Abstract A beautiful death – Manliness in four Japanese samurai movies This thesis deals with the samurai and his portrayal in Japanese historic movies and what kind of messages he conveys in form of masculinity to theater audiences. Four movies were chosen, two from the 1960s and two from the 2010s. The reasoning behind this was to look at two eras of samurai movies and if possible try to see differences between them. The history of the samurai, being a man and woman in modern Japan, R.W Connell and famous Japanese authors from different time eras acted as tools to try to answer the questions in hand. The tragic hero is still a dominant figure in Japanese storytelling and duty and loyalty are his companions. In a Japanese society were the role of the man and woman have long been locked in definite roles, counter culture start to become a factor in form of for example the “herbivore man”, but the man in the samurai movie, no matter from what decade still stand with his feet firmly set in the past. / <p>Ändrade den engelska undertiteln från "Manliness in four Japanese samurai movies" till "Manliness in four Japanese samurai films"</p>

Film is a popular media with many impressions and messages. The message can, among other things, be conducted through various historical uses within the films. As a viewer, it is important to have the knowledge of how to analyse these messages and the use of history. The essay makes an analysis of the use of history of six different films based on Japanese culture. The analysis is made by categorizing the films within the different history uses. This is done through a narrative film analysis of the samurai as a symbol in the films and the characteristics shown by the samurai. The result of the analysis is, that the samurais characteristics is shown in several different ways, for example as a strong and loyal warrior, but also as a spiritual character who is interested in writing and reading poems. Some of the films also show the humanity of the samurai, where themselves fail to live up to the ideal of the samurai. The films create a complex image of the samurai who do not always adhere to the ideal depending on what the film aims to show the audience. The samurais were in the earlier films shown to be loyal to the nation but in the later films the direction of the loyalty changed towards the family. The categories used by the films are five out of seven: ideological, political-educational, existential, non-use and commercial. Political-pedagogical and commercial history was the two most common categories and was present in all films, while non-use was the third most popular category and was clearly relevant in five of six films. The result also shows that the time has influenced the film's production both filmically and through messages.

In the end of 1860 Japan faced a bloody civil war. The 200 year old Tokugawa Shogunate lost its power to the emperor and the Meiji period started. Before that the land was draw in to a civil war. Ronin samurais from all of Japan was gathering in the capital. Some of the were shouting for heaven's revenge and with it the ment the emperor´s. On the other side was the samurais still loyal to Tokugawa. One of the Shoguns loyal soldier’s history still echoes, the Shinsengumi or newly selected corps. These soldiers are still being used in movies, manga and anime to tell about a dark time in Japan's history. This essay will discuss how anime is using historical persons and their historical period. Also, why they are choosing to create a character with traits and talents. Also try to understand the purpose of historical use in anime. The discussion about manga and animes purpose have been on topic before, but not in combination with how they use historical facts. Cecilia Trenter and Pelle Snickars book with theories in how movies are taking parts of history and make new use out of it. Anime and manga are a big part of Japanese culture and the theories about them are important to understand this study. To do that i used Mark. W. McWilliams and Thomas Lamarres and their discussion about the importance of see through the layers of this creations.