Is the transaction elevated if there is very little sex, a lot of cash, and the prostitute gets hardly any of either? Hard to say. Certainly the traditions of the geisha house are culturally fascinating in their own right. But if this movie had been set in the West, it would be perceived as about children sold into prostitution, and that is not nearly as wonderful as 'being raised as a geisha.'
Still, I object to the movie not on sociological grounds but because I suspect a real geisha house floated on currents deeper and more subtle than the broad melodrama on display here. I could list some Japanese films illustrating this, but the last thing the audience for 'Memoirs of a Geisha' wants to see is a more truthful film with less gorgeous women and shabbier production values.
This is one of the best-looking movies in some time, deserving comparison with 'Raise the Red Lantern' (in more ways than one). T mobile pc suite free download. On the level of voluptuous visual beauty, it works if you simply regard it. The women are beauties, their world swims in silks and tapestries, smoke and mirrors, and the mysteries of hair when it is up vs. hair when it is down.
I am not disturbed in the least that the three leading Japanese characters in the film are played by women of Chinese descent. This casting been attacked as ethnically incorrect, but consider that the film was made by a Japanese-owned company; the intent was not to discriminate against Japanese, but in favor of the box office. The movie was cast partly on the basis of star power: Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh are not only great beauties and gifted actresses, but box office dynamite. Even in Japan, Zhang and Li outgross any Japanese actress.
They do wonders with their characters, who are trapped in a formula fiction but suggest possibilities they cannot explore. There isn't the faintest suggestion of free will, but then free will has never played much of a role in the world of a geisha. That's made clear at the outset, circa 1929, when a widowed fisherman sells his daughters on the human market in Kyoto. The older girl, although hardly old enough for sex, is sold directly into prostitution, while the 9-year-old Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) is sold to a geisha house where she will be an unpaid servant until it is determined if she is elegant enough for the house's clientele.
I once had the pleasure of meeting a woman who was once the No.1 geisha in Japan. She's a wonderfullady, funny, warm and kind. She was once a favorite of my wife's grandfather who, with his manybusiness and social connections, helped her find sponsors and make her name. He died many years backand more recently his wife - my wife's grandmother - also passed away. This lady unassumingly tookcontrol of all the everyday things at home - cooking, cleaning, child-minding - so that the familycould grieve and deal with the multitude of funeral related matters.
Cherry blossomdelicate, with images as carefully sculpted as bonsai, this tale of the life of a renowned geisha, one of the last flowers of a kind all but eliminated by WW II, marks an auspicious, unusual debut. Japan is already changing, becoming industrialized and imperialistic, when in 1929 young Chiyo's fisherman father sells her to a house in Kyoto's famous Gion district. The girl's gray. Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Arthur Golden, produced by Steven Spielberg (through production.
Memoirs Of A Geisha Cast
In the evening she regaled us with geisha tales and parlor tricks. Some of the jokes and songs weresurprisingly risque, but related with such grace and skill that no one could really be offended. Sheis well into middle age but I could see how, in her time, she must have drawn men to her like mothsto a flame.
A Kyoto Geisha
Arthur Golden's 1998 novel Memoirs of a Geisha revived interest in an aspect of Japan that is sointrinsic to the Western stereotype and yet so far removed from the reality of daily life here. Geishado still exist and ply their trade, of course. But the role they play in modern society is minor and,except for the attention they get from camera-wielding tourists, largely unseen.
In fact, most of the women captured on film are either maiko (apprentice geisha) or local touriststhemselves, done up for a few hours of faux sophistication and attention seeking.
But like their malecounterpart the samurai, the geisha and her world continue to fascinate people around the world as partof their image of a mysterious and timeless Japan. While prostitution is often referred to as the 'oldestprofession' and the history of the geisha stretches back several centuries, and although there have beentimes when the two overlapped, today's geisha should really be thought of as traditional entertainers.
