The epic can be at odds with the television. The need to structure a story in episodes, to create a routine with the viewer by default, usually deactivates the will to elevate the sense of drama, of action, of staging. There are few productions that dare to introduce themselves from the grandiose because of the difficulty of maintaining the tone and the hint of tragedy. For this reason, when watching the first episode of Shogun on Disney, the first impression is one of bravery.
The artistic direction transports you to Japan in the 1600s, the main characters are presented with serenity, the scale of the production serves as a declaration of intentions, the historical context is embraced and, based on conversations about power and the appearance of a European ship , an imminent war is anticipated.
Based on a novel by James Clavell that already had an adaptation in 1980 with Richard Chamberlain, the story begins with the arrival of John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) to the Japanese archipelago. The Dutch hire him to find Portugal’s mysterious trading partner and, when he is captured by the locals, he is horrified by his cold and unforgiving attitude.
Soon Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a man with strong ethics, understands that Blackthorne can be the solution to his problems due to his tense relationship with the Council of Regents and employs Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), the descendant of a fallen bloodline in unfortunately, as a translator.
With the marriage formed by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, the creators, Shogun finds its appeal in the scale of the production, the seriousness conveyed by the script and above all in the social, political and cultural codes of past and well-constructed Japan, that force us to reflect on the idea of ??civilization beyond the West.
The script shows the change experienced in Hollywood, which refuses to focus the story from the white perspective, the white savior complex, to introduce John Blackthorne as another character and denounce his prejudices by not understanding the customs and principles of the warriors who has in front of him. “Be good,” they advise him, to which he rebels from a basic masculinity penalized by lack of education.
This contrast is what is stimulating, as is also the portraits of Yoshii Toranaga and Toda Mariko, presented from intelligence and rawness. The viewer is even tested from the beginning, forcing him to immerse himself in another sense of ethics, the one that these characters accept when a woman must hand over her baby because her husband has exposed her master. .
