TAKEN FROM THE LOVE LIFE OF AN ASIAN GUY (facebook) because everyone needs to know
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inuimari — 10 years ago(December 17, 2015 04:43 PM)
As a Japanese guy (well this is my opinion only), I really don't care. Most Japanese people won't care either.
How is this any different to the Grudge? I'll admit that it's pretty weird that the protagonist will find so many people that speak fluent English-speaker in Japan. -
wartengu — 10 years ago(February 09, 2016 07:48 AM)
Most people in Japan these days speak English. The younger generation want to be like Americans and speak English. The good thing about having a suicide forest, dead bodies make good compost for the plants. Too early to crack a smile?
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Mattfinbell — 10 years ago(April 04, 2016 06:57 PM)
inuimari
As a Japanese guy (well this is my opinion only), I really don't care. Most Japanese people won't care either.
How is this any different to the Grudge? I'll admit that it's pretty weird that the protagonist will find so many people that speak fluent English-speaker in Japan.
then why do people or mainly Japanese people hate Airbender? Since the characters look white or half white
HAHA yeah a lot of Japanese dont speak English so!
VariaIronhawk
The sister is living and working in Tokyo, soooooo, it really is not such a stretch. See, when you don't know the story, it's easy to criticize.
True but not in upper education
inuimari
This " LOVE LIFE OF AN ASIAN GUY " can F Off.
Just got banned from his site cuz I told a girl not to be so judgmental. He basically said that a lot of Asian parents beat their kid. Some posters said that that is abuse and they recanted how abusive their parents were. And this one chick went on dissing all those people who were saying it was abuse. I told her not to be so judgmental and then I got banned. I wasn't even using a swear word. And some of the posters were saying that people who are saying that spanking their kids is abuse where pu&&y white people. SMH.
He's okay with child abuse but is now complaining about mental health among Asians? WTF, man. Total hypocrite. According to this ridiculous site, "tone policing" is a real thing and it's bad. What the. There's nothing wrong with being nice to people online and your assumed minority status (as in people assuming they are in a more disadvantaged class than those they are speaking to) does not make it okay for people to be a b1tch online.
yeah some chinese and Japanese can be anal about that
Kumagoro
The guy quoted in the original post is totally off base.
John Wayne as Genghis Khan is indeed bad, even beyond whitewashing, because it's a white man posing as Asian.
How many chinese actors were in the biz at that time?
Phoenix_07
Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell is NOT whitewashing, because she WON'T play Motoko Kusanagi in "yellowface" (or whatever it's called), she'll play a reworked character with a different name for the American version of the same story, just like Naomi Watts in The Ring. Remember when Kurosawa used to set Western literature in Japan using Japanese actors? Was that out of racism?
Whitewashing goes more into just putting someone in yellowface. Taking a Japanese movie and remaking it with White actors is pretty much whitewashing. Why is that necessary? Why can't Americans just watch something in its original form? Why is there a need for an 'American version'? Look at just about every remake of a Japanese/Asian movie. Do they have other races casted as the lead, or even have a role? Why was The Grudge even remade when it's also set in Japan with the same story?
Yet the Japanese worship whites all the time
why is it with Ernie Hudson who played one of the title characters never go back lash but the main character Justin got all of it?
Why do Japanese draw there characters white looking?
stephenmonachello
First off, Genghis Kahn played by John Wayne and Scarlet Johansson playing Major Motoko Kusanagi in "Ghost in the Shell are examples of "White Washing" as they are whites playing Asian characters just like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
for gods sake they white wash the characters in Dragonball z and airbender Chinese and Japanese people dont have round eyes and wavy hair
This film is not an example. This about an American going to find their twin in a legendary suicide forest in Japan. This is not white washing. This is just someone wanting a bigger story about a horror film. According to you this could not happen, but it could only happen to someone of Japanese decent. This is just another example of people wanting to complain about something or everything.
but again why would all the japanese be speaking english and be more aggressive or more loud as the case may be
Space_Wolf57
No actual Japanese person would give a sh!t about this. Chances are the writer is a "whitewashed" Asian himself.
well which racial group cares about Dragonball Z Airbender the last avatar
to me it seems its always the Koreans no other oriental group cares so much
skane110-1
Have you ever heard of "The Last Samurai"? That is way worse than this. I mean, the Samurai are such a hugely important and sacred thing to the Japanese and they are legendary so, to have a white guy play the last samurai is so completely wrong and offensive.
