Shogun

What does this 2024 ten-episode series teach us about 17th Century Japan and its political relations with Portugal, the Dutch, and the English? How does the character Mariko personify the conflicting loyalties of Catholic Japanese? How does the series fare in reflecting the complex machinations presented in the James Clavell novel? How are the feudal clan and familial relations similar to those in European history? How do they parallel similar dynamics in organized crime, such as the Mafia? How does Blackthorne’s view of Japanese culture evolve as he is given positions of power by Toranaga? How do the Japanese evolve in their view of Blackthorne and Europeans in general? What cross-cultural commonalities exist between the civilizations? How are they distinct? How do the female characters Fuji, Ochiba and Mariko exert political power, and for what reasons? What are the true motivations of the Catholic church and Protestant Europe in their efforts to open up Japan? What is the nature of our moral experience or sense as audiences as we ‘inhabit’ Toranaga’s shoes and understand the rationale for his machinations? How does this series illustrate the strengths of modern television serial presentations as being capable of the truly cinematic?