Movie randomness

[resonant]

The Tech Goddess and I went to see "Memoirs of a Geisha" today (more because it had a conveniently-timed matinee than anything else). I wasn't terribly impressed.



1. Four words: "Mean Girls" in Japan.

2. There's a moment when one of the geishas is given false identification that says she's a nurse's aide, and it just stopped me in my tracks. Wow, I thought. A nurse's aide. She could be doing something of some value instead of just, you know, being girly for a living!

3. It's a very good thing I don't have to be girly for a living, because I'm not actually all that good at it.

4. I'd really like to see the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) slashed with his friend Nobu. It's the only relationship in the entire movie that (1) is a relationship rather than a romanticized commercial transaction, and (2) actually has some passion behind it. Plus, you know, Ken Watanabe.

Comments

[koneko-meow.livejournal.com]

Reading the book, I thought that the Chairman should be slashed with Nobu, as well. *grin*

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I also thought Nobu was the only character in the movie that I would care to have a conversation with.

[koneko-meow.livejournal.com]

He was the most interesting character in the book.

[cricketk.livejournal.com]

While reading, the Chairman and Nobu stood out as the only relationship of interest also.

Plus, I didn't actually like the book and have no plans to see the movie.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I didn't read the book, either, and really only saw the movie for the company.

[hafital.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a beautiful movie and I loved all the performances and the costumes were gorgeous and thought every one did a lovely job and I was pretty much horrified thoughout. *g* All I kept thinking about was, "man, I'm glad I'm not a Geisha." Although, honestly? I love being girly. I could handle the being pretty and pampered part. It's the screwy politics and subservient attitude I'd trip over.

And the ending? While gorgeously acted by all parties, all I kept thinking was "Yeah, but he still has a WIFE, fer crying out loud."

mmm, Ken Watanabe, mmmmm.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the wife thing was a problem for me -- all the more because you never.ever.saw any of these wives. It was just creepy. Like they were being stored in the attic or something.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

*happy to see my icon used*

4) Actual relationships rather than r.c.t. sounds like my original reason to slash. Keep coming back to it, no matter how much "seems" to change.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Actually, good point. Sometimes I wonder whether, as gay imagery becomes more socially acceptable, and thus gets more useful to capitalism, all the intensity will begin to bleed out of it? so that a photo of two guys in swimsuits holding hands on the beach will no longer have any oomph, but will just be the same as a photo of a guy and a girl in swimsuits holding hands on the beach, which always makes me think, "OK, are they selling sunscreen or herpes medicine?"

[will-can-do.livejournal.com]

*nods* in Europe that is definitely already done. Marketing is indeed a good indicator, though the fact that every young girl these days is into yaoi and/or slash is more immediately telling to me.

The intensity is also not there (for me) when everyone in the story is gay or at least bi and fucking. I realised it's no longer a major reason for people to get into slash, but for me the overcoming inner hurdles and coming together is most interesting, and there are no plausible reasons for that in modern day het, but there used to be in slash (am not talking "don't ask, don't tell" but the fact that outside certain circles, you don't expect the other to be gay, hence no automatic "like you, let's fuck" without some reconnaissance).


(-i- undercover)

[elsie.livejournal.com]

Script, not so great. Acting, pretty good. But mostly I just went because PRETTEH. So much pretteh.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I thought it was very pretty, but the Tech Goddess, who's much more visual than I am, said the shots were chaotic. "If you'd had a Japanese director," she said, "there would have been a lot more white space."

[versinae.livejournal.com]

Maybe I was the only one, but I thought the whole thing was rife with femmeslash opportunities. Hatsumoto/older teenage Sayuri seemed very Bellatrix/Ginny-like to me, in a way, although this may just be my incredibly strong desire to have Li Gong's babies speaking.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, there was tons of femslash potential -- I was actually surprised there were no vengeful girl/girl kisses on the screen -- but since none of them liked each other, I didn't really care about that part.

[neery.livejournal.com]

I thought the book was terribly intersting for its insights into a culture you weren't actually supposed to agree with - so it was all about how becoming and being a Geisha was pretty much horrible if you looked at it from the perspective of a Western outsider, even though the first person narrator and her environment thought it was an honor.

It seemed very well-researched, although I don't know how much of that was just faked well. To me it also felt like we weren't supposed to see the relationship with the Chairman as a big romantic affair, but rather as the girl romanticizing a commercial relationship because that's the only kind she knows.

I read it as semi-tragic - "this is her life, and it's not all that great from our perspective, but it's the best thing she's ever known, so she's mostly happy".

Now if the movie romanticized it, or made it into some sort of shallow "look at the pretty Geishas and their mean intrigues!" thing, that would just be disappointing.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually read the book, and I'm not sure a person who had read it would agree with me, but it really did seem romanticized to me. When they finally get together, all the cues tell me I'm supposed to cheer this as a beautiful romantic moment, and instead I'm all -- well, yeah, like the person above, I'm thinking about his wife, and also about the fact that she's for sale, and also about the fact that he's evidently about 30 years older than she is, and it's just creepy.

[rabid-x.livejournal.com]

I just think it's funny that the book was written by a white guy from Tennessee. Yeah he was a Japanese Studies student at Harvard but... white guy. Tennessee. And no, this is no slam on Tenn, just amused by the big popular book/movie being written by someone so not even the same country or sex as the subject.