It is best to learn about events that happened once first-hand, from direct witnesses. And memoirs are one such source. What is it and how do they relate to one famous film? This will be dealt with today.
What are memoirs?
This term owes its appearance to France and comes from the word mémoires - “memories”. In Russian literature, another meaning was used - “notes”.
What are memoirs? This is a kind of literary work, notes on events in which the author either directly participated, or learned about them from eyewitnesses. Memoirs are a special kind of literature. They are able to convey not only the atmosphere of the era, but also the feelings and experiences of the author. Most of all they look like an autobiography, only here, in addition to describing the life of the writer himself, there are important historical events about which the author of the memoirs tells through the prism of his perception.
Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha
In 1997, an American writer released a novel in which he told the life story of the Japanese geisha Sayuri Nitt. He took a real person - Mineko Iwasaki as the basis of her image. This is a former geisha who gave Golden an interview and talked about how girls are trained, about the traditions and customs of this profession.
We have already said what memoirs are. This is a memory of an event witnessed by the author. The book tells not only about the little girl Chio, who, by the will of fate, has become one of the famous geishas in Japan. “Memoirs of a geisha” is also the story of the Land of the Rising Sun in the war and post-war years.
Plot of the book
After the death of his wife, the father is forced to sell two little daughters. The youngest, Chio, is given to the house where the geisha live. She falls into disgrace and becomes a simple servant until she is noticed by the famous geisha Mameha. She picks up the girl and begins her training. Now her name is Sayuri Nitta. On the street, a stranger treats the girl to ice cream, and Chio falls in love with him. Having become a geisha, she meets him again. The girl will have to go through many tests: envy, betrayal, need and despair before she finds happiness.
The book "Memoirs of a Geisha" has become a bestseller. The romantic story told in it was generously seasoned with scenes from the cultural and everyday life of Japan, which made it even more interesting for readers.
Not without scandal. Mineko Iwasaki accused the writer of having promised not to reveal her name to the public, but had broken his word. In addition, he took facts from her personal life to describe Sayuri.
Japan’s highest-paid geisha wrote an autobiography, True Geisha Memoirs, in response. In it, she talked about her life, about the fact that at the age of five she was sent to Kyoto, where she was adopted by the mistress of the house of geisha. Mineko Iwasaki became the most famous and highly paid geisha, which was the envy of many. Her life was a success: she got married and gave birth to a daughter.
Screen adaptation of the book
In 2005, based on the famous Golden novel, the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" was shot. Its director was Rob Marshall, and the producer was Steven Spielberg. The picture was ambiguously accepted by critics and viewers from different countries. The main role was played by Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Chinese women also embodied the images of the remaining geishas. In Japan, the selection of actors caused discontent. But most of all they criticized the film “Memoirs of a Geisha” in China, since the translators in the title of the picture left the Japanese designation of the hieroglyph “geisha”, which the Chinese mean as a courtesan.
Critics did not like the fact that the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" departed from the plot of the book, did not arrange the selection of actors, and also many factual errors were found. But the main complaint was that director Rob Marshall, like Arthur Golden, actually equated the geisha with the courtesans.
Despite the many negative reviews, the film received many prestigious awards. Among them are three victories in the nominations for the Oscars. The audience of the film received better than film critics. Despite the errors in describing the life of geishas in the picture, there are a lot of incredibly beautiful scenes, dances and interesting dialogues. An interesting fact is that the main scene in the film - the Jion district - was recreated in Los Angeles. The construction of the scenery took most of the budget picture.
Conclusion
Answering the question of what memoirs are, we can say that this is a literary genre that can be very interesting. Especially if Japanese geisha tell their life story against the backdrop of world famous events.