A Brilliant Insight into Japan
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Tampopo
caphk — 22 years ago(July 26, 2003 05:54 AM)
The best aspect of Tampopo is that it describes in perfect detail the Japanese obsession with food and custom. Until you've lived in Japan, you just don't know how wonderfully accurate and self reflective it really is. The vacuum cleaner is a perfect example, the mochi that the old gentleman chokes on, kills thousands of people each year in Japan, and the best way to help someone is to grab a vacuum cleaner (all restaurants have them handy just in case).
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hyperjulius — 22 years ago(July 28, 2003 02:28 PM)
That's HILARIOUS!!! I thought that the vacuum cleaner was just being wacky. I LOVE IT!! What is mochi anyway? Why do people choke on it all the time? Considering how differently food is eaten over there, is it still alive? (I'm not being ignorant or facetious, I'm serious. They decapitated a turtle in that movie for God's sake!)
I have to agree with the gangster at the beginning of the movie, I could beat up anyone who interrupts a movie by making pointless noise.
-Damien -
khu — 22 years ago(October 30, 2003 01:41 AM)
It's a kind of ground fish, like a fish loaf, or like the fake crab meat that is made from fish. When it's formed and dyed and sliced, the cross section looks like that thing you see in the film. It's called naruto.
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hawks-bill — 19 years ago(November 19, 2006 08:01 AM)
I'm dismayed if also not surprised that no one has yet broached the most subversive element of the film: its critique of male privilege.
The story, as most of you already know, concerns the efforts of Goro to help Tampopo perfect her dismal skills as a raman noodle cook. This may seem an ordinary enough logline to a Westerner, but to Japanese viewers it's ludicrous. Virtually all raman chefs are men, and the idea of a woman presuming to poach on this traditionally masculine preserve is both absurd and threatening. Hence the film is a satire of male chauvinism as much as anything else. Tampopo, which means "dandelion" in Japanese, is a symbol of the female outsider trying to make her way in a man's world. -
Kawada_Kira — 11 years ago(May 03, 2014 11:52 PM)
I'm dismayed if also not surprised that no one has yet broached the most subversive element of the film: its critique of male privilege.
The story, as most of you already know, concerns the efforts of Goro to help Tampopo perfect her dismal skills as a raman noodle cook. This may seem an ordinary enough logline to a Westerner, but to Japanese viewers it's ludicrous. Virtually all raman chefs are men, and the idea of a woman presuming to poach on this traditionally masculine preserve is both absurd and threatening. Hence the film is a satire of male chauvinism as much as anything else. Tampopo, which means "dandelion" in Japanese, is a symbol of the female outsider trying to make her way in a man's world.
I didn't catch this, because I didn't know that ramen chef is traditionally a male profession. Thanks for pointing that out, it's a great point.
"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."- Voltaire
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carrot_handvo — 10 years ago(January 23, 2016 02:24 AM)
its critique of male privilege.
no, it's actually the opposite
https://foodandfoodiesinjapan.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/tampopo-japanese-masculine/ -