Nick Macpherson wrote:
> 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.
This is that whole "they-all-look-alike" thing. Wonder how many
variants there are. Frankly, if somebody told me I looked like, say,
Denzel Wa****ngton, I don't think I'd feel insulted. (Beats the hell out
of the more likely *George* Wa****ngton...)
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