The bluest eye
CVK
Does anyone else find it strange that in the poster of the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha film, Zhang Ziyi has blue eyes? Is it supposed to make her even more exotic and alluring by giving her a “mixed” look? Or is there a legitimate reason that I don’t know about? (I have to admit I haven’t read the book or seen the film.) Anyone?
Tom Adams wrote:
Sayuri has blue/grey eyes in the book, and it’s semi-significant to the plot.
Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 4:53 am ¶
julie the fischer wrote:
the main character is supposed to have natural grayish blue eyes. bullshit.
Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 9:30 am ¶
camellia wrote:
well actually it for a reason since in the novel sayuri has blue gray eyes and thats what sets her apart from all the other people.
Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 10:33 am ¶
CVK wrote:
Ah… thanks for the info, everyone. Tom, any chance you could elaborate on how the eye color is significant to the plot? I’m curious to know how the book/film treats it.
Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 1:19 pm ¶
Tom Adams wrote:
Only semi-significant. Warning: semi-SPOILERS.
According to superstition, she has a lot of water in her personality. This prompts her to realise a few things she may not have otherwise. And everybody thinks her eyes are pretty, which doesn’t hurt her eventual success.
Posted 30 Oct 2005 at 3:16 pm ¶
Renu wrote:
C- like Tom said, it’s not so significant other than that her eyecolor is unusual and probably helps her to stand out or be remembered. It’s like her trademark… She’s “The blue-eyed Geisha”.
intraracial fetishism?
Posted 31 Oct 2005 at 10:09 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
I read the book, and basically suspended my belief and assumed that maybe her ancestry included Ainu? Or possibly Russian. Or was a possible mutation (partially leucistic (i.e. a lack of pigmentation, similar but not as severe as albinism, although that doesn’t fit the rest of the book).
Posted 31 Oct 2005 at 10:37 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
I once met a full chinese girl with jade green eyes.
Posted 01 Nov 2005 at 12:41 pm ¶
Lord Byron wrote:
I once met a Japanese girl with a blue vagina, but her eyes were brown.
Posted 04 Dec 2005 at 1:50 am ¶
Vita wrote:
In all probability, a blue eyed girl growing up in Japan during that time would have been considered a freak–not a star. There have been instances of gray, light brown, and green eyes, but as far as I know, not blue. Once again white hegemony rears its ugly head. The book written by a white male inaccurately portrays many aspects of Japanese culture including the blue eye thing. It appeals to western audiences because western culture really loves blue eyes for some reason. Some people including the director say that it’s just a story. Yeah. Hide behind that. IT’S A MARKETING PLOY! People on the ground who aren’t thinking about race from a critical perspective, which are the majority of people who will be seeing this film, see blue eyes and will say “ooh” and thus receive a refresher course in “white is right.” In addition, most of the actors are Chinese and speak broken English in the movie. So it looks like they’re perpetuating more than one stereotype.
Posted 04 Dec 2005 at 1:08 pm ¶