Oddaptations - Macbeth → Throne of Blood

Some people like to complain about the inevitable changes that occur when a story is adapted from one medium to another. But let's be honest, sometimes, the less faithful an adaptation is, the more memorable it is. So, in this series I'll be taking a look at adaptations where creators took one look at the source material and said, "FUCK THAT NOISE!" to see how that turned out. Today's Oddaptation:

Macbeth (1606-ish) by William Shakespeare into Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jou (Spider's Web Castle)) (1957) dir. Akira Kurosawa

I know what you're thinking, but rest assured there will be no puns in this post. Oh I'm sorry, that should have read "there will be Noh puns in this post."

The Original: Something is rotten in the state of Scotland. Specifically because of a rebellion against King Duncan. Don't worry though, he's just received word that the Thane of Cawdor was routed by Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis. Fun fact, "thane" is how you pronounce "viscount" in Scots. Cut to a heath where three witches are discussing their plans to meddle in politics when who should stumble upon them but Macbeth and his best bro, Banquo. Anyway, they greet Macbeth thrice, as Thane of Glamis, as Thane of Cawdor, and as the future King of Scotland. They only greet Banquo once, but tell him his descendants will be kings. This will be important later. Almost immediately, Macbeth discovers that Duncan has named him Thane of Cawdor as a reward for his loyalty. This of course gets him to thinking, "Well, Mac-B (I'm pretty sure Mac-B is what Macbeth calls himself in his head), the only thing between you and the throne is Duncan still being alive." After a quick chat with his wife, conveniently named Lady Macbeth, they resolve to murder Duncan and pin it on his personal attendants. The plan works perfectly. But you know how it is with murdering your friends to fulfill the prophecy of three strangers, you can't stop at just the one. So Macbeth hires murderers to off Banquo and his son Fleance. And the murderers do a pretty good job, they kill Banquo before peace-ing out back to Macbeth's castle and telling him that Fleance got away. On the upside, his ancestor's survival means that James the VI won't fade out of a photograph like Marty McFly. On the downside, it means that Banquo's ghost is free to humiliate Macbeth at a dinner party in front of all his friends. This sets Macbeth to thinking that he should probably go back and get more counsel from the witches who are more than happy to summon three spirits to prophesy that Macbeth should: A) beware Macduff, 2) take it easy, since no man born to a woman can kill him, and 三) keep a watch on Birnam Wood because if it ever comes to Dunsinane, then Macbeth is gonna get vanquished. Macbeth does what any reasonable person would, dismisses the seemingly contradictory and impossible prophecies. Well, mostly, he does send murderers to kill Macduff's family while Macduff is away in England. Funnily enough, Macduff's visiting Malcolm, Duncan's son, to discuss his plot to take back his father's throne, and when he finds out that not only is Malcolm so virtuous and pure that he's still a virgin and that Macbeth had his family murdered, well, he honks his horn at Macolm and says, "Get in, loser, we're overthrowing the government!" Back at Dunsinane, Lady Macbeth is feeling crazy guilty about all the murders she's been an accomplice to, so much so that she's been sleep-walking, and sleep-obsessively-washing-her-hands, culminating in her off-stage suicide. It all ends with a climactic battle when Malcolm's forces chop down tree boughs in Birnam to disguise their numbers, and when Macduff reveals to Macbeth that he "was from his mother's womb untimely ripped!" and kills him, leaving Malcolm free to take the throne. The lesson, never give in to peer pressure.

