Creative Imperialism

[Mysterious Dude]

I don't know if that's the correct phrase for what I'm thinking of, but it doesn't seem to be taken, at least.

I remember when Letters from Iwo Jima came out, it was considered unusual for an American director to tell a World War II story from the Japanese perspective. But there is actually a long history of American directors telling stories of other cultures. In 1937, for example, The Good Earth told the story of a Chinese man. Letters from Iwo Jima is at least something of an improvement for using actual Japanese actors and being in the Japanese language. And if you go back even further, you'll find The Mikado, the popular Gilbert and Sullivan play about Japan (it's a British play, but it's still Western).

Back in the present day, we have The Last Samurai, about an American who goes to Japan to become a Samurai. Would Japan ever make a movie with the roles reversed? Have they ever made a movie about a Japanese man who goes to America to become a cowboy?

[MadMan]

Back in the present day, we have The Last Samurai, about an American who goes to Japan to become a Samurai. Would Japan ever make a movie with the roles reversed? Have they ever made a movie about a Japanese man who goes to America to become a cowboy?I actually want to see that type of film made, if only because it would at its best be a play on the cliches and sterotypes that result from films featuring the "Dances With Wolves" type of story. I wonder though if such a film has already been made and we just haven't heard of it.

[Ezee E]

http://images.art.com/images/products/large/10091000/10091304.jpg

[Qrazy]

Sukiyaki Western Django... silly asians trying to be cowboys.

[monolith94]

An excellent example of variations in creative imperialism could be seen and pondered on by watching the american and then british versions of the film The Thief of Bagdad back to back.

[Grouchy]

Back in the present day, we have The Last Samurai, about an American who goes to Japan to become a Samurai. Would Japan ever make a movie with the roles reversed? Have they ever made a movie about a Japanese man who goes to America to become a cowboy?
There was Kung Fu, only they screwed up by refusing to cast Bruce Lee on the role. Otherwise, the series was very much about tolerance and culture clash, only that casting detail made those themes seem ironic.

I'd say modern Asian directors are extremely influenced by Western culture and stereotypes. Just look at the mad genius that's the Miike Django remake.

[Mysterious Dude]

I'd say modern Asian directors are extremely influenced by Western culture and stereotypes. Just look at the mad genius that's the Miike Django remake.
I know that Asian directors are influenced by American directors (and that foreign audiences generally love American films), but it doesn't seem like the same thing to me. Kurosawa was influenced by American westerns and Shakespeare, but he always changed them to make them Japanese. The one exception I can think of would be Dersu Uzala, though that was produced mostly by Russians.

It just seems like a uniquely Western phenomenon to delve into other cultures so bluntly.

[[ETM]]

If Jarmusch was Japanese, Mystery Train would have been a contenda'.

[Grouchy]

I know that Asian directors are influenced by American directors (and that foreign audiences generally love American films), but it doesn't seem like the same thing to me. Kurosawa was influenced by American westerns and Shakespeare, but he always changed them to make them Japanese. The one exception I can think of would be Dersu Uzala, though that was produced mostly by Russians.

It just seems like a uniquely Western phenomenon to delve into other cultures so bluntly.
I understand what you're saying, but I have to repeat myself - Sukiyaki Western Django is exactly the answer you're looking for.

[Sycophant]

There's a big difference between heavy American influence as exhibited in Sukiyaki Western Django (which both attempted to contribute to the American western mythos as well as reveling in its own Japaneseness), and the seemingly distinctive Western (and particularly American) practice of barging into a culture and telling its stories. I'm not just talking about white-guy-learns-karate-in-a-dojo stories, but things like Memoirs of a Geisha, that while produced in Asia within Panasian actors, was almost unmistakably produced and authored by Westerners. We're generally better about casting actors from their proper ethnicities now, but we still apparently feel the need to jump in and process other cultures' stories for whatever reason. And there's an air of definitiveness to our approach.

If anyone can point me to someone extra-American (and especially extra-European) who has done the same thing with another nation's story, I'd be interested. I can't really think of any. And I'm not talking about distinctly American productions with foreign directors like Windtalkers either.

[Qrazy]

There's a big difference between heavy American influence as exhibited in Sukiyaki Western Django (which both attempted to contribute to the American western mythos as well as reveling in its own Japaneseness), and the seemingly distinctive Western (and particularly American) practice of barging into a culture and telling its stories. I'm not just talking about white-guy-learns-karate-in-a-dojo stories, but things like Memoirs of a Geisha, that while produced in Asia within Panasian actors, was almost unmistakably produced and authored by Westerners. We're generally better about casting actors from their proper ethnicities now, but we still apparently feel the need to jump in and process other cultures' stories for whatever reason. And there's an air of definitiveness to our approach.

If anyone can point me to someone extra-American (and especially extra-European) who has done the same thing with another nation's story, I'd be interested. I can't really think of any. And I'm not talking about distinctly American productions with foreign directors like Windtalkers either.

Kurosawa's The Idiot... Asians aren't Russian!

[Grouchy]

There's a big difference between heavy American influence as exhibited in Sukiyaki Western Django (which both attempted to contribute to the American western mythos as well as reveling in its own Japaneseness), and the seemingly distinctive Western (and particularly American) practice of barging into a culture and telling its stories. I'm not just talking about white-guy-learns-karate-in-a-dojo stories, but things like Memoirs of a Geisha, that while produced in Asia within Panasian actors, was almost unmistakably produced and authored by Westerners. We're generally better about casting actors from their proper ethnicities now, but we still apparently feel the need to jump in and process other cultures' stories for whatever reason. And there's an air of definitiveness to our approach.

If anyone can point me to someone extra-American (and especially extra-European) who has done the same thing with another nation's story, I'd be interested. I can't really think of any. And I'm not talking about distinctly American productions with foreign directors like Windtalkers either.
Yeah, you're right, Sukiyaki makes a whole point about its Japaneseness and is not what Antoine was looking for.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, you're right, Sukiyaki makes a whole point about its Japaneseness and is not what Antoine was looking for.

Worth mentioning tangentially as sort of vaguely fitting the boundaries of the definition though... as we both decided.