There’s a famous saying that goes, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, which is actually true in most situations. I’m convinced that whenever people claim to be afraid of such things as the dark, invading armies, insects, or monsters, they aren’t actually afraid of the objects themselves, but actually afraid of what may become of them after being exposed to these things. Whether people like to admit it or not, they all fear the unknown to a degree, and their behavior in the face of such terror can lead them to act out irrationally and make uncharacteristically impulsive decisions. These kinds of decisions that anyone in a paranoid state of mind make can end up make them a bigger danger to themselves than what they claim to be afraid of. In my Japanese Film course, we’ve examined a few films which I felt explore this theme in great depth, and show what can result from the actions of those facing their worst fears right in the face. The films that I am going to discuss are Godzilla and Seven Samurai because I felt that they demonstrated this concept the best, out of all of them films we’ve watched so far in class. In this essay, I am going to use these famous milestones in Japanese cinema to demonstrate how fear and paranoia can make people a much bigger threat to themselves than the initial danger that they are facing.
The concept of a gigantic, 100-meter tall aquatic dinosaur that’s emits radiation everywhere it goes sounds frightening enough, which should be more than enough to blind any given man with fear to the point of insanity. In Godzilla, one of Japan’s first films of its signature Kaiju (giant monster) genre, it makes a point in showing how just the thought of such a creature existing can strike fear into the heart of any human being, even if it is not doing anything to significantly endanger the human race. That’s right, with the exception of needing to eat, the monster, Godzilla, rarely ever surfaces from his home at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, where no human being has immediate access to, anyway. All of the researchers and natives panicked upon seeing him when they were visiting Odo Island and he started walking around on the land, but he didn’t attack them or show any signs of wanting to harm them when he peaked his head over the cliff that the expedition team was climbing. Godzilla just looked at them and turned the other way, and headed back to his home at the bottom of the sea. Out of undeniable fear of the monster, the American Navy and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces start dropping depth charges into the water, in hopes of luring him out into a military trap. These actions, obviously, cause Godzilla to retaliate out of a natural instinct to protect his home, as well as himself, and attack Tokyo, which leaves the city a flaming, uninhabitable wasteland. Everybody was quick to keep pushing the blame on the creature, but the real fault lied in the xenophobic tendencies of those in charge at Japan, who were too afraid of the risks associated with keeping him alive to just let him live out his days without bringing any harm to anybody. All it would take to avoid him is to learn the exact coordinates of his habitat and instruct boats to avoid that area, which is what we ended up doing with the Bermuda Triangle. There was no need for our fears to drive Godzilla into such an unnecessary frenzy in the way that they did.
People’s natural tendencies to fear what they don’t know doesn’t extend to just the supernatural, but also to other people, whom they have no idea which kinds of behavior to expect from. Kurosawa Akira’s classic film, Seven Samurai, tells the story of a village of farmers who get robbed every year by a large group of bandits, so they hire a group of masterless samurai for a pittance in order to defeat the bandits and finally bring peace back to their village. Unfortunately, the idea of the samurai, of whom the farmers have so many reservations and fears about, coming to stay in their village has everybody on the verge of a massive panic. This originates when Manzo, one of the farmers who claims to know how all samurai act and behave, makes it clear that he’s terrified of what he believes might happen when they all arrive in the village. Manzo says that all the samurai that he’s met were all womanizers, and that they would come into the village looking to take all of their daughters for their own. It was because of this generalization that he thought it would be a good idea to force his daughter, Shino, to start looking like a boy, by forcibly cutting her long hair, in order to keep the samurai from eyeing her during their short stay in their village. After the rest of the farmers had heard of the ridiculous things that Manzo was doing in order to safeguard himself and his family from the samurai in the event that they turn out to be lechers, thieves, or simply bullied, they all rushed to go to equally great lengths to prepare for the worst for when the samurai do finally arrive. Upon finally coming to the town, the seven hired samurai were all baffled at why people were holding up inside of their houses, until one of them, Kikuchiyo, decided to act like a lunatic and ring a very loud bell in order to get their attention, in which case he made it very clear to them that they were not there to harm them in any way. He single-handedly proved to all of the farmers that their fear of these samurai, whom they had never met or known anything about, that had driven them into a self-destructive frenzy was for naught, and that they had only themselves to blame, for letting their fears of baseless rumors and gossip devour their peace of mind. Although I do feel that taking some simple precautions against strangers, particularly those with swords, would have been ideal and highly recommended, letting such paranoia get to them to the point where they were bringing more harm to themselves than most samurai ever would to any innocent bystanders was not only uncalled for, but also a little bit stupid. If the samurai did, in fact, turn out to be criminals, then the farmers could’ve overtaken them with superior numbers, if it ever came to that. There were so many better ways that they could’ve handles this situation, but their fear blinded them to this fact.
In many cases, the fear and paranoia that people bring upon themselves will bring them far more pain than what they were originally afraid of. It doesn’t matter what they are terrified of, whether it be a giant monster, people whom they know nothing about, or even something like everyday stress, the sometimes needless worrying and fretting about what could be is potentially the most dangerous thing that could happen to them. The irrational decisions that people make and the distress that they inflict on themselves could cripple their minds and bodies, as well as those of anyone they care about, into a very dangerous state. Japanese film directors knew that, so they tried to make it apparent to their audiences by giving them visual examples in their movies, hoping that they would understand the life-improving messages being played on-screen.
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Wow. You wrote on the exact same movies, but did something totally different(Gojira is only 80 Meters tall in "Gojira." It takes the Heisei movie Gojira Vs King Ghidorah to make him 100 Meters, but that's totally off subject). I like how you attributed much of the pure fear of the series, but never really make use of the ultimate fear in Gojira, a possible Second Gojira or the military use of Oxygen Destroyer. Also, not to nitpick, but Gojira did attack a fishing vessel or two before the navy attacked it. The real instigation was the H-bomb testing where Gojira lived.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's a LOT more than just fear of the Samurai in Shichinin. There's even the fear of killing others, as poor Yohei discovered (He was terrified that he could kill someone, probably not just shocked that he did it). I think focusing on just one point is a bit lack luster. The Farmers feared the Samurai, not because they may be criminals, but because 1: as Kikuchiyo said, the Samurai have marched over their fields, raped and pillaged the villages they crossed, burned them down, took their women, etc. They had a LOT to fear of these well trained men with their deadly weapons. 2:They HUNTED weak Samurai. If these Samurai found out, in some way, then the seven may just kill the Villagers in revenge.
Also, thanks to Tsugumo-dono, we learned that numbers doesn't matter if you are more skilled, and have more exerience. And he basically killed 11 people(Blah 8 injured), and those were all TRAINED Samurai. Three/four men killed 20, in Shichinin when the samurai surprise attacked the Bandits. Just think of what Seven(Really only six) Well trained Samurai could do to a group of Villagers, even if they are better equipped. Just saying that their fear is a justified one.