In an experiment done at the University of Texas, babies pay more attention to attractive faces than unattractive faces (Newman 3). Even six-month-old babies, who have no understanding of ethical and social values, can judge appearances. Within society, beauty is a powerful force that can be used to oppress and discriminate against different groups. The “flower and willow world” of the geishas is a community that depends upon the recognition of beauty and artistic skill (Wieder 1). Geishas are female entertainers, who are highly respected and revered as “living treasures” of Japanese culture (Akita 3). Despite the differences in regions and times, all cultures value women for their beauty; thus, the role of women evolves to accommodate the changing demands that exist in the geisha community of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, the ancient Chinese traditions of foot binding, and the modern workplace.
In Memoirs of a Geisha, Chiyo, a poor girl living in a small fishing village, enters an unfamiliar world when she is sold into an okiya, a lodging home for geishas. Forced to work as a servant, Chiyo is reluctant to obey the okiya that kept her from seeing her family. Once Chiyo realizes that her past is irretrievable, she understands “how completely the landscape of [her] mind changed” to desire “an image of the geisha [she] wanted to become” (Golden 161). Chiyo’s change in perspective brought her to acknowledge her desire of being part of the glamorous lifestyle of the geishas. Through this transformation, “[she is] no longer known as Chiyo. [She is] the novice geisha Sayuri” (176). As an apprentice geisha, Sayuri commits herself wholly to the study of the arts. In order to fully embrace this lifestyle, however, Sayu...
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...eimark 5). The view that older people cannot match the pace of the modern world is an evident theme in the workplace. In order to maintain their work positions, older women must get liposuction and facelifts, causing enormous psychological effects on self-esteem.
In past and present societies, women find value in their communities depending on different aspects of beauty. In Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri gains economic independence through the dramatic competitions between her and other geishas. The ancient Chinese tradition of foot binding prolonged a custom that subjugated women under the guise of beauty. Today's modern workplace entails a high standard of professional appearance that requires plastic surgery. In all instances, beauty plays an essential role in instilling a culture that persists and defines the intricate relationships between women and men.
Sometimes people are judged by their looks, and preferences will be made towards the more beautiful people before the less beautiful people. What individuals don’t put into account is that the person’s personality is part of their beauty. In Gail Tsukiyama’s novel, The Samurai’s Garden, through the characterization of Sachi’s personality and adversities, Gail Tsukiyama conveys the message that beauty is deeper than just the outside and this message is important because one shouldn’t judge someone just by their looks.
In the novel Life of a Sensuous Woman, Ihara Saikaku depicts the journey of a woman who, due to voraciously indulging in the ever-seeking pleasure of the Ukiyo lifestyle, finds herself in an inexorable decline in social status and life fulfillment. Saikaku, utilizing characters, plot, and water imagery, transforms Life of a Sensuous Woman into a satirically critical commentary of the Ukiyo lifestyle: proposing that it creates a superficial, unequal, and hypocritical society.
The short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros has many reflections on cultural diversity and how each culture views its own individual beauty of women and girls which is cultural beauty. Women value culture and the beauty it represents. In the short story "Barbie-Q, "p. 205 (line 1 ) , Sandra Cisneros reveals
In Yoshie's work, “Gender in Early Classical Japan: Marriage, Leadership, and Political Status in Village and Palace (2005),” she takes the example of Toji, women known to have played a m...
know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men
A lady is an object, one which men attempt to dominate. A man craves to get a hold of this being beneath his command, and forever have her at his disposal. In her piece “Size Six: The Western Women’s Harem,” published in 2002, Fatema Mernissi illustrates how Eastern and Western women are subjugated by the control of men. Mernissi argues that though she may have derived from a society where a woman has to cover her face, a Western woman has to face daily atrocities far worse then ones an Eastern woman will encounter. Moreover, Mernissi’s core dogma in “Size 6: The Western Women's Harem” is that Western women are not more fortunate than women raised into harems in other societies. Additionally, she asserts that though women in the Western world are given liberties, they coincide with the unattainable ideals of what is aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, to strengthen her argument towards her wavering audience, Mernissi’s main approach in her paper is to get the reader to relate with her issue by means of an emotional appeal, while also utilizing both the ethical and logical appeal to support her thesis.
