In this article from JapanToday, Yoko Akashi, a japanese woman living in New York, complains about “Lost in Translation”, arguing that Sofia Coppola showed no respect for japanese people, portraying them as two-dimensional characters and mocking at their intents to speak english.
I’m mexican, and I’ve have never been disturbed for the way Hollywood movies laugh at, and envision, our culture. We (mexicans) can be as cosmopolite as any citizen of the world, and we aren’t disturbed if Hollywood portraits our country as stupid natives and towns full of dust and misery. At least not me, neither my (self-considered) intelligent friends. So if we can (not being disturbed), anyone can.
But I think she is missing the point, anyway. The objective of the film is not mocking at japanese people. It’s only her prejudices what are moving her to complain, her sense of inferiority driven by the Hollywood mockery of their country (it’s not that hard: if you feel inferior, you are inferior, thus more susceptible to mockery). The objective is showing us how two lonely people in a strange country meet each other, how they negotiate the hazards of romance and comedy (quoting Ebert), and the beauty of the film consists in what didn’t happen instead of what happened. This formula could have worked in any country.
This may be a case of a prejudice over a prejudice.
I kind of wondered why Japan Today ran the column when they did. Since the movie isn’t going to open here until late April, most of the commentary it sparked is just empty speculation.
The author also fails to understand that every character in the film, with the exception of the two leads, is treated rather two-dimensionally and lacking in complexity. This includes Charlotte’s self-absorbed husband, the ditzy American actress, and Bob’s cold wife. Coppola doesn’t give anyone the same depth of character that she gives Charlotte and Bob, and that was probably intentional whether audiences liked it or not.
Some of the Japanese jokes are a bit stupid and stereotypical. The film also had some lovely and touching scenes portraying Japanese culture–the party Charlotte and Bob attend, the wedding couple Charlotte watches, the funny woman in the hospital. We don’t get to know the Japanese characters very well, but like the OP says, that wasn’t the point of the film.
Also found it amusing when the author claims that Bob “demeans” a Japanese woman when he talks to her private parts. Wasn’t that woman a stripper? And wasn’t she bent over in a very, uh, graphic position?
I thought the film did a great job of portraing the disorientation of being in an unfamiliar country, especially one where you don’t speak the language. As tourists, Charlotte and Bob weren’t in the position to observe Japanese folks participating in ordinary, every-day activities like going to school, taking their kids to the park, etc. When I’m in a foreign country, I notice the difference and the oddities more so than the similarities, and it makes sense to me to highlight those differences in this film, just as they must have seemed especially highlighted to Bob and Charlotte.
And despite all of this, which I agree with, I’ve tried to point that we can’t be offended by other cultures just because they don’t understand us. I think it’s more correct to react like this: “he he… that’s funny, but we are not that way” and that’s all. No need to brandish the sword, no need of yelling at media because you feel offended, no need of war. Maybe she’s still remembering Hiroshima.
Showing those reactions means that they, one way or another, feel a bit of hate and prejudice against representatives from the other ones, instead of friendship and good will, virtues that should be common to any religion and/or culture. People are still feeding hate, even in absurd issues like this one. That’s why the world is the way it is. (God! My lightest side attacks again!)
I never thought I would say this, but Colin Quinn has a point about race relations. How can you celebrate diversity if you don’t recognize that people are different? A lot of stuff in Lost in Translation focuses on the cultural differences between the US and Japan, and on the unintentional humor those differences can cause. But for the film to be racist, it has to apply some sort of value judgement to those differences, and there’s nothing in Lost in Translation that says these differences make the Japanese less worthy than Americans. Sure, there are “Engrish” jokes, but so what? People raised speaking Japanese have a hard time making “L” noises. This is true, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like the film is saying, “Ha ha, those dumb Jappos don’t know how to speak English good!” It’s just pointing out another difference between the two cultures, with no judgement as to which culture is “correct” or “superior.”
I loved Lost in Translation, but the “Engrish” really bothered me, for a different reason. As a former Japanese language student I am somewhat familiar with the language, and yeah, “L” is difficult to say, but “R” is not so difficult. Yet the prostitute says what sounds like “Lip my tights,” and most of the other pronounciation confusions swapped R for L. Is this a dialect issue or a mistake or am I just mixed up?
There was an opinion piece published in an Australian paper (The Age, I think) that made a similar argument against Lost in Translation. One example cited was a scene played for laughs where Bill Murray’s character enters an elevator and towers over the comparatively diminuitive Japanese. The writer felt this scene and others played up to offensive Japanese stereotypes. I can’t find the article anymore, unfortunately.
(I guess an analagous scene would be if a Japanese film portrayed a Japanese man squeezing into an elevator crowded by obese Americans.)
I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t comment on the film or the articles.
Hey, wait a second… If that guy is saying that Lost in Translation is racist for portraying the Japanese as short, then that must mean he believes there’s something wrong with being short! Another height bigot unmasked! Short people are no different from you or me! Except for a slight increase in annual step-stool purchases!
Rather unsurprisingly, the author seems to have understood very little of the film.
In context, I have trouble imagining how anybody could not laugh at this. Here’s what happens:
Charlotte meets Bob in a strip club. Their Japanese friends are getting a striptease in another room, and Bob is mildly amused by how awkward it is for Charlotte to be there. The background music in the club is hilariously obscene and isn’t to be missed. After a couple of seconds, Bob suggests they leave and Charlotte happily agrees. Bob goes over to the stripper in front of him, who must have been a contortionist, bends down, and says “thank you” in the general direction of her vagina, which he can actually see better than her face. Busted up the theatre both times I saw the movie. Anyone who construed this as an insult to Japanese women must have been just as flexible, because her head is up her ass.
Wow. I’m agreeing with Colin Quinn and Miller at the same time. I need a drink.
