Well, now, this is an interesting point.

I’ve occasionally played devil’s advocate in my mind about the whole Iwasaki/Golden thing. While you can find plenty of quotes from her about the lawsuit, you have no idea what he feels. I don’t know if this is because he thought it was better to keep quiet, or he was being gentlemanly. At the same time, one wonders what happened during their interviews to lead him to think that it would be okay to name her publicly. Did she tacitly agree, and not expect that backlash she later received? Or did she really never agree to see her name used? Was her virginity actually autctioned off or did he make it up? I don’t know.

From what I hear, he is writing another book, but it isn’t set in Japan at all. I’ll be very curious to learn about it when it comes out.

As for Iwasaki’s story; my understanding is that the TV drama will be “based” on the book, but not a faithful retelling of it. Thus, we may see someone find dramatic tensions and sympathies that weren’t in the original narrative.

Nix, you’re forgetting that Iwasaki was forced to leave her real parents, which is not something you should want on any child. Also she clearly confesses to the fact she was spoilt as a child and bratty.

Besides, wasn’t Golden born with a silver spoon stuck up his arse?

Probably it’s too late to post a comment on “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Though, just watching Ziang Zyi in Kimono with Ken Watanabe in this picture makes me feel strange. “This isn’t true Japan.” I know too well it’s an American film made through the eyes of Americans. But with Chinese actress as a lead role, kimono dress, hairdo, facial and body expressions, ornaments, architectures and… everything in this film are loud imitations. As overseas audiences cannot tell the differences, lags in cultural details don’t matter for them at all.

The problem is actually the lack of respect for the culture. In that sense American people have difficulties identifying their own culture, because the US is the nation of immigrants. I am not only talking about this film. Rather than that Japanese people themselves should make much of defending their original culture. I wonder why Ken Watanabe or other Japanese people who were involved in making the film, can’t take the initiative to make the film authentic. Are they just slaves of American film director ?

Indeed, Japan is already America’s poodle, politically and economically. Japan has to be careful not loosing cultural independence. Otherwise future Japanese kids cannot distinguish imitations from originals.

In general, American movies are good as long as the theme is domestic. But when they deal with the foreign culture, it always turns out to be very much stereotypes. The same thing goes for the books.

“Call me shallow if you must….”

RYO, you’re shallow and have bad taste.

I don’t understand what all the fuss was about over having Chinese actresses playing Japanese geisha. Hollywood has produced countless movies in which actors and actresses portrayed characters of different nationalities. For example, the other day I caught “K-19: The Widowmaker” on a local cable station. I don’t remember there being any controversy about Harrison Ford (an American) and Liam Neeson (from Northern Ireland) playing Russian submariners.

In all honesty, how many capable Japanese actresses are there who are proficient in English? By “capable actress” I don’t mean returnee singing idols like Hikaru Nishida.

Raj: “RYO, you’re shallow and have bad taste.”

Ouch…. (Am I alone in my opinion here? I wonder….)

I wrote my comment in the manner that nobody could agree 100% with all my points. But each point is possible to be agreed by someone. Consider, most points go for Japanese people.

Nix, “What fresh hell is this?!” is the exact my feeling for “Memoirs of a Geisha” as a film. For me, Ziang Zyi doesn’t look like a Japanese Geisha at all.

Kaminoge, I don’t mind her nationality. It’s about cultural adaptability. Among capable Japanese actresses, Anna Tsuchiya 土屋あんな was a good candidate. She is young and beautiful. She speaks English. Or Yuuki Kudo 工藤夕貴. Her English is very good. But she might be a bit old.

While I reiterate that I haven’t seen this movie, my guess is that language was a greater barrier to positive receptivity than the nationalities of cast members. They should have gone the Mel Gibson route and filmed the story in Japanese (which I suppose would in turn have forced the producers to go with a Japanese cast) with English subtitles. It would have entailed a more involved process in adapting the book for the big screen, but I figure that it would have been worth it in capable hands.

TofuUnion - Anna Tsuchiya and Yuki Kudo are the only names that come up, and Kudo was actually in the movie. There aren’t many Japanese actresses out there that can handle roles in Hollywood productions, unfortunately.

Sorry for another direction, again.

Recently Anna Tsuchiya played a lead role as Geisha in another movie, no matter how she looked more like a white girl and way too modern. She might be a quite different character than “Sayuri”. Yes, Yuuki Kudo was actually in the movie“Memoirs of a Geisha”.

Zhang Ziyi had been chosen as the lead role because of her appearance, youth and English ability. So far it was all right. But the cultural aspect was missing (as the whole thing). When she doesn’t appear as Japanese Geisha (at least for me) it’s wrong.

Always the same stereotypes in Hollywood Movies. For example, “Last Samurai” was in an alien style, too. Bizarre mixture of China, Japan and oriental nowhere land. The texture of the film was like a grotesque reptilian to me. How long does it last ? New Zeitgeist, please.

