Links
Archives
thoughts
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
i was talking to a friend the other day, who, incidentally, is also enrolled in the same module, and we came to a film that we have both watched, albeit at different times.
Japanese Story tells the singular but strangely beautiful love relationship between an australian woman (Sandy) and a japanese man (Hiro). in many ways, the film celebrates the empowerment of the new career woman - Sandy - and the female protagonist is fleshed out to be confident, assertive, and even domineering at times. and it is these mis-matched attributes that shock - remember that japan is predominantly male-dominated - but draw the japanese man towards Sandy.
the climax of the film sees Sandy wearing Hiro's black trousers and straddles him while they make love. throughout the scene, the male protagonist remains the passive actor.
this reversal of gender roles is refreshing, but you cannot help but wonder if the same would have happened if the man was White instead of Oriental. the question that is left unanswered in the film is whether or not the director casted a japanese for the male lead in order to bring out the superiority of the caucasian woman. if so, skin colour and ethinicity still remain a major factor when we define who gets to rule, and while there is a re-appropriation of gender identities in the film, it is only made possible by another subordination - the colonial idea of the Occident against the Orient. that in order to re-write the woman's body and meanings, we have to give her a foil/man who is socially inferior to her - in this case an Asian man. to the fat black woman, the stratification might go like this: White man - White woman - Asian man - Asian woman. perhaps it has to do with the residue from colonialism and the White man's rule in his colonies.
i guess, as Grosz has mentioned in her article, we can be made aware of these binaries and their gaps, but we may never truly remove them permanently. and like the end of her article, there can be no real conclusion when it comes to an issue as grey as that; only different views.
Japanese Story tells the singular but strangely beautiful love relationship between an australian woman (Sandy) and a japanese man (Hiro). in many ways, the film celebrates the empowerment of the new career woman - Sandy - and the female protagonist is fleshed out to be confident, assertive, and even domineering at times. and it is these mis-matched attributes that shock - remember that japan is predominantly male-dominated - but draw the japanese man towards Sandy.
the climax of the film sees Sandy wearing Hiro's black trousers and straddles him while they make love. throughout the scene, the male protagonist remains the passive actor.
this reversal of gender roles is refreshing, but you cannot help but wonder if the same would have happened if the man was White instead of Oriental. the question that is left unanswered in the film is whether or not the director casted a japanese for the male lead in order to bring out the superiority of the caucasian woman. if so, skin colour and ethinicity still remain a major factor when we define who gets to rule, and while there is a re-appropriation of gender identities in the film, it is only made possible by another subordination - the colonial idea of the Occident against the Orient. that in order to re-write the woman's body and meanings, we have to give her a foil/man who is socially inferior to her - in this case an Asian man. to the fat black woman, the stratification might go like this: White man - White woman - Asian man - Asian woman. perhaps it has to do with the residue from colonialism and the White man's rule in his colonies.
i guess, as Grosz has mentioned in her article, we can be made aware of these binaries and their gaps, but we may never truly remove them permanently. and like the end of her article, there can be no real conclusion when it comes to an issue as grey as that; only different views.
Comments:
Post a Comment