Crap, I forgot I don’t drink. Anyway, these stereotyping complaints are pretty dumb. The Japanese businesswoman speaks English just fine. What’s so degrading about pointing out that sometimes people don’t grasp all the nuances of a non-native language? Yes, there’s a stereotype around the r/l thing. It’s based in reality, and it’s not central to the movie. The humor with the prostitute is based on her odd behavior, not her accent. There’s a joke about how she says ‘lip,’ but Bob makes it because he’s annoyed and because it’s a weird request, not because those slant-eyed shifty Japanese can’t speak English.
Yeah, the elevator thing is a height joke. The average Japanese male does seem to be shorter than the average American male. I found pages that said that height was about 5’7" and increasing. And 6’1" Bill Murray is a few inches taller than the average American guy anyway.
I guess I’m spending a lot of time on this. Here’s why: when you say a work of art I happen to like (and I’ve been quite vocal that I love this movie) is racist and sexist, you call me racist and sexist by association. I know that’s not true, so I find it insulting and stupid. So here’s a hearty kiss-off to Mrs. Akashi.
It’s true. I enjoy Miller’s posts the most when I’m shitfaced.
I agree that the movie pointed out the differences but didn’t pass any moral judgements on them. I mean, the differences are there! What was she supposed to do? Set a movie in Tokyo and write/direct as though they were in L.A?
I teach English in Japan, and certainly one of the most common pronounciation mistakes among my students is confusing “R” and “L”. Most native Japanese speakers cannot hear the difference between the two sounds, and can only learn to mimic the correct English pronounciation by careful practice of mouth/tongue position. I think it is more common to hear people say “R” for “L”, perhaps since the closest corresponding sound in the Japanese language is more like “R”, but I have certainly heard “L” for “R” many times. I even got the famous “This dish is made from lice!” on at least one occasion.
This is key, by the way. The ‘r’ sound in Japanese is really halfway between r and l. (That’s how one of my Japanese teachers explained it) In Linguistics classes, I remember hearing that adults raised in Japan have a very hard time learning to hear the difference, many can’t do it. Below a certain age it’s a lot easier.
Another thing I meant to add about the film is that the supporting cast is entirely Japanese. I think that undercuts the racism thing - it’s not like they hired a bunch of white guys and had them stick their teeth out and say ‘Me so solly.’
I saw the movie when it first came out. I’ve done business with Japanese people for fourteen years as a client, vendor and co-worker. I’ve been to Asia on business about fifteen times in my life, four of those times were at least partially in Japan. I didn’t know about any cotroversy or really anything at all about the movie before I saw it, my wife just told me that she wanted to see it and that we were going.
I thought that the depictions of Japanese culture ranged from very exagerated to totally inaccurate. I thought that the way Bill Murray’s character treated his Japanese hosts was disgusting. I didn’t like this film for that reason and it was offensive in my opinion. I just didn’t see the humor in it. I thought that the film sucked for a number of other reasons too but they are all off topic.
I’m not saying that the makers of the film were racist, not even close. I am saying that they don’t come close to getting Japanese culture and the way that they treat visitors to their country.
Regarding the “R” and “L” bit, as a former psychology major, I read an artical about this a few years ago. The researchers think that people create a separate mental pathway for each unique letter sound. Since spoken Japanese does not have this distinction between the two letter sounds, they only have one mental pathway for all “R” and “L” sounds. This makes it impossible for them to hear a difference between the two. I’m sure it can be taught, but its difficult, especially for adults, as Marley23 said.
I have heard this as well, and I think it’s true. It’s not merely that the Japanese language doesn’t distinguish between the sounds, most adult native speakers of Japanese really cannot hear the difference and cannot learn to. As I said, we have to teach the different mouth positions for the two sounds because that’s the only way most students can tell them apart. More and more parents are putting their young children into English classes because they know it’s the only way their kids will master English pronounciation.
See, although most Japanese cannot distinguish between “R” and “L”, they know there is a difference in English. They know that native English speakers can easily distinguish between the two, and that native English speakers will notice and maybe even laugh when they make a mistake…a mistake that they will be unable to recognize themselves! That must be pretty embarassing. So I can see how some Japanese people might be a little sensitive about being made fun of over “R”/“L” confusion. I haven’t seen Lost in Translation so I don’t know if Yoko Akashi overracted, but I can kind of understand why she might be touchy.
I don’t think the film was being deliberately racist. As mentioned by the OP, the point was about two strangers meeting in a foreign land. The jokes on the language (the “lip my stockin-ngs” one, eg) are, I think, a device to accentuate their isolation: they may be surrounded by people who on the surface can speak “English” they are in no way able to communicate with them.
Might I suggest that this has something to do with why you didn’t like the film? You have the experience required to understand the intricacies of Japanese culture; Murray and Johansson’s characters do not, and it’s their exaggerated, almost absurd attempt to comprehend this strange world that makes the movie so funny to me.
Not to mention that Murray is jaundiced and jaded towards almost everyone in the movie, not just the Japanese characters. Remember the scene with the two young fans in the bar?
I loved LiT; it reminded me of a lot of my “fish-out-of-water” experiences I had while backpacking through Europe. YMMV, of course, but that’s my explanation.
You’re correct. That is exactly why I didn’t like the film. I also didn’t like it because it was “give me the Oscar right now” pretentious and ponderous as hell. On one hand, given 1000 years I probably wouldn’t understand all of the intricacies of Japanese culture. On the other hand, to a first order it’s not all that tough. My first trip to Japan in 1993 was my first time ever outside of North America. I remember it well and though things were very different than in California, it wasn’t like I was on another planet.
All of the above is a hijack anyway. The OP asked if LiT insults the Japanese. In my opinion it does.