Physical Journey example essay topic

"The Last Samurai" is a film centred around the idea of journeying, physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. We witness these journeys not only through observations of a character going through a personal transformation but a whole culture around him who is likewise in turmoil. This film allows us to join in on an adventure and journey of the character, the world he enters and the people he meets. The story is based on a time just after the Civil War, a time when the modern western world which had just encroached upon the American West, condemning the Native American, began to engulf traditional Japan as well. The purpose of this film is to give a voice to these people, to share in their struggles and experiences and be enlightened, as the protagonist is, at their way of living and their out look on life and its purpose. The audience is simply people with a connection to the struggles of a culture undergoing rapid changes by modern development.

Any person passionate about culture and tradition and simply, any person who can open their mind to a world unknown to them and to learn from it. As well as this we must recognise that it is a Hollywood production and its purpose first and foremost would be entertainment, and being able to satisfy the wants of the majority. The film's two main characters help convey meanings throughout the entire film about the journeys that are undergone. Katsumoto, the last remaining leader of the Samurai and in particular Captain Nathan Algren, a man adrift, living in a body that pains him, and a soul that wont let him forget. Katsumoto's challenge to maintain his personal principals in a society that no longer values them, his struggle, especially in combination with Algren's own reluctant spiritual journey; convey deep seated images and emotions in relation to the hardships and struggles of their journeys.

This idea of a physical journey is easily conveyed through the use of scenery. We get to witness the extent of the physical journey by viewing the changing environment. This technique is something that not only highlights the actual physical journey, but the extent of the changes that the protagonist is going through in relation to his changing situations. This technique is achieved most effectively by the camera shots used, in particular the use of cinematography and indeed panning. Throughout the film we are taken on the heroic journey of the powerful character of Captain Nathan Algren, a person who travels a great distance, literally and figuratively to find himself and his values. Captain Algren emerges as a truly tormented figure, a man who has lost faith, an extremely vulnerable figure, not your typical stock movie hero.

He is a lost soul searching to find his way. Edward Zwick allows you to witness this journey through his use of gradual development throughout the film. As the character discovers, so do you and so on. You are therefore just that bit closer personally to each of the characters, and their journey. Edward Zwick the director has used the technique of characterization to develop Captain Algren in such a way that as he discovers, so do you, as he is moved, so are you. As the last Samurai unfolds, we experience the physical, emotional and spiritual instability of this contradictory era through Captain Algren.

The story of "The Last Samurai" could not have been so effectively conveyed in any other medium. The medium of film, allows the audience to visually experience the journey, and be taken on the journey almost literally. The complexity of the story, the history and indeed the characterization could not have been so effectively conveyed in a novel, or short story for example. A film is so much more emotionally stimulating and allows the audience to truly be overcome by it. Each image, each landscape, each room tells the story, the juxtaposition of the old and new. A man in a bowler hat strolls beside a woman wearing a kimono.

A man firing a repeating rifle faces a man wielding a sword. This technique that Edward Zwick has used simply could not have been done in any other medium. The physical journey related in "The Last Samurai" is somewhat different from that in "Immigrant Chronicle" by Peter Skrzynecki. Where the chronicle is based on many of life's journeys, "The Last Samurai" is based on one particular journey and how that journey impacts on one's life, rather than many journeys and their impacts.