Oh how is it offensive?
the book Young Samurai and Shogun are based off a white guy who got ship wrecked in Japan
Will Adams
this is scotts review of the film. I trust him since he has made a life in Japan and he is Japanese
Kinda the same story like William Adams
Noelitede
I do think it's beep up to pick a real social issue and make a horror film about it. I'm also kind of fed up of all this movies starring white actors unnecesarily, when the movie is set in Asia like The forbid -
pajamawolfie — 10 years ago(December 19, 2015 06:36 PM)
I heard of the Aokigahara suicide forest a few years ago via a documentary, and I know that the suicide rate in Japan is rather high. However, as I am not Asian, so I don't really have much of a say about it. The only reason I wanted to see it was because I'd heard of the forest before.
Perhaps Japanese movie company will make their own version / a similar film addressing this issue. If they didn't want to do a movie on the forest before, maybe they'll do one to counteract the imminent train wreck that is the Hollywood version.
ScarJo in
Ghost in the Shell
is one thing: she'll get asses in movie theater seats. But that's a
science fiction
film.
The Forest
toys with, as you've said, a Japanese national crisis, and is cast in poor taste.
At least film is being released in January, which is when companies put out the movies that suck, so it'll probably be in the bottom of the $5 DVD bin in less than 2 years.
There is no objective reality and that's
Sucker Punch -
newgoldcatt — 10 years ago(December 30, 2015 07:15 AM)
There already is one with an Asian actress and the story has to do with her sister. With an Asian actress they would literally be remaking a recent TV movie for a lot of money. That and how much people like Natalie are probably why they casted it this way. I understand the outrage but for shallow business reasons the casting makes sense lol.
Scarlet makes sense for an anime but I do wish they would actually cast an Asian actress for one of these big roles. The camera flipping loves Gemma chan on humans so hopefully she will get on the big screen in something note able. -
lulupalooza — 9 years ago(September 13, 2016 12:20 AM)
@newgoldcatt
You make good sense. However, you stated:
With an Asian actress they would literally be remaking a recent TV movie for a lot of money.
That is somewhat confusing, since there is no figurative remaking of a film. Perhaps you meant "actually". Regardless, remakes are annoyingly on the rise and, are most often, an expensive venture.
"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) -
gamer_12 — 10 years ago(December 20, 2015 04:41 AM)
This isn't whitewashing unless you want American produced films to only take place in America. This is about a person who goes looking for her sister who heard about the forest and went there to kill herself. People from other countries could do that so it's believable.
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Stiles5339 — 10 years ago(January 03, 2016 06:06 PM)
Exactly, I highly doubt everyone that goes to that forest to commit suicide is one race or another. Every race, every gender has more than likely taken their life in said forest, so it is realistic. If statistics said 100% this race or this gender committed suicide in this forest, that's one thing - but, that isn't the case here.
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Stiles5339 — 10 years ago(January 04, 2016 05:38 PM)
It's more nationalist to believe that only Japanese people commit suicide in a singular forest. I live near Niagara Falls, albeit it doesn't have as much of a pull. But, I'd be really naive and out right stupid to believe that only Americans and Canadians have committed suicide at Niagara Falls. Plus, it's seriously racist to think that only Asian people live in Japan - it's the exact equivalent to saying only white people live in the US. It's asinine.
As to who - somebody who has the money and is seeking the stigma behind it. That is why the forest is as powerful as it is, especially with suicide. It takes a very singular and often lonely act and brings a group community into it. Copy cats. If you ask who would copy? You're talking about a world where people copy just about everything even things that lead to their deaths - google 'The Program' movie to see how copycats took their own lives trying to copy what they saw in a movie,
that's
our world. When you're mentally unbalanced, you don't do things that can mentally be explained.
As said, it is racist and nationalist to be as daft as to believe that only Japanese and asian people have committed suicide in that forest. Are there more people who live close by? Obviously. But, part of the reason why the forest is so well known is because people travel from all around the world to go inside.
Why cast a white person from America as the person who commits suicide there? For the family member protagonist, not only is the emotional level there it also brings in the added "stranger in a new land" difficulties. If you state that person could still be Asian, yes - could have been, but you'd also be saying who they cast doesn't matter now. So, they went with the best name that they could get with their budget that would draw the most people in to watch it. When it doesn't matter - they went with what is the smartest move to make business-wise. FIlm is a business.
As for it not dealing with the realities of suicides of people living in Japan, as well as the asian community at large (?) overseas - it's a horror movie. That's the last place I'd want to see reality brought into it, that would be undermining what those complaining about that want to see. With that content and subject matter - it would be best suited for a 'The Sea of Trees' movie approach that didn't come out (a human drama and character study that is relevant and focuses on those important aspects rather than just making it serve as meaningless background to standard horror fare to be ignored and forgotten once the horror sets in, which to me would be undermining those topics entirely). -
xfastfurious15 — 10 years ago(January 06, 2016 03:56 PM)
Wow you are REACHING!
