Associação Brasileira de Professores Universitários de Inglês
Fundada no Rio de Janeiro aos 15 de j a n e i r o de 1970
Sede: Rua Venezuela, 3 - São José do Rio Preto, SP - Brasil
C . G . C . : 46 8 5 8 6 1 9 0001 - 32
Diretoria da ABRAPUI ( b i ê n i o 1 9 9 4 - 9 5 )
Presidente: Carlos Daghlian, UNESP; Vice-Presidente: Heloísa M. F. Boxwell, UFPE
Secretária: Cristina M. T. Stevens. UnB; Tesoureiro: João Carlos Gonçalves, UNESP.
XXVII SEMINÁRIO NACIONAL DE PROFESSORES
UNIVERSITÁRIOS DE LITERATURAS DE LÍNGUA INGLESA
XXVII SENAPULLI
ÁGUAS DE LINDÓIA, SP / 30 JANEIRO - 3 DE FEVEREIRO 1995
Hotel Majestic: Praça Dr. Vicente Rizzo, 1 6 0
COMISSÃO NACIONAL
Sérgio L. P. B e l l e i , UFSC (Presidente)
Luiz Angélico da Costa, UFBA (Secretário)
Antônio Eduardo de O l i v e i r a , UFRN
Laura P. Z. Izarra, U. Mackenzie
Magda V. F. Tolentino. FUNREI
Marlene Soares dos Santos, UFRJ
Nair L. Fobé, PUCCAMP
AGRADECIMENTOS BANESPA / CNPq / FAPESP / Conselho Britânico / USIS
Adilson Ôtenio. Giséle M Fernandes, Helena L. B. de Biagi, M. Aparecida de Marchi,
Rosemarie & Gene Lossone (Glendale. CA, USA)
Endereço para Correspondência
ABRAPUI / Caixa Postal 1 6 4 / 1 5 0 0 1 - 9 7 0 S . J . R i o Preto, SP / BRASIL
Fone: ( 0 1 7 ) 2 2 4 - 1 0 6 2
262
THE VOICE OF THE "OTHER": RAN*
Thaïs Flores Nogueira Diniz
UFOP
Much of the literature written today reflects what we call Orientalism, that is.
ideological supositions, images and fantasies about the Orient. This attitude generates an
imaginary line which separates both parts of the world: the Orient and the Occident As a
matter of fact this line does not exist, it is a construct, a human production It divides "us"
from "the other", this other always being seen as different, and thus inferior The origin of
colonization lies in our own desires to subjugate the inferior, the different, the barbarious. the
one that does not "talk the same language that we talk" The real colonizer is not only the one
that literally takes other people's land, using his flag as a symbol of possession But the
colonizer is also the one that conquers those regarded as inferior and takes advantage and
profit from the conquest. The colonized, this construct, something we have separated from us
imaginatively, is the different. From an ethnocentric point of view, they are the worse, the
inferior. As a consequence of this attitude, there comes the idea that "the other" is not able to
speak, and hence must be represented Once one represents the other, he/she excludes this
other and usurps his significant function. "The other" becomes not an interlocutor but the
"silent other".1
Like the Indians, and the blacks, woman has been viewed by male society as an "other",
an object of desire, something that must be conquered and submitted. In this sense, she can be
compared with an unknown land, whose discovery gives pleasure and joyfulness but which
must be dominated. It is like the mistress in John Donne's poem, a metaphor for the new
continent, in which he calls her "his America", and says he is blessed for having discovered her:
Oh my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom , safeliest when with one man manned.
My mine of precious stones, my empery,
How blest am I in this discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds is to be free;
There where my hand is set, my seal shall be.-
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Although John Donne's poem is considered as a love poem, the idea of male superiority
and domination underlies the image it creates for the woman, the image of "the silenced other"
As a matter of fact, she. like all minorities, has been silenced, neglected and subjected for
years This atitude has pervaded all literature, which could be seen in the past as the an that
spoke the language of the dominator, addressing him
Now things have changed Instead of narrating the story of "the other", the colonizer is
having his story being told by the colonized This is the story of what he has turned to be3
Literature, by addressing now its own producer, the colonized, leaves space for other voices to
be heard. Post-colonial critics are now worried about descentring the Metropolis, and.
therefore hearing the voice of the "other".
The purpose of this paper is to analyse a filmic adaptation/translation of Shakespeare's
King Lear, in the light of this new concern.
The film is Ran, produced in 1985 and directed by the famous Japanese filmmaker,
Akira Kurosawa It can be considered both as an iconic sign of the play because they are
related so as to suggest similarities and as an intersemiotic translation because it represents a work
produced in a semiotic system film different from the system of the play But it can also be
seen as a locus from where the feminine voice can be heard, be this fact due either to the
cultural changes pointed above or to its director's views.
Akira Kurosawa accomplishes his intersemiotic translation in a very peculiar manner.
First, there is no sub-plot like in Shakespeare's. Then, the filmmaker re-writes the text and
ascribes speeches to characters that remind us of Lear's play The warlord, Hidetora
Hichimondi, is clearly a transposition of the Renaissance monarch and Kyoami also replaces
the Fool. But some other characters do not correspond exactly to the characters of the play.
