'Wonders are many, and
none is more wonderful than man.'
- Sophocles, 'Antigone'
The most fascinating
aspect of anthrôpos
(άνθρωπος, Greek for 'human being') as
a biological species is the intellectual ability to understand
ourselves. Nothing is more valuable than self-knowledge : through an
appreciation of oneself, we get to understand our potentials and
limitations and hence lead to a fulfilling and optimistic existence.
The great dramatists through human history engage us with the
eternal questions about human nature. They challenge us with
dilemmas, they stage sufferings of their characters and tragic
circumstances that lead to the audiences' empathy, and above all,
their brilliant words and images leave lasting impressions and
inspire humanity. Sophocles and Akira Kurosawa both lived in truly
exciting eras : for the Greek dramatist, the century when Athens were
at its most prosperous; and for the Japanese filmmaker, the 20th
century. Yet there is an aspect common between them – their
humanistic approaches to their work. Through their respective art
forms, Sophocles and Kurosawa explored what humanity could achieve
and what pitfalls might arise due to the character flaws. The reason
why they are so memorable is not because of a drive to win
competitions or peer recognition, but because of their high moral
standings - their genuine care for other fellow human beings.
It
makes sense to start from an understanding of the intellectual
backgrounds for the two artists, to see the contextual issues that
motivated them to explore further in their work. Much of Sophocles's
life coincided with the golden era of Athens. Through the leadership
of a successful politician known as Pericles, Athens have enjoyed an
era of direct democracy and cultural heights. Pericles embraced
reason and cherished human values through his governance. He also
encouraged artistic and cultural activities and reinforced the
civilized aspect of this ancient polis. Indeed Pericles and Sophocles
have likely collaborated before – as the politician has served as a
'producer' to the dramatist's work. The producers, which were the
patrons for the tragedian and sponsored the production of the tragedy
in the competition at City Dionysia, was a testament to the civic
values of Athens. If the playwright won the competition, the patron
would win esteem from his peers, and that explained the motivations
behind the members of aristocratic class to sponsor and support these
public events.
Another
agon very evident in the 5th
- 4th century BC
in Greece was the interactions between different intellectual schools
and philosophers. It was the age when the nomos-physis debate reached
its apex. That was the age when Socrates, widely considered as the
father of Western Philosophy, lived and engaged with others on
knowledge in Athens. He shifted the focus of philosophical inquiry
from the concerns of the natural philosophers in the Pre-Socratic era
to a human-centered perspective, focusing on human knowledge and
morality. The debate intensified due to the emergence of the first
generation of Sophists, who were paid educators especially for the
richer ones. The Sophists committed to the belief that knowledge
could be taught, and the use of language could lead one to succeed in
a debate (even if his viewpoint was defective and weak). Many of
these ancient teachers were great orators, and they treasured the
gift of excellent public speaking, which was an important skill for
anyone to achieve political success in Athens. The positions of the
Sophists were far more radical than Socrates : the nomos-oriented
Protagoras believed that human was the standard who measured all
things; and the physis-oriented Thrasymachus asserted that justice
was reserved for the stronger ones by nature. Much of Sophocles's
life resided in this cultural hub of Classical Greece, and he lived a
long enough life to witness the rise and fall of Athens, from the age
of Pericles to the threat of Peloponnesian
War.
If
Sophocles had the fortune to participate and contribute to an
exciting era of Athenian culture, then Akira Kurosawa was just as
fortunate to witness cinema from its earliest days to an era where
cinema stood as a forefront to technology – the dawn of 21st
century. Born in the decade when D. W. Griffith was trying his hands
on revolutionizing a new art form, Kurosawa developed an interest in
both painting and cinema at a young age, watching classics of silent
cinema like 'Battleship Potemkin' and 'The Threepenny Opera'. While
influenced by the films of John Ford and Sergei M. Eisenstein,
Kurosawa was also influenced by other artists and thinkers, from
Shakespeare to Dostoevsky to Nietzsche. The ghosts of psychological
realism, psychoanalysis and existentialism lurked on many of
Kurosawa's films, announcing their relevance to any future audience.
While Kurosawa often admitted that he 'didn't understand much about
movies', his perceived lack of understanding has already influenced
many members of New Hollywood Cinema and European Art Cinema of the
1960s-1970s, and he continued to exert influence on the filmmakers of
Asia and USA from the 1980s. His significant contributions to film
art led to his acclamation as the Shakespeare of cinema.
Sophocles
and Kurosawa were both stylists in their own rights. They understood
the meticulous choice of style could enhance the intensity of tragic
conflicts and addressed the content they wanted their viewers to
contemplate about. Both artists in particular excelled in the
techniques of contrast in their masterpieces. The successful
ingredient of a Sophoclean tragedy is the idea of 'reversal of
fortune'. For the characters in a Sophoclean play, their actions
would almost always lead to some misfortunes they did not deserve.