The excuse that film is a "business" is just that-an excuse. It's a film set in Asia! How hard to find ONE Asian actor to play the main character. Even if the rest of the actors were white, it's just typical Hollywood racism.
I live in nj. I know that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California is a very popular suicide spot. I'll be damned if I go all the way there, across the entire country, to commit suicide when I can just do it here in NJ.
So the fvck i look like traveling all the way to Japan to commit suicide???? beep dumb.
The only thing that you said that made sense is if the sister already lived there or was already in the area and then just decided to commit suicide. But i guess we won't know until the movie comes out.
I bet you're wondering what a place like this is doing in a girl like me-The Mummy -
Stiles5339 — 10 years ago(January 07, 2016 12:21 PM)
- It is a business. A no-name, or an actress with less of a reputation for drawing people in
is
bad business. It is all about profit for executives, not about art. As a screenwriter, hey - I hate that, but that's the truth of the industry: it's making art, but it's most importantly for the suits about making a
profit
. It's not if they can find an asian actress, it's all about finding an actress that can draw as much people in as the budget allows them to attain. That means attaching a name. I work in the industry, this is how studio executives think - you need a
name
. It's a financial net. - Even though you are obviously hot headed, you are still mentally stable - people who commit suicide are
not
mentally stable. People from every race and nationality has committed suicide in said forest. Statistics alone and probability theories tell us that is the case. - It is dumb, but so is committing suicide in the first place. It, in and of itself (no offense to anyone - I have lost others to suicide as well), is a dumb (or politically correct: mentally unbalanced) act. There is no mentally stable thought that goes into it at all. You're trying to bring sane reasoning into an insane act, there is no sane reasoning that goes into it in the first place. I'd say one possibility is those who travel to the forest to commit suicide already have a fascination with Japan, thus a stronger pull to committing suicide there. They don't care about money. They don't care about the time it takes (a lot of times there is already a period of prolonging already). The only thing they can see is the act and how they want to do it, everything else no longer matters. Dumb? Suicide is an
irrational
act. So, exactly.
- It is a business. A no-name, or an actress with less of a reputation for drawing people in
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Dragonfly777 — 10 years ago(January 08, 2016 02:02 PM)
This is somewhat an aside, but I can't help but to take issue with the certianty you project concerning suicide always being "dumb," "irrational,"mentally unbalanced,"insane," that there "is no sane reasoning that goes into it in the first place."
I too have lost people to suicide, and in one case, for example, it was an older man with a relapse of a terrible cancer. He secretly studied the best methods of ending his life, no doubt thought long and hard about whether, at this stage in his life, it would be better for all concerned to end his life or to go through the hell that was fast approaching and would likely end in death anyway. He sanely, rationally, concluded that to take his life was the better choice, and it would be wrong and presumptuous of me to belittle, with false accusations of "insanity," the difficult and dreadful decision he wrestled with and reached when faced only with two horrible and frightening options.
This may sound morbidly pessimistic, but I seriously doubt that there are many sane, clear-sighted and rational people, especially those no longer young, living today who haven't at least questioned whether or not it is really better to be alive, burdened with the body and the conscious awareness of the inevitable physical and emotional suffering to come. Death will come regardless of any effort to ward it off. Note this I am not advocating suicide. I simply resent the false claim that only dumb or insane people would choose it. Most philosophies and religions at least acknowledge that inevitable suffering comes with life, with the cohabitation of awareness and a corporal mortal body, and to love others who too will suffer and die. What's the first Noble Truth in Buddhism? A great deal of thought throughout the ages and all over the world has gone into how to remedy this problem, through enlightenment and nirvana, or through a soul that is immortal and can be saved from all suffering, etc Other philosophers offer no hope. Some acknowledge that life is a kind of Sisyphean loop of drudgery and suffering, but argue against suicide.
I've faced that decision, and I've chosen life, with its beauties and wonders and terrors and inevitable end, primarily because I knew I am needed and wanted by those I love and who love me. I've been in mental states that were not rational, Major Depression (the real thing, without any identifiable external cause), depressive to the point of living in an uninterrupted cycle of crippling anxiety, followed by hours of uncontrollable weeping, ending the day exhausted and afraid to go to sleep, and this going on every day for many months. I often thought that I simply couldn't live through another minute of this weird and mysterious malady, or put my loved ones through more days, weeks, months, of having to see me that way, and if I'd given into the temptations to end it that were always in my mind, I would have made a dumb and irrational choice. The depressive cycle ends, things come back into focus, life continues with its ups and downs, and I can breathe again, eat again, feel good again sometimes, function and help others again. I wouldn't argue that all, or most, suicides are rationally committed, but I will argue that there are people who choose suicide for perfectly rational, sane, unclouded clear-sighted reasons.
