The Media X Essentials Collection: “Throne of Blood” Screening

An introduction to the new film series followed by an interview with Dr. Courtney Lehmann. 

On Friday, March 29, 2024, the University of the Pacific’s Media X program hosted a screening of “Throne of Blood” (1957). The event began at 6 p.m. in the Long Theater.

“Throne of Blood” adapts William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” to a feudal Japanese landscape. It follows Washizu, a warrior set on seizing his lord’s power, and Asaji, his ambitious wife, as they navigate the grave consequences of their actions.

The Media X program hosted the screening as part of The Essentials Collection, a new student-curated film series. Jose Flores-Jimenez, Media X ‘25, explained that the series’ goal is “to introduce the Pacific Campus to major classic and contemporary films with theatrical presentations so that students can discover these films the way they were meant to be enjoyed--on the big screen and with others!” As the lead curator, Flores-Jimenez dedicated the Collection’s inaugural season to “Seven Samurai” (1954) and “Throne of Blood” (1957), two films directed by Akira Kurosawa, “the Japanese grandmaster of action and humanism.” Other films selected for screening were “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (2023) and “La La Land” (2016).

Dr. Courtney Lehmann, Tully Knoles Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English, introduced “Throne of Blood” with a speech. She provided insight into the adaptation’s plot, historical context, and audiovisual techniques before the screening commenced. Julian Leal, Photographer and Staff Writer for The Pacifican, conducted a virtual interview with Dr. Lehmann to further gather her perspective on the film.

Please briefly introduce yourself.

“I’m Courtney Lehmann, Tully Knoles Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English. I have been teaching Shakespeare and many other classes at Pacific since 1998 (26 years!). My research focuses on film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, especially their political dimensions and capacity for igniting social change. As a mass medium that speaks in the language of images, cinema is an art form that has been described as “the world’s first global vernacular”, meaning that its powers of representation and persuasion can reach across the world and in fact, Shakespeare adaptations have been created across all of the continents, with the exception of Antarctica! I am currently completing a book that focuses on women directors of Shakespeare films, many of whom have yet to be discovered.”

How did you learn about the Media X Program’s Essentials Collection and the opportunity to introduce “Throne of Blood” (1957)?

“As one of the creators of the Media X program, I always stay attuned to what’s happening in the department, but I learned specifically about the opportunity to introduce Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood from Jose Flores-Jimenez, whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the classroom and in the Powell Scholars Program.”

How long did it take to prepare for the introduction? What methods helped you prepare best?

“Although I thought about my remarks for a significant amount of time, I wound up re-watching the film and completing my introduction on the day of the screening. In fact, I was revising right up to the moment before I walked on stage. As far as my methodology is concerned, I tend to focus less on the film narrative than I do on film form, in other words, how the story is told by the camera through cinematic techniques such as framing, montage, soundscapes, editing, etc is different from the manifest content of the film. Paradoxically, there are times when the most critical aspects of a film occur off-screen, such as the uncanny, haunting sound of Asaji’s (Lady Macbeth’s) kimono swishing across the floor. Non-diegetic sound, or sound minus story, can be terrifying for the spectator because it forces us to “see” with our ears. In fact, during the English Renaissance, the Puritans banned church music without lyrics because of the fear that songs ‘without words to anchor their meaning’ could lead straight to the devil. ”

When was the first time you watched “Throne of Blood”? How did your feelings about the film then compare to the feelings you experienced at [the] screening?

“I think that every time one views a film, especially at different stages of their life, the takeaways are different. What struck me this time around is the exquisite fight choreography. Kurosawa both admired and critiqued the classic American Western, so this time I paid special attention to the execution of the war against Washizu, the Macbeth character. More arrows fly and land in Throne of Blood than in many Westerns combined. Why is this? What is an arrow against the atomic bomb that Americans dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Perhaps this is Kurosawa’s commentary on the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of defenseless Japanese citizens. World War Two, and V-J Day in particular, is never far from Kurosawa’s mind even when he sets his films in 16th-century samurai culture.”

What do you believe is the most significant takeaway (e.g. themes) for audiences of “Throne of Blood”?

“I think that the most profound revelation that occurs when watching this film is the fact that Kurosawa creates what in my mind is the greatest adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth without using a single word from the play. And in this respect, “Throne of Blood” de-thrones Shakespeare as the teller of his own stories, and I think that’s really cool because it’s so subversive and so contrary to audience expectations. ”

If given the opportunity to provide an introduction for a movie screening of your choice, which movie would you pick and why?

“I’d pick Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (2023) in a heartbeat. “Barbie” walked such a fine line between commercial success and feminist politics and it got things exactly right. But the message of the Oscars, in snubbing Gerwig (she was not nominated for Best Director, nor did she win for Best Original Screenplay. Rather, it was Ryan Gosling’s “Ken” who got the Oscar nod) tells a story in its own right: that woman directors cannot have it all. They can’t achieve both commercial success and critical acclaim; instead, for pushing the envelope and moving the needle of social change, they are silenced in the name of the status quo.”

To stream "Throne of Blood” for free, visit https://watch.plex.tv/movie/throne-of-blood.