The irony is that often the actions were well-intentioned – the
audience can easily appreciate that the character just wanted to do
something constructive about the situation they found themselves in,
yet due to a combination of factors we will explore later, often lead
to tragic outcomes. For Oedipus, he just wanted to find out the truth
of his past and stopped the plague that haunted his kingdom. For
Jocasta, she just wanted to make Oedipus free from mental turmoils.
For Antigone, she just wanted to fulfill her duties and buried his
dead brother, no matter what negative political status he was
designated. For Creon, he just wanted to be a successful and wise
ruler. For Deianeira, she just wanted to bring her husband Heracles
back. They all believed in something, and were committed to action to
make things happen, yet they all suffered at the end of the day,
ending in unhappiness, loneliness and the loss of their lives.
Sophocles exposed to us a truth many of us are not willing to
confront – human existence contains more problems than solutions.
Sophocles
used different techniques to address the inevitable conflicts and
reversal of fortune commonplace in humanity. Sophocles was gifted
with staging agon (struggles) in his plays. His use of stichomythia
heightened the conflicting values between two different characters,
foreshadowing that one of them would lose the struggle and faced the
dire consequences of their personal beliefs. What is more disturbing
is that the two opposing perspectives often have respective merits,
meaning that the abandonment of one of the perspectives would have
tragic implications : we would lose something valuable from the
struggle, and there were seldom all-win situations at the end of the
day. Sophocles also adopted enjambment in many of his plays, meaning
that he deliberately 'broke' a complete verse in two lines. That
provided a 'cliffhanger' effect for the line, and the audience would
feel much tension when the character delivered the line – much like
a 'jump-cut' in the modern cinema. In some cases the 2 parts of the
same line might show dissonance from each other, enhancing its
dramatic impact. Sophocles knew how to give the most ironic dramatic
effect possible, as noted from 'Antigone'. Using a hyporchema
(lively dance song) from the chorus, the audience might think Creon
has finally changed his mind and acquitted Antigone from her 'crime',
and a happy ending was in place for everyone. Yet what we are then
met with is the complete opposite : Antigone committed suicide for
her beliefs, followed by the death of Creon's wife and son. This
twist of fate could find its descendants in films like Hitchcock's
'Vertigo', and demonstrated the complete reversal of fortune for all
the stakeholders in the story, and hence provided a significant
emotional impact for the audience.
Kurosawa
also appreciated the use of contrast for dramatic effects. Taking
inspirations from Sergei M. Eisenstein, Kurosawa adopted montage
editing in many of his action scenes. Coupled with his use of very
dynamic camera shots, that led to a kinetic and visceral impact for
the viewers, as in films like 'Rashomon', 'Seven Samurai' and
'Yojimbo'. Kurosawa pioneered the use of analytical editing in action
sequences, and juxtaposed a few different sets of action in the same
sequence, which differs in camera distances, directions, and angles.
A well noted formalism was the 'A-B-A' style : like when a warrior
was riding a horse, the continuous movement was broken down into 3
components, with a long shot-closeup-long shot arrangement. This
trick gave the illusion of a very dynamic movement for the viewers,
arousing their emotional excitement. Kurosawa was also among the
first filmmakers to use slow-motion shots in action cinema, as in
'Seven Samurai'. The approach of slow-motion editing would be further
developed by directors like Sam Peckinpah in his own approach to
action sequences.
Regarding
the characters, Kurosawa often included characters with contrasting
and distinct personalities in his films. The characters often were
members from different social classes (such as Rashomon, Seven
Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, High and Low, Kagemusha), they had
conflicts of interests (Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Ran), or had stark contrasts in terms of personality (Stray Dogs). Through the specific
circumstances these characters had to interact with each others and
sorted out the problems together, which at the same time exposed the
issues hidden in human existence and mapped out the irreconcilable
conflicts that drove historical progress.
'What dangerous enterprise have you in mind?'
- Ismene to Antigone, 'Antigone'
Though
Sophocles and Kurosawa often had pessimistic and cynical views
regarding our species, they both shared a confidence for Man to
achieve his potential. For both artists, the most important thing to
look out for is to appreciate our limitations - for Sophocles, the
appreciation of the distinctions between humans and gods, and for
Kurosawa, the acquisition of self knowledge. Many Sophoclean
characters are larger than life : intelligent, resourceful and
confident like Oedipus; possession of form beliefs and sense of
morality like Antigone; courageous and strong like Ajax, Philoctetes
and Orestes; passionate and empathetic like Jocasta, Electra and
Deianeira. O These are all positive attributes of humanity that can
lead to a successful and fulfilling life, yet these characters had
the misfortune to misplace these characteristics in the wrong
context. In a sense, they were going too far and were not recognizing
the limitations of humanity. Moreover, Sophoclean characters had
character flaws : they were often stubborn (Oedipus, Antigone,
Creon); had a strong sense of pride and hubris (Oedipus, Ajax,
Philoctetes); often made poor or problematic judgement under the
influence of passion (Deianeira, Electra, Jocasta); and were never
yielding to other people's perspectives (basically every characters I
have just mentioned). By committing a fatal flaw (harmatia), they
were soon entrapped by various misfortunes. The ancient viewers, with
foreknowledge about the background myth, wished to see the characters
successfully avoiding their miserable fate, yet everyone knew that
these characters would not change – because those were the very
personalities that defined what they were. The stories of Sophoclean
characters can drive any viewers emotional – we feel bad for
Oedipus, because he is so good.
