I caught a late showing of "Memoirs of a Geisha" tonight. Let me just get this out of the way before I start. Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi are hot. REALLY hot. They overcame my aversion to the story (well founded as it turned out) based on second hand accounts.
Admittedly, the movie was in places quite aesthetically engaging. The use of light and constrained spaces of certain scenes almost evoked a film noir. This made the sporadic use of vibrant color (the cherry blossoms or kimonos come to mind) all the more compelling. The well choreographed dances featuring Zhang were the height of grace (and pretty sexy, no doubt).
All that doesn't make up for the serious flaws inherent in the film. For one thing, nearly all these archetypical Japanese were played by Chinese actresses. While they may all look the same to use whiteys, it DOES diminish any authenticity the movie might have had (I'll get to the story in a minute...that finishes the job). Zhang's English is less than perfect and there are a few places where it seems that Chinese actresses are trying to imitate Japanese accents ("Rook at my carrigraphy!"). It was almost as ridiculous as Angelina Jolies' gypsy vampire accent in "Alexander". The movie also relied on some cheap Japanese stereotypes to convey familiarity.. there was the "Mr. Miagi" character (a conflation of Mamiya and the old woman who dies halfway through), the stern bushido (the scarred man), the buffoonish American soldiers, and plenty of ridiculous aphorisms such as: Sometimes man want to put eel into cave (ok with THOSE actresses who WOULDN'T be interested in spelunking); It like letting tiger out of cage; and of course, (Looking at the protagonist's blues eyes) You have water in you, you wearing down rocks and rusting iron.
The blue eyes are in and of themselves a ridiculous point, and I think the theme of the movie. An attempt to sexualize Asian women in a way that will titillate Westerners and yet be accessible to them. If I were Japanese (or Chinese for that matter) I would HATE this move. (I didn't like it as it was)
The problem lies in the book. Here we have one of the more esoteric aspects of Japanese culture, one not easily accessible to those who aren't Japanese, and the book is written by some American. He interviewed an actual geisha, who ended up suing him for libel. Apparently she took offense to his depiction of the auctioning off of her virginity. She claims that such a practice does not and never has existed. I am in no position (being quite ignorant of Japanese culture myself) to comment upon this. However, it seems that it would sure sell a lot of books (and the book did indeed sell quite a few copies). Perhaps some real Japanese historians will set the record straight. One the one hand, human nature being what it is, I'm sure quite a few geishas have been taken advantage of. However this movie was yet another example of hypersexualizing Asian women and depicting Asian men as lecherous and weak.
In general, I found the sex scenes in the movie to be nauseating. This was not because they showed virtuous woman bowing to the unseemly desires of beastly man, but because they showed a woman who felt unable to make choices. If strength is in submission, there isn't much to hope for in life other than a series of passive aggressive confrontations.
I couldn't help but snicker at the scene in which her virginity (annoyingly referred to by a Japanese term I can't quite remember... mizagumi?) was taken by the the dirty old man. Anyone who has read Herodotus will recognize his description of the Babylonian temple prostitutes lying down on sheets in front on incense to give themselves to men. A creative author indeed!
Understanding another culture takes hard work and an open mind. You can't learn the subtleties of ANY other culture merely by 2 hours of entertainment. This movie was nothing more than Cinderella in a kimono and platform shoes. Well, a skanky Cinderella... more like Flashdance I guess.
??.??.? Your condescension is so misplaced, it boggles my mind. I am a polymath, you are a peasant. And yet the peasant struck. TELOS really now... 0rz
Admittedly, the movie was in places quite aesthetically engaging. The use of light and constrained spaces of certain scenes almost evoked a film noir. This made the sporadic use of vibrant color (the cherry blossoms or kimonos come to mind) all the more compelling. The well choreographed dances featuring Zhang were the height of grace (and pretty sexy, no doubt).
All that doesn't make up for the serious flaws inherent in the film. For one thing, nearly all these archetypical Japanese were played by Chinese actresses. While they may all look the same to use whiteys, it DOES diminish any authenticity the movie might have had (I'll get to the story in a minute...that finishes the job). Zhang's English is less than perfect and there are a few places where it seems that Chinese actresses are trying to imitate Japanese accents ("Rook at my carrigraphy!"). It was almost as ridiculous as Angelina Jolies' gypsy vampire accent in "Alexander". The movie also relied on some cheap Japanese stereotypes to convey familiarity.. there was the "Mr. Miagi" character (a conflation of Mamiya and the old woman who dies halfway through), the stern bushido (the scarred man), the buffoonish American soldiers, and plenty of ridiculous aphorisms such as: Sometimes man want to put eel into cave (ok with THOSE actresses who WOULDN'T be interested in spelunking); It like letting tiger out of cage; and of course, (Looking at the protagonist's blues eyes) You have water in you, you wearing down rocks and rusting iron.
The blue eyes are in and of themselves a ridiculous point, and I think the theme of the movie. An attempt to sexualize Asian women in a way that will titillate Westerners and yet be accessible to them. If I were Japanese (or Chinese for that matter) I would HATE this move. (I didn't like it as it was)
The problem lies in the book. Here we have one of the more esoteric aspects of Japanese culture, one not easily accessible to those who aren't Japanese, and the book is written by some American. He interviewed an actual geisha, who ended up suing him for libel. Apparently she took offense to his depiction of the auctioning off of her virginity. She claims that such a practice does not and never has existed. I am in no position (being quite ignorant of Japanese culture myself) to comment upon this. However, it seems that it would sure sell a lot of books (and the book did indeed sell quite a few copies). Perhaps some real Japanese historians will set the record straight. One the one hand, human nature being what it is, I'm sure quite a few geishas have been taken advantage of. However this movie was yet another example of hypersexualizing Asian women and depicting Asian men as lecherous and weak.
In general, I found the sex scenes in the movie to be nauseating. This was not because they showed virtuous woman bowing to the unseemly desires of beastly man, but because they showed a woman who felt unable to make choices. If strength is in submission, there isn't much to hope for in life other than a series of passive aggressive confrontations.
I couldn't help but snicker at the scene in which her virginity (annoyingly referred to by a Japanese term I can't quite remember... mizagumi?) was taken by the the dirty old man. Anyone who has read Herodotus will recognize his description of the Babylonian temple prostitutes lying down on sheets in front on incense to give themselves to men. A creative author indeed!
Understanding another culture takes hard work and an open mind. You can't learn the subtleties of ANY other culture merely by 2 hours of entertainment. This movie was nothing more than Cinderella in a kimono and platform shoes. Well, a skanky Cinderella... more like Flashdance I guess.
??.??.? Your condescension is so misplaced, it boggles my mind. I am a polymath, you are a peasant. And yet the peasant struck. TELOS really now... 0rz
posted by akrites @ 9:30 AM
1 Comments:
At 9:56 AM,
Anonymous said…
Angelus, you're always amazing.
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