E. V. Kirichuk, A. S. Vizgirda
Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Omsk, Russian Federation
Specifics of the polycultural communication of Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s novella “In a Grove” in today’s culture
Abstract: Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s novella “In a Grove” (through the adaptation of Kurosawa Akira Rashomon) has influenced world culture, leading to the appearance of film texts that use elements of national cultures of the countries of production. The aim of the study is to identify the peculiarities of such polycultural reception. Objectives of the research: conducting a narrative analysis of the short story “In a Grove” and subsequent analysis of film texts. The study is based on Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s novellas “In a Grove” and “Rashomon”, films “Hero” (directed by Zhang Yimou, 2002), “Rashomon” (directed by Kurosawa Akira, 1950), “Mešok bez dna” (directed by R. W. Hamdamov, 2017), “The Outrage” (directed by Martin Ritt, 1964). The methodological basis of the study: the method of narrative analysis, the comparative-historical approach and the semiotic approach. At the beginning of the research a narrative analysis of the short story “In a Grove” was carried out, after which the films were examined in terms of the categories, elements and systems highlighted. As a result, the film texts were divided according to the use of fairy tale discourse or realist discourse. The main method of adaptation for the selected film texts turned out to be the search for correspondences of cultural symbols, which led to the emergence of new meanings due to cultural differences. For example, the penetration of Christian motifs in the American film adaptation. Filmmakers used a conventionally legendary period in the history of countries (Japan, the United States, China, and Russia) to adapt, to match symbols. Following Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the filmmakers turned to the common cultural ethical problems, relevant against the background of today’s growing interest to the antiheroes as the characters in literature and cinema.
Keywords: polycultural reception, film text, Akira Kurosawa, Zhang Yimou, Martin Ritt, Rustam Khamdamov.
Paper submitted: December 6, 2021.
For citation: Kirichuk E. V., Vizgirda A. S. (2022). Specifics of the polycultural communication of Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s novella “In a Grove” in today’s culture. Russian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 51–59. DOI: 10.17238/issn1998-5320.2022.16.2.6.