'You are too fond of dark obscurities.'
-Oedipus to Teiresias, 'Oedipus Rex'
The
'Ode to Man' from 'Antigone' best illustrated this sentiment. The
choral song celebrated the potential of humanity to conquer, control
and solve the problems since the earliest days. On the surface,
Sophocles celebrated the spirit of Athens through the ruler-ship of
Pericles, who treasured rationalism and humanism. Yet like much of
the design of the play itself, the attitude in this Ode was
ambivalent – especially with the choice of the word 'deinos',
which meant both 'wonderful' and 'terrible' at the same time. One can
easily think of Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' in this respect,
too. While the words were celebrating the intelligence of humans, the
characters in 'Antigone' were committing some genuinely unintelligent
behaviors, and there might an example of ironic contrast from
Sophocles. The chorus was also cautious to note that humans have not
yet found a solution to conquer Death – and this inevitable
endpoint of human existence would continue to pose as the ultimate
challenge, for the various characters in the play to confront.
In
the films of Kurosawa, we can also find talented and resourceful
individuals. From 'Sanshiro Sugata', 'Seven Samurai', 'The Hidden
Fortress', 'Yojimbo', 'Red Beard' and so on, we can find characters
who are expert in their respective fields, and they often have
developed their own philosophies regarding their expertise. Yet,
success did not come easy. They had to possess the motivation to
experiment, accepted failure through the journey and learnt from
mistakes. They should also learn from their apprentices, so that they
could develop a fuller understanding about the big picture, without
losing sight of the alternative perspectives from others. They had to
be cautious of corruption from their environment and within
themselves (Throne of Blood, Ran, The Bad Sleeps Well, Drunken
Angel), to avoid destruction of social order and moral degradation.
'Where are you now, divine prognostications!'
-Jocasta mocking the oracles, 'Oedipus Rex'
It
has been mentioned before that almost all Greek
tragedies had a divine dimension to it. Divine interventions were
commonplace in these myths, meaning that we cannot make sense of the
story in a purely secular approach. Divinities were prominently
featured in Sophocles's plays, yet I do not think his motivation was
theological or religious in any sense. It is fair to say that
Sophocles wanted us to explore the 'Fate versus Free Will' question,
yet to him fate was never an excuse to ignore one's moral
responsibility. The intelligent Oedipus solved the riddle of the
Sphinx, that has haunted many through his times : the creature that
walked on four legs when born; two legs when grown up; three legs
when old. The answer was exactly the mystery Oedipus had to solve and
understand about through his tragic life - 'Man'. Through his
misfortunes and experience he has endured, Oedipus has come to
understand what that meant to be human, as the testament to
Sophocles's vision of humanism. A mere mortal may not be able to
control his fate, yet one can be noble and be accountable for the
actions he has taken, to live a moral and optimistic existence.
Kurosawa's
cinema is a secular one – it is human-centered and seldom involve
any spiritual themes. Films like 'Rashomon' and 'Ran' has led some
critics to conclude that the filmmaker was an atheist, or in some
cases similar to the Atomist views of an indifferent God, from the
ideas of Epicurus and Lucretius alike. For 'Rashomon', a sense of
Nietzschean perspectivism was rampant. Yet even if we do not know the
truth of the murder at the end, that does not mean we should fall
into a sense of ethical nihilism. Kurosawa believed in his fellow
humans' ability to have a moral compass in their minds. When the old
farmer saw the abandoned infant, he was willing to commit a moral
action and took care of the baby. After all, having a rational mind
and moral conscience are the features that distinguish us from other
biological organisms.
'Till at last he is schooled in wisdom.'
-Chorus,'Antigone'
Sophocles
and Kurosawa believed that we have the power and wisdom to leave
behind our animalistic and anti-social nature and achieve a sense of
self-actualization through our limited existence in the human world. Sophocles and Kurosawa have once been mortal, yet their wills to strive for the best interest of humanity will certainly be immortalized.
Sophocles
plays mentioned : Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Electra, Ajax, Philoctetes,
Women in Trachis
Kurosawa
films mentioned : Sanshiro Sugata, Drunken Angel, Rashomon, Seven
Samurai, The Bad Sleeps Well, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress,
Yojimbo, Sanjuro, High and Low, Red Beard, Kagemusha, Ran
by Ed Law
Conatus Classics
