William Pauley III: Symbolism in Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai

Analysis of Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai



I was first drawn to Jim Jarmusch’s movies through an actor/musician named Tom Waits. Waits has been in two of Jarmusch’s films, Down By Law and Coffee and Cigarettes, and with me being such a huge fan of his, I have seen them several times. The one thing I have learned about Jarmusch’s films is that you have to watch every detail. He doesn’t flat out tell you who the characters are or what their purpose is, instead he only gives subtle hints. The same is true for Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai.

In the opening scene the camera focuses itself on different items strewn about Ghost Dog’s home. In just the first few minutes you can see what kind of person he is. He has many books, candles and religious statues, but the most important thing to notice is the picture of a woman in a frame surrounded by pages of newspaper. From what I gathered, the picture was of his wife/girlfriend. Directly after that scene Ghost Dog is walking towards a car he is about to steal and passes a graveyard. He kisses two of his fingers and moves them towards one of the graves as he keeps walking towards the car. This suggests that maybe Ghost Dog is a widower, but it is never explained and no other hints are given.

Jarmusch uses two distinct techniques to foreshadow: excerpts from The Hagakure (the codebook of the samurai) and cartoons. The excerpts seem to separate all of the scenes and they always apply to each of the ones following. The cartoons do the same, except they aren’t seen quite as often. The cartoons are always playing on a television that a mafia member is watching. In one cartoon, Betty Boop is talking to a flock of birds and sends a message by carrier pigeon. In the following scene, a message is delivered to Ghost Dog via carrier pigeon.

Symbolism is a heavy factor in this film as well. There is a scene in the park, when Ghost Dog first meets Pearline, where a dog is sitting and staring at him. The two stare at each other for a while before Pearline interrupts. I haven’t quite figured this one out yet, but I do have a couple ideas. For one, the dog could represent death because in the scenes that follow, many people are killed. The dog appears again towards the end of the film right before another major death occurs. On the other hand, the dog could simply just represent Ghost Dog himself. Not only is ‘dog’ already part of his name, but a dog also symbolizes loyalty, which applies to Ghost Dog’s loyalty to his “master”, Louie, the man who saved his life eight years previous. But the only problem I have with the last theory is that the bear seems to be more fitting. His best friend, a French ice cream truck driver, compares him to a bear - pointing out that a bear is harmless unless threatened, then it becomes a violent beast. There is also a scene later on in the film where Ghost Dog drives by two bear hunters who are loading a freshly killed carcass into their truck. Ghost Dog inquires why they would kill an endangered species and they respond by pointing their guns at him, only to be quickly taken down by Ghost Dog’s quick draw. This scene is critical for understanding Ghost Dog’s character. The bear represents the old ways, or the way of the samurai, and how it is quickly becoming “extinct”. People like Ghost Dog are an endangered species, soon to be wiped off of the Earth completely.

The last major point I feel I need to bring up is the film’s dualities. I felt that there was a major connection between Ghost Dog and Pearline. The connection is actually so great that it feels like they are the same person. They both read extensively, they both have the same tastes and Pearline ultimately ends up reading the final excerpt of The Hagakure, taking the place of Ghost Dog. Another major duality, which is arguable, is the fact that this film is not about a samurai at all, but of a man gone mad. Maybe becoming a “samurai” is just a therapeutic practice to get over the loss of his wife/girlfriend. If you watch the movie with this in mind, you start to see that all the other characters seem to feel the same way about him. Maybe the reason that his best friend is a non-English speaking Frenchman is because he is the only one who he could talk to about things and wouldn’t think of him as being crazy. Ghost Dog is obviously mentally tormented by his past, you can see this in those subtle hints Jarmusch gives us. For example, every time Ghost Dog listens to music he turns the volume up to 21. Judging by the information given to us throughout this film, 21 seems to be the age at which he had his near-death experience (when he was rescued by Louie). The biggest factor that supports this theory is the conversation between Ghost Dog and Pearline about the book Roshomon. Pearline says that her favorite part of the book is how the different people all experienced the same occurrence, but all had very different stories. Most likely this is what Jarmusch was going for, a movie with a storyline that can be taken many different ways by various viewers, which is difficult, but was pulled off extremely well.