The scene started off with a man by the name of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) laying on a floor wearing dirty garments and yelling out the name of a man that he had just killed before his capture. The Captain was captured during a fight between the Americans and the Japanese, but instead of killing the American, the Samurai leader Katsumoto (Ken Wantanobe) wanted him alive so that he could learn from his enemy's ways. The Captain was staying in Katsumoto's ex brother-in-law's house with the now widowed young lady and her children. The lady was very un-accepting of the war hero at first, because he was the man who killed her husband, but as the story grew, she, along with the rest of her Buddhist tribe grew to like the American.
As the American got stronger and was given more rights by their tribe, he started to learn the art of Japanese language and symbolism. While he was learning the semantics of another culture, I noticed that he had completely forgotten his ways as an American soldier and instead, took on the way of the Samurai. As the ways of the Samurai embodied him, he grew emotionally and spiritually enough to the point of complete change of being. He was now willing to fight for the Samurais, and although they did not have all the weapons that the Americans possessed, they did have much more structure of discipline and self control.
The clip ends with the American apologizing to the young lady for the slaying of her husband. She accepts, and then tells him in Japanese that they ware each doing their duty, and that it was only karma that took her husband. I would have to say that it was the semantics of this Japanese culture that he was learning that intrigued me the most about this film. That is why I chose to tie in the concept of semantics with this movie clip, because its definition is very culturally-bound in a way that combines the study of words and meaning with the ways of the Japanese.

"The Last Samurai" is one of my favorite films; I have watched it at least ten times. This time around, I was forced to watch it from a completely different point of view. I had never realized how much you can learn about the Japanese culture from this movie. It depicts the Japanese culture very well, and shows the contrasts between that culture and American culture very blatantly. Although the main conflict of the film lies within the Japanese culture, it encompasses the loss of cultural identity, and the movement of some Japanese to embrace a more modern, western culture. By doing so, it pushes the cultural differences to the forefront.
This film is set in Japan during the 1870's. During this period of time Japan was engaged in a civil war. While some of the country desired a more modern, western way of life, the samurai, the traditional warriors and protectors of Japan, felt that the change was occurring to quickly and at the expense of the nation's cultural identity.
Traditionally, Japan is a collectivistic culture in which the well-being of the country, and one's family is placed above an individual's desires. They live in the same village as their ancestors did, and they rely on other family members greatly. This, of course, is not the point of view of American culture. We are an inherently individualistic culture. Japan also values certain aspects of a masculine and a feminine society. This is defined in our textbook as: first, the degree to which gender-specific roles are valued; and secondly, the degree to which a culture values traditionally "masculine" or "feminine" values. The Japanese value gender-specific roles highly. Katsumoto, the dominant male, is the leader of the warriors in the village. The other men in the village devote their time to practice and providing for their family. Women, on the other hand, are responsible for raising the children, keeping the house, and educating the kids.

The Last Samurai, directed by Edward Zwick, starring actor Tom Cruise is based on the Japanese history during the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th. The main focus of the movie is the transformation between a thousand year old tradition of a samurai soldier using a sword as his weapon, with the introduction of modern day weapons. During this time period, the Japanese communicated with various other cultures such as those of the French, English, German, American, and many others in order to try and learn many new educational and political systems to try and unify their country. An example of this of course would be the decision of the Japanese government to put modern weapons into use. As the transformation began, this symbolized the end of an era with the begging of a new one. As the movie unfolds, not only do we see the changes that occurred during this specific time frame in the society, but we also come to learn a lot more about the Japanese culture. Captain Nathan Algren played by Tom Cruise, shows just how different their way of living and prospective of life is compared to our modern day views. Captain Algren plays a soldier who once participated in the mass killing of Native Americans, and now feels deep guilt for what he has seen and done. Despite those obstacles, he is sent to Japan under a contract to teach them the use of modern guns. Both the actors in the movie and the sets and costumes used, create a perfectly accurate and entertaining view of the Japanese culture and the end of the last samurai.
One of the most interesting aspects oh the Japanese culture which the movie greatly focuses on is their amazing form of discipline. As we watch the samurais, we see how their every aspect of life is concentrated on precision and perfection, from their razor sharp swords, to their great honor at the battlefield. As mentioned and shown in the film, whatever the Japanese people did, they did it to perfection. This of course, was an achievement thanks to their great way of concentration. In the film, when Algren tries to learn how to fight like a samurai, he is though that he needs to block out any surrounding disturbances such as people talking etc. This is something the Japanese samurais were known best...