Seven Samurai story
Seven Samurai (Japanese: 七人の侍, Hepburn: Shichinin no Samurai) is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku Period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven rōnin (masterless samurai) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.
17 total · 3 choice · 6 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| caste system | choice | the distinctions between the warrior caste and peasant caste were central to the story - we saw how people of different castes could not really understand each other |
| cooperation | choice | we saw that when people cooperated they became strong and when they did not, disaster followed |
| the horrors of war | choice | we saw the farmer's lot in medeival japan as bands of desperate banits raided their villages for food; we saw people fearful of being killed; we saw people dying pitifully |
| a danger shared can bring people together | major | the ronin threat forced the farmers to cooperate and seems to have brought them closer to each other |
| alternate points of view | major | we were constantly reminded of how samurai and peasats saw the world differently; to some extent also the ronin |
| belonging | major | Kikuchiyo variously struggled to fit in with samurai and farmers but seemed ill at ease in either world |
| prejudice against someone of a different social class | major | Both peasants and warriors held prejudices against the opposite class. |
| pridefulness | major | we saw time and again how Kikuchiyo's pride lead to trouble |
| the art of war | major | Most of the film was taken up with fortifying the village in preparation for the raid. |
| beating one's self up | minor | Kikuchiyo felt after he abandonded his post and several people died as a consequence |