Thanks To All + Explanation

Michael McCaskey mccaskem
Mon Jun 25 12:03:06 EDT 2007


Dear Jasper Sharp,

Thank you very much! I'll seek out "Tokyo Pop." It sounds like a very good item for comparison.

I envy your experience of watching the film screened in Korea. I'm going to touch on Korean-Japanese film connections this year, using "Linda Linda Linda" and "Patchigi" ("Patchigi 2" is out now as well).

I'd guess that, in the case of all four films I thought about, people from the culture of the film-maker as well as from the culture looked at could take offense. But that might generate some healthy discussion of stereotyping, which is what I'd like the students to think about.

Below are some brief extracts from one set of online discussions I found in Japanese. The participants seem to be young women who have been in similar situations, and there are mixed opinions regarding the portrayal of situations in "Fear and Trembling."

There are also hints that the film hasn't seem so much play in Japan because it suggests the setting may have been an actual major corporation (also alluded to in the original book--Nothomb apparently worked there) which was not keen on the film.

There's a lot more at the URL below. I can provide more URLs with comments, if people are interested.

畏れ慄いて
http://tinayb.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA8D88CFADE80794!518.entry
昨日、街のビデオショップで発見した「畏れ慄いて」を観た。 
比較的新しい映画のようだったけど、観た人いる? 
*************************************************************************
ええっ、日本であまり公開されてないって?それは住*商事から圧力かかってるから(笑)?? Lost in Translationも面白かったけどあれは日本が舞台ってだけで内容はラブ・ストーリーだよね。うちの主人はあのマシューなんとかって人にすごくウケてたよ。 Noriさんもすねん坊も海!
 外では十分に苦労してるはずだからそういう人にはアメリーの視点がよおくわかるはず。日本でDVDが出ることを期待してマス。

It might be interesting someday for someone to do a study of various films or types of films, based on samples of apparently freely and spontaneously expressed opinions and perceptions found in this kind of blogging.

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.





----- Original Message -----
From: "J.sharp" <j.sharp at hpo.net>
Date: Monday, June 25, 2007 4:09 am
Subject: Re: Thanks To All + Explanation

> > I found that the French film seems not to be well-known in Japan-
> -I did
> find several different online blogs and journals by young women in 
> Japan who
> rented a copy by chance, liked it, and thought it was a pretty good
> representation of some things they had to deal with in the workplace
> themselves.
> 
> Interesting. I didnt think Fear and Trembling was distributed in 
> Japan. It
> must have been a tiny theatrical release if it was, or maybe it 
> just went
> straight onto DVD. Both the film and the book it was based on are 
> prettyxenophobic, borderline flagrant racism. I saw the film at 
> Puchon Film
> Festival in Korea, and the Korean audiences seemed to lap up the
> stereotypical portrayals of the corporate Japanese. The scene for 
> examplewhere the girl has a 'moment' in the lady's bathroom with 
> her boss, and
> Ruichi Sakamoto's famous theme to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence 
> swells in the
> background.
> 
> By the way, have you seen or heard of an older film called Tokyo 
> Pop from
> 1988, about an American  girl who goes to be a pop star in Japan - 
> I think
> there was a lot of discussion on this list when Lost in 
> Translation came
> out, about how similar (and how much better) it was. I remember 
> seeing it on
> TV in the UK years ago, and would love to see it again, but I dont 
> think its
> on video anywhere.
> 
> Best
> 
> Jasper
> 
> www.midnighteye.com
> 
> ________________________________________________
> Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
> 




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