Notes on the ‘formulaic’

Every film focused on the specific time and place of the blind swordsman, whose uncanny fighting and killing abilities are only matched by his clever and witty persona (when he's not hacking off limbs.) The series spanned 26 films, and with few exceptions, in each film Zatoichi encounters a fel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science fiction film and television 2019-10, Vol.12 (3), p.381-389
Main Author: Reiff, Michael C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Border walls
British & Irish literature
Children
Ethics
Genre
Immigrants
Irish literature
Jackman, Hugh
Jenkins, Patty
Joyce, James (1882-1941)
Motion pictures
Movie reviews
Politics
Science fiction & fantasy
Superheroes
Violence
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Summary:Every film focused on the specific time and place of the blind swordsman, whose uncanny fighting and killing abilities are only matched by his clever and witty persona (when he's not hacking off limbs.) The series spanned 26 films, and with few exceptions, in each film Zatoichi encounters a fellow swordsman, runs afoul of Yakuza gangsters, saves a small town of villagers and pulls off some neat dice tricks in a gambling hall (there is always a dice trick.) And yet, look below the surface of the Zatoichi series and you can see a steady evolution towards more viscerally realistic, artistically distinctive and narratively and ethically complex films. [...]there is violence. Interwoven into this deeper narrative are issues of immigration, child exploitation and hyper-commodification and commercialisation (the lead doctor on this project notes that he's implanted mutant genes in cereals and juices to first wipe out mutants - like using widespread antibiotics against a bacteria - and is now commoditising mutant genes to simply enhance humans for a profit). Add in Mangold's visual allusions to a new border wall on the Mexican border, dehumanised illegal immigrants, gene manipulation and economic inequality and Mangold has used both his cinematic allusions, genre elements and other overt political/social critiques to fashion a distinctly clearer and more concise milieu of issues and concerns that wrap around his otherwise formulaic genre film.
ISSN:1754-3770
1754-3789
DOI:10.3828/sfftv.2019.23