dragon lady
oyceter linked to a post which touches on some issues with the Memoirs of a Geisha movie.
I tried to write something intelligent in order to explain my ambivalence about this movie, especially considering some really excellent recent posts by jazzypom and miriam_heddy about race in fandom. But I can't come up with anything logical. This is what goes through my head when I think about that movie:
- white man usurping/twisting Japanese woman's story for his own profit
- haven't read the book
- but why would I? see above
- Chinese actresses =/= Japanese characters
- pan-Asianism is for college freshmen and the occasional voting bloc, NOT real life
- no apology or acknowledgement from Japan for WW2 atrocities
- comfort women
- why do I care, this is an East Asian beef and I should really be concerned about lack of representation of Southeast Asians in art and media
- but Gong Li! and Michelle Yeoh! and Ken Watanabe! and okay, fine, Zhang Ziyi!
- exoticization fetishization nnnngh
So I haven't decided yet if I'll see the movie. I hate to think I'd be contributing any money to Arthur Golden's pocket, especially after the settling of Mineko Iwasaki's lawsuit. Or Rob Marshall's pocket, for that matter. But obviously, as an Asian I want a movie featuring Asian actors/characters to do well, and yet see above re: pan-Asianism -- really, when it comes down to it, I feel only marginally more connection to Chinese and Japanese issues than I do to, say, Latino or black people's issues. There's the baseline share of "we're all people of color and as such we all lack certain powers and privileges," but not much beyond that, because personally I'm way more concerned about my own particular ethnicity within the greater Asianism. Also, that sort of "we lack" argument loses some steam when you're talking about Chinese and Japanese people in their own country, or even in the United States, where East Asians have had it better than Southeast Asians for generations now.
Um, I'm sure I have some deep thoughts somewhere....
Oh! How about I really, really have an irrational kneejerk dislike of young Asians who don't get why this might be a big deal. Especially because for some that experience is still living memory. Please dear God, do NOT be trivializing what people's parents and grandparents went through, you arrogant pampered little shits. Forgiveness is good, but reparations are better.
...sigh. I'm irrational about it, okay?
*
So, Harry Potter tonight. Featuring Cho Chang, Parvati Patil, and Padma Patil as desirable young women. Well, I suppose technically the Patil twins really were last resorts even if they are supposedly the prettiest girls in Harry's year, but, um, at least they will have speaking lines. Upgrade?
Ugh, I hope I can still hear the movie above all the axe-grinding.
I tried to write something intelligent in order to explain my ambivalence about this movie, especially considering some really excellent recent posts by jazzypom and miriam_heddy about race in fandom. But I can't come up with anything logical. This is what goes through my head when I think about that movie:
- white man usurping/twisting Japanese woman's story for his own profit
- haven't read the book
- but why would I? see above
- Chinese actresses =/= Japanese characters
- pan-Asianism is for college freshmen and the occasional voting bloc, NOT real life
- no apology or acknowledgement from Japan for WW2 atrocities
- comfort women
- why do I care, this is an East Asian beef and I should really be concerned about lack of representation of Southeast Asians in art and media
- but Gong Li! and Michelle Yeoh! and Ken Watanabe! and okay, fine, Zhang Ziyi!
- exoticization fetishization nnnngh
So I haven't decided yet if I'll see the movie. I hate to think I'd be contributing any money to Arthur Golden's pocket, especially after the settling of Mineko Iwasaki's lawsuit. Or Rob Marshall's pocket, for that matter. But obviously, as an Asian I want a movie featuring Asian actors/characters to do well, and yet see above re: pan-Asianism -- really, when it comes down to it, I feel only marginally more connection to Chinese and Japanese issues than I do to, say, Latino or black people's issues. There's the baseline share of "we're all people of color and as such we all lack certain powers and privileges," but not much beyond that, because personally I'm way more concerned about my own particular ethnicity within the greater Asianism. Also, that sort of "we lack" argument loses some steam when you're talking about Chinese and Japanese people in their own country, or even in the United States, where East Asians have had it better than Southeast Asians for generations now.
Um, I'm sure I have some deep thoughts somewhere....
Oh! How about I really, really have an irrational kneejerk dislike of young Asians who don't get why this might be a big deal. Especially because for some that experience is still living memory. Please dear God, do NOT be trivializing what people's parents and grandparents went through, you arrogant pampered little shits. Forgiveness is good, but reparations are better.
...sigh. I'm irrational about it, okay?
*
So, Harry Potter tonight. Featuring Cho Chang, Parvati Patil, and Padma Patil as desirable young women. Well, I suppose technically the Patil twins really were last resorts even if they are supposedly the prettiest girls in Harry's year, but, um, at least they will have speaking lines. Upgrade?
Ugh, I hope I can still hear the movie above all the axe-grinding.