Lady Kaede. for example, incorporates many characters: she, alone, assimilates Goneril's and
Regan's evil. Her behaviour is so despicable that none of Lear's sons-in-law could surpass her.
However the story is the same: the lord retires and distributes his land among their children.
There are two who flatter him and another who is against his whims. The Lord becomes mad
and is saved by the youngest child. At the end, as in Shakespeare's, all of them are dead.
Kurosawa's translation effects many changes which are necessary both for making it
accessible to a Japanese audience and also for accomplishing his "darker purpose": to allow the
woman's voice to be heard. For cultural motives, the daughters were transformed into sons.
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Tiro, Taro and Saburo, because it would be unacceptable in Japan to have women inheriting
property. Furthermore, Lear is changed into a Samurai Lord whose lands had been conquered
through war and domination over his neighbours. Jiro's wife, Lady Kaede, is the protagonist.
Her main intent is to revenge her family, who had fallen victims of Hidetora's imperialist
conquest.
The Japanese director let his film be shaped by Japanese art, culture and tradition. He
makes use of techniques, elements and themes of the Noh Japanese theatre. His film can be
defined as a "jidai-jeki", a kind of historical film which turns to the time of the Samurai In
terms of cultural translation, this could perhaps be considered the most representative change,
which thus also emphasizes the fact that culture was responsible for several transformations.
The scene chosen to represent the film begins with a dialogue between Kaede and her
husband, Taro, in which she incites him to take the power, defying him to act as a sovereign.
Next, Kyoami, playing a role similar to the Fool's, mocks the man controlled by a woman. By
dancing and singing, Kyoami imitates the banner, a symbol of power, and mocks Taro, who
detains it. It is clear that Kaede, behind the scenes, seizes control of everything.
This sequence illustrates the aspect chosen to be studied by the Japanese filmmaker: the
transmission of power, a central concern in the Renaissance play. This theme carries out
implications such as hereditary priviledge, and the questions of authority and subjection of
women all of them dealt with by Kurosawa. The film could therefore be approached from the
point-of-view of patriarchy. Both contexts, those of the Renaissance and of Japan, as most
societies are similar in the sense that they are subject to a patriarchal order. In a society like this,
the woman, relegated to an inferior position, has two choices: either she totally submits to man,
performing the role of a sign, adapting to the image created for her, or indirectly, usurps power
and rebels against the order imposed on her.
In some aspects, Shakespeare's characters seem to follow the trail of subversion. This
path is illustrated by Goneril's and Regan's rebellious attitude, and by Cordelia's refusal to
yield to her father's whims. On the other hand, the play can be seen as very traditional because
of the re-establishment of the patriarchal order: Cordelia, supposedly rebellious, maintains her
obedience, although shifting it from father to husband. Moreover, poetic justice is achieved
through Goneril's, Regan's and Edmond's deaths, seen as punishment for their rebellion.
Kurosawa's film presents examples of women's two extreme attitudes. On the one
hand, Sue, the second son's wife, follows the path of submission. She preaches forgiveness and
unconditional love, according to the teaching of Budism. In contrast, Lady Kaede follows the
t
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second path and thus the film departs from its Renaissance model: Kaede is greedy for power
and therefore seduces her brother-in-law, taking possession of the castle. In contrast with Sue,
the protype of submission, and with Cordelia, who embodies family order, Lady Kaede
questions the whole system. On making her his protagonist, Kurosawa seems to break up the
traditional patriarchal pattern. He re-draws the boundaries which woman has been hindered to
trespass for centuries and uses her figure, traditionally submissive, as an instrument of
subversion.
The analysis confirmed that the cultural element proved responsible for the possibilities
open to the artistic creation. But it also proved that those same cultural changes have been
pressing artists, such as filmmakers, playrights and poets seen here as dominant forces, like
colonizers to redefine the boundaries of the canon, allowing it be read from the point of view of
the periphery, and therefore opening space for the woman's voice to be heard.
References:
DINIZ, Thai's F. N. "Os enleios de Lear, da semiotica a traducao cultural". (Tese
doutorado em Literatura Comparada). Belo Horizonte, FALE/UFMG, junho del994.
------ .
"Filmic adaptations of Shakespeare".
XI SEMANA DE
ESTUDOS
GERMANICOS, Belo Horizonte, FALE/UFMG, 25 de outubro de 1994.
DONNE, John. "Elegy XIX. Going to bed". In.Abrahms, M.H. et al (eds.). The Norton
Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W.Norton & Companyl962. P. 1093-1094.
FANON, Frantz. The wretched of the earth: the handbook for the black revolution that
is changing the shape of the world. New York: Grove Press, Inc. 1963.
KUROSAWA, Akira (dir.). Ran. Japan, 1985.
SAID, W. Edward. Orientalism : o Oriente como invenção do Ocidente. Tr. Tomás
Rosa Bueno. Sao Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1978.
SHAKESPEARE, William. King Lear. London: Methuen, 1961. (Arden edition).
This paper was inspired in my doctoral dissertation entitled "Os enleios de Lear:
da semiótica à tradução cultural". It also deals with some ideas issued in a lecture entitled
"Filmic adaptations of Shakespeare" delivered at the Federal university of Minas Gerais.
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1
Edward said Orientalism
2
John Donne. "Elegy XIX. Going to bed".
3Frantz Fanon, The wretched of the earth.