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BLOGGER: PASSENGER 58 THE
LAST SAMURAI: Latest in long line of Asian tourist packages---and
not the last After tiresome months of ingratiating Tom Cruise interviews and articles in which he insists that his new Ed Zwick-directed/John Logan("Gladiator")-penned epic, "The Last Samurai", is a "gift" to the Japanese people, the actual product is hitting theatersand getting rave reviews from the American movie press. In all fairness, much of it may be deserved, because thefilm, based on historical events, actually has a message that at least attemptscomes from the right perspective. The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle writes that the film is about "the encroachments of technology and thedangers of American hegemony"; that it is a 19th century epic that gains its power by tapping into a host of contemporary terrors: the fear of modernweaponry, of cold commerce destroying nature and ancient culture, and of vanishing American integrity"; and finally, "Made at a time of global anxiety, 'The Last Samurai' is all about America's fear of its own power". All important themes, not only missing throughout popular entertainment today, but rare to find in Western entertainment history in any form. But LaSalle, like the film itself, gets only part of it right. Every Asian nation and culture has been violated by hegemony and imperialism, by industrialized powers andnations (primarily the West, and not just America). The rule of force, is not a "contemporary" fear, but a disgusting fact of history and human existence,a way of life. And those who have wielded force (and continue to wield it today) have never felt remorse or guilt, nor have they fretted over such concepts as "integrity". And never will. Getting back to "Samurai", the actual historical backdrop was neatly contained in a recent issue of National Geographic on "The Samurai Way": " The Tokugawa regime fell abruptly, a collapse assudden and surprising as the fall of the Soviet Union in our time. The trigger was the arrival in 1853, and again seven months later, of the black ships, afleet of United States warships led by Commodore Matthew Perry....Confronted by the military strength of the arriving ships, the shogun dissolved Japan's exclusion policy and began making trade pacts with other nations. This perceived act of weakness sparked revolts by several powerful clans of anti-foreigner---and anti-Tokugawa---samurai. Uniformed, well-trained troops loyal to the emperor, armed with rifles from England and France [repelled] an almost comical attack on Kyoto by the Tokugawa samurai, many ofthem waving swords and muskets." Even more specifically, there is the story of Saigo Takamori, the leaderof a small samurai clan who led a rebellion protesting Japan's modernization and Westernization in 1877. The character of Katsumoto (played by Ken Watanabe in the film) is based on Takamori, and the spiritual heart of "The Last Samurai" film---but not the star. He is "supporting cast". And this brings me to my eternal beef, which is no doubt shared by people of Asian (actually all non-Western) descent all over the world, every single time a big Western film about Asia comes around. It
is that the creators and producers of Western entertainment
(in the rare instances that they are motivated to delve
into non-Western cultures at all), have insisted on channeling
outright racist (stereotype-laden) propaganda, as well
as well-meaning but patronizing political correctness (Tom
Cruise's "gifts to other peoples"), through dominant
white male characters, white male Hollywood stars, and
white perspectives. Couldn't this chapter of almost sacred Japanese history have been told without a white hero, when the historical fact is, there were none? If Zwick and the gang really wanted to pay tribute, why didn't they devote their huge dollars to a Japanese production, starring an almost completely Japanese cast---with white characters correctly relegated to the mercenary villain status? Of course, every story does need the right narrator to guide its intended audience through. Tom Cruise does that here, for the benefit of non-Asian viewers who are undoubtedly the audience this production is after. Still, as a matter of integrity, why shouldn't Joe and Josephine Sixpack at the Mall of the Americas get anything but the unvarnished truth about that time in Japan? Why not? American filmmakers never hestitate to dump American culture and American political product overseas without the slightest regard. It is a one-way street, and a clear double standard. When,
if ever, has a production starred a non-Western character/hero
who "toured" through some important chapter of
Western history, limiting the facts of that history, while
marauding all along the way? Let's flip the "Last
Samurai" story around. Imagine the howls of rage if,
for instance, if there were a film about a disillusioned
Japanese samurai showing up in the American Civil War,
fighting for the South, learning about Southern life, getting
major back slaps forputting on breeches and bedding American
women, and earning the honor of being “The Last Confederate”.
Think about it. The encroachment of the West in history, modern industrialization versus ancient ways, are a themes that have been dealt with throughout Asian literature and cinema, most of it unseen by Western eyes. From the Opium Wars and BoxerUprising in China, to the end of the samurai era, Asians have burned with these memories for generations. We do not need any more James Clavell racism. We do not need portrayals of happy but tragic Asian prostitutes, girlfriends and geishas, crazed mindless Asian gangsters, white heroes killing Asian characters, Asian males always dying. We do not need quaint, happy Asian cookbooks and pseudo-mythical fiction devoted to food and "Flower Drum Song" assimilation themes. We do not need Harrison Ford shooting sword fighters, Mel Gibson pumping Jet Li full of bullets after sticking a pole into his gut. We do not need Western "tour guides" like Ed Zwick and Tom Cruise to remind us of what we live with every day, thank you. What we do need are heroes. Our heroes. Unfiltered, powerful, in all their glory.
You might remember Passenger 58 from his days on my webzine, The Laughing Drunk. I'll have a post of my own sometime this weekend. See ya.
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