British Lit: Who is Akira Kurosawa?

Originally posted 11/27/11.

In case you're interested in 1) how Mr. Webb spent his break, and 2) what's happening next in British Lit class, take a peek at this awesome-sauce movie trailer.



Any thoughts?

蜘蛛巣城 = MacBeth (?) You're about to find out.

Pretty cool film, huh? Now comes the bad part. (You had to know there was a bad part.)

1. 

   The Criterion Essay

   First off, read the following essay that looks deeply into the differences between MacBeth and Throne of Blood. Stephen Prince, the author of the essay, does a heck of a job of not just saying "THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT ONE IS IN JAPAN AND THE OTHER IS IN WHEREVER MACBETH IS, TEACH-AH!" If Prince writes this essay for me, I'm giving him an A. If a students uses the comparison above... well... you'll have the chance to make this paper better, next Fall, when you take this class again. [READ: You will fail.]
   
2. Secondly, please post a comment on that article following the rules of commenting from earlier in the semester:
   
   
   1. compliment the writer in a SPECIFIC way.
   2. ask a question related to the post.
   3. add new information, opinions, or perspectives.
      
      

   I will give you points for doing this (or give you a 0% for not doing it) by NEXT CLASS, so please do this as soon as possible!
   
3. Finally, the hard part: by NEXT CLASS, I want a first draft of a 5¶^(minimum) essay. To make this really easy on you, I have graciously provided you with the perfect thesis sentence:

   The key difference between William Shakespeare's MacBeth and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is [WHATEVER YOU THINK], easily seen through [EVIDENCE A], [EVIDENCE B], and [EVIDENCE C].

   This sentence must be in your essay for get points for the thesis. You are not required to use that sentence in your essay, but if you use your own thesis, it must be better than mine. And it won't be. Good luck.
   
   You MUST bring me your first draft TYPED UP AND PRINTED OUT by NEXT CLASS. Failure to do so will result in an automatic 10% markdown of your final essay score. We will be doing 7i together in class, so not getting it to me means you didn't do it. Make sure it happens.

If we have time in class, we'll read the article together; if not, it is your responsibility to do on your own. Same with commenting. No excuses on getting the first draft done, either. The semester is not over! MANY of you have been complaining about your grades being low—this is your chance to pull them up. Unfortunately, it's also the chance for you to ruin them, so work hard!

Nihilism in a nutshell

Strange is the world
Why should men / Receive life in this world?
Men's lives are as meaningless / As the lives of insects
The terrible folly / Of such suffering
A man lives but / As briefly as a flower / Destined all too soon / To decay into the stink of flesh
Humanity strives / All its days / To sear its own flesh / In the flames of base desire / Exposing itself/ To Fate's Five Calamities / Heaping karma upon karma
All that awaits Man / At the end / Of his travails / Is the stench of rotting flesh / That will yet blossom into flower / Its foul odor rendered / Into sweet perfume /
Oh, fascinating / The life of Man / Oh, fascinating

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Ok... so that's depressing. According to the ugly old witch thing in Throne of Blood, that's what the meaning of life is: nothingness. Sound nihilistic?

ni·hil·ism [nahy-uh-liz-uhm], noun

1. total rejection of established laws and institutions.
2. anarchy, terrorism, or other revolutionary activity.
3. total and absolute destructiveness, especially toward the world at large and including oneself: the power-mad nihilism that marked Hitler's last years.
4. Philosophy
1. an extreme form of skepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth.
2. nothingness or nonexistence.

(via Dictionary.com.)

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Hearing Reading that quote from the movie made me think a little about nihilism and about my favorite image I've ever seen regarding it. Take a second to study it to get a good, visual representation about what it's all about.

I'd be willing to toss some points to anyone who does a writeup about their feelings about nihilism, this picture, etc. Just saying.