Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood (1957) is a free "adaptation" of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film has been much honored and highly regarded, but at the same time the critical reception accorded the film has raised certain questions about the meaning of adaptation, about the degree to which this film can be called an adaptation, about how successful it can be deemed as an adaptation, and about the degree to which one should be expected in making an adaptation to adhere to the text. There are clear differences between a stage play and a film, and the techniques of the playwright and the techniques of the filmmaker are quite different even when they intend to convey the same plot, the same themes, and even the same general atmosphere and tone. Even some of those critics who have praised the film for its power have also questioned whether it can be called an adaptation of Macbeth and have referred to the film as a "transmutation, a "distillation," a "transportation," "not an adaptation," and "an illusion" of Macbeth. How much of this is in reference to some real difference between whatever Kurosawa has done in transferring the story of Macbeth to Throne of Blood. Clearly, these critics have some conception of what an adaptation should be, though they do not define it, and they see Throne of Blood as falling short in some element that would make it fit their definition of adaptation. An examination of the source material--Macbeth--the film Throne

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uo enter and find the witches, and the witches vanish, with no indication as to how this is to be accomplished. The natural order is upset from that moment forward. It is evident in the scene where Macbeth meets the witches that he and Banquo are friends and colleagues who are on equal ground. After this, though, Macbeth sees himself as being in a higher position, and he kills Banquo in spite of their friendship, just as he kills Duncan in spite of friendship and loyalty. He is spurred on by Lady Macbeth. The fact that the natural order is upset is seen when the ghost of Banquo appears, for ghosts do not appear unless the natural order is in disarray, unless a great wrong has been committed and needs to be avenged. THRONE OF BLOOD The power of myth infuses much of Kurosawa's work and contributes to his vision of reality as expressed through a mixture of reality and mythical illusion. This can be quite overt, as in Throne of Blood, derived from Macbeth and with the same reliance on the supernatural. The opening scenes in Macbeth set the stage with a sense of doom and foreboding as well as an overlay of the supernatural. Kurosawa treats these opening scenes in very interesting and creative ways. The three witches are c

Category: Film - K