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| Last updated on Sunday, 22 Feb 2004 |
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The main characters in "Lost In Translation" express negative attitudes towards Japanese culture and people. Such negative attitudes and prejudices directed towards an ethnic group, the Japanese, constitutes racism. Although the word 'racism' is polarizing in mainstream America, we still need opening discuss the issue and recognize that racism manifests itself not only in the form of discrimination and violence, but of prejudice.
Look at "Lost In Translation" carefully and you will find anti-Japanese themes. The film relies heavily on Japanese stereotypes for humor throughout the entire film that I find simply disgusting. Let's start at the beginning of the film when important themes are introduced to the audience. What is one of those important themes? Japanese people and things are short and small!
In the beginning of the film, after Bob is greeted in the hotel lobby, and just before he walks away, he says "Great. Short and sweet. Very Japanese. I like that." This comment is a subtle hint to the audience that the Japanese are "short." This comment cannot be dismissed as an innocent remark or as a compliment because the theme of the short and small Japanese is soon repeated in the next scenes. Bob is clearly tired and being sarcastic. Instead, the "short" remark is a hint to the audience of what to expect next. Bob enters an elevator purposely filled with uniformly short businessmen. Also soon after, Bob takes a shower under a short shower head (how odd that a five-star hotel does not know how to cater to Westerners). So important is this theme of short and small Japanese, that it is introduced and reinforced early in the film. The idea is then later repeated throughout the film for more cheap laughs: the small shaver, the small slippers, comments made by Bob and Charlotte, etc. The heavy reliance on this theme constitutes an offensive pattern and reliance on ethnic humor.
Let's take another scene from the film where Bob and Charlotte are in a restaurant, and Bob comments on Charlotte's injured toe. First, Bob recounts his bad experience with one element of Japanese culture: a shiatsu massage; he then expresses disdain for another element of Japanese culture: they eat weird food, he is disrespectful to the native chef, and mocks the Japanese accent -- He directs his statement to the native Japanese chef, who Bob knows does not understand English, and says "See? They love black toes over in this country. This country. Someone's got to prefer black toe. Oh ... 'brack' toe. You probably hang around until someone orders it. Hey what's with the straight face?"
I ask you, when you travel to a foreign country, do you show such disregard as to insult a native by speaking in a mock accent, mocking his mannerisms, and insulting his culture's weird eating habits? Would you actually go into a Tokyo restaurant and insult the chef that way?
I submit to you that "Lost In Translation" did not have to be set in Japan and that the theme of traveling in a foreign land is not essential to the film. The film simply exploits Japanese people and culture for racial humor and commentary. Bob and Charlotte are isolated and lonely as a result of their own individual personal situations. Bob feels alone and far from his wife and family. This has nothing to do with traveling in a foreign country such as Japan. He could just as easily feel isolated on a business trip in any foreign or U.S. city. Charlotte is alone because her husband is either away at work, he does not address her emotional needs, or he engages in meaningless small talk with the ditsy Kelly and the hip-hop artist. These situations give Charlotte the sense of exclusion and isolation. As a result she gets up and walks over to Bob and later spends much time with Bob in the film.
There are just too many examples in the film where characters express negative attitudes towards the Japanese culture such as the theme of the Japanese difficulty or inability in speaking English:
"lock and lo" They're "ridiculous" "skinny and nerdy"
"LIP MY STUCKING! LIP THEM!"
A weird incompetent prostitute
strippers
Bob recalls his night out partying and singing karoake by saying "It's not fun. Just very very different."
You may say that Bob liked "that really really great music" but he was referring to American not Japanese music plus he was being sarcastic. He was exchanging forced pleasantries with his wife, and he ends with "that was a stupid idea"
You may say that Bob wants to "start eating like Japanese food." But he is referring to his desire to eat healthy and not his enjoyment of the food. Later, Charlotte recalls lunch with Bob "That was the worst lunch" and Bob's reply is "So bad. What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?"
The "brack toe" scene expressing disdain for shiatsu massage and weird food
"Lets not come here again cuz it will never be as much fun."
And so on ...
I ask you, does any one remember any compliments made by Bob or Charlotte about Japanese culture? As the examples above point out, what may appear to be a compliment turns out to be sarcasm.
"Lost In Translation" does indeed express negative attitudes towards Japanese culture and people. And those attitudes are expressed by non-Japanese characters. The theme of traveling in a foreign land was not essential to the film. So, we must ask ourselves "why set the film in Japan," "how is Japanese culture portrayed," and "what are the main characters' attitudes towards Japanese culture." "Lost In Translation" exploits Japanese culture for the purpose of racial humor and commentary, and the main characters express disdain for Japanese culture. Inserting brief scenes of the Japanese urban landscape, countryside, temples, video arcades, etc. throughout the film does not absolve the film of its anti-Japanese themes.
Kai
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https://lost-in-racism.org
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