make the reading experience better but also gives the actor and director more insight to where the character is coming from. That last part "I am loved to the extent I do not exist" nearly sums up the whole movie up until this next part.

       I am also taking a screenwriting class right now and my teacher has said to tell your story using as few words as possible and to not "direct" the director in the screenplay. But I really don't agree with that at all after reading this. According to my teacher these two paragraphs would be unnecessary and should be left out. I think these two paragraphs are essential to telling the story the way it is supposed to be told. A producer or director can buy a script and change anything they want in the finished project without the writers consent so I think the writer has a right to see their full and complete vision at least in their own screenplay. That way if their work is butchered in the finished product at least they have something they can call their own and be proud of.

       This is another example I found. It just adds so much to the story I would be heartbroken if I had to exclude something like this from a screenplay I wrote.

       This was just another line I really liked that also didn't make it into the movie. Just because it has a typo doesn't mean it's not important! Come on Scorsese!

T. Rex - Electric Love (1971)

I went on AJ's Spotify account, scrolled endlessly, stopped randomly, and landed on T. Rex's 1971 album Electric Warrior. Here are my thoughts:

Cosmic Dancer: Basically has three different lines in the entire song and it's just this guy explaining how he's never stopped dancing throughout his life. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I don't understand the metaphors, or maybe it's both of these reasons.

This song is my reason in a nutshell as to why I've never been a huge fan of music to begin with. Don't get me wrong…..I get music. I get how beautiful it can be; I get it as an art form; I get it as self expression; I get that it's relatable; I get the history behind it; I get that it's a wonderful tool for societies and a unifying experience for people. I get it. But I've never been that excited by a genre, artist, or song. Maybe I'm crazy and missing out on a great thing. It's difficult to explain yourself after you reply "I don't know" to the ever-popular question "What kind of music do you listen to?" Believe me - it's hard to come back after that one.

Kind of like now. This review is obviously a lot less credible now that you know I don't like music (Really, who isn't a fan of music? Sometimes I think about how weird that is and start scaring myself). I can go to a museum any day, but fine art isn't for everyone. But honestly, I don't get how Cosmic Dancer can be listened to and thought of as a good song. 

Jeepster - "I'm just a jeepster for your love. You slide so good with bones so fair; you've got the universe reclining in your hair." Not sure what it means, but I can dig it. I liked this one because it's so random, makes no sense at all, but I want someone to serenade me with these lyrics for some reason.

Lean Woman Blues: I stopped what I was doing to check the name of the song, which is a good sign. I enjoyed the song but I found myself trying to rummage through all the instruments just to put together his sentences and figure out what he was singing about. It was all worth it once I heard this line: "I'm like a child in the sand on the beach of the land of you."

Bang a Gong: I was surprised to hear a song that sounded familiar but I'm not sure if this was the song I remember or it was another with the same exact beat (because I have a theory that every band ever has used the same tune).

The rest of the songs kind of bored me. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so cynical.

Am I hopping on the T. Rextasy bandwagon? Nope. Expect for maybe Jeepster. AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

I remember seeing the trailer for this movie a while ago and I was kinda excited to see it. It's always nice to see Steve Carell in something and a lot of other comedians I liked where in it too. So I was really happy to see it pop up on Netflix the other day.

*Spoilers after this*

It seemed to really explore all the different scenarios that would play out in a modern pre-apocalyptic world. Once everyone realizes that they only have 3 weeks to live they seem to still project a sense of well being but everyone's a lot more reckless and desperate which is pretty funny to watch play out. Probably my favorite part of the movie was this scene with Patton Oswald about how the apocalypse has "Leveled the Playing Field"

His level of degradation is a perfect example of what all of these people are feeling at the party. Shortly after this moment a woman announces to everyone that someone brought heroin as if it was a bottle of champagne. Everyone is doing all of these things that they would only do because its the end of the world while out main character is just depressed the whole time and then attempts suicide. This is where it started to take a turn for me.

