Rashomon Movie Analysis

Rashomon - The Loss and Gains in the Transition of Medium

Whenever a movie is created based off a novel, there is a common debate on whether the movie was better than the novel or vice versa. Sometimes, the debate ends quickly for both sides have the same opinion on the movie or the novel. However, in some cases the debate lengths, for one side prefers the movie over the other due to reasons such as the gains or losses on making the novel into the movie. In the case for Rashomon, a similar debate could occur, for when the short story was created into the movie, a key aspect that was lost in the transition was the pacing of the story. The quick pacing of the story was a key aspect into making In a Bamboo Grove an appealing story to the audience. Maintaining the tension throughout the story, the fast pace draws the attention of the audience and allows the build up to the abrupt and open-ended …show more content…
For example, in In a Bamboo Groove, the only description given about the location of the murder or incident is located at the very beginning of the story where the Woodcutter gives his testimony. From the testimony, the audience is only given the information that "The [the] body was found in a bamboo grove on the other side of the mountain..." (In a Bamboo Grove, 10) and is located "A [a] few hundred yards off the Yamashina post road. A deserted place where a few scrub cedar trees are mixed in with the bamboo" (10). With the given information, the reader cannot obtain a vivid image of the scene at hand, even with the small details given as the story progresses such as "there was a sort of open clump of cedars" (In the Bamboo Grove, 14) or the scene took place "a little after noon" (13). The basis of the scene was given, but the nature and feeling of the various scenes such as the lighting or the atmosphere of the grove was up to the readers