Testimony Of Witnesses In Rashonmon And Their Social Construction

In the Japanese classical legal film The Rassyomon testimony of witnesses contradict each other and are so difficult to distinguish. Research at home and abroad is mainly from the aspects of moral about the subject of the film. The article gives a review of the related articles on the influence factor of testimony of witnesses and finds that the research has already been plentiful but there is little research from the point of role theory about influence factor of testimony of witnesses. From the point of role theory the witness' s testimony lies are from role cognition and identity construction. Role theory studys individual role in the process of interaction and the activity routines and helps to explain and predict individual activity in certain circumstances. So the study on role theory of the influence factor of testimony of witnesses has very important theory meaning.The article embarks from the role theory and studys within a system of Role expectations- Role cognition- Role behavior. The article explores the influence of role identity on witness' s testimony in the film The Rassyomon using documentation method and interdisciplinary research method. The research finds that :(1) Specific witnesses or parties are specific social role players and there are not witnesses or parties without specific social role background;(2) When the witnesses testify and give evidence in court their social role will be shaped and constructed by their testimony;(3) Social roles of certain witness are deeply embedded in the social historical and cultural environment and are the outcome of combined action of social role expectations and of self-role cognition.The innovation of this article lies to explore the construction function of role identity and social expectation using the social role theory as the analysis framework and provide a new train of thought of law of testimony of witnesses and social science research.