This post brings up so many interesting issues.

Regarding Golden’s book, I thought that the book itself was an enjoyable read, but that the movie brought out a lot of the story’s oddities. Only after watching the movie did I realize that the heroine Sayuri was in a way, an obsessive stalker. I think that most fiction written about a culture foreign to the author will contain exotic or superlative elements, Memoirs included. Overall I wouldn’t say the book was an unfaithful portrayal of Japanese culture (most errors seem to be of the minor rather than major sort). Also, most people I know who read the book became further interested in Japan, so it served as sort of a stepping stone into Japan.

As for the movie, I enjoyed it although I made it a point not to fixate on anything too “un-Japanese.” I figure, I never paid attention to an American (or European) actor playing a different nationality on TV, or in any other movie, I sure as hell won’t ruin my experience and do so because the actress happens to be Asian. However, reading the book and watching the movie brought out a lot of the central storyline’s weaknesses, as well as a lot of character flaws I never previously paid much attention to, especially in regards to Sayuri and the Chairman.

As for the nationality question. I think my thoughts are best described by Kaminoge’s post. There is next to no criticism (scorn is more appropriate) when an actor of African or Caucasian descent plays a role different from that of his nationality. Perhaps it has to do with the criticizer’s level of interest in a culture which elevates his/her level of scrutiny? Americans and most Europeans I’ve met tend not to be as protective about the inappropriate, often incorrect portrayal of European and African cultures as displayed on TV or most movies. Yet I notice strangely that many Asians (myself included) and other people interested in Asian culture, demand a higher level of authenticity when the subject being portrayed is Asian. Asians seem to do it all the time, but seem more sensitive when the role being portrayed is their own nationality. I’ve cringed many a time when seeing how Chinese programs portray foreigners and their cultures. I’ve laughed till it hurts when I see how Chinese culture, or America is portrayed on Japanese dramas. The inordinate level of scrutiny given to Zhang Ziyi’s role in Memoirs though, really surprised me given how conventional the practice of playing another nationality is.

As for another actress who could play a geisha, it would take a great deal of training to mold any actress into the appropriate demeanor. Frankly most Japanese women I’ve seen and know would not be able to play the role of geisha, (geisha being are almost as foreign to their daily lives as they are to any non-Japanese). In my mind being Japanese would not de-facto make an actress more appropriate for playing a geisha. Having seen the movie and read the criticism, I also have yet to read any substantive critique of Zhang Ziyi’s portrayal; if anything the flaws were inherent in the scripting and direction, and not in her acting abilities. As for appropriate Japanese actresses, I’m sure Japan as many capable actresses, but they probably would not be of idol-level status. Look at Rinko Kikuchi, she played her role very well in Babylon, but is a virtual unknown in Japan. As for Anna Tsuchiya, I think she is a very bad candidate. As a poster stated, not only does she not look Japanese (she looks more Russian than Japanese), she also exudes too much of a brusque modern female quality. Her Oiran movie also hardly looked culturally authentic and I’d say it probably had more inaccuracies in terms of history, culture, and mannerisms, than the Memoirs movie. I would actually root for Inoue to play a geisha, not only does she have a certain (not manufactured plastic) quality to her, she has the demeanor to play one. In the end, as others have pointed out, international recognition probably was an important factor in the selection of the actresses.

Nix: “RYO, er, don’t you mean Clint Eastwood, not Mel Gibson? Granted they both have made films completely in a foreign language.”

Forgive my ignorance, but I had no idea that Clint Eastwood had made a movie completely in a foreign language. (I’ll have to look it up when I have time.) I thought of Mel Gibson because of Passion and Apocalypto (which I enjoyed quite recently).

All this talk of criticizing a movie because of the inaccuracies in how it portrays a given culture is quite interesting. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel that it reveals a certain degree of insecurity on the part of critics. If I wanted to see authentic Japanese culture captured accurately on celluloid, I would rent a decent movie produced with an all-Japanese cast and crew (such as the aforementioned Tasogare).

Come to think of it, they should have just made Memoirs as an animated film. Think of the possibilities!

Nix: That’s right! Thanks for the reminder. I believe the DVD is coming out soon. Will have to catch it then. (I can also see why that example would have been more relevant to the point I was trying to make.)

Incidentally, it must be extraordinarily challenging to try and direct a movie like that when the language is for the most part totally foreign. (Unless there’s something about Eastwood’s linguistic abilities of which I’m not aware.)

“Yet I notice strangely that many Asians (myself included) and other people interested in Asian culture, demand a higher level of authenticity when the subject being portrayed is Asian. Asians seem to do it all the time, but seem more sensitive when the role being portrayed is their own nationality.”

As Asian culture is a minority culture (in the West), it has a good reason for them to defend it. In general, Japanese culture is a sensitive one and that’s why Japanese tend to demand a higher level of authenticity. It’s a minority issue for Asian Americans, as well.

For Japan on the other hand, it’s about survival of old Japanese culture.

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