Because while many people assume that geisha is just a Japanese word for a prostitute, the somewhat moreromantic word 'courtesan' is closer in nuance, and even that is misleading when you consider their history.I remember exploring the history of geisha, preparing a culturologyresearch paper in university - it cameas a surprise that the word geisha itself literally means 'person of the arts' - indeed the earliest geishawere men - and it is as performers of dance, music and poetry that they actually spend most of their workingtime.
The two most famous hanamichi (geisha quarters) can be found in the capital cities of today and yesteryear,Tokyo and Kyoto. Medieval Edo, as Tokyo was formerly known, had the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, wherekabuki actors and artists would mingle with the evolving merchant class. The Edo period (1600-1868) was atime when Japan was largely closed to the outside world and also an era of great cultural development.
Actors, sumo wrestlers and geisha were often the subjects of colorful ukiyo-e, woodblock prints whose nameliterally means 'pictures of the floating world,' a wonderful euphemism for the world of carnal desires.
In the case of Kyoto, entertainment was to be found in the Shimabara district. Even today, maiko and geiko,as they are referred to in Kyoto, entertain customers in traditional teahouses.
History of Geisha
Today's geisha have their roots in female entertainers such as the Saburuko of the 7th century and theShirabyoshi, who emerged around the early 13th century. They would perform for the nobility and some evenbecame concubines to the emperor.
Memoirs Of A Geisha Trailer
It was in the late 16th century that the first walled-in pleasure quarters were built in Japan. Like so manyaspects of Japanese culture, they were modelled after those of Ming Dynasty China. After they were relocatedin the mid-1600s, they became known as Shimabara (after a fortress in Kyushu).
Meanwhile a marshy patchof land (Yoshi-wara) in Edo had been designated as the site for a brothel district under the auspices of theTokugawa shogunate. Brothels and the like were not allowed to operate outside the district and strict ruleswere applied.
Included among these were that no customers were allowed to stay in a brothel more than 24 hours; courtesanswere to wear simple dyed kimonos; and any suspicious or unknown visitors were to be reported to the Office ofthe City Governor.
With Japan enjoying a long-awaited period of peace following centuries of civil war, many samurai found thatsociety no longer had such need of their services. It's thought that many daughters of these formerly noblefamilies became courtesans, with the result that quarters such as Yoshiwara and Shimabara were places ofrefinement and culture.
Peace also brought an increase in prosperity and the rise of the merchant class, or chonin. Add that to thepresence of artists and an atmosphere free of the strictures of the outside world, and it truly was somethingof an adult amusement park, with culture thrown in for good measure.
Within the hanamichi there were many different classes of courtesans, and over the decades the hierarchy andthe standards expected of them changed many times, not always for the better. The situation deteriorated inthe mid-18th century to the extent that a new form of entertainer emerged in Kyoto and Osaka.
The earliest geiko were men, while the first females, who appeared shortly after, were odoriko (dancers) orplayed the shamisen. Female geisha soon became popular enough to be able to steal clients from the courtesans,and in the case of Yoshiwara it was decided to start a kenban, or registration system, to keep them undercontrol and force them to pay taxes. It strictly controlled their dress, behaviour and movements and wasconsidered so successful that it quickly became the norm at hanamichi across Japan.
These strict rulesin fact allowed the geisha to flourish as artists and entertainers. Though more simply dressed than thecourtesans, they became regarded as fashion leaders.
But many aspects of the lifestyle itself were less glamorous. Young girls were sold into the geisha life bytheir families until the mid-20th century and were often subject to the ritual of 'mizu-age,' whereby theirvirginity was sold to the highest bidder. Such practices were eradicated after World War II and the geishaprofession went into a steady decline.
Today, if geisha are hired to entertain at a private party outside the upper eschelons of society, they aremost likely to be seasoned veterans, more akin to your favorite aunt or even grandmother than the girl nextdoor.
Some of the colour photos on this page were kindly provided by photographer Frantisek Staud, who has a wonderful collection of photos of Japan among his many galleries. See PhotoTravels.net
Memory Of A Geisha
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