^Poposhka
People having different opinions about things is natural, and thats fine but when people completely miss the point or are just plain incorrect it becomes bothersome.
"What I hate about it is how the movie is that it embodies everything in white people's wishful thinking. They want to "go away" from their homeland, and be unique and successful in another. White people are absolutely fascinated with Japanese culture."
For starters, I am really digging this generalization that this concept is somehow white people's greatest aspiration: One; black people(for example) have made samurai movies and/or references to them in mainstream media in the form of Ghost Dog Way of the Samurai, Black Samurai, afro Samurai, etc so whites are not alone here. Two; I am white, and I happen to like my homeland and various aspects of my culture very much thank you. I would really like to know for the record though, is it bad a thing that one culture has respect for parts of another's? I mean, come on, are you really gonna give that words....
"This whole movie plays out like a white teenager's fantasy...how he is a loser and hated back home,"
The obvious racism aside, lets disprove this one by getting back to the movie and how the story actually went. At the start of the movie he was a HERO! He thought of himself as a loser(his boss too to be fair) but he actually was a war hero at least according to America: He is, and go queue up the movie to 2 minutes in and check if you think I'm lying, referred to as a "True American Hero," and "one of the most decorated warriors this country has ever known."
" and moves to the new fantasy world where people love him."
After the first battle, he isn't loved but actually quite loathed. The guy with the horned amour wants to kill him(and beats the crap out of him with a wooden sword), his supposed body guard steps in to kill him when he raised his voice to Katsumoto, Taka whats him dead or at least wants permission to kill herself to end the shame, etc. It is only over time he wins their collective respect.
", he gets to learn to kick the crap out of people, and bang gorgeous (but not too asian looking) women."
So what.He learns to further his skills in battle on top of what he already knows, and at least in the movie he doesn't get to bang Taka. How you think she doesn't look Asian is beyond me but whatever...
"if the whole movie concept wasn't based on this white-teenager-wet-dream concept, i would say to put a japanese man in Tom Cruise's role, and the movie would have been epic."
Yay more racism...Pathetic
The whole point of the movie is a man finding peace in another way of life than his own. This is a bow to certain aspects of older Japanese culture, more specifically of honor and how it played a factor is bringing the best out of someone.
"TLS has some really great fighting/action scenes and some beautiful filmatography."
Why don't you just focus on this stuff next time and give the racism and completely missing the point of movie a rest.
reply
share
englisher101
16 years ago
", he gets to learn to kick the crap out of people, and bang gorgeous (but not too asian looking) women."
How is Koyuki (Taka) not too Asian-looking? She looks more Japanese to me than most of the famous pop stars living in Tokyo now. I live in Tokyo and her picture is posted on a lot of advertisements, and my Japanese friends agree with me that she looks much more like the traditional Japanese woman than pretty much anyone else. Moreover her mannerisms, the shot of her bathing with her bare shoulders, etc. all cohere to traditional Japanese ideals of female beauty and social conduct.
reply
share