This is Veta Mur. I am back for this topic only. Why? Because I am like the greatest evangalist for this show.
I love this show. Absolutely love it. And I knew I would.
The day of the Super Bowl, which is a Monday morning here, I had a small get together. About 6 of us watched the game together, 5 ex-pats and one Japanese guy. The expats are mostly like me -- long term Japan hands. You can kind of guess our typical reaction when something Hollywood comes out about Japan. Typically its eye rolls, mocking, sarcasm. During the Super Bowl there was a commercial for Shogun...and the room went SILENT. First the cinematography caught our eyes I think. And then.. man.. the commerical sort of blew us away. No one wanted to be the first to admit, but finally someone said "Huh. That actually looks..cool". That broke the ice and we sort of gushed. But we still had to be hardened ex-pats and we still felt compelled to say "But it will probably suck".
So..a couple of things about my impression of the show and a couple of really cool highlights of stuff I want to point out.
************************************************************HEAVY SPOILERS HEAVY SPOILERS
Ive never seen a show or movie that was able to so skillfully and naturally show cultural differences, not coming across heavy handed. In the very first epsidoe, after the low level samurai insults a lord and is going to have to not only kill himself but kill off his line later they show the process. And there is his wife, holding her infant son. She is distraught, she is devastated. And even if we dont think the concrete thought the audience thinks she is sad because her son will die. But then through the conversation, we learn she is distraught because she wont be allowed to die with her husband and son. Ordered to live she is inconsolable. THEN, on top of this.. comes the next education.. the "Japanese women are submissive" trope gets its needed nuance. These men talking to the woman are making things worse, especially the husband. Then another WOMAN comes in, and exercises "soft power", shaming the men for their clumsiness and rebuking the husband whose fault it is without rebuking him. Ive lived in Japan for 28 years, Im integrated up and down..and I was pulled in the wrong direction at first and this scene was just amazing.
And again, when the daimyo is trying to rescue the Portugese pilot at the base of the cliff ..when it looks like he will die he decides to take his own life.. (before eventually being rescued). Not as subtle..but the actor who plays Blackthorn does a really good job of conveying his surprise and dismay.. the daimyo wasnt even going to try..surely he has to try if there is even a CHANCE of making it.. Met with this other idea of controlling his own death if it seemed likely he is bewildered and confused. This scene didnt quite have the same oomph as the one above but really set the stage for a very cool dialog on values, morality, life, and so on.
Im not actually an expert on Japanese history in the 1600s..but to the best of my knowledge.. this show is doing everything spot on except when concessions have to be made. I love that they take small time outs from the story to show the peasants and others view point. I love that they are taking their time in setting up the deep contrasts in how the value of life is seen in Japan vs the West. The costumes, the buildings, the transportation, its all accurate. I was irrationally excited to see Japanese ships of the time get a prominant role because Ive almost never seen them portrayed.
The dialog is interesting..in the show the Japanese they use is basically proper for the time and so its hard for me to understand most of the time. But its not completely correct, its sort of the stage equivalent to the 17th century dialect. What is interesting is the subtitles follow the philosophy which generally has a minority following in the debate among translators of how to translate. Most translators say you should choose the nearest words.. the translator for this show is going instead with "what would an English speaker say in this situation?" type translation. It really works for this show. It was a good call. Sidepoint..Japanese doesnt have true swear words so its always interesting to see how angry and fighting words get translated.
I have a billion other things to say but Im going to limit it to 2 and will visit again to talk about this show.
In the second episode, there is the best representation of a ninja attack Ive ever seen in a Western production.
They never mention the word.. but the maid who tries to kill Blackthorn is a ninja. She's not wearing black. She is a maid. She's been working as a maid for years and never done anything. And then.. BAM. Deadly. Killed 6,7 people and just barely failed. The fact the director resisted the temptation to dress her in all black (historically not accurate..probably taken from how people in plays dress when youre not meant to see them) was amazing.
And second..this show reminds me of why I fell in love with Japan as a boy. Growing up on a Reservation with a lot of resentment, with failure and despair for breakfast and lies and dust for dinner.. I had always wondered if there was another way and stumbled upon Japan. It beat Russia in 1905..fought the US and the UK to a near standstill.. I ignored a lot but became a fan. Later I matured out of that..and needless to say living here has nothing to do with that kind of childhood fanboy bullshit.. But, damn if this show doesnt remind me of some old , familitar thought processes.
Today's Japan is almost unrecognizable from the show. Its still of course a very very foreign country. But its ideas of death and life, of manners, of courtesy, of "face", or countless things went through two great schizms..one when Japan opened it borders in the late 19th century and then post WWII starting with the American occupation. On the whole the changes are probably for the best when we consider the best thing for the greatest numbers but some good was surely thrown out with the bad bath water.
