lost in the racism?
Many of you know that Lost in Translation was Talkin Crap's movie of the year for 2003. It was without a doubt the most touching compelling picture I had seen in a long long time. A movie with solid writing that didn't sell out and told a simple story. And of course highlighted in Japan even better.. however... today while surfing my blogs I got a whiff "racism" that this movie supposedly projects about the Japanese.
Racism? They want to ban if from the Acadmey Awards...
"The main characters' callous treatment towards these stereotyped Japanese is unfair and offensive. The main characters are portrayed as normal people while the Japanese are bizarre. The main characters prey on the Japanese and their inability to understand English. Particularly offensive are the hackneyed stereotypical jokes such as the overdone juxtaposition of L's and R's, mocking them because they bow and are short, and references to their disgusting food. The main characters visibly express disdain, and make insulting remarks and jokes in the direct presence of Japanese characters. There are no redeeming Japanese roles in the film, nor is there any significant dialogue between the main characters and the Japanese characters. They merely serve as buffoons for the main characters to ridicule. "
Sure I suppose you can make these extreme observations and if your going to do so then you must obsever the opposite, the scene at the temple and the flower making, along with emotional views of the city itself in silence high up above in the towers of tokyo. I find it crazy and offensive to to consider this movie as racism. Typical I assume you can't make any movie these days without offending someone. Even when you do play the honest card, what really happened, even then thats offensive and must be destroyed.
Seeing Lost in Translation reminded me of my adventures in Tokyo, and yes the material is quite famillar but I also see the good side of it like Coppola did with intergrating the temple scene and highlighting the traditions of Japan.
one note from the comments section where i found the original posting...
"Caricature is not necessarily racism -- without caricature there can be no art.
The movie was apparently driven from Coppola's personal experience of Tokyo, but it is not a documentary, so only the protagonists get sympathetic treatments, everybody else must be a story/plot device.
I don't think cultural centricity is a soft form of racism; more accurately it is just chauvinism, something that we all are "guilty" of.
If Japan weren't truly an alien place to the non-Japanese-speaking anglo-european, there would be no "lost in translation", and no movie exploring these issues to be made here."
Good points I think I hate to see a movie like this get folks up in arms but then again I guess everything is offensive to someone out there. Again it will stand as Floozy Speak's Movie of 2003 regardless.
Seems to me if they are offended about Lost in Translation how do they take Iron Chef or Most Extreme Elmination tv shows.. those must be offensive as all hell.