Joined
·
5,146 Posts
Okay, I've finally thought out a topic..
I've been thinking about going to see Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm studying Japanese, and a lot of the people on my course have either seen the film or been interested in it.
The reason I'm probably not going to see it is that I've been told it's a rather ugly Orientalist fantasy.
But it's not really alone in this.. The Last Samurai may have been popular in Japan, but let's face it, even in it's reverence, it's a stupid, patronizing film which pedals cheesy ideas of the 'exotic' and the 'eastern.' The summarizing of Bushido into 'life in every breath' was almost hilariously bad, and reminded me, unfortunately, of the Karate Kid. There were the same tired stereotypes of egoless drones and primitive warrior ethics, and of course, a repressed, easily exploited asian trophy babe for Tom Cruise.. I'm sorry, I have trouble containing my dislike of that film.
And of course it's not just films, and not just Japan. I met a guy the other day selling a book which apparently contained all the profound mystical secrets of Indian philosophy. Suffice to say, I wasn't convinced.
Why, in this modern age of mass communication and cultural hegemony, do people still return to these wierd colonial ideas about the 'mysterious and the exotic?' Why do we have to refer to them in contrast to our own 'Western' lives, as if we were somehow the centre of the universe, with everything 'different' as an amusing curiosity.
In fact, am I being paranoid and making this up? Am I ignorant myself (I accept that to a large degree) and just talking about things I don't understand?
It's all up to you..
I've been thinking about going to see Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm studying Japanese, and a lot of the people on my course have either seen the film or been interested in it.
The reason I'm probably not going to see it is that I've been told it's a rather ugly Orientalist fantasy.
But it's not really alone in this.. The Last Samurai may have been popular in Japan, but let's face it, even in it's reverence, it's a stupid, patronizing film which pedals cheesy ideas of the 'exotic' and the 'eastern.' The summarizing of Bushido into 'life in every breath' was almost hilariously bad, and reminded me, unfortunately, of the Karate Kid. There were the same tired stereotypes of egoless drones and primitive warrior ethics, and of course, a repressed, easily exploited asian trophy babe for Tom Cruise.. I'm sorry, I have trouble containing my dislike of that film.
And of course it's not just films, and not just Japan. I met a guy the other day selling a book which apparently contained all the profound mystical secrets of Indian philosophy. Suffice to say, I wasn't convinced.
Why, in this modern age of mass communication and cultural hegemony, do people still return to these wierd colonial ideas about the 'mysterious and the exotic?' Why do we have to refer to them in contrast to our own 'Western' lives, as if we were somehow the centre of the universe, with everything 'different' as an amusing curiosity.
In fact, am I being paranoid and making this up? Am I ignorant myself (I accept that to a large degree) and just talking about things I don't understand?
It's all up to you..