Companions, Whores, and Geisha

I was on the fence about whether or not to keep this blog, but let's face it, I do enjoy subjecting people to my thoughts about things I've read and seen, so here goes.  The first book on Jenn and my's summer reading list was Memoirs of a Geisha by some guy who was certainly never a geisha, but actually does an amazing job of creating a fictional story chronicling the life of a geisha in Japan in the years surrounding World War II.

Now, going into this book I had very little idea about what a geisha actually is.  I knew they were entertainers; dancing mostly, but had no idea that they are also engaged for long periods of time by men to keep as their mistress.  And yet, they're not prostitutes.  Sure, they sell their virginity to the highest bidder, and have affairs with married men in exchange for money and gifts, but they're not prostitutes.  Actually, they reminded me more of companions on Firefly, but with more makeup.  Obviously reading about another culture as an American can create some discomfort.  Whenever we're dealing with human trafficking, it's a dicey subject, even when it's voluntary and socially acceptable.

I did find myself wishing the story would progress faster.  Maybe it's my playwright mentality, but I think a story should start as late as possible and move efficiently through the characters' development.  Sometimes novels then feel long for the sake of being long.  However, Memoirs of a Geisha being a fake memoir has to adhere to those conventions and thus we need the whole story of Chiyo's life.  I guess it's just awkward to have so many chapters devoted to Chiyo's rebellious nature and other events preventing her from becoming a geisha because we know she's going to become one eventually.  This could have been fixed by just changing the title, but I assume they wanted to draw in an audience with the mysterious allure of geisha life.

Once Chiyo begins her serious training as a geisha, the story really takes off.  It's fascinating to get a realistic look at geisha culture while being presented with one of the most unique love stories you're ever likely to read about.  It's like Cinderella on steroids.  Scary, Japanese steroids...

If you've never seen the film version of Memoirs of a Geisha, you should know that it sucks.  A lot.  And I know everyone says that the book is always better, but I'm not everyone.  I like to appreciate a book and its film adaptation as separate entities, and not be bogged down by all the changes they made to the original story.  Changes have to be made.  Deal with it.  Memoirs of a Geisha is simply a terrible film.  Which I half expected, because there's nothing particularly cinematic about the book.  Mostly because it moves pretty slowly.  It works as a novel, letting the story unfold at a believable pace and not feel rushed, while the film version races through the plot.  I'm not sure it would be possible to create a good film version of Geisha but then again I think anything's possible.