# Kurosawa's Ran vs. King Lear

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526 "2005-07-28T04:02:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526/1 "2005-07-28T04:02:12Z")

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Where can I find a book or a website that compares and contrasts Ran with King Lear? I just watched Ran with my mother and we were able to tie some of the movie characters to the play, but not all of them.

Any help would be appreciated.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526/2 "2005-07-28T11:38:18Z")

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[http://www.aems.uiuc.edu/HTML/ChalkGuides/Lear=Ran.html](http://www.aems.uiuc.edu/HTML/ChalkGuides/Lear=Ran.html)

gives a brief comaprison

[http://jclarkmedia.com/film/filmreviewran.html](http://jclarkmedia.com/film/filmreviewran.html)

has a good review of Ran, with plenty of reference to King Lear

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526/3 "2005-07-28T11:46:00Z")

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[the IMDB listing for Ran](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/) also has some good stuff. Just scroll down to the bottom where it says [Check for other user comments.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/usercomments)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kurosawas-ran-vs-king-lear/314526/4 "2005-07-28T12:41:51Z")

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**The** book on Kurasawa’s films is Donald Richie’s **The Films of Akira Kurasawa** , which does a pretty good job on the background of each film, and critiques it.  
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520220374/qid=1122554658/sr=8-1/ref=sr\_8\_xs\_ap\_i1\_xgl14/002-8787785-8549643?v=glance&s=books&n=507846](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520220374/qid=1122554658/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-8787785-8549643?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)