About

My Grandpa likes westerns and my friends like superhero flicks, but I have a subjective preference for chanbara or samurai movies and have since before I became aware of their existence. Something about the tall, solitary warrior grim faced but honorable has always appealed to me more than burly men in spandex or John Wayne ever could have.

Today this seems to go against the popularity grain. After all, they almost completely stopped making the movies I’m talking about 40 years ago. How could someone be interested in dusty, old samurai flicks when colossal features of objectively better visual quality are so readily available and in English? It’s like I’m one of those people who still send physical letters or listen to underground folk music with the claim that it sounds bad on purpose and that itself is the appeal. What could these weird foreign films from the ‘50s possibly have that makes them a favorite genre of mine over other, more-popular media?

Well, it’s difficult for me to say exactly why I like samurai movies…at least right now. That’s kind of the point of all this, to get to a place where I can explain my affection for the genre in terms a non-believer can understand completely.

My first instinct to achieving this objective is that I must have more exposure. As of writing this page, I have seen well over 1000 different films in my life (I listed them out), but only just north of a dozen of them apply as full-blooded samurai films. I’m hooked, but I’d feel dishonest in calling
myself a fan just yet. The natural remedy to understanding something like this is exposure, and I plan to get as much of that as possible in viewing 1-2 of these films weekly while managing this blog.

In my posts, I’ll attempt to convey the appeal of particular movies, hopefully resulting in more meaningful discussion of the genre as a whole later on. I’m no expert, but I’m passionate, and I hope others can find something to appreciate in my journey through this oddly specific genre.

Hopefully this isn’t just another millennial, white guy thinking he has something new to say about the works of Akira Kurosawa. That’d be redundant and frankly uninteresting. By applying each film first to myself, my experience, and my journey I’m looking to offer something unique, and by then suggesting why/how others might enjoy them I might even provide some value for the reader.

So, welcome dear reader to whatever this will become. Your interest is very much appreciated! 

---

Blog Strategy - The concept here is to view one or more "samurai movies" from the classic era (e.g. Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Harakiri, The Sword of Doom) each week and comment on them using varying methods such as written reviews, vlogs, and maybe even podcasts. Ideally, this will later culminate in more meaningful commentary on the genre as a whole.

Audience Analysis - I believe this topic will appeal to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to my own. Since widening the range of movies I'm exploring, I've found myself fascinated by particular genre films from early Japenese cinema. Chanbara flicks are to me what modern superhero movies seem to be to the masses, and I can't imagine I'm alone in this. It's easy to see young film buffs who haven't had the time or opportunity to explore this unique part of the film universe appreciating a documented journey by one of their own, and perhaps my experience will result in some curation or short cuts to getting into and understanding the appeal of samurai cinema. It's also worth noting that the vast majority of these movies were difficult to view, especially in high quality with proper subtitling, until the recent dawn of streaming films online, so I find myself uniquely able to undergo such an exploration. From geeky hipsters looking to find film recommendations outside modern Hollywood "abominations", to the experienced movie lover hoping for a fresh take on some classic flicks, I believe there's an audience for something like this.

Communication Objectives - This blog is about Samurai genre movies generally produced from 1950 to 1970. Through this blog I hope to convey exactly what the appeal of these films is, at least to me, and communicate my opinions of a portion of them including films both well known and obscure.

I've cross promoted this blog through a Youtube channel and Facebook page. Links also can be found on dedicated pages on the blog. Youtube features subscription options and links to other videos at the end of each video, and it helps that if the user decides to "watch on Youtube" they're still consuming official TWOTCS media. Facebook is a great source where I've used links to drive traffic to the official website. Screenshots below.

Analytics - OK, I think there has been a bit of a discrepancy between my concept of this class and yours. If I had paid closer attention to the “Analytics” rubric earlier on perhaps I would have been clued in more that our blog is supposed to be an actual, active hub that we’re supposed to be funneling readers to. I’ve gone through this class assuming I was expected to create a sort of mock blog for the sake of this class. Considering this, I have no active readers and believe about 90% of my traffic is simply me checking the formatting on my own posts.

If I messed up and failed to meet criteria, that’s on me. Here’s my effort to show what I would do to promote my blog if I was treating it as more than just an assignment. Please grade me as you see fit. For good measure, I did set up Google Analytics for my site last week, and I’ve included screenshots of both this and the built-in Blogger stats feature.

First, the title of my blog is asnyder2460.blogspot.com, which isn’t exactly eye catching and bears almost no connection to the actual subject of my blog. If I were looking to attract readers, I’d at least change this to something more appropriate if not register a non .blogspot.com address, something like cinemasamurai.com (which is actually available). This maintains a sense of professionalism for a blog like mine.

Second, aggressive promotion across social media is the clearest path I see to establishing a reader base. Doubling down and focusing something like a facebook ad on those with specific interests like classic films, Japanese cinema, or samurai movies could do wonders at a relatively low cost.

Furthermore, a real Youtube presence beyond the two videos required for this class might help direct serious traffic to a website like mine. In my experience, videos posted on Youtube have the potential to attract millions of clicks that a written article on the same subject just doesn’t command, and this practice maintains the spirit of this class in taking advantage of a variety of formats to widen one’s audience.

Lastly, I’d tailor content to my existing audience, taking into consideration demographics and audience input. Historically, when I’ve created similar content, it has attracted mostly male audiences from ages of about 15 to 40. Were I serious about my blog, I might make a more conscious effort to connect with this demographic, perhaps by making it clearer that I fit into it myself. I’d take early audience input seriously and alter my content to better fit the kinds of people who want to read it. If one post became popular, I’d consider developing similar posts.

…Anyway, I feel like that’s the kind of commitment it would take to develop a proper audience and reach a point where I might have interpretable analytics, but that also seems to go beyond the expectations of this course, at least how I understood them.