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[blackguy-n-Asia]

Importing stereotypes of Western culture should be forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

Many teachers seem to have a need for teaching 'other cultures' by showing classy movies that are regarded as entertainment in the West. They should be careful.

An example would be:

"I teach about African culture in America by showing movies like Friday, Boyz in the Hood and Shaft. We then talk about guns, violence and drugs."

or

" I try to bring Italian culture to my students with movies like Casino, Goodfellas or showing The Sopranos."
We then have a discussion on the Mafia, cement galoshes and words like bada-bing"

or

"Watching Braveheart got my class in tune with Scotts"

Please be careful what you teach your students, there may be a budding Adolf Hitler in the class, just waiting to learn about your biased opinion of others.

[PAULH]

Be sure also not to show movies like "Gung Ho" "Rising Sun" or "Black Rain", Karate Kid, Tom Cruise' "Last Samurai" when showing movies about Japanese culture. Even fairly faithful movies (according to popular opinion) like the recent "Lost in Translation" have been known to ruffle a few Japanese feathers.

[Gordon]

Paul,
In your opinion, what do you think would bother Japanese people about the Last Samurai? Other than being silly that a drunk could become a samurai warrior and be fluent in japanese in a winter. Most Japanese people I've talked to liked the movie. It isn't cultural movie, but an interesting historical piece. What movies about Japan would you recommend showing?

[guest of Japan]

Most Japanese that I've talked to who have seen the Last Samarai loved it. They felt it captured the essense of Japanese culture. They do however become meek when the conversation drifts to the fact that that essense is largely gone (although it never really existed). The Samarai Code was largely a piece of fiction. The ethics of samarai were attempts by the ruling shogunate to pacify the continued threat to stability that was presented by having a warrior class. These ethics became ideals, but were seldom attained.

I highly recommend Gung Ho. The movie presents a brilliant clash of cultures scenario. I haven't seen the movie in ten years, but it still makes me laugh.

[PAULH]

[guest of Japan]

I don't disagree with you Paulh. It really does enforce national stereotypes (although not racial ones). However, it is still funny and so true at times it is scary.

I've had the opportunity to work in a factory in rural America, and I can say without question that the portrayal of the US factory workers in Gung Ho is completely on the mark. Also during the initial attempts by Japanese manufacturers to start US plants they attempted to create Japanese style environments with very little sensitivity to American culture. Things like the morning exercise routines were tried and received strong resistance. Gung Ho does not represent the Japan or America of today, but rather the two countries in the eighties. This was before Japan entered into its current internationalist mindset and before multiculturalism became a buzzword in the US.

After everything else it is still a comedy. The longer I stay in Japan the funnier it seems.

[Mike L.]

You guys are forgetting MR BASEBALL!!!!!!! with Tom SELLECK!!!

[blackguy-n-Asia]

Watching old war movies from Hollywood, or even actual war documentaries and interviews are pretty bad when it comes to racism against the Jap-anese.

But that was war, right?

[Glenski]

[PAULH]

Havent really seen the movie, but Tonneruzu star

Takaaki Ishibashi starred as a Japanese player a-la Shinjo/Ichiro in the baseball movie Major League 2. Im sure there were the cultural-divide jokes in that as well.

If you ever see it you should see Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1981) with David Bowie. he played a British POW in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. Small cameo by Beat Takeshi as a Japanse camp guard.

[6810]

hold on though...

for the most part though, stereotypes and gross over-generalisations are all we have. Not just in popular culture, but kicking around the traps in our brains.

So what? Acknowledge it's a stereotype and move on. Humans are after all as sophisticated as they are simplistic. Showing Japanese English learners some films is of course important. But it's all about how you contexctualise the film. Give a background briefing, an information file or something. Have a re-emptive class on what it means to understand a stereotype etc...

Then show the film.

Do you read Japanese magazines, books or watch TV? Any foreign product always comes with an extensive dossier, detailing the creator, the context, the time, place, genre and some of the implications and controversies. The student may not yet be able to converse in complex english, but be assured, like all the rest of us, his/her thoughts are complex.

ciao!

[madeira]

Exactly how much of a movie can you show in class? 5 minutes?

Copyright issues aside, if you show a long clip or an entire film... it`s sleeping time.

I tend to pick out portions of movies that are connected to the target. (The Way of the Gun has a great business card passing scene, for example.)

One of my classes is working through `Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep`. Watching the entirety of `BladeRunner` is homework.

I wouldn`t be scared to show controversial clips or to talk about them. If the students trust you and have the language skills to express themselves... What`s the problem?

[blackguy-n-Asia]

[6810]

yeah, I agree with you totally.

And it's not just a cross cultural thing... what about in ones own culture when you hear someone say "Yeah, Boyz n the Hood really helped me understand black American reality..." or some such.

[TokyoLiz]

My home university offered a course in cross cultural communications some years ago. I had the chance to take the course with both Japanese and Canadian students. The content? Movies like Gung Ho, Rising Sun and Living on Tokyo Time. The idea was to examine the stereotypes that have arisen in film and literature (we also read a lot of Reischauer, Hearn and Oe).

I recommend these films to my students as examples of how the Japanese are perecieved by the west and how Japanese artists respect or denigrate their own culture.

Madeira, I don't know how many times I've used Bladerunner as classroom material for ESL students in my homecountry. It's such a rich source of imagery, perceptions of the other and identity issues. The language is very accessible and there is so much to talk about in discussions.

An American movie I recommend for the examination of cultural stereotypes and race relations is Lone Star, which stars Mathew McCaughanhey (sp?) and Elizabeth Pena. It's about a Texas/Mexico border town, the relationships between the two cultures and other minorities and a mystery about the disappearance of the late sheriff of the town. I've shown it in class to ESL students in my home country, with Mexican, Japanese, Korean and European students. They found it gripping and provocative. One of the cultures it explores is the issue of Black Seminoles, the descendants of African slaves and native Americans.

Even if you can only use short clips in class, you could provoke a lot of discussion about stereotypes and how people can break them down.

My mom, who lives in Canada, comes from a minority group that most Japanese have never heard of. It's fun to tell them from the ground up what her people are all about, and to be free of stereotyping...because there aren't any preconceptions about a people you've never heard of. Heh.