Ghost Dog

Respond to Listserv: In the film, Ghost Dog follows a code of behavior outlined in Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai (passages of this book are interspersed throughout the film). Does the use of those sometimes lengthy quotes add to or subtract from the enjoyment of the film, and why?

In the film Ghost Dog, Director Jarmusch weaved the rules of Samurai life via narrative passages outlined in Hagakure and showed how Ghost dog applied them as a ghetto hit man. The film compares the ways of the ancient Samurai with the dying culture of the American mob gangsters. While I believed that the Samurai creeds interspersed throughout Ghost Dog's life lessons lent interpretive commentary, I muttered under my breath a lot because I had to pause the movie while trying to process the long narratives. I found it unbelievable that a modern ghetto hit man would live by the code of Hagakure. I have been known to fall asleep when read to, especially during PowerPoint presentations of a well-known ACCD CIS instructor (whom I wont name here). I feel insulted and treated like a child when someone reads to me. I find myself ignoring the reader because Im actively reading to myself and am then bored because Im finished long before they are through. Ghost Dog follows the life of the Samurai, as laid out in Hagakure. "The Way of the Samurai is the way of death," it states. "Meditation on inevitable death should be performed every day." Another lesson is that the samurai must devote his body and soul to his master, to the exclusion of all else. Ghost Dog lives by this creed. Because Louie once saved his life, he regards the gangster as his master, so everything he does during the course of the film is designed to protect Louie, not to save his own life. I enjoyed watching Ghost Dog at peace with his pigeons and felt sad when the majority of his pets were destroyed by the mob. Ghost Dog was the master of the homing pigeons. And they were his little pet Samurais. I liked the way they showed their loyalty to their master without the need for any narrative. It really touched me when his number one pigeon appeared and brought a smile to Ghost Dogs face as he lay dying in the street.

My cat Stumpus lives by a few simple rules, eat sensibly (Science Diet Chicken dry cat food) and play well with others (dont piss off any dogs). enamored with them. Im told she would make a good nursing home cat as she can look up into any face (old or ugly) and be