Simon wrote:
> "Nick Macpherson" <NMacphe421@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:1132005231.700057.198980@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > John Harkness wrote:
> >> On 14 Nov 2005 11:27:18 -0500, "Dioneae muscipula"
> >> <flytrapvenus@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >>
> >> >On November 11, 2005, Zou Hanru wrote for China Daily on the
> >> >controversy stirred up by the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", which
stars
> >> >two of China's most recognizable actresses Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li.
> >> >Some Chinese netters expressed their negative views on Zhang and
Gong
> >> >that they star in a movie concentrated on Japanese culture, and
what's
> >> >worse, they play prostitutes in the movie -- in Chinese, "geisha" is
> >> >literally "arts prostitute" (yiji).
> >>
> >>
> >> I'd be waiting for the Japanese complaints -- as the third principal
> >> female role is also filled by a Chinese actress. (Michelle Yeoh is
> >> Malaysian by birth, but ethnically Chinese.
> >>
> > The trailer's bigtime disorienting. You watch it and think, aren't
> > Geishas supposed to be Japanese so why are all the women in this film
> > Chinese?
> >
>
> The film is in English so why would it matter?
Because, you know, saying that the Chinese and the Japanese look alike
is insulting, and a major Hollywood film is reinforcing that
stereotype, and it's commercially cynical because the studio and
filmmakers are casting three non-Japanese performers as leads because
they must feel that there aren't any Japanese actresses with
international box office appeal.
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