Since I have been studying the beautiful yet still hard Japanese language I have been
very interested in the Japanese culture.
I have heard that Memoirs of a Geisha is very good. So i have it waiting for me to pick it up at my county library. However after thinking about it i decided to see what Focus on the Family had to say since it is a large conservative Christian perspective and i want to be careful what i watch. so i went to the web site. http://www.pluggedinonline.com/
I then looked up Memoirs of Geisha and while I expected it not to be a Family Film I still hoped that it would be ok for my friends and i to watch.

Sumimasen! Well i am very disappointed because it was appalling what this movie contained. It is very disappointing because I was looking forward to seeing this Japanese cultural movie. I then considered just watching the movie but after thinking it over remembering that in order to (try anyway to) keep pure in what I see I should not see this movie! Also understanding that supporting a movie which totally is demeaning towards women and to what is sacred-I as a Catholic and follower of Christ can not check out this movie!

I hope I am not overreacting because It sounds like it COULD be a really cute chick flick movie! COULD of course being the keyword!!!

anyway now that you have heard my rant onto "what is so wrong and bad about making a cute innocent movie so that i can watch it with out feeling guilty and sickening to my stomach" I was just wondering if anybody had any good suggestions to a good chick flick movie type.

WARNING~ ADULT MATERIAL !!!!!! I DO NOT AGREE OR ENDORSE THIS MOVIE! i do however agree and ENDORSE Focus on the Family/Plugged in!
What Focus on the Family had to say
WARNING~ADULT MATERIAL!!!


Thanks a bunch
God Bless
princessgianna

There are decent chick flicks out there.

Pride and Prejudice

Sense and Sensibility

Emma

Ever After

The Princess Bride

Little Women

Sabrina

http://www.decentfilms.com is a good resource. It's run by a catholic film critic who has even been interviewed on EWTN's Life on the Rock.

A geisha's a prostitute. What did you expect?

The Mormons are supposed to be putting out edited copies of movies for families to watch. Basically the version you'd see on TV 20-30 years ago.

a cute decent movie! but yea............good point!

still that makes me a little angry!

Mr Roberts.

August Rush

No, they're not.

But that still doesn't make "Memoirs" a decent movie. (Though I question the reviewer's assumption that the incidents described -- which horrify him -- aren't meant to be horrifying.)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Memoirs of a Geisha. It's an absolutely beautiful movie. A geisha is not a prostitute. There are references to prostitutes in the movie, but that is only because the main character's sister gets sent to one, and later runs away. You have to watch the movie to understand why this happens, unless you want me to spoil any further. A geisha is an entertainer, which you would know if you watched the film or did some research on the topic. Popular culture has turned her into a prostitute.


Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2102.html

Edit:

And if you are looking for a "chick flick" - Geisha is certainly not one. Watch A Walk to Remember or something.

yeah WTR is good

I third that motion.

What about Return to Me? That was a really cute movie.

this was Hollywood's geisha.

The japanese didn't like the portrayal either, however in this movie, geisha's are synonymous with prostitute.

If you haven't seen Bella, you totally have to. I love it. Other suggestions: Sarah Plain & Tall series, and Anne of Green Gables series. I love those. There are also some Hallmark movies starting with Love Comes Softly, then Love's Enduring Promise, I think there are 4 or 5 movies and I can't remember them all.

JMJ

Fireproof. AMAZING.

Bring a few tissues.

I remember talking to some Japanese friends of mine who were very insistent that geisha were not prostitutes, stressing their artistic, social and political skills which define their role in a much greater way.

However, from a Christian perspective, there are indeed elements of being a geisha at certain time periods especially where virginity or sex literally are a part of the geisha's entertainment and companionship. To other cultures, this is sort of separate from what they do, but from a Christian perspective it appears a distinctive part of it even if not every geisha in every time did have sex with their clients.

The best analogy I heard was someone comparing high-class American escorts to Japanese geishas. High-end escorts are known primarily for their intellect, companionship, business and political savvy and confidentiality. They offer friendship and entertainment, just like geishas, and sometimes this includes payment for sex. In American cultures, however, they are clearly, clearly still "prostitutes" and what they do is illegal.

