The Film Stray Dog by Akira Kurosawa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Film Stray cover by Akira Kurosawa - Essay ExampleInstead of development the real story of a detective who lost his pistol, Kurosawa searched for further possibilities of a detective cum friendly allegorical film. The directors craft can be identified in his attempt to pose the story to the Nipponese smart set which was facing the after-effects of the World War. Besides, choosing a detective as a adorer instead of a policeman is a conscious attempt by the director to represent the mass, non the bureaucracy.From an analytical perspective, the film portrays the physical and mental torture felt by the mass in a war-torn society. The protagonist represents the citizens who were forced to endure the after-effects of a deadly war. In the film, hot weather is emblematical of the enduring capacity of the public. Besides, an unending search of the protagonist to regain his pistol, i.e. his identity is symbolic of Japanese societys attempt to survive the political, social and econ omic effects of the war. Noel Burch in the work To the Distant observer Form and Meaning in Japanese Cinema states that Akira Kurosawa made use of the film Stray Dog as an innovative medium for social criticism through film version (Burch 294). The image of the dog in the beginning of the film is symbolic of any individual who is forced to face a thermonuclear/ non-nuclear war and its after effects.Like other Kurosawa movies, the Stray Dog is closely related to Japanese history. For instance, in 1949, the same year of the films release is symbolic of the recovery of Japan from a nuclear war. Isolde Standish in the work A new history of Japanese cinema a degree Celsius of narrative film opines that the film Stray Dog portrays the post world war condition in Japan by showing the transformation of an unemployed soldier to a thief and murderer (Standish 216).