Film Festival

[clay dube]

Teachers in the Los Angeles-area may be interested to learn that some scenes from Geisha were shot in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Library. Here's a link to still photos in the garden from a Michelle Yeoh site:
http://michelleyeoh.info/Movie/Mg/mg_102204.html

Here's the official Huntington Library site:
http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/Japanese/facts.htm

[clay dube]

Scholar and author Liza Dalby is an American who became a geisha and subsequently wrote her dissertation about the experience. She's since produced a number of interesting works, including a rich website which includes information about her book. Go to http://www.lizadalby.com/ and click on the "geisha" button. (The Tale of Murasaki section of the site is also recommended.)

[Anonymous]

JuWei and I went to see the movie the day it was released. Attached is what I thought.

[Anonymous]

Becky and I went to see the Memoirs of a Geisha..please see attached..

[Anonymous]

I, too, was mesmerized by The Red Violin. It was a beautiful incorporation of artistry and history. I felt the Communist China part of the movie was particularly poignant. Even though the entire movie is not classroom appropriate, the Chinese portion would be an interesting and striking introduction to a discussion of Maoist China or even an example of Chinese legalism brought into modern times.

[Anonymous]

The popularity of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has opened up a western market for more Chinese-style action films. Hero is one of these. Directed by Quintin Tarantino with star actors Jet Lee, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziya, Chen Dao Ming, and Donnie Yen, it is quite a feast for the eyes. Color and intricately coordinated fight scenes are combined with spectacular music to truly fill the senses.

The story is set in the beginning of the Qin dynasty, where a nameless soldier seeks revenge against the emperor who has massacred his people. Along the way, we see Zhou assassins who would also desire this revenge. The movie mentions the paranoia of Qin as well as the duality of his great accomplishments and brutal methods. From a history teacher's perspective, I think it would have been nice to make these more prominent in the story. Of course, I wouldn't use this movie in my classroom, due to its violence and sexual content. From a historical perspective, I do not find it terribly enlightening. From an artistic perspective I find it truly appealing and delightful.

There is an interesting cultural component though, that may be difficult to comprehend from a western perspective - How can a king order a man to be executed as a criminal and yet buried as a hero?

[Anonymous]

Clay wrote---- "Is it inappropriate for actors of other ethnicities portray Japanese? Should a Texan such as Renée Zellweger be permitted to play a Britan such as Bridget Jones? "

Does anyone remember the movie "Sixteen Candles"? Granted, it was not an award winning epic but in it, there was a Chinese character, "Long Duck Dong" (yeah, I know ;] ). This character was criticized because he was played by a Japanese actor, Gette Watanabe, and also in one scene he is wearing a Japanese robe/kimono?

Let's not also forget the famous "Breakfast at Tiffany's", a film that I adore, but cringe at every time I see Mickey Rooney's horrible imitation fo a Japanese.

There are no rules written about who can play who, yet we it seems now it is not appropriate for a Caucasian actor to play an Asian character, yet an Asian actor of one culture playing a character of another culture (like Memoirs of a Geisha), while uncomfortable for some, is not unacceptable to all.

Clay brings up a good point, can we really exclude all, some or any, of the actors for parts that are "cultural?"

[Edit by="fisakson on Jan 5, 10:00:06 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

There was also a controversy concerning an actor named Jonathan Pryce playing an Asian man a while ago (Miss Saigon, I think). I don't really think it's right to create more borders in a world already saturated with imagined borders between individuals, groups, and nations. I find non traditional casting interesting but something like the Mickey Rooney role or the minstrel blackface is offensive because the intent is to ridicule a group of people. There's no malice in Zhang Yiyi playing that part from the actress but I find it interesting that (and I only heard this) that the director did not feel that he could find a single Japanese actress to play the part. What does that mean exactly?

I have not read the book, seen the movie, nor have I read much about it. I have heard that the author is a white guy (is he American?) speaking from the voice of a Geisha woman from Japan. Now that's a more bizarre circumstance than a Texan playing a Londoner but I still feel like it's his right to write. This is first amendment stuff here. I haven't heard that his intent was to mock or caricature the Geisha. However, there was a professor at grad school who proclaimed that he spoke from the voice and took the positionality of a poor, black lesbian. What I think he wanted to mean by that was he was down with the most oppressed of the oppressed. The funny feeling I had about him saying that was that what he said is what he wanted that group to say. He wanted to put words in their mouths. I also sort of felt sorry for him because I think he felt he lacked credibility because of his white man identity. See what I mean? too many borders.

