This is the kind of thing that just gets my goat, though naturally I find none of it surprising. In a Guardian piece about the Spielberg-produced film Memoirs of a Geisha, based on Arthur Golden’s best selling novel, there was this little tidbit:
The geisha’s traditional white make-up […] has been deemed too scary for American audiences.
Like I said, how can one be surprised when sappy Spielberg is involved, producing an adaptation of a book that comes already laden with a LOT of baggage? Nevertheless, I found it amusing that the film’s own adviser on all matters geisha, Peter MacIntosh, is quoted in the article as saying “It’s not being made for a Japanese audience and it looks like they’re going to juice it up a bit. Anyone who knows something about Japanese culture might actually be appalled by the whole thing.”
And can one be surprised when the lead role is played by the Chinese Zhang Ziyi with a support cast that seems partly made up of Japanese, partly of Chinese? (In digging around, found this news story about a South Korean actress who turned down a part in the movie because, as she said, “Even if it is Hollywood, I don’t want to start by playing a Japanese geisha. It’s a matter of pride.” A loaded sentiment coming from a Korean woman, but best left to another discussion.)
And can one be surprised by a production that didn’t even have the forethought to snap up the .org domain for memoirsofageisha, leaving it available for an enterprising self-described “New Yorker-American-Japanese-LA-based writer and actor” named Keisuke Hoashi, who is using the site for as he tells it, “intelligent commentaries on American Asian issues, but with a perspective completely contrary to those from the typical ‘Asian American’ crowd.” His thoughts on the “Geisha” film and book are not surprising, nor are they predictable.
