Comments on: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai http://outlawvern.com/2000/04/03/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai/ Vern's writings on the films of cinema Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:10:06 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Brendan http://outlawvern.com/2000/04/03/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai/#comment-2293 Brendan Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:23:34 +0000 http://outlawvern.com/?p=3778#comment-2293 So, I just watched Ghost Dog for the first time. Holy shit. I've been wanting and meaning to catch this for a very long time, and finally the other day I found a copy in Barnes and Nobles, which I snatched up and just gone watching a minute ago (I also snagged copies of Point Blank and The Getaway and am totally pumped to watch sometime in the next day or two.) This is one of those movies where it seems like every single little detail was chosen and designed to reference and elude to some ancient text or work of philosophy that Jasrmusch finds interesting. It seems like whenever someone gets shot there's a specific reason for why they get a bullet where they do. I'll elude to Vern's There Will Be Blood review and say that I feel like I should go meditate on a mountain, or live in the woods for a few months in order to decipher what I just saw. Like what's with the cartoons? Practically every scene involving the gangsters they're watching some old school cartoon. At first it seems like a goofy quirk to these characters, a little touch you don't usually see when dealing with these sorts of characters. But then as the film goes on you realize that the cartoons are sort of reflecting what scenes came before. So it seems like a sort of movie-joke, ha, ha Jasmusch very clever. But then there's the bit where the mob boss is in the car watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, and five seconds later a woodpecker lands on Ghost Dog's sniper scope, saving that same guy. What the hell? Is the media these guys are saturating themselves starting to seep into what is for them the real world and what for us is simply another zone of media? Is Ghost Dog causing this, because he is himself an ideology and mindset that is translated to their world from someplace and time that might as well be as far removed from them as a Tex Avery cartoon? When Louie explains who Ghost Dog is, one of the mafiosos comments that the name reminds him of rappers, and then starts rapping. Ghost Dog kills him while the exact same song blasts in the background. The other mafioso says that the name reminds him of how Native Americans would name themselves after animals: immediately after killing him Ghost Dog kills some assholes who were killing bears out of season because they're rare and worth money, kind of like a vengeful, Poltergeist style of Native spirit. It's like who Ghost Dog is, what he is defined as, flucuates from person to person kill to kill. Is that because of hwo Ghost Dog is impacting these people and their world, or is it how they are all affecting him and his perceptions? My favorite part wasn't even a scene, it was a shot, right at the beginning. Ghost Dog is just lying on his rooftop with the sun coming down on him, his birds are all flapping around, it's very peaceful. And one of his pigeons is in the air flying around against the blue sky, and Jarmusch overlaps the two shots so that the gliding bird is on top of, inside, as one, with Ghost Dog's chest. That image is just stuck in my head, and will probably stay there for a long time. So, I just watched Ghost Dog for the first time. Holy shit. I’ve been wanting and meaning to catch this for a very long time, and finally the other day I found a copy in Barnes and Nobles, which I snatched up and just gone watching a minute ago (I also snagged copies of Point Blank and The Getaway and am totally pumped to watch sometime in the next day or two.) This is one of those movies where it seems like every single little detail was chosen and designed to reference and elude to some ancient text or work of philosophy that Jasrmusch finds interesting. It seems like whenever someone gets shot there’s a specific reason for why they get a bullet where they do. I’ll elude to Vern’s There Will Be Blood review and say that I feel like I should go meditate on a mountain, or live in the woods for a few months in order to decipher what I just saw.

Like what’s with the cartoons? Practically every scene involving the gangsters they’re watching some old school cartoon. At first it seems like a goofy quirk to these characters, a little touch you don’t usually see when dealing with these sorts of characters. But then as the film goes on you realize that the cartoons are sort of reflecting what scenes came before. So it seems like a sort of movie-joke, ha, ha Jasmusch very clever. But then there’s the bit where the mob boss is in the car watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, and five seconds later a woodpecker lands on Ghost Dog’s sniper scope, saving that same guy. What the hell? Is the media these guys are saturating themselves starting to seep into what is for them the real world and what for us is simply another zone of media? Is Ghost Dog causing this, because he is himself an ideology and mindset that is translated to their world from someplace and time that might as well be as far removed from them as a Tex Avery cartoon?

When Louie explains who Ghost Dog is, one of the mafiosos comments that the name reminds him of rappers, and then starts rapping. Ghost Dog kills him while the exact same song blasts in the background. The other mafioso says that the name reminds him of how Native Americans would name themselves after animals: immediately after killing him Ghost Dog kills some assholes who were killing bears out of season because they’re rare and worth money, kind of like a vengeful, Poltergeist style of Native spirit. It’s like who Ghost Dog is, what he is defined as, flucuates from person to person kill to kill. Is that because of hwo Ghost Dog is impacting these people and their world, or is it how they are all affecting him and his perceptions?

My favorite part wasn’t even a scene, it was a shot, right at the beginning. Ghost Dog is just lying on his rooftop with the sun coming down on him, his birds are all flapping around, it’s very peaceful. And one of his pigeons is in the air flying around against the blue sky, and Jarmusch overlaps the two shots so that the gliding bird is on top of, inside, as one, with Ghost Dog’s chest. That image is just stuck in my head, and will probably stay there for a long time.

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