Letters to the Editor
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Bad Casting...
...is ubiquitous. It is pretty common for Hollywood studios to go for the big names, and in "Memoirs..." they got the top 4 Asian actesses, as if ordering them off the internet, sight unseen. Just from that fact, you know this is the equivalent of a supermarket magazine in film.
We, of certain age, grew up imagining a Roman Empire with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in it. Our own history has been Disney-fied, washed clean of unattractive people and ideas and fed back to us. I'm now skeptical of any vision of any culture presented in our media - even HBO's "Rome" and "Deadwood" are scripted to shock not educate.
Golden's book is suspect because of it's borrowed voice, of a Japanese woman by an American man. It's light entertainment, but clearly fiction. I watch Chinese language movies with subtitles on IFC and Sundance and love them for the glimpse into another world. But I am only looking at the Chinese filmmaker's vision, not at the culture itself. Who knows what cultural issues are hidden from our round-eyes by his/her self-imposed filter? I haven't seen many Japanese movies. Are the Japanese more circumspect about their lives or is it a movie distribution issue? I don't know. Any suggestions?
A concurrent issue is the prevalence of straight actors playing gay. Would "Brokeback Mountain" be opening at multiplexes around the country without Heath and Jake? This is the studios' decision to go for the volume market. They are betting that most multiplex viewers don't process their stimulation with much thought. So vote with your pocketbook! Don't go to see it and maybe Hollywood will get the message. But don't bet on it.