TO WHAT EXTENT DOES EAST ASIAN CINEMA INFLUENCE WESTERN?

INTRODUCTION Living in a Western society, we are often unable to see how ideas are replicated or simply reused, from their Eastern origin.

This is especially applicable to cinema and fashion. East Asian films and directors are often ensnared by the Hollywood system, stripping them of their originality for financial gain.

Western and East Asian cinema have found middle ground over the years. Both have offered interpretations of Shakespeare.

COMPARISON #1 – AKIRA KUROSAWA The influence of Kurosawa reaches far and wide, through many films which

often goes unnoticed. Seven Samurai was adapted to The Magnificent Seven in 1960 through the

cogs of Hollywood. Said adaptation has just recently had a remake. Desperation.

Yojimbo heavily influenced the Spaghetti Western films of Sergio Leone. A Fistful of Dollars in particular shares the most similarities. Fistful was ultimately sued because of this. Kurosawa made more money from doing so than he originally did from the release of ‘Yojimbo’

Kurosawa greatly influenced George Lucas, the mind behind potentially the biggest cinematic saga of all time. The editing techniques pioneered by Kurosawa were later used within the original star wars trilogy.

Lucas and other famous American directors such as Francis Ford Coppola held Kurosawa in such great esteem that they produced ‘Kagemusha’ the first Japanese film in history to be distributed by an American Studio (1980)

COMPARISON #2 – YASUJIRO OZU Ozu, like Kurosawa, has ultimately been regarded as one of the most

influential directors of all time. Ozu’s ‘Tokyo Story’ landed at number 1 within a top ten list of the ‘greatest

films of all time’ according to 358 directors. Tokyo Story beat 2001, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now and more.

Wim Wenders declared Yasujiro Ozu as ‘his only master’.

GENERAL COMPARISONS/REMAKES Ringu (1998) – The Ring (2002) Internal Affairs (2002) - The Departed (2006) Dark Water (2002) – Dark Water (2005) Ghost in the Shell (1995) – Ghost in the Shell (2017) Gojira (1954) – Godzilla (1998) – Godzilla (2014) Seven Samurai (1954) – The Magnificent Seven (1960) – The Magnificent

Seven (2016) Oldboy (2003) – Oldboy (2013) A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) – The Uninvited (2009)

FLIPSIDE TO THE ARGUMENT East Asian countries like Hollywood, are guilty of remaking films. Despite this, those remakes seem to remain close-knitted opposed to how

Hollywood steal ideas from all the way across the world. For instance; currently there is a huge market in China for the remaking of Korean films.

There are very few direct remakes of Hollywood films that aren't already somewhat related. For example, below are two East Asian remakes of Westerns;

1. The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1960) - The Good the Bad and the Weird (2008)

2. Unforgiven (1992) – Unforgiven (2013) The recurring theme is that the samurai and action genres found within

East Asian cinema are very closely related to Westerns. The lines become blurred when these two continents begin remaking and reimagining films of the same genre.