So.. I kinda agree with several others in this post that this wasn't really the movie that was going to showcase anything wholesome for a nice girl movie.

I would LOVE to second the movie Bella. Coming even from a guy (while still excluding action packed movies), I would highly recommend Bella. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to. It is a straight up Catholic, clean, sweet movie. That's all that I have to say for the moment.

I love the movie Bella.

For the pro-life factor and the incredible God factor that even made it possible for this little movie.

and of course, I think Eduardo is just simply incredible too.

Bella was a well put together and sophisticated film. There was no cheesiness. That is the problem with most moral movies.

I agree, moral movies need more cheesiness.

Yes, he is so handsome. I remember when he came on Life on the Rock, I was thinking, "Whoa."

My mom thought that I wanted to see Bella just for Eduardo. It wasn't the reason, but it was the icing on the cake.

For guys and gals:

I recommend the Masterpiece Theater version of Lorna Doone (on DVD or youtube). I also love the 1940 version of Rebecca (with Lawrence Olivier & Joan Fontaine)

For boys:

The Horatio Hornblower series that was shown on PBS (DVD or youtube). If I had boys I would show it to them when they were young since it teaches virtues like honor, courage, loyalty, etc. plus its so much fun.

Also Kidnapped with Armand Assante (1995) is excellant.

For girls:

The Jane Austen stuff is great, I'm a guy and I love it. Pretty much any version shown on PBS, or the new Pride & Prejudice.


These are mostly period films, I'll think of some modern ones next.

I saw Memoirs of a Geisha in the theatre; I didn't think there was anything scandalous about it. Of course it's not a film for children. But there's nothing salacious about it. It's a very thoughtful, serious film, and the sexual references are necessary to the story and tastefully done. In other words, it's art, not porn.

I don't think it glorifies the objectification of women at all. If anything I think it points out how devastating it is when men objectify women. The movie says geisha aren't prostitutes, but I found it was in parts quite critical of the institution.

BTW, Decent Films does film reviews from a Catholic perspective. Well, I guess from a Christian perspective, but the writer reports for the National Catholic Register

Secondhand Lions is a good movie.

I have Memoirs of a Geisha, it was a Christmas gift last year. But, here are some others that I like that are good, they're pretty wholesome....some have been mentioned already--

Emma
Pride and Prejudice (the BBC and the new version)
Sense and Sensibility (one of my favorites)
A Walk in the Clouds
Sabrina (both versions)
Roman Holiday
Funny Face (I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, if you can't tell)
To Catch a Thief
The Cutting Edge

Thanks for all your suggestions! Feel free to keep them coming!

Last night I watched "One Night with the King" very good!

One of my new favorite movies is "Amazing Grace"--about William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade in England. I saw it for the first time this summer and finally bought it a few weeks ago.

I just watched "Finding Neverland" tonight with Johnny Depp. It was really sweet!

If you are interested in Japanese culture, consider Kurasawa's films (such as Seven Samurai). They were made in the 50's, but he was considered a master filmmaker. I have not seen them, so I cannot vouch for the content, but I seriously doubt they show a lot of skin or anything like that.

Also, there is plenty of anime out there for modern Japanese culture. Some of it I certainly wouldn't recommend (obviously), but some of it is decent.

I have seen Memoirs of a Geisha and it is true that it contains many horrible things. But they are portrayed as horrible. Meaning, there is a love story in it, but what the girl goes through is awful. I thought one of the main points of the movie was that the 'culture' surrounding being a geisha was an elaborate system designed to put a woman into bondage. In the midst of war, the were reduced to prostitutes.

Seems to me Focus on the Family and the USCCB both miss the forest for the trees in their movie reviews. Instead of congratulating and drawing from the good and truthful elements, they dwell on the sins and lies. God forbid we ever read the Bible...

I don't read this site much either, but when I'm looking for a good movie review from a more open-minded (in a good way) Christian perspective, I go to HollywoodJesus.com. Unfortunately, the search function on their site doesn't seem to work, but searching "site:hollywoodjesus.com Memoirs of a Geisha" on Google will get you to their review page of the movie. They have at least three and they appear much more positive than Focus.