Abstract
Yuwen Hsiung presents in her paper, "Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and East Asia's Macbeth," a comparative study between Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood and a contemporary Taiwanese play, Kingdom of Desire, both of which are adaptations of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Stepping from Eastern cultural background, both show similar orientation towards the original play, for instance the sizing down of the number of witches and the decreasing of Macbeth's heroic status. Gilles Deleuze's theory of movement image provides an insightful look into Kurosawa's filmology, which emphasizes the interrelatedness of every individual under the same condition. The idea of collectivity could be examined in two ways, diachronically and synchronically: Kingdom of Desire, although it resembles Throne of Blood in terms of plot, brings our attention back to individuality by focusing on the transformation of the protagonist. Macbeth, the character, would never appeal to the traditional Chinese theater; however, it is made accessible in Chinese culture by centering on individual responsibility towards one's own action.
Recommended Citation
Hsiung, Yuwen.
"Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and East Asia's Macbeth."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
6.1
(2004):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1207>
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