Those not conforming to this never have a voice of their own. They simply don't have a story to tell, or at least not one that interests "us". This is the ignoble tradition into which Lost in Translation fits. It is similar to the way white-dominated Hollywood used to depict African-Americans - as crooks, pimps, or lacking self control compared with white Americans.
The US is an empire, and from history we know that empires need to demonise others to perpetuate their own sense of superiority. Hollywood, so American mythology has it, is the factory of dreams. It is also the handmaiden to perpetuating the belief of the superiority of US cultural values over all others and, at times, to whitewashing history.
The caricatures play to longstanding American prejudice about Japan. The US forced Japan to open up for trade with other countries in 1864, ending 400 years of isolationist policy by the Tokugawa regime. The US interned thousands of Japanese during the second world war and dropped two nuclear bombs on the country. After Japan's defeat, America became more influential in East Asia; Japan was occupied, not only by the US forces but, more important, politically and culturally.
Some have hailed the film's subtlety, but to me it is reminiscent of the racist jokes about Asians and black people that comedians told in British clubs in the 1970s. Yet instead of being shunned, the film this week received eight Bafta nominations, and is a hot favorite for the Oscars.
Coppola's negative stereotyping of the Japanese makes her more the thinking person's Sylvester Stallone than a cinematic genius. Good luck to the director for getting away with it, but what on earth are people with some semblance of taste doing saluting it?
There is no scene where the Japanese are afforded a shred of dignity. The viewer is sledgehammered into laughing at these small, yellow people and their funny ways, desperately aping the western lifestyle without knowledge of its real meaning. It is telling that the longest vocal contribution any Japanese character makes is at a karaoke party, singing a few lines of the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen.
The Japanese half of me is disturbed; the American half is too. The Japanese are one-dimensional and dehumanised in the movie, serving as an exotic background for Bob and Charlotte's story, like dirty wallpaper in a cheap hotel. How funny is it to put the 6ft-plus Bill Murray in an elevator with a number of overly small Japanese? To manufacture a joke, the film has Murray contorting himself to have a shower because its head isn't high enough for him - although he is supposed to be staying in a five-star hotel. It's made up simply to give western audiences another stereotype to laugh at. And haven't we had enough about the Japanese confusing rs and ls when they speak English?
While shoe-horning every possible caricature of modern Japan into her movie, Coppola is respectful of ancient Japan. It is depicted approvingly, though ancient traditions have very little to do with the contemporary Japanese. The good Japan, according to this director, is Buddhist monks chanting, ancient temples, flower arrangement; meanwhile she portrays the contemporary Japanese as ridiculous people who have lost contact with their own culture.
Coppola follows in the footsteps of a host of American artists who became very interested in the cultural appropriation of East Asia after the second world war. The likes of Lou Harrison, Steve Reich and John Cage took "eastern" philosophy, music and concepts to fit an image of the mysterious east, which is always related to ancient civilizations.
Sebastian Stewart
ah so ching dong suck my ding dong
Jason Moore
oh look, a /pol/ tourist who doesn't have the attention span to read more than a few sentences or the creativity to come up with an original insult don't you feel special?
Logan Fisher
shut the fuck up ryuichi
Juan Miller
ching chong ping pong me love you long time bb
Brody Wright
lose weight
Liam Walker
grow penis
Jackson Parker
jap women are hot and i want to fuck them more than the ugly ass 'protagonist' chick, so maybe coppola did japan a solid there. anyway your essay is 3/10 and i hope the film studies class you're reading it for claps at the end you emotionally weak brainlet.
Matthew Hughes
tl:dr
Jeremiah Foster
>not being able to tell when walls of text are pasta >calling anyone else a brainlet
Ryder Gutierrez
you just copied someone else's essay and it starts with an out of context: >Those not conforming to this to what user? I'm not reading further. It doesn't make sense already.
I'm also sick of brainlets copying someone else's eloquence to justify their own lack of taste.
>to what user? white filmmakers not conforming to cultural appropriation, obviously if you read the rest it would all make sense
>I'm not reading further. It doesn't make sense already. if you don't want to actually try to using your brain to connect the dots then you surely don't need to reply either
Christian Harris
If you're not prepared to use your brain and express your own opinions, why should I use my brain to reply to some third party shitpost?
Brody Thompson
Imagine if you were smelling it and she accidentally farted. haha
Landon Thompson
if you cared about the topics then its because a copypasta review can have substance worth discussing, whether its a pasta or not simply copying and pasting text or images is enough to get discussion started here a lot of the time
Blake Green
Either you're posting it because you're triggered by a sjw shitpost. Or you're posting it because you're a tasteless pleb and you feel it justifies you not 'getting' the film.
It's hard to tell which one it is.
Ryan Butler
Ching ching bing bong u wan chicken chow mein an fly lice 4.95 for a two sigh combo
nah I actually just posted it as an excuse to funpost the webm and I knew there was a good chance somebody would reply to the review which I found in the film's wikipedia article I don't care for the film all that much, its basically just eyecandy for normies (mostly women) who are mystified by japan that's pretty funny that you think there's something I might not be getting from the film as if there's some abnormal taste you would need for it
Ethan Jenkins
yeah that would be totally gross haha
Zachary Johnson
>basically just eyecandy for normies (mostly women) who are mystified by japan it's actually basically just about ennui so it's 'pretty funny' that you would think it's 'pretty funny' that you might not have gotten the film when you're wrong about what it is even about or why people like it.
Nicholas Thompson
>While shoe-horning every possible caricature of modern Japan into her movie, Coppola is respectful of ancient Japan. It is depicted approvingly, though ancient traditions have very little to do with the contemporary Japanese. The good Japan, according to this director, is Buddhist monks chanting, ancient temples, flower arrangement; meanwhile she portrays the contemporary Japanese as ridiculous people who have lost contact with their own culture. so whats the problem? sounds accurate
that much is obvious that its about them dealing with mid life crisis feels I was referring to how its packaged in the pretentious looking aeshetic way it is, appealing to average normies and the type of weebs here thats what people remember and like it for, that it looks and sounds cool I didn't feel any connection to the characters so it just came off as plain and boring which even if that was the intention, it wasn't that good to me
Blake Peterson
>The Japanese half of me is disturbed; the American half is too.
>It's an insufferable 'Asian American' episode America poisons everything it touches. 'Minorities' are the shrillest, most irritating people imaginable
