Memoirs Of A Geisha Comparative Essay

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An American film based on the best-selling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, is a famous movie that represents one aspect of American culture that is a review of the traditional images of Asian women as presented in the American movies. Integrating two sources from the article "Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck" by Jessica Hagedorn and the film Memoirs of a Geisha, these two sources show American reviews of Asian women and Asian women’s preference which challenge the typical American cultural representation of Asian women in Hollywood. The film Memoirs of a Geisha is about the story of a young girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold into slavery by her family. The main course of the movie scenes feature older Chiyo struggling as a geisha to find love, and with the process making enemies. Compared with the book of Memoirs of a Geisha by American male author Arthur Golden, the movie is more dynamic and drastic, like her dancing scene. In fact, the novel was focused on American Orientalism that is considered a typical characteristic of the people and cultures of west, east, and central Asia, which is very fantastic and exotic like Japanese paintings influencing on Impressionism in the 1860s. At the time, this …show more content…

Many people question about what is a real Asian woman in the industry. Many Asian female artists and designers who are smart, strong, and successful are considered different from those who appear in American films. Many Asian women want to break through old-fashioned images of Asian women to more articulately portray their images in USA. Even though the film Memoirs of a Geisha won many awards for costume design, it showed only superficial Japanese-American fashion design, not considering real Japanese women. Changing to a strong fashion style with an Asian female perspective would help reveal the talented work of Asian women in

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