Asians don't like 'Memoirs of a Geisha'

[Drake Tungsten]

`Memoirs of a Geisha' film kicks up storm in Japan and China

BEIJING - China and Japan, which are at each other's throats over any number of issues, finally seem to agree on one thing: Hollywood's latest release is a cultural dud.

The Hollywood movie "Memoirs of a Geisha," which had its world premiere in Tokyo on Tuesday, has triggered consternation in Japan because none of the three lead actresses are Japanese; two of them are Chinese and another is an ethnic Chinese from Malaysia.

Citizens polled about the matter in Tokyo questioned why Hollywood chose Chinese actresses to portray geishas, quintessentially Japanese women trained in traditional arts of singing, dancing and accompanying wealthy men.

If there's dismay in Japan, there's outrage in China, but for a different reason: Many Chinese are beside themselves that the film's star, Zhang Ziyi, China's best-known actress, is depicted in the movie as having sexual relations with a Japanese man.

"She deserves to be chopped into a thousand bits," said one Internet user, one of more than 1,000 people who posted on the subject at the Tianji (Sky's Edge) Web portal.

"Zhang is a shameless prostitute," another posting said. "She should be deprived of Chinese citizenship.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13294142.htm

Interesting to see the difference in the Japanese vs. the Chinese reaction. For what it's worth, I agree with the Japanese point of view; I thought it was stupid when I saw the trailer and found out that Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh were going to portray characters as quintessentially Japanese as geisha. Yeoh isn't quite so bad as her English is good enough that you can pretend she's actually Japanese, but Ziyi is so obviously Chinese that it's difficult to believe her in the role. I guess the Hollywood suits thought she'd bring in more money than a Japanese actress, but it seems they've hurt their foreign box office by assuming that no one would care about their geisha actually being Japanese.

And for the record, I don't think Zhang Ziyi is a prostitute and wouldn't want to see her cut into a thousand pieces. I wouldn't mind seeing her Chinese citizenship revoked however, as long as America promises to offer her asylum...

[Sikander]

If you and I both found the choice of Chinese actresses playing Geisha to be strange when it was announced, how the hell could a major film studio miss it? Perhaps they thought the free publicity from the outrage would help the film.

[Az]

They are both stupid.

omg, people playing characters from other nations!!!!!11

It would be completely moronic if we had only russians playing russians, french playing french, germans playing germans, arabs playing arabs, jews playing jews, etc.

but i guess all white people look alike.

[Tattila the Hun]

Yes, you are correct. But chinese look nothing like japanese, even to, hum, trained eye.

[Az]

Harrison Ford, otoh, looks exactly like a Russian.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Az
Harrison Ford, otoh, looks exactly like a Russian.

Almost as much as Sean Connery.

[Az]

[Drake Tungsten]

It's not so much how they look as how they sound. Ziyi's thick Chinese accent just isn't right for a supposedly Japanese geisha.

Not that Connery sounded Russian in The Hunt for Red October, but he doesn't count. The man can say anything in his Scottish brogue and it will sound right, for some inexplicable reason.

Yes, you are correct. But chinese look nothing like japanese, even to, hum, trained eye.

This isn't really true. The Japanese aren't as homogenous as most people think and there are plenty of Japanese folks who would be hard to pick out from a crowd in China.

[Az]

admit it, that's a load of crap. it's a movie, for crying out loud. If you don't want the actor to speak the language in a funny way, don't make them talk the language, perhaps.

I am not even talking about the idiotic chinese responses.

[Drake Tungsten]

If you don't want the actor to speak the language in a funny way, don't make them talk the language, perhaps.

Was Ziyi supposed to speak in Chinese while everyone else spoke in English?

[Az]

if everyone spoke english, this is even more ridiculous:

the fact that she sounded chinese has nothing to do with anything at all.

[Drake Tungsten]

if everyone spoke english, this is even more ridiculous:

Why is it ridiculous? It's an American movie...

Like I said, Michelle Yeoh isn't a jarring as Zhang Ziyi, at least based on the trailer. Yeoh speaks English very well, so it's easy to suspend your disbelief and imagine her as a Japanese geisha, even though you know she's really Chinese. It's really hard to do that in Ziyi's case though, as her Chinese-accented English is constantly reminding you that she isn't Japanese.

[Az]

but as we've previously established, it's not uncommon for Hollywood to place actors with accents and looks that bear only a slight resemblance to the characters they're supposed to portray, in terms of ethnicity.

[Drake Tungsten]

For most characters, it's not that important. You can accept Sean Connery as a submarine captain even if you don't buy him as a Russian. Geisha are so thoroughly Japanese, however, that it's difficult to accept someone in the role if they simply can't fake being Japanese.

Let's look at hypothetical example using European cultures to illustrate my point. Can you really imagine Jean Reno (France's most famous actor) potraying a Nazi soldier (the most quintessential of German characters) in a thick French accent? Wouldn't that be a little jarring to the viewer?

[SpencerH]

I've only seen the trailer once (without paying much attention to it), but I do recall being confused about what appeared to be chinese women playing geisha's. I thought perhaps I was mistaken about their ancestry, or perhaps this was a movie about chinese 'geishas'. Now I know its just another typical hollywood ****up. "Chinese-Japanese what's the difference?"