Movies and Books

[Anonymous]

I read a best selling book by Author James Bradley recently. It's called Flyboys and I recomend it of 9 American Navy and Marina pilots who were shot down off the Japanese held Island of Chichi Jima in February of 1945. It regards their experiences growing up in the pre war conditions of America and then to their deaths.....

In the book Bradley gives the culture of the Japanese military and the brutality young soldiers go through by their commanders in order to learn their place.

Bradley places guilt of the atrocities on both sides. He tries to give a balanced perspective of the war.

I found it interesting that one young pilot, George Bush, was the only young man shot down over the waters of the Island that escaped and thus was never a POW.

Anyway, I recomend this book to read for teachers interested in the culture of Japan, the Pacific war and/or aviation in general.

I find it too graphic to read in full with the age group that I teach (middle school). Though in bits and pieces, I believe that even this young age would have some interesting discusions regarding the text.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316105848/104-1846532-4095936?v=glance

[Edit by="kmilton on May 21, 1:25:30 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="kmilton on May 21, 1:26:22 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I recently watched the international award winning 1991 movieRaise the Red Lantern. It is beautifully filmed with excellent cinematography and colors. It definitely keeps you thinking days after you watch the film.

It takes place in China perhaps 90 years ago. It is about a beautiful young woman, Songlian, who is educated (one year of university) but poor. The movie begins with her marriage to a very wealthy lord. She is the 4th wife and each "sister" as they are called resides in her own house on the manor. The whole movie takes place in this lavish manor/castle.

There is a custom in the household to light the lanterns of whichever woman has gained favor with the master. The woman wait by their houses and the servants then light that woman's lantern to show that the mater will sleep in thwat house for the night. Whichever woman gets the master's favor becomes the most political power in the household. Thus the woman play a sort of game with eacheother, acting sweetly, but plotting to get the master's attention and affections.

The movie was not approved by the Chinese government. Though the story seems simple, it is a parable of the Chinese corrupt communitst government. The movie has archaic customs which the household insists on following and though lax with a few light rules, gives extreme punishment to those that break the rules. (It is interesting that this movie came out so close to what happenned at Tiannamen Square).

I would recomend this film after a study of the Chinese Government in a highschool class. It would be interesting to see what connections the students can draw connecting the story to the government. I know the movie will genearte high level thinking discussion with our students.

[Edit by="kmilton on May 21, 1:26:41 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

"Memoirs of a Geisha," by Arthur Golden.
I learned of this book during class Saturday and picked it up at Boarders. The story is set during the 1920s-1940s. It is a novel about Sayuri, a peasant who is sold to a Geisha house where she makes her climb from a maid to a Geisha. After reading reviews from others (women really seem to like this biography/novel) I realize others like this novel more than I. M of G is a great story, however, you must have a firm understanding of what a Geisha is and how they are schooled/trained because the book doesn't get into great detail on the subject. The book also stays clear of sexual details as well. In the end, the book has a bit of a Cinderella taste to it, which might be what I did not like about the story because I wanted to know more about what happened to Sayuri the thirty plus years after the story ends. This will make for a good movie.

Frank

[Anonymous]

Ju Dou (played by Gong-Li) is young and beautiful. she is sold out of poverty to be the third wife of a much older and saddistic owner of silk dryer mill, Jin-Shan (played by Li Wei). The movie is set during the 1920s. The adopted son, Tian-qing (played by Li Bao-tian), is taken by Ju Dou's beauty, as he peeps through a not-hole to watch her bathe. The couple are drawn together and fall in love. However, the problem lies in their fear of being discovered as lovers and becoming branded as outcasts in their community--which seems too unbearable for Tian-qing, so their love is covert. The couple bear a son, who later disapproves of Ju Dou and Tain-qing's relationship because he believes that mill owner is his father-not Tain-qing. The movie ends in tragety after years of forbidden love. This a good movie in the vain of "The Postman Always Rings Twice." I personally enjoy the work of Li Bao-tian. The movie is tamer then the jacket cover of the video might suggest. I rented this movie from Hollywood video. It is available in both DVD and VHS.

Frank

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to let you know that, once I saw your reference to this movie, I posted a review of the movie under the film form.

[Anonymous]

I loved this book. Two of my students are currently reading it, and both my daughters read it, and they all really enjoyed it. It is long...my two students have been reading it for months, but very mezmerizing. My daughters and I couldn't put it down once we started reading it.

It is too long, I believe, for use as a classroom text. And, if Frank's review of it is reflective of the male perspective, perhaps it isn't appealing to men. (Though it was written by a man.) I have copies of it in my classroom library and offer it as an outside reading book. Perhaps I will offer it as a lit circle option for my World Lit class (12th grade) next year. Now that I'm being introduced to so many Asian books, I'll have to make some choices.