The Remake: We open in the fog, where a chorus chants about how in this barren waste a great castle once stood but fell due to one man's ambition. Who was this man? Noh idea, but he's probably the guy whose grave the camera lingers on. So, there's a rebellion amongst Lord Tsuzuki's (Hiroshi Tachikawa) samurai, but Noh worries, he's received word that one of his commanders, Washizu (Toshiro Mifune), is leading a route that's put the traitors on the run. Cut to Spider's Web Forest, where Washizu and his best bro, Miki (Minoru Chiaki), come across an eerie hut where an old woman (Chieko Naniwa) with a spinning wheel foretells that Washizu is soon to be commander of the Northern Garrison and thereafter lord of Spider's Web Castle (hey, that's Lord Tsuzuki's castle). Meanwhile, she tells Miki that his son will one day be lord of that same castle. After riding around in the fog for several more minutes, Miki and Washizu joke about how silly that old woman's prophecy was, and wouldn't it be hilarious if it actually came true, ha ha ha. It's Noh laughing matter when they get to the castle and Lord Tsuzuki puts Washizu in charge of the Northern Garrison. Washizu goes to his wife, Asaji (Isuzu Yamada), and tells her about his big promotion and his prophesied even bigger promotion, to which Asaji says (paraphrasing), "Well, Tsuzuki got the gig by killing the previous lord, so it wouldn't be that bad if you killed him, look, I'll drug his bodyguards then you can take one of their spears and kill him with it." Washizu seems unsure but raises Noh objections when Asaji puts the plan in motion. Soon, Washizu has taken his place as lord of Spider's Web Castle, and he's even decided to make Miki's son, Yoshiteru(Akira Kubo), his heir, since he and Asaji have Noh children. It's at this point that Asaji reveals that she's pregnant. Cut to Miki and Yoshiteru's horses returning to their fortress without riders, then cut to Washizu throwing a dinner party for all of his samurai, with the notable exceptions of Tsuzuki's son, Kuniharu (Takamaru Sasaki), and Noriyasu (Takashi Shimura), who've peace'd out to chill with Lord Inui (who makes Noh onscreen appearance), and, of course, Miki and Yoshiteru. Well, that's not quite true, Miki's ghost does put in an appearance, but only Washizu can see him. After making a fool of himself at dinner, Washizu meets up with the assassin he sent after Miki and Yoshiteru. When asked if they're dead, the assassin replies, "Yes," and "Noh," respectively. While Yoshiteru, Noriyasu, and Kuniharu are off plotting Washizu's downfall, Asaji's baby is stillborn and she feels crazy guilt over Tsuzuki's murder and Washizu is worrying about how he can hold onto power. He journeys back into the forest to confront the spirit who reappears with seemingly good news: Washizu will suffer Noh defeat in battle until the forest comes to the castle. The spirit also urges him to go whole hog on the tyranny and brutality thing. So he goes back to the castle, where everything seems to be going well except that Asaji is compulsively washing her hands while a murder of crows starts flapping around inside the castle. This might seem like an ill omen, but Washizu tells his soldiers about the prophecy. You know the one. The one about the forest. But what's that in the fog? Trees waving back and forth? And coming closer? Almost as if the forest itself has risen up and is marching on the castle. That's Noh good! Washizu's soldiers definitely don't want to be murderized by the forest and they let him know by pelting him with arrows. With their lord dead, the men surrender the castle to an army lead by Noriyasu, Kunimaru, and Yoshiteru, turns out they'd chopped down the trees and loaded them up on carts and sledges to hide their numbers. The chorus returns as the castle fades into the fog, leaving Noh mark on the landscape but a grave.

Fidelity to Source Material: Well, aside from transposing the narrative to Japan and styling it after Noh drama, it's actually quite close to Shakespeare's play, with a few caveats (see below).

Things That Survived Intact: Most of the story and character elements mirror Skakespeare's play closely, the largest changes are in setting and language. Heck, the Macduff figure (Noriyasu) is even responsible for Washizu's death (though indirectly) because he made Washizu's men believe that the forest was coming to the castle, leading them to turn on him.

Smart Changes: As mentioned above, Kurosawa and his co-screenwriters (Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryūzō Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni), are largely faithful to the story of Macbeth. The most important changes are the simplification of some story elements and tweaks to character relationships. So instead of (at least) three witches, Washizu encounters a single malevolent spirit. Instead of three contradictory prophecies, he receives one impossible one. Instead of disappearing from the narrative like Fleance, Yoshiteru joins forces with the samurai attacking Spider's Web Castle. Then there's Asaji. Asaji and Lady Macbeth are obviously very similar, stoking their husbands' ambitions and exhorting them to violence to achieve power. However, while Lady Macbeth largely uses arguments grounded in her husband's and her own desire for power, Asaji often finds more pragmatic arguments to support her ambitions: she says Tsuzuki killed the last lord and seized power for himself, so why shouldn't Washizu do the same; she counsels Washizu against naming Yoshiteru his heir because she's pregnant. Finally, in Macbeth you see Malcolm's forces disguising their numbers by chopping down tree boughs, but Kurosawa withholds that information until Noriyasu et al. arrive at the castle hauling the felled trees. This puts the audience (presuming they aren't familiar with Macbeth in the same position as Washizu's archers. Oh! And I almost forgot. One of my favorite visual elements of the film (if maybe a bit on the nose) is the way that Washizu's armor and helmet ornamentation become increasing elaborate and asymmetrical as the film progress and he becomes more unbalanced.

Why it Works: Well, this is kind of a cheat because, as noted, it really just makes a few tweaks to the overall story and places it in a new setting. The Noh-informed performances and staging work to sell the film as an answer to the question: "What if Shakespeare had been Japanese and had written Macbeth in Japan?" Which would, in turn, raise further questions: "Why did this Japanese Shakespeare write a play based on an inaccurate history of Scotland?" Also, the themes of Macbeth aren't actually all that culturally specific. I guess what I'm really getting at is that you don't have to change Macbeth all that much to move it from stage to screen, or even to different settings. Which may mean it wasn't really an optimal choice for this feature. Hmm. Oh well, no-takebacksies.

Links:

Here's an interview with one of the archers involved in filming the "Washizu gets shot full of arrows" scene.