1. Toto Snidvongs
Senior Seminar
Period 7
Mr. Clover
March 8, 2012
Rashomon Essay
Truth can be justified in many ways, but one of the most effective ways is through
perception, the awareness of things through our five senses. In the film Rashomon, the
characters in the film were recalling events of how the samurai died. The effect of the
subjectivity of perception in recollection was seen in every character, each characters told
their own side of the story of what they believe was the truth. Rogers Ebert and Errol
Morris both have their own analysis of the film. Ebert believes that the truth is different
for each individual, however, Morris believes there is only one absolute truth. Although
the stories that were told were very different from each other, I believe that there
obviously must be only one truth to what happened. I strongly agree with his view of
truth because there must be only one truth about things, but what actually happen is that
as people evolve or discovers more about something they are just learning more about
that truth; the truth was there since the beginning already. Morris’s idea about truth to
the film Rashomon is more viable.
Morris’s idea of truth is very similar to Plato’s idea of truth in that truth is
independent of human beliefs; it is there and will always be present no matter what

2. people believe. The fact that people discovers or learn about something and think they
found the truth is false according to both Morris and Plato because the truth was already
there. For example, for human evolution, some people do not believe in human evolution,
the truth is that there is human evolution because there is evidence that humans are
evolving therefore; there is only one truth.
Morris believes “Rashomon is not a movie about the subjectivity of truth. That
there’s no objective truth, just subjective truth. A truth for you, a truth for me”. He
basically believes that although people may claim different story or account of what
happens there is just one independent truth that is present. In Rashomon no matter what
the characters are telling the viewers, there is and only is one person who killed the
samurai, which is the real truth. Ebert would believe that each character has their own
truth because he believes that truth depends on what people think and it is different for
individuals. However, this is not possible because multiple people cannot kill the
samurai, therefore at the end it would be somewhat like what Morris believes, that after
all there will be only one killer.
Perception is a great way of knowing. As stated earlier perception is the
awareness of things through our five sense, whether by sensation (provided by our own
environment) or from interpretation (perception done by our mind). The theory of seeing
is believing supports what Morris thinks about Rashomon. Sometimes it could also be
inferred to believing is seeing because sometimes the things you imagine to happen or
things you believe you would picture it that way. Just as Morris stated “it’s a movie about
how everybody sees the world differently. But the claim that everybody sees the world

3. differently is not a claim that there’s no reality.” His view of reality or knowledge is
somewhat similar to that of Plato’s, Plato believes that K=JTB. He believes that with
believes and justification there will be truth therefore there will be knowledge. Which is
what Ebert would believe that whatever people believe it could be truth and it would lead
to knowledge. Morris believes the exact opposite, he believes that no matter what there
will be only one absolute truth, and if you deviate from that truth then you would not
have knowledge of something, he believes that K=T, if you have truth you also have
knowledge. The reason that the characters told different story could be because of the
believing is seeing theory or the eye-witness testimony. The eye-witness testimony states
that everything that someone sees or remember can be constructed in their mind,
memories can altered if somebody convinced you otherwise. This means that the stories
that were told were just stories altered by the characters mind of what actually happened,
the absolute truth.
Both Ebert and Morris had very convincing ways to support their views.
Ebert believes that truth is subjective, where as Morris believes that truth is
independent of people’s belief and perception. However, I believe that Morris’s ideal
of truth is more relatable. He believes that there is just one truth a truth for me and
a truth for you, no matter what people think or see there will just be one truth to it.
In the film Rashamon it was only logical to have one killer, some of the stories must
be a lie because all the characters cannot be the killer. Which again supports
Morris’s point of view. The reason the stories were told differently by each
characters could be explained by the believing is seeing theory and the eye-witness

4. testimony. After all there will only be one true killer between all the stories, the
characters were just deviating from the real truth.

5. Works Cited
“Errol Morris.” Interview by Believer. Believermag.com. The Believer, Apr. 2004.Web.
23 Feb. 2012.
Ebert, Roger. “Rashomon (1950). “Rogerebert.com. 26 May 2002. Web. 7 March 2012.