This story is about two poor girls whose mother dies and so their father sells them. One is forced into prostitution, the other (main character) becomes a servant in a home of geishas. She describes her childhood, the work, the elaborate care of a geisha, etc. Eventually, this girl is promoted into being a geisha, one of the most popular ones in the city because of her blue eyes.

The images in this story stay with me. I can picture the geisha homes, the elaborate steps required to get ready to go out, the beautiful gowns. When my hair is dirty, I think of how uncomforatble it was for the geisha's to have to wait 10 days between hair washing and sleep in such a way as to not disturb their elaborate hairdos. I learned details about the society, the life of the geisha, the change in their lives during and after WWII, the politics, Japanese traditions, power politics, etc.

The novel ends with Sayuri looking back on her life 30 years later (from where she lives in NY), and one wonders what she did in that time. But, I was left very satisfied. The essential story was her life as a geisha and we saw a detailed portrait of that time in Memoirs of a Geisha.

[Anonymous]

I viewed Chi-hwa-seon (Painted Fire) this weekend and found the movie to be very captivating. The story in-of-itself reminds me a lot of the movie "Pollack" and American artist from the 1950s. Chi-hwa-seon is a tale about rags to riches, a life and times of one of Korea's greatest artist--Jang Seung-up. He leads a life of passion and hard drinking while trying to find his own identity as a great paint brush artist. This movie is set in turbulant Korea during the late 19th and early 20th century. I liked this movie, because of the poor street child to the genious artist success story. Some will find this movie slow moving. But watch it anyway.

Frank

[Anonymous]

I want to thank all my classmates that reviewed Memoirs of a Geisha; it prompted me to read it in two days. I’ve always been interested in reading it but haven’t found the time, and yes I was completely hooked and now have a far better understanding of what a Geisha was exactly. My view before reading the novel was that Geisha were more like high-class prostitutes, obviously not a lowly streetwalker living in the red light district. I had no idea the training involved, excessive cost of kimono, and that Geisha represented a subtle eroticism, apparently fulfilling the male fantasy of wanting what they can’t have (male colleagues please don’t take offense).

I think that I could use this novel during the class I have SSR with each day. I can assign it as the book that we all read, or I could assign it for outside reading in my US History Humanitas class when we cover the Great Depression and WWII. It has intrigue, sex (but not explicit), rivalry, displacement, etc.; all topics that I think most students would be interested in.

[Anonymous]

Murakami is one of the most widely translated Japanese authors. With the success of Norwegian Wood came instant celebrity, which he escaped by living and writing in the United States (and teaching at Princeton). Murakami has written a number of outstanding novels, the most acclaimed being The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. His are books that when lent out, are likely to never return. I have yet to read a novel by Haruki Murakami that has disappointed me. Because of his consistant quality it is difficult trying to decide which book is most appropriate to teach to a high school class, as most of his works are too complex. I suppose I might consider teaching Norwegian Wood because it is his most straight-forward book as well as being a bildungsroman. There is some legitimate cause for pause because of the sex in the book. Because of the sex I would only consider teaching the book to established mature senior classes. Here is a summary from Publishers Weekly via Amazon.com:

A successful, 37-year-old businessman, Toru Watanabe, hears a version of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, and the music transports him back 18 years to his college days. His best friend, Kizuki, inexplicably commits suicide, after which Toru becomes first enamored, then involved with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko. But Naoko is a very troubled young woman; her brilliant older sister has also committed suicide, and though sweet and desperate for happiness, she often becomes untethered. She eventually enters a convalescent home for disturbed people, and when Toru visits her, he meets her roommate, an older musician named Reiko, who's had a long history of mental instability. The three become fast friends. Toru makes a commitment to Naoko, but back at college he encounters Midori, a vibrant, outgoing young woman. As he falls in love with her, Toru realizes he cannot continue his relationship with Naoko, whose sanity is fast deteriorating. Though the solution to his problem comes too easily, Murakami tells a subtle, charming, profound and very sexy story of young love bound for tragedy.

The novel, aside from inspiring heavy discussion of themes and style, is a trove of lesson possibilities. It is the kind of book, and Murakami is the kind of writer, that students choose to read rather than endure for a class. This can cultivate in students a genuine enjoyment and desire for reading and learning. A possible mini lesson could focus on the title, a reference to the Beatles song, and encourage students to think of music and the associations related to songs. The growth of Toru provides many lessons that can be used in class. If nothing else it serves as a great introduction to quality modern liturature and a possible springboard to Asian literature.

