This document provides a comparison of the short story "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Aktagawa and its film adaptation Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa. Both tell the story of a murdered man found in the woods through differing accounts by witnesses. While Kurosawa remains faithful to the plot, he enhances it with animated characters, dialogue, and moody cinematography set in a dense forest. The major theme explored is the distortion of truth as each character's self-interested account contradicts the others, calling the real events into question.

1. “In a Grove”
Rashomon
Comparison and Analysis
Jenny L. Wright
ENG 10323

2. The short story “In a Grove by Ryunosuke Aktagawa was made into the film
Rashomon, by famed director Akira Kurosawa in 1951. Both the story and
the screenplay tell of a man found murdered in a clearing in the woods.
Kurosawa remains faithful to the plot and theme of Aktagawa’s story, with
some changes in the characters and the mood.
“But is there anyone who's really good? Maybe goodness is just make-believe” (Rashomon).

3. Characters
“In a Grove”
Rashomon
Woodcutter
Priest
Policeman
Old Woman
Bandit
Woman
Murdered Man –
Woodcutter
Commoner
Priest
Bandit
Wife
Samuri –
through a psychic
through a psychic

4. In the short story, the characters all have a solo narrative. They are simply
testifying to a High Police Commissioner. There is no interaction between
the characters. In contrast, the screenwriters for Rashomon use dialogue for
majority of the movie. The movie’s dialogue opens with the woodcutter halftalking to himself, and half-addressing the commoner, who has just come
into the ruins to get out of the rain. The changes are made because dialogue
is essential to a movie.
“I just don’t understand” (Rashomon).

5. The characters in the short story are flat and one dimensional. Only the old
woman is given any emotion. More detail is given to inanimate objects like
the rope at the foot of a cedar tree, or a description of the woman and her
horse, than is given to the people involved. By keeping the characters
simple and matter-of-fact, Akatuwaga forces the reader to focus on their
words. This adds to the aura of ambiguity: Who is telling the truth?
“No tortue can make me confess what I don’t know” (Harrison 535).

6. The characters in the movie, in contrast, are very animated and dynamic. It
is up to them to tell the story of what happened in the grove; Kurosawa
directs the actors past any pretense of subtlety. The bandit in particular is
played for effect. He is in turn manic and subdued, amused and confused.
Did he kill anyone? Ultimately, it’s left up to the viewer to decide.

7. The Medium
One of the most impactful scenes in the movie occurs when the medium
speaks on behalf of the murdered man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ30N3aU1yc&feature=player_detailpage#t=20

8. Mood
The mood is enhanced by Kurosawa’s cinematography. The scenes that tell
the various stories take place in a sprawling forest, a place where man (and
the truth) could easily lose their way. The forest could also be said to blot
out the light of truth. The sunlight is dappled because of the leafy
canopy, and the characters are shown at times both in the light and in the
shadows. Therefore, none of the characters, not even the bandit, are seen
as totally evil or totally noble. The truth lies somewhere in between.
As the three men discuss what happened, the scenes are shot at the
dilapidated gate in the midst of a torrential rainstorm. The stranger /
commoner comes in out of the rain, suggesting that he is washed free of any
illusions about human nature. His cynicism and pragmatism are shown as he
is the only one of the three who bothers to light a fire. Kurosawa sets a
mood of despondency that is not apparent in the story.
Finally, Kurosawa uses “triangulation shots” to great advantage. Numerous
scenes include close-up shots of the Samurai, the Wife and the
Bandit, increasing the tension. Triangulation is also used between the
Woodcutter, the Commoner and the Priest.

9. Theme
The major theme of both stories is the examination of the distortion of
truth. As the city-dweller says, “[Humans] can’t tell the truth even to
themselves.” And the priest says, ”Because men are weak, they lie to
deceive themselves” (Rashomon). In the case of this story, people lie in
order to bolster their egos. The Bandit tells that, although he defeats the
Samurai, it was a glorious battle. Only the Samurai has crossed swords with
him “twenty-three times”. The Wife lies to enable her to remain a weak
victim. The Priest has distorted visions of what is good and evil. Self-interest
and self-deception motivate all the characters.

10. Conclusion
Although “In a Grove” reads like a modern who-dunit, the story actually
goes much deeper. The author uses multiple narrators to show the
distortion of the truth. Kurosawa reinforces this idea with the use of
distorted lighting and differing uses of flashbacks. Modern scholars have
even coined a phrase, “The Rashomon Effect”, to describe contradictory
versions of the true story.

11. Works Cited
Rashomon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. RKO Radio Pictures, 1951. Netflix.
Harrison, Stephanie. ""In a Grove"" Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen. New York:
Three Rivers P., 2005. N. pag. Print.