Battle Royale, a Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, released in 2000, has received critical acclaim in large part, being praised for its satiric potential and instances of dark humor. Chuck Bowen, in Slant Magazine, however, did not agree with most of his colleagues, concluding his review with: “Maybe Battle Royale's ultimate punchline is its inexplicable ability to fool some people into taking it seriously.” . This essay, however, does not review the film or pass moral judgment on its characters, but rather goes against the above cited Bowen and take Battle Royale seriously, regarding one of its psychological issues: the dehumanization of the other.
Dehumanization of the other and how it is depicted in Battle Royale
„How can you kill each other so easily?“ (Nanahara Shuya, played by Fujiwara Tatsuya)[1]
Battle Royale ( バトル・ロワイアル Batoru Rowaiaru), a Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, released in 2000, has received critical acclaim[2] in large part, being praised for its satiric potential and instances of dark humor. Chuck Bowen, in Slant Magazine, however, did not agree with most of his colleagues, concluding his review with: “Maybe Battle Royale's ultimate punchline is its inexplicable ability to fool some people into taking it seriously.”[3]. This essay, however, will not review the film or pass moral judgment on its characters, but rather go against the above cited Bowen and take Battle Royale seriously, regarding one of its psychological issues: the dehumanization of the other.
Plot
Battle Royale is set in a dystopian Japan. Rising rates of unemployment, juvenile crime, and 800,000 students boycotting school are overexerting the government, which sees itself forced to pass the “Millennium Education Reform Act”, also called the BR Act. Once every year a class of middle school students around the age of fifteen is randomly selected to engage in a fight for survival. The students are brought to a deserted island, handed bags of random weapons and food and told to fight and kill each other until eventually only one student remains who is then declared the ‘winner’. Remote controlled necklaces are forced around the students’ necks, which explode after a deadline of three days unless one single ‘competitor’ remains alive.
[...]
[1] Fukasaku 2000.
[2] Scott 2012. See others via Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/battle-royale-2000/critic-reviews.
[3] Bowen 2012.
- Quote paper
- Tony Buchwald (Author), 2013, Dehumanization of the Other and its Depiction in "Battle Royale", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/274519
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