[Anonymous]

Ryu Murakami might be known for writing what became the Miike film Audition, if he is known at all. Only three books of around thirty have been translated, one of which is Coin Locker Babies. Coin Locker Babies is not a book to teach in a class, and is probably one not to even recommend for outside reading due to excessive violence and some pretty graphic passages. It is, on the other hand, a book that many students would probably enjoy quite a bit because of the bizarre characters and events, not to mention violence. He is also an exciting Asian author worth paying attention to, because of his evident talent.
It is interesting to observe the narrative style in conjunction with the blurbs on the jacket cover by film makers Oliver Stone and Roger Corman, especially when considering Ryu has made movies and worked in television.
Again, a coming of age story but with some odd protagonists. From the book jacket:
"Abandoned at birth in train station lockers, two troubled boys are raised in an orphanage and by foster parents on a semi-deserted island before setting off for the city to find and destroy the women who first rejected them. Twisted together like a strand of DNA coded for ultimate havoc, both are drawn to an area of freaks and hustlers called Toxitown in the heart of Tokyo. One becomes a bisexual rock singer, star of this exotic demimonde, while the other, a pole vaulter, seeks out revenge in the company of his girlfriend, Anemone, a model who has converted her condominium into a tropical swamp to keep her pet crocodile in.
Together and apart, their journey from a hot metal box to a stunning, savage climax takes us on a brutal funhouse ride through the eerie landscape of late-twentieth-century Japan."
'nuff said.

[Anonymous]

Soseki's first novel I Am A Cat is one I would delight in teaching to any of my high school classes. Natsume Soseki was a Meiji era writer. He is a major figure in modern Japanese literature, so much so that his image was emblazoned 1000 yen bills for some time. Any accolades he recieves are deserved based on the merit of his works. I Am A Cat alone is a classic in satire, and could mentioned alongside works by authors like Swift, Voltaire and the like. The novel is humorous, satirizing academics, middle class Japanese of the era, and human nature. Because of the time period the book focuses on, there is much play between tradition and western influence. And also there is much a teacher could cover about history/culture while going over context or setting for the novel. Because the book is steeped in customs and cultural references it becomes an excellent tool in spreading Asian information.
I think it (or excerpts as it is quite long) would fit well within a unit on satire alongside Candide, A Modest Proposal, The Onion, Spinal Tap, The Daily Show (possibly excerpts from their book America), excerpts from The Simpsons, etc.

[Anonymous]

As a visual learner, I am always excited at the opportunity of getting new material to enhance the opportunity to expand and enhance a learning experience, a work of literature, a concept in Math. In the case of "Memoirs of a Geisha", I have to admit that I haven't read the book yet. I don't know how it reads, how the soul of its protagonist reaches to us from its pages. Henry James' characters are famous for being complex and introspective. It is difficult to do them justice in the movies; sometimes the results are puzzling and for the most part, incomplete, unsatisfying.

Not too long ago I had the opportunity to see a work in progress of "Memoirs" and was extremely disappointed by the acting and the emotional impact of the story. I could recognize the basic plot points and was in awe of the gorgeous art direction and camera work, but I couldn't help feeling that the delivery of the main actress was flat and probably didn't help the emotional content of the book. I could hear the lines and not help wondering what it would have been like if they had carried the proper intonation and emotional correspondence to the literary work. I heard some place that the actresses were chosen for their look and talent. Unfortunately, their English coach forgot to emphasize that there is such a thing as rhythm, inflection, and cadence to human speech. Otherwise, we might as well be some type of robot or clone. Wait, maybe that's what the director intended? Still, this was the man who directed "Chicago", one of the most enjoyable and perceptive films of the last decade. I'm a bit confused.

[Anonymous]

Good Women of China: Hidden voices by Xinran

I have been looking for this book to read. It sounds interesting . Iam doing some studies on women empowerment, and so this book is very resourceful. Is it in the bookstores now?

[Anonymous]

Frank, they are making a movie of "Memoirs of a Geisha". Stephen Speilberg is directing and producing it I believe. I would not be surprised to see it as a Christmas release, since I think it has been in the works for some time.
A bit of light reading if you have time: The Jasmine Trade, by Denise Hamilton. She was a staff journalist for 10 years with the L.A. Times. This is fiction, but with what she knows of the "parachute kids" she had to do alot of research. It is in paperback. I teach in Torrance, and we see many of these children: left here with minor supervision to fend for themselves. The neat thing is the story takes plce in the Valley/San Gabriel/San Marino area, so it is very easy to relate to the locations. Hope you and others enjoy!

[Anonymous]

I agree with your assessment of Memoirs of a Geisha: it was so beautifully written! It made me understand so much more about what a geisha is: the amount of training that she goes through, the expertise in dance, in seduction, in serving. The amount of strength that the main character has--I would never have survived having to endure what she did! I'm a little afraid that the film is going to mess up an already beautifully told story.
Tracy Sprague

[Author]

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