The 19th century woodblock artist, Utamaro, has many examples of these types of prints of both courtesans and geishas. For example, an interesting series of Utamaro’s prints include his “Five Kinds of Ink from the Northern Provinces” created in 1790. These prints include different ranks of women working as courtesans and range from depicting upper class to lower class courtesans. The images of the higher-ranking courtesans are shown in a position of education, depicted as beautiful, classy women, and are representative of a type of courtesan you would prefer to purchase as a client. Where as the prints of the lower class courtesans are less glamorous and instead presented in a way for people to view the not attractive lifestyles of these women. Utamaro may have had a sense of empathy for these lower-class women and may of represented them in this way because he wanted to educate people about these women’s lives or to educate clients on what type of courtesan they were purchasing. Additionally Utamaro created many prints of different ranking geishas and created scenes capturing the daily lives of all these kinds of different girls. His work, portrays these women in an idealized forms; they were tall, slender, elegant women, with dark, beautiful hair, dark, raised eyebrows, rounded faces, white skin, and had tiny
Sarwer, D. B., Grossbart, T. A., & Didie, E. R. (2003). Beauty and society. Seminars in
But as Dalby goes on to note, the geisha culture is marked by the "primacy of sisterhood", and represents a kind of counterpart to the bonds of brotherhood in such fraternal Japanese cultures as business corporations and company unions. The modern geisha's services are beyond the means of the average Japanese man today, but the geisha continues to represent a cultural ideal: the ideal of the witty, educated woman who can talk frankly with a man about life, sex, art, politics, or anything else his wife cannot.
In Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri demonstrates that when the forces of fate and free will come into collision, the lack of determination to grasp control of one’s life will lead to a
People are always complaining about how they aren’t as pretty as models on billboards, or how they aren’t as thin as that other girl. Why do we do this to ourselves? It’s benefitting absolutely nobody and it just makes us feel bad about ourselves. The answer is because society has engraved in our minds that we need to be someone we’re not in order to look beautiful. Throughout time, society has shaped our attitudes about appearances, making it perfectly normal and even encouraged, to be five feet ten inches and 95 pounds. People have felt trapped by this ideal. Society has made these beauty standards unattainable, therefore making it self defeating. This is evident in A Doll’s House, where the main character, Nora, feels trapped by Torvald and society’s standard of beauty. The ideal appearance that is prevalent in society is also apparent in the novel, The Samurai’s Garden, where Sachi is embarrassed of the condition of her skin due to leprosy and the stigmas associated with the disease. The burden of having to live up to society’s standard of beauty can affect one psychologically and emotionally, as portrayed in A Doll’s House and The Samurai’s Garden.
Director Rob Marshall’s adaption of Memoirs of a Geisha tells us of a nine-year old Japanese girl named Chiyo. Sold by her impoverished father to a Hanamachi (Geisha District) Okiya in 1930’s Kyoto, Chiyo grows up to become the most celebrated Geisha. Rob Marshall may have intended for the film to illuminate the mysterious world of the Geisha , and to showcase Japanese culture, but controversial themes and obvious historical inaccuracies lead to a divide in its reception. I chose this movie because it was made by a western director, famous, at the time, for directing Chicago, with the intention of highlighting some of the nuances, not typically explored, of Japanese historical culture.
These words give Chiyo the inspiration she needs to begin her training as a geisha, and she eventually succeeds with the help of her mentor, caretakers, and clients. However, Chiyo, whose name changes to Sayuri
First, women spend huge amounts of money to improve their looks. So here we are unable to escape the reality that we can never be flawless or blemish free; moreover, as long as women have the belief that all greatness de...
The influence of present day mass media over the perception of beauty is increasing with the expanding industry of facial cosmetic production and the advancement in medical beauty enhancement. However, mass media advertisements appear to be predominantly dictated by "Western beauty" as they promote the desire for fair skin and "Occidental" facial features worldwide. In this paper, I will explore the consequential effects on Asian women as mass media continues to globally perpetuate the communities ' culturally and racially established perceptions of beauty.