Lastly, unrelated to the above, if you know of real statistics (not "probability theories"), or know of any studies done that would show that people from around the globe, or even from "the west," travel to this forest in Japan to end their lives, please share. It sounds improbable to me, but I don't know, or claim to know. I do know I won't boycott this film based on the OP's complaint. I want to see it.
The moon is dead. Long live the moon. -
Stiles5339 — 10 years ago(January 08, 2016 06:45 PM)
I would have made a dumb and irrational choice.
Exactly.
I should note that I'm not talking euthanasia, or any form of euthanasia, which I would define as something
different
. Euthanasia is ending suffering when you know death is inevitable and it's a way to end your pain faster and gentler. Suicide is an impulsive act caused by something you think is life ending and will never go away, but always with time usually does get better. As said, to me they're two different things and they're two different words/terms entirely. I should note I don't even see a cancer patient going off chemo as any form of suicide - chemo is far from an easy process and might cause pain until your dying breath since it is far from a guarantee. As said, I view one as euthanasia (whether assisted or not) and the other as suicide.
I have not been able to find statistics. But, in a lot of the reports I have read it states that people travel from all around the world to see the forest due to their morbid curiosity. In a world where people travel to far off distant lands to drop off one's ashes, to me it is well within the nature and law of probability that there have been those who have traveled to places where they want to die. People already do go to extremes in setting up ways that they would like to die. Thus, with both of those elements already in our nature - I wouldn't call it a stretch of the imagination at all especially since money wouldn't enter into it for many people especially when you're young (only supporting yourself). Also, as originally stated it would be in the minority, but we are talking about world population and saying not even one person would ever do something. To me, due to the number of people, those odds seem really slim - even .5% would be a lot when looking at the numbers.
I actually had no interest in seeing the film, I saw it earlier today because someone I know wanted to see it and while the acting was good it wasn't scary and it was very predictable. To each their own though. I thought I would jump on the boards and was flabbergasted seeing complaints about racism, some films - like '21' I can definitely see that being the case, but to me I'd say there's absolutely no problem since this film was clearly going after the small fish in a new land story. To those who might say "you're white! You're American!" Actually, I'm neither and all of the above. I'm an adoptee brought to America from a foreign country with no way at all of knowing what my ethnicity or race is. What that means is that I'm race/ethnicity/nationalism blind - it's all one giant world to me and we're
all
the same, so I have no leaning in these regards other than knowing business (you need a name) and story-telling (as said, here they're looking for bringing somebody into a new pond and you need to establish that rather quickly, and that is the route that the story took).
And as said earlier, what the OP wants and what this film is aren't the same at all. To me, it would be a shame to bring those elements into a film like this since they would get buried and not given the respect and time and care that it deserves. To me, with those elements - you don't want to put it into a genre film where those elements are shrugged off - rather you should put that in a dramatic movie. I'd say that 'The Sea of Trees' more than let the ball drop in these regards, everyone is trashing that movie and although I haven't seen it (nor do I think it will ever get released) I am lost as to why the protagonist isn't Asian; it would have made it more timely, it would have introduced new and interesting topics into it, I don't see how you'd need a big name actor - there I'd guess the budget is a lot higher (mainly because of Mcconaughey) than what it should have been to make a solid profit (is there a chance it could have? Yes, but it makes it riskier unless he took a
serious
pay cut). There I'd say it was either a white writer who wanted a white character, racist casting (as said, with that movie having a "big name lead" only makes your budget a lot higher than what it should be on what is essentially a risky character piece dealing with suicide (since the protagonist is the one seeking to commit suicide, I doubt they would give any thought (like this film did) to reacting to different abroad customs), or using the forest only because people know about it. That movie, as said - I could understand because something is off. Here, it adds to the feeling of being out of place and seclusion (not at all safe) because it is far from home. This was a by the books horror movie about a stranger in a strange new land, they're really a dime a dozen. -
Stiles5339 — 10 years ago(January 08, 2016 08:21 AM)
I have no idea who this question is targeted to. So, I'll answer the best way I can if it was directed toward me, a name is a name - is a
name
. As long as it's a name that you know will draw in more people due to their reputation in the US, and exceptionally great abroad, if possible. The only thing is, has to be a proven name with a fanbase already behind it.