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Taboo
Movie

Taboo

1999 • Unknown

Woke Score
4
out of 10

Plot

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Overall Series Review

The film focuses on the all-male Shinsengumi, an elite samurai unit, and the disruptive arrival of a young, beautiful, and androgynous recruit named Sozaburo Kano. His presence immediately ignites maddening desire and jealousy among the disciplined warriors, leading to a breakdown of order and, eventually, murder. The narrative centers entirely on how raw, forbidden desire—sexual ideology—destroys a traditional, martial brotherhood from within. The master, Vice-Commander Hijikata, attempts to solve the escalating chaos through traditional samurai discipline, but the destructive force of desire proves superior to the martial code. The film uses a historical Japanese setting to examine themes of social taboos and repression, suggesting a critique of the group-oriented society. The narrative is largely self-contained within the all-male world of the samurai compound, leaving modern feminist and racial politics outside its scope.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film is set in Japan and features an entirely Japanese cast, so the concept of vilification of 'whiteness' or historical 'race-swapping' is not applicable. Characters are judged primarily by their swordsmanship and secondarily by the destructive effect of their beauty and desire on the group's cohesion.

Oikophobia6/10

The traditional, highly disciplined institution of the Shinsengumi is shown to be fundamentally corruptible and ultimately destroyed by internal, repressed desires. This framing of the home culture's primary institution—the warrior elite—as inherently unstable and susceptible to chaos functions as a deconstruction of a cultural heritage. The director uses the historical setting to allegorically criticize the repression found in modern Japanese society.

Feminism1/10

The narrative is set within an exclusively male-dominated environment (the Shinsengumi compound). Women are almost entirely absent from the plot and are not a factor in the core conflict. There is no presence of 'Girl Boss' tropes, no critique of motherhood as a 'prison,' and no focus on career fulfillment for females, resulting in a low score.

LGBTQ+9/10

The entire plot revolves around the centering of an alternative sexual dynamic—male-male desire—as the engine of all narrative movement, chaos, and eventual violence within the elite military unit. The sexual identity of the young samurai, Kano, and the resulting forbidden attractions are the primary subject matter of the film, effectively deconstructing the traditional, normative structure of the all-male brotherhood and leading to its breakdown.

Anti-Theism2/10

The conflict is secular, dealing with the martial code, loyalty, and social taboos within the samurai context. There is no overt hostility directed toward religion, specifically Christianity, and faith is not a source of strength or a root of evil in the story. Moral questions are centered around the group's code of conduct and power dynamics, but without an anti-theistic lecture.