I first saw Memoirs a while ago and I loved the movie. I hadn't read the book, but I'd heard from a lot of people that it was good, so I put it on my to-read list. But doing this kind of ruined it for me. I learned a lot about the movie and the times it was grounded in. There were just so many inaccuracies in the film, I can't even take it seriously anymore. I read somewhere that many Japanese people got offended over it, and I can't really blame them.
Read on to see why.
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Kelsey Johnson
Professor Quiroga
History 1301
4.13.13
Memoirs of a Geisha
Review
Introduction
Memoirs of a Geisha
was directed by Rob Marshall and produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin
Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment. It was released in the US on December
9, 2005. The film is based on the novel of the same name, which was written in
1997 by Arthur Golden. The film stars Zhang Ziyi as Sayuri, Ken Wantanabe as
The Chairman, Gong Li as Hatsumomo, and Michelle Yeoh as Mameha.
Memoirs
is about a young Japanese girl named Chiyo whose family sold her into slavery
with her sister. After they were separated, she is sent to school to be a
geisha, women entertainers who were taught a variety of skills such as music,
dance, and games. The story centers around Chiyo’s—later renamed Sayuri—life as
a full-fledged geisha against the backdrop of World War II. The story spans
twenty years as Sayuri attempts to find love and acceptance, all the while
making friends and enemies in the process.
Plot
Summary
When
a little girl named Chiyo is sold to the okiya—the
geishas’ place of residence—the viewer is taken through her journey from a
naïve girl searching for her sister to a full-fledged geisha. After some time
in the okiya, she meets the Chairman,
who shows her more kindness than perhaps she has ever experienced in her nine
years. She carries her love/infatuation for him throughout the movieand it is
what influences her to go from a servant to a geisha under Mameha, a retired
legend.
Sayuri
gains popularity both as a maiko (and
apprentice geisha) and especially after becoming a geisha herself. Her success
overtakes that of Pumpkin, another girl sold to the geisha house. However,
Sayuri’s longtime enemy, Hatsumomo, envies her fame and spreads rumors about
her to the would-be patrons, or dannas.
Later, Sayuri and the Chairman are reunited. She resumes her goal to win his
affections. After performing her debut dance, she attracts bidders for her mizuage, or her virginity, which a man
named Dr. Crab wins. When Sayuri and Mameha return to the okiya, Sayuri goes into her room to find an enraged Hatsumomo, and
the two fight, which results in Hatsumomo’s expulsion.
Sayuri’s
success comes to a halt when America bombs Hiroshima. She and Mameha are
separated; the Chairman sends her to the hills to be a kimono-maker. There she
stays for the remainder of World War II. Afterwards, she is reunited with
Mameha, who rents out rooms for a meager living. They resume their status as
geisha to impress an American colonel who is interested in helping the Chairman
and Nobu (his friend and partnes) restore their business. They are flown to the
Amami Islands, where the colonel propositions Sayuri. She rejects him. Nobu
reveals to her that he saw it happen and tells her he wants to be her danna. Sayuri refuses him and aims to
destroy his affections. She seduces the colonel in and asks Pumpkin to bring
Nobu to see, but resentful Pumpkin brings the Chairman instead. Sayuri is
devastated.
A
few days after the incident, they are flown back to Japan, where Sayuri is
called to go to a teahouse. Instead of the angry Nobu she expected to meet
there, Sayuri sees the Chairman. He reveals that he remembers her as Chiyo, and
that he had persuaded Mameha to help her become geisha. He also tells her that
Nobu no longer desired to be her danna.
Sayuri finally confesses her love for the Chairman, which she has had for over
twenty years. The movie ends with them sharing a kiss and walking hand-in-hand
through the garden.
The
Role of Women in 1920-1940
It
is evident throughout the film that women were rarely, if at all, given a
chance to break out of the traditional Japanese role of a “walking piece of
art.” There is a great rift between the genders; the women were bound to live
their lives as mere entertainment—“because we have no choice,” says Mameha
toward the end—while most of the men were portrayed as important business
figures. After the bombing of Hiroshima, the amount of self-worth the Chairman
and Nobu (his partner and close friend) place on their business becomes plain.
They enlist Sayuri and Mameha to impress an American colonel who is interested
in helping them get back on their feet after losing everything.
During
1920s-1940s Japan, women were devoid of most rights that men were practically
born with. Their situation almost mirrored that of African-Americans during
that time: they were constantly told of “equality” between men and women. This
is because there were laws instated in 1887 that limited women’s rights. They
could not vote or own land, and because of the samurai culture still prevalent
then, they were still expected to be submissive to their husbands.
World
War II brought substantial change in women’s roles. Almost ten percent of
Japanese men enlisted in the armed forces, which is equivalent to around 2.5
million. Just like in America, women were forced to take up the jobs the men
had to leave behind. They worked in mines, mills, and factories. Along with
this, they inherited control of their households.
After
the war ended, America changed much of Japan’s society. They rewrote the
Japanese constitution, which now illegalized war and virtually erased any power
the emperor had. Also, women earned voting rights, among others, in 1946. This
gave way to women seeking a more self-centered existence in future decades,
which contrasted the traditional belief that the group is more valuable than
the individual.
Source:
Feminist
Theory
Feminist theory is the study of
gender inequality which to aims to elevate women’s status within culture. It
analyzes the effects of race, ethnicity, and age on women around the world. Its
main goal is to create a more equal environment for women and emphasizing their
contributions to society.
