Kurosawa\u27s Throne of Blood and East Asia\u27s Macbeth

Yuwen Hsiung presents in her paper, Kurosawa\u27s Throne of Blood and East Asia\u27s Macbeth, a comparative study between Kurosawa\u27s film Throne of Blood and a contemporary Taiwanese play, Kingdom of Desire, both of which are adaptations of Shakespeare\u27s Macbeth. Stepping from Eastern cultural background, both show similar orientation towards the original play, for instance the sizing down of the number of witches and the decreasing of Macbeth\u27s heroic status. Gilles Deleuze\u27s theory of movement image provides an insightful look into Kurosawa\u27s filmology, which emphasizes the interrelatedness of every individual under the same condition. The idea of collectivity could be examined in two ways, diachronically and synchronically: Kingdom of Desire, although it resembles Throne of Blood in terms of plot, brings our attention back to individuality by focusing on the transformation of the protagonist. Macbeth, the character, would never appeal to the traditional Chinese theater; however, it is made accessible in Chinese culture by centering on individual responsibility towards one\u27s own action