Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)

[baby doll]

This article about the reception of Clint Eastwood's films in Japan is perhaps relevant to the current discussion.

[Pop Trash]

This article about the reception of Clint Eastwood's films in Japan is perhaps relevant to the current discussion.

The French love him too. Check out Cahiers du cinema's top ten lists from the 90s-00s.

[baby doll]

The French love him too. Check out Cahiers du cinema's top ten lists from the 90s-00s.

That's certainly true, but I think the way Japanese reviewers (or at least male Japanese reviewers of a certain age) faun over Eastwood's every film (even the ones French reviewers describe as shipwrecks), needs to be understood as a symptom of the asymmetric power relationship between the two countries.

[Pop Trash]

That's certainly true, but I think the way Japanese reviewers (or at least male Japanese reviewers of a certain age) faun over Eastwood's every film (even the ones French reviewers describe as shipwrecks), needs to be understood as a symptom of the asymmetric power relationship between the two countries.

Using that as a metric of "asymmetric power relationship" is as absurd as me citing some American film dweeb fawning over Miyazaki or Kurosawa or Miike as "proof" of an "asymmetric power relationship" of Japan over the United States.

[baby doll]

Using that as a metric of "asymmetric power relationship" is as absurd as me citing some American film dweeb fawning over Miyazaki or Kurosawa or Miike as "proof" of an "asymmetric power relationship" of Japan over the United States.

Except I'm not using it as a metric to prove the existence of an asymmetric power relation between the US and Japan; I'm using the fact of an asymmetric relationship which has existed for over 150 years (and therefore surely doesn't need to be proven) as an explanation for the reception of Eastwood's films in Japan. That is to say, if you accept the premise that, for a certain generation of Japanese film reviewer, Clint Eastwood is America, the praise his films get there kinda makes sense.

[Kirby Avondale]

Except I'm not using it as a metric to prove the existence of an asymmetric power relation between the US and Japan; I'm using the fact of an asymmetric relationship which has existed for over 150 years (and therefore surely doesn't need to be proven) as an explanation for the reception of Eastwood's films in Japan. That is to say, if you accept the premise that, for a certain generation of Japanese film reviewer, Clint Eastwood is America, the praise his films get there kinda makes sense.

I'm trying to imagine the conversation between you and one of these Japanese critics where you inform them that they love Eastwood because of American dominance of Japan. It sounds like an awkward conversation!