I would not want to think that I could not write a book from the point of view of anyone: animal, vegetable or mineral. By the way, I'm writing all your autobiographies. dan[Edit by="dnakashima on Jan 6, 5:20:51 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I also saw this movie and really enjoyed it. I loved the fact it was four different scenerios with each telling a different story and a different perspective. The love story between Flying Snow and Broken Sword kept changing with each scenerio although it was the relationship and conversation between Nameless and the Qin Emperor that I found the most fascinating. The Emperor comes across as a brutal leader but very smart and his respect for those trying to assassinate him is obvious, including his decision at the end (I don't want to give it away for those who have not seen it!). The film touches on his reasons for unification of the seven major kingdoms (one kingdon, one language, one writing) which is important as it, in some way, legitimizes his brutality. I also wish that more time was spent on this because I would love to be able to use some clips from the conversation in my classroom. I may use some scenes from the caligraphy school when they write in the sand as it shows how important calligraphy was and how long it took to master this skill..... and the respect the pupils had for their teacher!

I found it fascinating that, like Crouching Tiger, the role women played in the movie. Who would have thought that the respected and renowned sword fighter Flying Snow was a woman? It interests me that many of the Chinese movies portray woman in strong fighting roles during this time period. The role of women always comes up in the classroom and this may give students the wrong idea that women were often warriors.

I truly enjoyed this movie and it kept me glued to the T.V. I highly recommend it. However, I agree that it is more for enjoyment and it does not offer much in a way of academic use which is a real shame.

By they way, I also thought it was directed by Tarantino but it was not. He was a producer (not even Executive Producer!) and the director was Zhang Yimou. The movie has Tarantino's name all over it so I can only assume they did this to try and appeal to American audiences. This is movie has a full on Chinese cast and crew.

[Anonymous]

I first used "Mulan" as a time filler/killer in my 7th grade World history class. My students are ESL 1-4s and most are "below basic" readers. While they consider themselves to be a very sophisticated movie audience, they thoroughly enjoyed "Mulan" and I extended the showing to finish the video due to the excellent discussions we had of the movie and the facets of Chinese culture shown (ancestor worship, status of women,etc). It worked so well, I've extended the video and associated work to 3-4 days of class time.

[Anonymous]

One of the last classes I took to "clear" my credential was in Asian studies. During one of the sessions, the instructor covered the portrayal of asian characters in film from the early days of "talkies" to the present; from Warren Toller as "Charlie Chan" to present day. Bottom line: non-asians playing asians and Chinese playing Japanese, etc is more common than Chinese playing Chinese, etc. I'm afraid the reason may be that most americans can't tell Chinese from Japanese from Koreans, so it doesn't really matter. This is something most Native Americans can relate to.

[Anonymous]

I sat through "Last Samurai" with thoughts of using portions dealing with the samurai culture (avoiding the battle scenes that give it the "R" rating that makes using the entire movie out of the question for my 7th grade classes), but found them to be too few and far between for my editing abilities and equipment.

For those who have classes that need a visual explanation of the samurai culture, I recommend a TLC video from the "Ancient Tribes" series "The Samurai" (Vol.15) released by Ambrose Video Productions. I found a copy in the LA County Library. My classes are Esl learners of varying abilities and this video is perfect for them. It's 26 minutes long with lots of visuals, no "talking heads" other than the narrator. It covers the Taira/Minamoto civil war and uses it as a vehicle to explain the samurai culture and beliefs. The vocabulary used by the narrator is appropriate for most of my students and the video moves at a pace that is slow enough to follow yet fast enough they won't become bored.

[Anonymous]

I've seen discussions on this topic specific to Memoir of a Geisha. The guy who cast these actresses said he chose them because he felt they would be best for the part. He also cast Queen Lateefa in Chicago. He was well aware of the fact that there would not have been an African American woman as the matron of a prison during the time period; but she WAS the matron in his mind (and as it turned out--a great choice

[Anonymous]

Just to throw in one other idea about the issue. Remember, in ancient Greek drama, all roles were played by men. Acting, it seems to me, should be more about conveying the message of the author than about being the exact match in "real life". That being said, I realize the cultural and national pride that accompanies having "one of our own" in key roles about "our own" culture. Will we ever get beyond our borders?

[Anonymous]

I scrolled through all of the films in this thread and didn't see a review of The Emperor and the Assassin, and so checked it out and forced myself to watch the whole thing. It is supposedly about China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi; but I'm not sure how many liberties this movie took with history. The producers/directors seemed most intent on showing large spectacles and huge and gory war scenes. I didn't find the acting or the story line convincing. The plot is that as a young boy, the emperor lived in the kingdom of Zhao and was cared for by a kindly family there. He also fell in love with a childhood friend and ultimately married her and brought her with him and his mother back to the kingdom of Qin. Once back in Qin, he is commanded by his ancestors to unify China. This he does, even to the extreme of killing his mother's children (by another father) and destroying his marriage to his childhood sweetheart. In the end he is alone and reviled, but victorious. I was disappointed, and don't think there's much here to show my students.

Can anyone recommend a good movie on Qin Shihuangdi or the building of the Great Wall? I'm going to have my students compare and contrast the building of the Great Wall with the present day building of the Three Gorges Dam. So, in addition, if you know of any good sources about the Three Gorges Dam, that would be appreciated, too. Thanks, Cheryl[Edit by="ctchir on Jan 8, 12:44:35 PM"][/Edit]

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