Is Lost in Translation really racist?

[Gringo]

Please don't vote if you haven't seen it. And I prefer to hear from folks who've actually lived in Japan, as I have. ( I was there 5 years. My wife is Japanese, & my 2 kids are obviously part Japanese - we are raising them biculturally/bilingually)

I disagree with the premise of this website, that the film is racist and promotes negative stereotypes. It's actually pretty accurate in its portrayal of Tokyo (though the rest of Japan is quite different) although it does exaggerate a bit. I really felt like this site must have been started by some bunch of ultra-PC Asian-AMERICANS, who don't know all that much about Japanese culture themselves. I would think any Japanese-American who had spent any significant amount of time in Japan would have found it funny.


SO did you find it to be racist?


http://www.lost-in-racism.org/

[Aristus]

1. Nope. I think it was just a portrayal of the pop-culture of Tokyo.

Would a movie profiling the people of Dallas, Texas be an accurate portrayal of Americans? No. Would it be an accurate portrayal of the people of Texas? Probably.

[IronLionZion]

2. The main characters were lilly white

The main premise of that website is that Japanese people didn't have key roles nor were involved in much dialogue.

I thought the movie was great btw. and Sofia Coppola can cast whoever the hell she wants in her movie.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Other: No, it wasn't racist. No, it wasn't great.

Didn't dislike it, but didn't feel it deserves all the accolades it has been getting, either. Hey, one man's opinion.

[Dookus]

4. exactly

what fagykid said.

I didn't think it was racist at all. But neither was it a very good movie, imho.

[On the Road]

5. Feeling Alone in an Alien Environment

is what the film was all about. It did that beautifully without denigrating the Japanese, just emphasizing the strangeness of Tokyo to Americans.

Although I have not been to Japan, I know a lot of Japanese people and my girlfriend spent seven years there. My ex-wife went to Tokyo for an IEEE conference. She was almost the only woman, the only caucasian, and was about six inches taller than most of the other participants. She felt very odd, very alone, and said it was absolutely disorienting being in a place where the language was so impenetrable. Her own "Lost in Translation" experience without a Bill Murray -- at least not one she told me about.