Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

[ZapRowsdower]

42ndstreetfreak said:

Am I the only one who finds it disgraceful and insulting that almost all the leads are Chinese and not Japanese!

Is thisa case of the 'all those chinks look alike' syndrome!!!

Disgusting!

Actually, this did not bother me. The reason being: they're acting. Stuff like this happens all the time: Al Pacino playing the Cuban Tony Montana, English Michael Caine playing an American Wilbur Larch, and Irish Liam Neeson playing a German Oskar Schindler. Only difference (ONLY difference) I see is that they just happen to be Chinese and Japanese. That's Hollywood for ya; if they look the part and can act the part, they can play the part.

I didn't hear anyone complaining when Lucy Liu (Chinese) played the half-Japanese O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill.

[Quorthon]

iamthesmitty said:

42ndstreetfreak said:

Am I the only one who finds it disgraceful and insulting that almost all the leads are Chinese and not Japanese!

Is thisa case of the 'all those chinks look alike' syndrome!!!

Disgusting!

Actually, this did not bother me. The reason being: they're acting. Stuff like this happens all the time: Al Pacino playing the Cuban Tony Montana, English Michael Caine playing an American Wilbur Larch, and Irish Liam Neeson playing a German Oskar Schindler. Only difference (ONLY difference) I see is that they just happen to be Chinese and Japanese. That's Hollywood for ya; if they look the part and can act the part, they can play the part.

I didn't hear anyone complaining when Lucy Liu (Chinese) played the half-Japanese O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill.

That's because she was still half-Chinese. Oh, and she's fucking gorgeous, by the way.

Here's a good one for yah (for those that didn't read my Cannibal! The Musical review), Cannibal! The Musical has a bunch of Japanese people passing themselves off as Indians. They even have the Japanese flag imbedded in their teepees!

[42ndstreetfreak]

quorthon said:

iamthesmitty said:

Actually, this did not bother me. The reason being: they're acting. Stuff like this happens all the time: Al Pacino playing the Cuban Tony Montana, English Michael Caine playing an American Wilbur Larch, and Irish Liam Neeson playing a German Oskar Schindler. Only difference (ONLY difference) I see is that they just happen to be Chinese and Japanese. That's Hollywood for ya; if they look the part and can act the part, they can play the part.

I didn't hear anyone complaining when Lucy Liu (Chinese) played the half-Japanese O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill.

That's because she was still half-Chinese. Oh, and she's fucking gorgeous, by the way.

Here's a good one for yah (for those that didn't read my Cannibal! The Musical review), Cannibal! The Musical has a bunch of Japanese people passing themselves off as Indians. They even have the Japanese flag imbedded in their teepees!

Indeed...shame a supposed serious drama thought to include such a joke of it's own.

It's a disgrace to me. And rather insulting.

[Phoenix]

I didn't see this because I read the book and I thought it was highly overrated. Sounds like the movie is just like the book...mediocre.

I like all those actors and actressess, even if they are chinese, but it's not enough for me to spend my money to see it.

[ZapRowsdower]

phoenix said:

I didn't see this because I read the book and I thought it was highly overrated. Sounds like the movie is just like the book...mediocre.

I like all those actors and actressess, even if they are chinese, but it's not enough for me to spend my money to see it.

Actually, the story WAS the weakest aspect of the movie. Not the kind of story I want to spend 2 1/2 hours on.

At least there were beautiful visuals to look at in case you got bored.

And as for the whole concept of Chinese actors playing Japanese characters, this happens all the time in the west. Here's a chart for your consideration.

Antonio Banderas - Spanish.
El Mariachi - Mexican.

Al Pacino - American, of Italian descent
Antonio Montana (AKA Scarface) - Cuban.

Michael Caine - English (UK)
Dr. Wilbur Larch - American

Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney - Scottish and English, respectively
Edward Bloom (played by both actors in Big Fish) - American... from the South.

Renée Zellweger - American... from Texas.
Bridget Jones - English. Really English.

Or from what the AFI considers one of the 100 Greatest Films of all time (The Jazz Singer):

Al Jolson - Caucasian.
Jack Robin - African American

So what's the big deal if a Chinese actor plays a Japanese character? The fact that they're Eastern countries that don't quite get along? So what? It's called acting!

[42ndstreetfreak]

iamthesmitty said:

And as for the whole concept of Chinese actors playing Japanese characters, this happens all the time in the west. Here's a chart for your consideration.

Antonio Banderas - Spanish.
El Mariachi - Mexican.

Al Pacino - American, of Italian descent
Antonio Montana (AKA Scarface) - Cuban.

Michael Caine - English (UK)
Dr. Wilbur Larch - American

Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney - Scottish and English, respectively
Edward Bloom (played by both actors in Big Fish) - American... from the South.

Renée Zellweger - American... from Texas.
Bridget Jones - English. Really English.

Or from what the AFI considers one of the 100 Greatest Films of all time (The Jazz Singer):

Al Jolson - Caucasian.
Jack Robin - African American

So what's the big deal if a Chinese actor plays a Japanese character? The fact that they're Eastern countries that don't quite get along? So what? It's called acting!

I dfon't see it as the same at all.

The Jolson thing is utterly pointless to the arguement, Jolson was not pretending to be anything...he was doing the (then) acceptable and popular music hall act of 'Blacking up'.

Everyone knows Caine is not a fucking American, everyone knows Pacino was not a freakin Cuban.

But this (to me) seems purely a case of 'all Orientals look the same'.
It's nothing to do with who is the best actor for the role, it's purely because they expect most people not to notice as the makers assume we are all as ignorant as them.

[Quorthon]

42ndstreetfreak said:

But this (to me) seems purely a case of 'all Orientals look the same'.
It's nothing to do with who is the best actor for the role, it's purely because they expect most people not to notice as the makers assume we are all as ignorant as them.

Filmmakers... ignorant! Surely not! *coughpaulwsandersoncough*

Actually, I don't think all Asians look the same. There's subtle differences. Vietnamese are typically darker skinned than Chinese or Japanese, Cambodians are typically darker still. And Koreans make the most beautiful women, second are the Japanese. Sometimes, somehow, I can tell them apart. I can say, that guy's Chinese and actually be right. But then again... there are over a billion Chinese in the world... so what are the chances I'd be wrong?

But then again, all white people look the same to a lot of Asians and blacks.

A lot of white people are too ignorant to notice, of just not familiar enough with Asian people. For instance, there's a guy on another message board I use that said he hated America (and he's American) because it doesn't have beautiful mountainous landscapes like in Scandinavia. He was too ignorant to even know that America has tons of mountains. Think he can tell the difference from Japanese to Chinese? He probably doesn't even know the difference between African and Indian.

[42ndstreetfreak]

What also makes this worse is that the entire story is specific to a culture.

There was no actual need to have Tony in "Scarface" a Cuban. He wasn't in the original.
Some character being a Brit or American in a non-specfic cultural story/role is also not an issue.

But "Geisha" is a specifically Japanese tale covering a specific part of Japanese life and culture!

So yeah...lets get some Chinese in!.


And beforw any more old examples are thrown around SURELY cinema and society (and the chances for and attention given to Asian actors) has improved since the days of Alec Guiness blacking up to be Indian or James Mason pretending to be a fucking China man!

THAT would not be allowed now because people would notice and moan...just because they can get away with a Chinese person being Japane4se does not make it any different from those unacceptable examples though either artistically or morally.