MMU One Evening: Throne of Blood
In 1957, Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD (100 min) transposed Shakespeare’s Macbeth from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, infused it with the aesthetics of Noh theater and sumi-e painting, abridged the story, and jettisoned the Bard’s language altogether. Despite these changes—or, perhaps, because of them—the film stands not only as one of the director’s finest works but one of the greatest Shakespearean screen adaptations, engaging with the play's questions of power, ambition, morality, gender, and fate.
In this class, we’ll situate THRONE OF BLOOD within Kurosawa’s larger body of work and explore the ways it channeled the anxieties of its cultural moment. We’ll then discuss some of the director’s signature techniques to gain a greater understanding of his visual and dramatic language. Finally, we’ll go back to Shakespeare’s play to pick out some of its key themes and examine their bearing on this screen rendition.
This class will be taught by visiting assistant instructor Jacob Mazer, Director of Programs and Education at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute in Pennsylvania.
Class size will be limited to 18.
Questions? Email us at education@moviemadness.org
In this class, we’ll situate THRONE OF BLOOD within Kurosawa’s larger body of work and explore the ways it channeled the anxieties of its cultural moment. We’ll then discuss some of the director’s signature techniques to gain a greater understanding of his visual and dramatic language. Finally, we’ll go back to Shakespeare’s play to pick out some of its key themes and examine their bearing on this screen rendition.
This class will be taught by visiting assistant instructor Jacob Mazer, Director of Programs and Education at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute in Pennsylvania.
Class size will be limited to 18.
Questions? Email us at education@moviemadness.org