Much
feminist theory has arisen and even been exacerbated by Memoirs. When Chiyo meets the Chairman, she says that she “changed
from a girl who faced nothing but emptiness to someone with purpose” and that
becoming a geisha could help her win the Chairman’s heart. Feminists have
expressed disapproval of her character for this reason. From a young age,
Sayuri was an embodiment of the doctrine of the time: women should not have any
aspirations aside from entertainment. An older Sayuri says that her life had
become “a game” and that she didn’t even know the “rules” herself, but she
allowed the current—namely, what everyone else wanted for her as opposed to
what she wanted for herself—to carry her throughout the film. Seldom does she
choose to take charge of her own fate. By allowing herself to love the
Chairman, Sayuri comes to defy the traditional rule that geisha cannot fall in
love, which, in a way, was one of the main driving forces of the entire film.
This becomes evident when she tells the Chairman that everything she did
throughout the years was for him: “Every step I have taken…was to bring myself
closer to you,” she confesses at the end of the film. However, her supposed
defiance was undermined by her depending on a man for her happiness. She was
proof that all women had to offer was their feminine charms and not their
smarts or other skills.
Feminists
have also protested against the similarities between a geisha and a common
prostitute. As mentioned above, Sayuri’s virginity was essentially sold to the
highest bidder. Some have argued that the film depicted geisha as sexual
creatures who were trained only to please men. Mineko Iwasaka, the geisha whom
Arthur Golden interviewed before penning the book, agreed with this and was
extremely offended by Golden’s portrayal of geisha. As a response, she wrote
her own autobiography, Geisha: A Life.
In it, she denounces the bidding of the mizuage,
saying it was highly inaccurate and fictional. Also, while Sayuri devoted
her life to winning the heart of the Chairman, Iwasaki aimed for independence
and personal strength.
Sources:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=2165854&fileOId=2166340
Orientalism
Orientalism is the
depiction of Eastern cultures by the West. It does not always stay true to the
actual culture and tradition—in other words, Orientalism is merely a perception
or even a fantasy as opposed to the truth.
Memoirs
is heavily Orientalist through the often inaccurate portrayal of geisha and
Japan itself. Ken Watanabe, who played the Chairman (and is one of the few
Japanese actors in the film), even said that some aspects of the movie were
contradictory to Japanese culture during the time; he kept mum about it because
he knew that Rob Marshal was aiming for a more “fantastical” film. One of the
more obvious mistakes is the actors speaking English throughout the entire
movie, which subtracted from its authenticity. On top of this, when Sayuri and
Mameha are shipped to America to impress the colonel, both women are somehow suddenly
able to speak fluent English. The viewer has had no prior indication that the
geisha were exposed to American culture in any way. Also, geisha considered it
an embarrassment if they were caught in public with their hair down; in
numerous instances, Sayuri and Mameha walk the streets with their hair loose.
This is especially contradictory when Sayuri gives a performance debut in the
same manner. Moreover, the hairstyles that Sayuri wore as maiko and as a geisha were very different from the ones worn by
real geishas.
Sources:
Final
Thoughts/Summary
Upon first viewing the film, one cannot help being
enraptured by imagery and beauty that influenced it. The film was filmed mainly
in California, as well as some choice areas in Kyoto, Japan. This could cause
the viewer to be distracted from the overall storyline, which lacks in any real
substance. The initial viewing was enjoyable, but further investigation into
the culture surrounding it subtracted from the film.
The
viewers are encouraged to study women’s roles in 1920s-WWII era Japan. Up until
then, women had little to no rights, which was reflected in Memoirs. During Sayuri’s lifetime, the
only prominent economic figures were men. The sizable chasm between the two
genders was greatly obvious: men were able to have sufficient jobs and run
important businesses, while women (geishas, namely) provided entertainment and
pleasure. This is evident when an older Sayuri calls geisha “walking pieces of
art” that exist only to please and entertain. Gender inequality, while being a
controversial subject, served as one of the only aspects that corresponded with
the time period.
It
is understandable why many feminists do not appreciate Memoirs. For one thing, the protagonist had very little sense of
self and was led along by two things: a) what everyone else wanted for her and
b) her love/infatuation with the Chairman. She accepted whatever fate befell
her—including her violation at the hands of the Baron—thinking only of him and
how it would bring her closer to or farther from him. At the tail end of the
film, the viewer is not shown what becomes of Sayuri when she confesses her
love for the Chairman, only that she finally knows that he loves her in return.
This was her chief goal for over twenty years. Also, feminists see geishas as
little more than glorified prostitutes. They sell their bodies as well as their
craft, which contrasts starkly with the feminist belief of women contributing
to society. Her mission in life, goes against the fundamental feminist beliefs
in that she never fully realizes herself and just “goes with the flow.”
There
were numerous discrepancies between the Orientalist portrait that was painted
by both novel and film and reality. The contradictions were significant and
numerous and only served to strengthen the prevalence of Orientalism. They made
the film seem like a Western fantasy, not a true-to-life interpretation of
geisha and Eastern Asia itself. For example, had the film been in the Japanese
language, it would have been more authentic. Also, the three protagonists were
played by Chinese actresses. This wasn’t a significant setback to the Western
viewers, though it raised much controversy with Japanese audiences. Had some
historical value been added to the movie, it would have resulted in more
realism and been less Orientalist and fantastic.
In
conclusion, the imagery and the seemingly beautiful story of Memoirs of a Geisha belied its many
incongruities and flaws. It may appear as a story self-fulfillment against the
backdrop of WWII-era Japan, but the protagonist was weak and never took charge
of her own destiny. Also, Arthur Golden created an exaggerated, fanciful Japan
which was carried further by the production of the movie. Finding the mistakes
took away from the initial “entrancement” of the movie and rendered it a pretty
Western fantasy. The movie desperately needed some historical truths
incorporated in it; had Golden and Marshall done this, the movie would have
been more of a cinematic accomplishment.
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