SOURCE: "Nature and Society in Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood," in University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 3, Summer 1997, pp. 508-25.

[In the following essay, Parker contends that criticisms of Kurosawa that describe his films as "Western" and his works as cold and distant are not seeing them in the right context. In a detailed analysis of Ran and Throne of Blood, Parker shows their relationships to Noh Theater, and Japanese art and religion.]

I have never read a review of a film of mine which did not read false meanings into it. (Kurosawa)

I CONTEXTS

It is important for Western audiences to establish a proper context for the films of Akira Kurosawa. He has often been called the "most Western" of Japanese film directors (and is certainly the best known of them in Europe and America), but though he freely admits influence from Western directors and painters and...