Embracing Masculinity of All Ethnicities

In this blog post, I will describe how masculinity is displayed in one of my favorite movies, Departures, and compare how it is displayed in Western culture. It is commonly known that in Western media, Asian women are hypersexualized and Asian men are typically cast as thin, effeminate, nerdy, or "funny" roles. It is not often you see an Asian man as a main protagonist in any films produced in Western culture.

One day, for my World Religions class, my professor assigned us to watch one movie from a list that she assigned us. Most of them were documentaries that I didn't think looked very interesting, but one among them was an actual movie. This movie has won awards and was about a musician, so I figured maybe it would be enjoyable. That was an understatement. This movie takes place in Japan and follows a protagonist, Daigo, on his journey through getting kicked out of an orchestra, onto becoming an undertaker and exposes the beauty that can be found in departing with the dead. The first thing I noticed was how none of these actors seemed to be type-casted. They were given different kinds of roles; tough, vulnerable, smart, etc. There was no kind of masculinity or lack thereof being forced upon any of the characters. The assignment for my class was to note the cultural differences found in the movie and Western culture. Aside from the lack of racist casting and emasculation of Asian men, I also noted the bath-house that was featured in the film. There was a men's side and a women's side, and it was commonplace for men to be naked and bathe next to other men. There was no hint of being uncomfortable or homophobia when men were bathing naked next to each other. This is a stark difference from Western culture where if a man stands in the urinal next to you, he's suddenly assumed to be odd or gay, because there is such a fear of masculinity being shattered when other men are in too close of proximity. Atop of the differences from films that are produced in America, Departures really is just an all-around great film. It is in Japanese but if you don't mind reading subtitles, it is more than worth the time it takes to watch it.