Too Much Water -- A Memoirs of a Geisha Fansite

A common complaint among fans of the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" is that the lead roles (Hatsumomo, Sayuri, and Mameha) were taken by Chinese actresses instead of Japanese actresses. For some reason, people seem to think that because the movie focuses on Japanese women that the women used to portray those characters must also be Japanese. Realistically speaking, however, that just doesn't work. There are very, very few native Japanese actresses working in America who speak fluent English and who are also well-known to American audiences. Almost every single actor and actress in Memoirs of a Geisha is famous; Ken Watanabe, who portrayed The Chairman, is a household name, and he has appeared in many popular American movies. Youki Kudoh, the actress who portrayed adult Pumpkin, is probably the only well-known Japanese actress in Hollywood. She appeared in Snow Falling on Cedars a number of years ago, but that hardly made her a household name. The roles for Mother and Auntie are also held by Japanese actresses, but they were similarly not famous actresses and their English is very weak. The actress who plays young Chiyo is also Japanese, but she can not speak any English, and instead relies on phoenetic lessons in English to be able to say her lines in the movie.

As for the male actors, Ken Watanabe, Kouji Yakusho (Nobu), and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (The Baron) can speak English and Japanese fluently. They form the three most well-known Asian male actors in Hollywood, so it is more of happy coincidence that they are Japanese rather than a conscience act that they were cast for the roles of Japanese men in this movie. Two minor male characters, Dr. Crab and The General are played by a Korean and a Chinese actor respectively, and my guess would be that's because there aren't many famous Asian actors in Hollywood that hadn't already been cast for major roles. But if we look at the case of the male actors in Memoirs of a Geisha, we can see that priority was given to well-known Japanese actors rather than generic "Asian" actors for main roles.

Both Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh are fluent both in Chinese and English, which makes casting them for an English-language movie about Asian women very convenient as there are a shortage of Japanese actresses in Hollywood. They are already famous, and theoretically audiences would go to see a movie with them in it even if they don't know about it's subject matter. Gong Li is Chinese but does not speak English, and Memoirs of a Geisha was her first English-speaking role. Since her debut in American audiences with Memoirs of a Geisha, she has appeared in Miami Vice, Curse of the Golden Flower, and Hannibal Rising. Before her role in Memoirs of a Geisha, Gong Li was famous in China because of her role in the later banned movie "Farewell my Concubine", which is a likely reason she was cast for a role in Memoirs of a Geisha despite the fact that she couldn't speak English.

What's most striking about the argument against using Chinese actresses for the main roles of Memoirs of a Geisha is the suggestion it brings that Chinese actresses are inherently unable to portray a Japanese character. You hardly see anyone complaining that Don Cheadle, an American actor, was cast to portray a Rowandan hotel manager in the film "Hotel Rowanda", even though he wasn't born in Africa. To me the suggestion that a Chinese actress can not possibly portray a Japanese role seems a bit racist. While differences between Chinese and Japanese culture are significant, and the languages are very different, there is not enough of a physical difference between the people of the two nations to merit such criticism of using Chinese actresses for Japanese women's roles. No one makes such a fuss if an American portrays a French person, or if a British person portrays a Russian, even though the differences between those cultures are vast. There isn't enough physical difference to distinguish between the two nationalities using your eyes alone, especially if everyone is speaking in the same language.

To me, what makes a good actor or actress is not whether or not their nationality happens to match the nationality of the character they are supposed to portray, but rather whether or not they can convince me they are really this person. For me, Michelle Yeoh was Mameha; Ziyi Zhang was Nitta Sayuri, and I during the movie I was drawn into their world without worrying about the fact that the actresses are Chinese and not Japanese. Similarly, when I watch V for Vendetta or the Matrix, I'm not worried about the fact that Hugo Weaving (the man who portrayed V and also Agent Smith) is Nigerian-British. That fact is irrelevant to his acting ability. The same is true for Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li in Memoirs of a Geisha. Their acting is so powerful that it transcends the fact that they weren't born in Japan and makes the place of their birth irrelevant.

I only hope that other people stop complaining about this "issue" of Chinese actresses in Memoirs of a Geisha. There simply aren't many Japanese actresses in Hollywood, and the few that there are were used in Memoirs of a Geisha. The differences in appearance between Chinese and Japanese are about as significant as the differences in appearance between American and German. The nationality of the actresses does not affect their ability to act. I just wish people would let it drop already. =(