By: Floortje Brandsteder

Floortje Brandsteder — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:12:00 +0000

I watched this documentary last night and it left me a little aggravated. Naively, maybe, i was expecting a comprehensive, if not intelligent discourse on this unique side of Japanese culture. Instead, i was treated to a rather blunt demonstration of straightforward ethnocentrism: the film hardly tries to analyze but seems to prefer the sensationalist approach, calling things ‘weird’ and ‘freaky’. The makers don’t even seem to want to sound objective. At one point, the presenter seems to be telling an interviewee straight to the face that he thinks his culture contains ‘all kinds of weird shit’. I doubt the interpreter translated this question literally, and really, I hope not, because what this presenter is doing is, at this point, becoming an insult to journalism, which should always at least try to search for the objective truth [knowing it will never find it]. If it was possible, I would flag this video as inappropriate. Its presentation of the subject is bordering on racism.
I hope i am not being too much of a nag, but was expecting better from this website, which i appreciate very much
and always love to visit because of its ability to show me well-made,
original documentaries from all corners of the world. I was trained as a filmmaker, and I think is good and necessary to be critical of the world around us. But I hope it is not too naive of me to think the art of documentary film making should be respected, and so should its subjects. Let’s reserve superficiality for Television ;)

Comments on: The Japanese Love Industry

By: Floortje Brandsteder