As I pick through a multitude of the readings and lecture notes provided in this course, I will begin to reinforce the accuracy of Shall We Dance?’s depiction of the Japanese culture. Family life in Japan holds many significant differences to family life in America. In America, romanticism and love is central to family, and especially between the husband and wife. Contrastingly, Japan’s family life constitutes a more divided household. In fact, in lecture, it was said, “A good husband is healthy and is not home.” Also, Borovoy argues that in Japanese families, the relationship between a mother and father is like air.
But when I chanced upon Park Chan-wook’’s Old Boy on a trip to the amusingly infamous Quiapo and the rest of his Vengeance Trilogy, I felt the urgency to know more. Based on a few researches on Korean Cinema history, in the 1930s, Korea had a fairly thriving film industry. It was, however, almost completely wiped out by the Japanese occupation in 1937 and the Korean War in 1950. Only eight films made before 1953 have survived. The film industry began to slowly recover after the Korean War with a spat of weepy melodramas, which were enormously popular.
The dream of the two, finding a job in Craig’s case or opening a soul food beauty salon in Cece’s, is gone about in a fanciful way. Craig has no car and is constantly late which is usually why he’s terminated after a few days. Cece pays no mind that she has no money, but believes she can win a dance contest and use the winnings to open a business. Craig and CeCe pursue struggles with a smile as palliative means to keep them sells going and focused. Craig and CeCe are products of the inner-city ghetto.
Hellen Van Meene is most famous for her Japan series. While shooting in various cities in Japan, Van Meene worked with pre-determined models as well as asking random girls to pose spontaneously on the street. The process seemed very quick and unplanned; sometimes the location of the shoot was a coincidence, sometimes it was pre-determined, sometimes the clothing of the girl was purchased last minute, sometimes the girls brought their own clothes to the shoot. Van Meene stuck with her youthful female models, however. She says the hardest part about the process in Japan was her lack of familiarity with the models.
During modern times even more changed because of wrong decisions made by the political party. Whereupon, Japan retained a lot of old buildings, festivals, and cloth that were created by ancient China, and traditional Chinese culture had gradually disappeared. The Republican changed Chinese characters; they made a move simple Chinese language instead of traditional Chinese, but Japan is still uses some of the traditional Chinese, which is very sad because the original country lost it own culture, and was inherited by another. Japan and China were influenced by Western culture in varying degrees in modern times; so when you visit these two countries and see the modern in the cities and westernized customs, do not be surprised. However, Western culture is encroaching on the
For Tagore, it meant feeling for the whole world and not just for one’s own country. In the lectures that he delivered in Japan, Tagore criticized the growing military aggressiveness in Japan and its inclination towards the western ideals. He was looking at the old Japan and the new Japan. He feared that Japan may lose all its beauty and its rich culture in its drive to modernise itself. He said that Japan has the potential to progress a lot.
“Shall We Dance?” is a Japanese film about Shohei, a Japanese accountant who seemed to have a perfect life, a good job, his own house, and a loving family. However, he became discontented because he felt that his life had lost direction. While on the train on his way home, he saw a beautiful lady by the window of a dance studio who inspired him to take ballroom dancing lessons. Through dancing and the wonderful people he met, he found the meaning of life and learned to enjoy it as well. The American version of the film almost has the same plot as the original, but they differ in terms of culture.
A text that demonstrates that culture is one of the influences on how one views the world is Dave Barry Does Japan. In this satire by Dave Barry, he went to Japan to write a book. Throughout the piece he writes about the cultural differences between Japan and the U.S. While trying to communicate with the Japanese he runs into many different obstacles, such as when his wife is trying to take a plane from point A to point B, but the travel agent won’t say it’s not possible. This is because the Japanese think it is rude to come out and say no.
He replied to Mr Bingley saying that, unless he was further aquainted with his dance partner, he detests dancing. Darcy further stated that any other lady in the room, apart from Mr Bingley’s already engaged sisters, would be a punishment for him to dance with. (Chapter 3, page 13). (“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly aquainted with my partner.
He says, although most people enjoy chatting, he hates it because he finds it pointless. He doesn’t see social interaction as an end in itself, therefore talking to another person about an insignificant topic serves no purpose. He lives as an outsider as a result. He has very few friends and doesn’t trust other people. He feels content to read in his room by himself, and he even fantasizes about being the only person alive on the planet!