MovieChat Forums > Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) Discussion > Why did nobody care that....

Why did nobody care that....

posted 13 years ago by philsadler
4 replies | jump to latest

...English and Americans play Germans or Poles all the time in WW2 films like the Pianist/Schindler's List/The Reader/Grey Zone etc the list is endless, but everyone suddenly started soiling their pants and marching on Hollywood when Chinese actors were cast as Japanese characters? I know a lot of Japanese people were "insulted" because they could tell the actors were Chinese, but I don't remember any Polish people being insulted when Adrian Brody played the lead in the Pianist. And you'd think considering that's a true story portraying a famous Holocaust survivor people would have more right to be pissed off than people being pissed off about a fictional Geisha in a heavily fictionalized Geisha world, right?

Whats up with all that? Why was everyone being such a dick about it? It's just a movie O.o I just never understood the uproar and controversy it seemed to cause.

[–] nomen_est_omen_4 13 years ago

Because China and Japan have had a lot of conflict over the years and there are still many hard feelings. The relationship is strained and sensitive to this very day. Having Chinese actresses portray such important cultural icons as geisha is a pretty inflammatory choice. I'm sorry, I don't know how to make it active, but here's a wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China_%E2%80%93_Japan_relations

Geisha aren't just seen as regular Japanese citizens either... they represent a beautiful semi-secret culture that was brutally exposed and exploited when Japan opened up relations with the West. It's a part of their history that many Japanese feel has already been raped enough, and here they cast citizens from one of their biggest rival cultures?

Not to mention the fact that many people from Western cultures already don't bother to learn about the rich differences in Asian cultures and just assume they're all alike and interchangeable.

[–] Ithilfaen 12 years ago

I always thought the discussions I read about the famed "controversy" regarding this movie were more racist than they accused the movie of being for that casting.
So Japan and China were at war... big deal. France and Germany were at war for most of European history. I'm French and I wouldn't give a hoot if German actors played French characters in a movie about France.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] mazardeus 12 years ago

What exactly is your point? I am looking at the cast of Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a mixture of American, South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. I don't see anything wrong with this.

[–] pjmorales 9 years ago

It's not just this movie people were pissed about Jennifer Lopez who is Puerto Rican played Selena who was Mexican.