After his suicide attempt he gets stuck with a dog for some reason and ends up meeting one of those "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" played by Keira Knightley. At this point I'm having some trouble writing about the movie actually. I could go into the characters but there are so many characters and the only ones who are in more than two scenes are Steve Carell and Keira Knightleys' character. This would be fine but we really don't even get to know these characters very well besides their Introvert and Extrovert stereotypes. It's almost like every scene is used to learn more about the characters they meet along their way and then we never see them again. By the end the only thing different about our main character is that he fell in love with the other main character and then the world ends.

Overall I feel like this concept for a movie has a lot of potential and the filmmakers realized that. However it just feels that maybe it was too rushed for what was expected of this movie. There are a lot of different quirky qualities about a lot of the characters we meet but because we don't have anytime to explore them they just seem forced. Probably exactly how this post feels because I started writing about this movie and realized halfway through that I had nothing to say.

Midnight Cowboy

"Everybody's talking at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind"

-Harry Nilsson

    (Everybody's Talkin')

For whatever reason ever since I moved to L.A. about a month ago I've been watching a lot of movies about New York. I finally move here and now New York is somehow calling me through these random movies. I know this is just my subconscious telling me no matter what I do I can always be doing something better. As if somehow I moved to the wrong city and because of that I can never live to my full potential. To me this is something that everyone has to deal with at some point. Never being content with what you have is what makes humans so amazing as a species but it's also one of out greatest flaws on a personal level. This is why it was so good for me to watch the movie "Midnight Cowboy" at this point in my life. 

The main character Joe Buck has a similar mindset about moving to a big city. He has idealized New York so much in his head that no one can possibly change his mind about moving. This movie handles a lot of themes including: loneliness, hope, religious guilt, masculinity and desperation. To me this movie says a lot about the dangers of dreaming too much. If you spend too much time hoping and praying for what you want sometimes you forget the fact that what your dreaming of usually has to do with changing your mindset rather than changing your lifestyle. If your complaining about your glass being half empty, instead of wishing for more water, just wish for a smaller glass. You may not have as big of a glass as that guy next to you but at least it's full and content. Besides you never liked that guy anyways.

I wrote some thoughts in a notebook while watching this movie for the first time and I'm gonna post some of them here. They are in chronological order with the movie so if you've seen it you'll probably have an idea of what part I was on while reading it. 

*Spoilers*: Do I still need this for movies that are 46 years old?

Notes:

Little boy riding a fake horse in front of a stable of real horses. Symbolism for the modern cowboy? The real cowboys are all gone and all we have now are just little kids riding plastic horses?

Drops the soap. Insight into this characters sexuality?

"Where is that Joe Buck!?" Being repeated is a really good way for the audience to remember a characters name.

Right to the song. Love it (I was already a big fan of Harry Nilsson at this point so I knew this song really well)

Cowboy outfit. Clinging to the past? Maybe he see's the past as being better than his present? Trying to distance himself from the people around him?

"I can't hear a word their saying,

Only the echoes of my mind"

He doesn't listen to what anyone has to say about his decision. He's already made up his mind.

"Going where the weather suits my clothes"

He's trying to find a place where he belongs.

(At different points in the movie there are various flashbacks to his childhood)

His dad was possibly a cowboy type. Maybe he is trying to cling to his only idea of masculinity growing up?

I love the shot of him walking through the crowd (This is the picture I posted above)

He seems to be going for a lot of mother figures to pick up on. Definitely something up with this guys childhood (Earlier there was another weird scene where he was watching this little boy giving his mom a massage that was shown for a really long time so this just added to that)

The idea of the channel changing because they are on the remote while having sex is genius and it gives us something to turn to.

So she was upset when he wants money for the sex but she isn't offended when he pays her? She is worried about how she would seem if she paid him but doesn't him paying her make her look like a prostitute?

His handheld radio is such a good addition,

While going back to find a city job he see's himself in the restaurant employee. Why go such a long way just to end up in the same place?

Florida is Rico's New York. If he could just get there everything else in his life would work out.

The way Joe gets so defensive about his cowboy outfit is hilarious. It reminds me a lot of Don Cheadle's character in "Boogie Nights"

Throughout the movie Joe is clinging to his father figure while Rico is rejecting his.

Loneliness strikes again...

The Truth About Emanuel

"If we don't really chat a lot, it's not that I don't like you. It's more that I like to keep to myself."

Because I loved The Truth About Emanuel and everyone who matters in the movie industry hated it, then this is either proof that I should never be a critic since my opinion is worthless or that I'm pretty great at finding positive attributes in awful ideas. For the sake of keeping your interest in anything I have to say, we'll go with the latter.

Despite the fact that the title is misleading (Emanuel is basically an open book - there is no truth to tell), there is a truth to be revealed by Linda, the new neighbor who quickly bonds with Emanuel and later becomes a mother figure for the young woman. *SPOILER ALERT EVEN THOUGH THIS MOVIE IS A YEAR OLD SO IF YOU WANTED TO SEE IT YOU WOULD HAVE BY NOW* However, Linda's "truth" can be seen a mile away. Linda hires Emanuel to take care of her baby - a baby that we soon learn is actually a doll. We find out later that Linda had a miscarriage and Emanuel's mother died giving birth.

Sure, at first the doll thing is kind of creepy. At first. But if you keep an open mind and dig a little deeper into Linda and Emanuel, you can easily see one of the most honest relationships between a mother and a daughter that Hollywood has to offer. By relying on each other to trust their feelings and emotions, they allow the other to truly be themselves in the most honest sense. Linda can be seen as a crazy woman that we too often love to attach to actresses. OR she can be seen as a woman who has gone through trauma; she is someone who lives a loving life to her "child" and Emanuel.

I am always refreshed and excited by a movie that portrays women who aren't revolving around men and their romantic pursuits. The Truth About Emanuel shows us how humans are different than any other species on this planet. Unlike dogs, cows, flamingos, and plants, humans are able to tell each other what we're feeling and thinking. Dolls (no matter what label we attach to them) cannot fill the holes in our hearts like another person can. A person can relate to another person - even if it's just the way we can both talk about the human experience on Earth and the weight of existence. Another person can bring out our true selves and make us realize how valuable we can be for the well-being of an individual. Linda and Emanuel have spent their entire lives being independent women until they let the other shine a light onto their dark pasts. When we lean on each other, when we learn to become someone else's crutch, only then can we begin to understand the hardships they face.

Big Brother 17 Update

Remaining house guests

Johnny Mac: Really likeable and has played a good social game as far as I can tell. He has potential but we haven't really seen any real game play from him yet. Definitely the top pick for America's favorite house guest award at the moment (If I were in the game I would be gunning for this prize for sure. Just in case I didn't make it to get the $500,000)

James: Breaking that deal with Shelli is my favorite moment of the whole season so far. He broke up the power couple and I don't even think he's anyone's target now. I hope he keeps up the big moves. Everyone is so obsessed with honesty this season. It's fucking Big Brother! Get over it.

Meg: Either she is playing a really good social game or everyone is just sorry for her. It's most likely the latter

Becky: Apparently the most interesting thing about her is the fact that she got hit by a train? I think that's all I know about her so far. She would be doing a lot better if she stayed away from Clay and Shelli when they where in the house. I don't think anybody in the house knows her enough to trust her at this point. Besides maybe Johnny Mac?

Liz and Julia: Hopefully this will change after tonight's episode but they seem to be the least obviously floaters in the house. I don't think they are doing very much as far as game play in the house but somehow they play at least a small part of almost everything that's happened this season so far.

Steve: He is way too paranoid. He thinks everyone see's him as a big threat but I don't think anyone is gunning after him at all. He is playing a really weak social game and he doesn't have any strategy as far as I can tell. I kinda feel sorry for him

Vanessa: She was my pick to win on the first episode and she is doing really good right now. She's no Derrick but she is on almost everyone's side right now and somehow magically got passed a double eviction. However she is pulling the emotional card waaay to much right now. People are starting to see through the fake tears and the way she always makes herself the victim whenever drama happens. She just needs to slow down and relax a little bit. But I think Johnny Mac is gonna somehow get her out.

Austin: Honestly how is he still in the house?