Memoirs of a Golf Weasel...

Last night MindyDear and I went to Memoirs of a Geisha. She had previously read the book while I had little experience with the content. The movie was quite visually stimulating and offered a cultural perspective one doesn't often get in Minnesota.

However, the manner in which the movie portrayed certain societal elements was quite strange when compared to how similar storylines would be dealt with in the U.S.

1) Honest to god, this is a story of pedophilia, in which it is seemingly approved of according to how the story is told. From a legal sense, of course, it isn't really pedophilia, but the guy fell in love with a 9 year old...

2) Cultural norms regarding prostitution. The American servicemen were depicted in a light that turned prostitution into something dirty, yet the Japaneese men, while demonstrated as controlling and dominant in their attitudes towards women, were depicted as having great respect and honor for the profession. Either way, it's a women selling her body.

3) How female emotions were pretty much not allowed into the story and how a geisha was to be not much more than a quick witted robot. It is hard to believe that girls in that situation don't have trillions of repressed thoughts running through their minds, and I asked MindyDear about it and she aluded to how in the book the scene where the geisha lost her virginity was given a lot of weight. Why the movie chose not to delve into these emotions is extremely interesting.

All in all, a movie well worth watching.

Quote of the movie: "I will beat you hard so that Mother doesn't beat you harder." Nice place to grow up...