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| Last updated on Thursday, 19 Feb 2004 |
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Dear Daniel S.,
Thank you very much for writing.
While you may identify with the experience of traveling in a foreign country, I believe that "Lost In Translation" shows overwhelmingly negative attitudes towards Japanese people and culture.
Let's take a simple scene in the movie where Bob and Charlotte are in the restaurant and Bob comments on Charlotte's injured toe. In the restaurant, Bob recounts his bad experience with one thing Japanese: 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? Did 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 necessary 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 some German city 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 spends much time with Bob in the film.
To rely on Japanese stereotypes for humor throughout the entire film is simply disgusting. You have to look at the film in its entirety. "The circumstances are not just circumstance." Instead they are situations created to support important themes in the film. 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 because the theme of the short and small Japanese is soon repeated in the next scenes. 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.
There are just too many examples in the film where characters express negative attitudes towards the Japanese culture:
"lock and lo" they're "ridiculous" "skinny and nerdy"
"lip my stocking"
a weird incompetent prostitute
strippers
Bob recalls his night out partying and singing as "It's not fun. Just very very different."
You may say that Bob likes "that really really great music" but he was referring to American not Japanese music plus he was being sarcastic and exchanging forces pleasantries with his wife ... he ends with "that was a mistake"
You may say that Bob "wants to eat like the Japanese" but this only proves that he wants to eat healthier and not that he enjoys the food.
"brack toe"
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?"
"Lets not come here again cuz it will never be as much fun."
And so on ...
Can you recall Bob or Charlotte complimenting anything about Japanese culture? Think carefully because examples you find will probably turn out to be sarcasm.
As for the stereotypes of Germans in WWII ... "Two wrongs do not make a right." In Germany, Germans have many opportunities to view both positive and negative images of themselves in the German media. In the United States, Asian Americans seldom see positive portrayals and instead are the targets of racial insults in American radio, television, and film. So, while you may turn on your television and switch channels until you find a television program with positive German characters that you enjoy, I as an Asian American am more likely to find an offensive portrayal of Asian Americans or no portrayal at all in American media.
In a study by the Committee of 100, an umbrella group of Asian American organizations, found that 25% a significant minority of Americans, 25%, have negative attitudes towards Asian Americans. While I respect your choice to overcome negative German stereotypes by living a good life, I on the other hand feel an obligation to engage in the healthy on-going dialog about race issues in the United States.
"Lost In Translation" has serious flaws and such a film should not be put on the highest of pedestals by awarding it an Oscar. We just can't bear to see the film receive the prestige and recognition of an Academy Awards due to its negative portrayal of Japanese people and culture.
If one is going to give a film the highest of honors, it should deserve it. "Lost In Translation" does not deserve any Academy Awards.
P.S. Don't apologize about your English grammar because it's very good. I enjoyed reading your letter.
P.P.S. I enjoyed LOTR, but I only hope that LIT does not win any more awards.
Sincerely,
Kai
--
https://lost-in-racism.org
http://www.asianmediawatch.net
Hello Kai and all of you,
First of all: sorry if my English is bad! 8)
I have been in different parts of Asia several times, including Japan/Tokio. I just came back from a longtime-travel through Southeast-Asia. Lost in Translation is a very funny portrait of strangers in a completely different culture. I don't think you have ever been a westener doing a first time visit to Tokio (?), but I was: The film just shows how it feels - many of my experiences there where very similar. So it think your critic on the movie is not legitimate because... it is just like that!
Jokes like translating one minute of talking to "turn right" ... hm, surely this is exaggerated ... but you know, it's a _comedy_, they are making jokes in such movie! ;) Besides that, the focus of the movie is not making fun of the Japanese society, it is focused on the two main characters, the circumstances are just ... circumstances.
And besides all that, does it really makes LIT a bad movie (bad movie = an work of art, that is not worth getting awards for directing, acting or whatever...) only because how the script deals with the description of the Japanese? In my opinion, that are two complete different views on the movie, that you should not confuse! LIT is a good (elegant, well-filmed, well-played) movie and is NOT "undeserved nominated" - whatever anyone thinks about the Lost-In-Racism-problem! (Rambo 3 ist a bad movie, but not only because of its racistic tendencies...! ;))
I am from Germany. If you are troubled about how the Japanese are described in American movies - what is about the Germans? They are always the bad guys - hash and square.(not only in WWII-movies)... just take a look at the Bond-bad-guys!
For me as a German: I don't complain about this and I'm not going to set up a website about that issue! I'm hoping that I (or "the Germans") will sometime overcome the stereotypes with my/our real-life actions... And if not, maybe the stereotypes are in many cases just... right? So for example, why don't start with trying to change the horrible Japanese TV (in realilty it's even worse than in the movie, especially if you have friends that can translate it!) - instead of critizising that an Amercian movie makes fun of it?
There are a lot of things that are wrong in American, German and -yes!- Japanese society! My point is: The Japanese way of "not talking of historical and present problems" ("no, no there is no Yakuza-problem here...") is wrong an will change nothing!
As a young German (in Germany the 30's/40's are VERY present, and most people are still VERY ashamed what happend) I was a little bit confused how the WWII was described in the Tokio National Museum: the Americans were described as the enemies and "bad bombers" - not the liberators from a racistic leadersship! I talked with different Koreans in Tokio, who complained about "not feeling welcome" -to say it polite- in Japan! Maybe the Japanese should quite "keeping face" and keep critics calm, but instead listen to what the critics complain about!
Please let authors and directors critizes what they want to critize! Sometimes they are wrong, sometimes they are right. I think that even Americans ;) are intelligent enough to decide for themselves, in what stereotypes they believe (or not)... Political correctness is great regarding goverment actions - but is does NOT well in art! What you are trying to do is a form of "moral" censorship.
So, I will not support your petition in leaving out LIT of award-consideration. I think YOU should think about your lack of critical faculty and tolerance. This is not meant to be a affront - I just can't believe, that a self-critic and tolerant Japanese would complain about a sensitive comedy like LIT!
Regards,
Daniel S.
PS: Personally I think that Lord of the Rings will win the award for "best movie", so no need to worry anyway! :)
PPS: I encourage you to publish and discuss my mail on your website!
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