Memoirs of a Geisha

The film Memoirs of a Geisha, is my all time favorite film. It attempts to portray the mentality of a different society, different mentality, as well as a different culture.

Although the director did a wonderful job with the formalist persepective of the film, many were quick to criticize the fact that Chinese actresses and actors portrayed a Japanese fairytale.

''Any doubts about three Chinese actresses speaking English with Japanese accents vanish in the face of their deeply felt performances and the world Marshall conjures with magical finesse,'' said Peter Travers.

This essay dives into stereotypes, nationalism and the acting in the film among other things.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Chinese culture in Ancient China

Chinese people have always put a lot of emphasis on everybody acting the right way for their position in life. They thought poor people should act different from rich people, and women should act different from men, and city people should act different from country people.

I have linked a article for the culture and nationalist attitude back in the days of Ancient China.

Chinese People

Time Line of Ancient China

I have found a site that gives a general history of China, Ancient China and Imperial China.

It links to a time line of the Chinese Dynasties. The one in which the movies take place is Qin in 221-207 B.C. Pictures of China before and after the time Hero portrays are included.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/timeline.html

Critiscm of the First Gulf War in Three Kings

I have linked to a criticle article on Three Kings, one that highly criticizes the United States government. This article covers the political context of Three Kings as well as give a brief history of the United States in the 1990's. After giving a brief summary of the film, the author gives what she thinks to be the emotional affect that the film has on most audience members.

Below is a passage from the article:

The filmmakers demonstrated the violence of war with their unusual use of
camera work, which included internal views of the human
body. The plot was detailed and clearly showed the
moral transformation of the soldiers. They went from being greedy, cocky and
ignorant to being empathetic toward the Iraqi people.

Critiscm of the First Gulf War in Three Kings