They All Look Alike

[Mitch Cullin]

I've recently found myself wondering if the general
Western perceptions of Japan and its people might not
be largely derived from what has been seen on TV and
movie screens.  And, as well, is it possible that the
"cinematic" cliches that we often see in Western films
addressing Japanese culture/society might evolve in
some small part from cliches or stereotypes that have
been offered from Japanese cinema itself?  Also, is it
more authentic for a Japanese filmmaker to perpetuate
cliche stereotypes of his or her own culture than it
is for a Western filmmaker to do the very same thing? 


--- M Arnold <ma_iku at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: "Mark Nornes" <amnornes at umich.edu>
> 
> > But what I find of interest has come up here and
> there in the thread. A
> > rhetoric of authenticity swirled around that book
> when it came out, and
> > (at least American) viewers of the adaptation will
> undoubtedly be
> > enjoying what they think is some kind of communion
> with Old Kyoto. In
> > this sense, I find the casting wonderful.
> 
> This is what always bothered me about Lost in
> Translation--the rhetoric of
> authenticity and the way people reacted to it. I
> don't mean to bring up a
> dead discussion yet again, but on the weekend I had
> a couple of beers with
> an old college friend who did an exchange program
> with me several years ago
> in Tokyo. I asked him what he thought about LIT and
> he said the same thing
> I've heard many times before, namely that when you
> watch the film you can
> "see" little bits of the reality of life in Tokyo.
> He thought it was
> interesting because it _wasn't_ the usual
> geisha/temple/sex/zen cliches... I
> didn't get a chance to respond to that because, in
> typical (I guess) Hooters
> fashion, the waitress interrupted our chat and tried
> to pull me from my seat
> so she could stand me up on a table and tell all the
> big football fans in
> the bar that I was moving to Japan to study dirty
> movies (well I didn't let
> her).
> 
> Kitano's Zatoichi is playing at a smallish theater
> in Seattle's Univ.
> district. I'd already seen most of it on video but I
> decided to catch it on
> the big screen yesterday. With about 50 people it
> had a good turn out for a
> Sunday matinee and much of the audience appeared to
> have fun, laughing out
> loud during the sillier scenes. (It looks like the
> local press has pegged
> the film as a "comedy.") I'll add my vote to those
> who thought it was dull.
> The cinematography was bland, the blood and digital
> sword effects were
> sloppy and the characters were underdeveloped. I
> wasn't really sure what the
> movie was trying to do, but by the time we got to
> the last 10 minutes my
> best guess was that Kitano wanted to deconstruct--or
> just make fun of--the
> "myth" of Zatoichi movies? [Stop reading if you
> haven't seen it yet.] With
> scenes constructed around sound and music, a big
> tap-dance finale, odd
> flashbacks/forwards and comments on eyes in several
> places, it felt like he
> was trying to challenge the "authority" of the
> visual (there are some things
> we can't see even with our eyes open, oh wow) but
> whether or not an armchair
> reading like this is possible, the movie's kick was
> softened by trying to do
> too many things at once. It wasn't a funny comedy,
> it wasn't a danceable
> musical, it wasn't an exciting action film, and it
> wasn't a convincing
> meta-comment on blind swordsmen. Worst of all Kitano
> isn't nearly as cute as
> Katsu was years ago. One thing got me wondering
> though: Blue (?) eyes and
> blonde hair--was he trying to look like Rutger
> Hauer? Certainly Kitano knows
> about "Blind Fury."
> 
> At least it was better than "Dolls."
> 
> Michael Arnold
> 


=====
Most recent propaganda (updated on June 20, 2004):
http://www.lostatsea.net/LAS/archives/features/literature/mitchcullin/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/international/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000508115
http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/tidecull.htm
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2000-11-10/books_set2.html
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24lewist.html
http://www.fetchbook.info/Mitch_Cullin.html
http://generationrice.com/index.phtml?talk=peterichang_1
http://www.minsky.com/branches.htm

"As the movie industry becomes more like the merchandising industry, the book business becomes more like the movie industry.  There's more pressure.  I think it's very difficult to be a young writer today.  I fear that young writers, after one or two books, will disappear the way young film directors do."  --Don DeLillo