The Last Samurai - White Man's Wet Dream

ignore all the anal retentive douchenozzles that tear apart every sentence and word you put down

i get what your saying and your totally right

I know you are right to some degree for some people, but I know you are wrong when you say this about all white people or all white people who loved the movie. Not all white people love Japan, first off. You're unlikely to find ones that don't love Japan commenting here because, obviously, you'd have to have a certain amount of love for the country, as well, to be propelled to post here.

The movie isn't so much about being a loser then being a winner, because when you actually think about the movie, that makes no sense at all.

In America he is a war hero, but he is aimless, alcoholic, and suffers from PTSD. Americans love him, they even forgive him when he utterly freaks out during dinner.

Then he goes to Japan where he is largely ignored by everyone for most of the movie until the middle where he learns to fight and becomes a samurai. He is still hardly "loved". It seems he is more respected and tolerated because of the desperate times they were in. He doesn't get to "bang asian, but not too asian, women". He has sex with one woman once, I'm not sure what you mean by saying she is asian, but not too asian. That's just a tad offensive.

The majority of the Japanese characters he meets in Japan don't like him much and in the end he is just a vessel for the general's message, not how awesome he is.

So I think from a distance it looks like you are correct, but upon examining the film closer we see that your perspective on the film has little supporting evidence.

And the Japanese aren't obsessed with American/Western culture? Methinks you're overreacting. Yes, this movie was a success because of American fascination with Japan, but I fail to see how that is a negative thing.

Your points are valid, but if you put a Japanese man in Tom Cruise's position there wouldn't have been a movie. The whole "discovery" scene with the white tiger and such, the only reason Cruise's character was noticed was because of who he was.

If you've studied both western and samurai films, you would actually have a quite different interpretation. Essentially, both types of films are the same (to most degrees--they do differ slightly ideologically). In western films, the hero is an outcast, he doesn't go seeking for appreciation, he acts out of self-preservation and greed, much like Algren starts out in this film. He only gains love/respect when he's ultimately convinced to do the right thing, for the wrong reasons. (He acts to perserve the samurai culture as much to redeem himself and stick it to his duche superior as he does for them.)

If anything, I think the film portrays white men in a negative light. Their brutality and greed for money are most definitely present in the film. Tom Cruise's character is fighting to get paid (until the Samurai win him over w/ their more honorable ideals). That's actually one of the main difference between the samurai and western genres. Samurai heroes act out of honor and dutiful service whereas western heroes are cold and detached and pretty much don't give a damn about saving anyone until someone offers them a bounty.

I actually was most impressed with how the movie recognized both genres' similarities and differences and incorporated all of them into the film. While it's probably a little convenient and hard to stomach that the lone white man would be the last man standing, if you look at how the cultures differ it's a little easier to accept. If a Samurai loses in battle, he has to take his own life. So, they're all essentially fighting to the death. However, Algren doesn't share the disgraced suicide belief, so when he knows he's beaten, he's more likely to surrender. Plus, he has allies on the opposing side.

I also don't think the movie speaks to white men successfully being incorporated into a foreign land. I feel it parallels their encroachment on the Indian culture during westward expansion. Through superior firearms, they essentially destroyed both cultures. The white men didn't adapt to the foreign cultures, they made them adapt to theirs, or suffer the dire consequences.

the sad thing is, if you put a japanese guy in tom's role then no one but you and i would have gone to the movie.

"how he is a loser and hated back home, and moves to the new fantasy world where people love him"
~you just described every english teacher in china and japan.

But one of the big plot lines of the movie itself was concentrated on white people teaching Japanese people how to kill Japanese people.

I sincerely doubt your implications that the entire white male populace of America are fekkin' weaboos.

"I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire