10 Extremely Uncomfortable Moments In Classic Movies

10. Lost In Translation - The One-Dimensional Locals

Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation – starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson – is considered a modern masterpiece. The affecting story of two Americans who forge an unlikely friendship while in Tokyo won the 2003 Oscar for best screenplay, and was nominated in three further categories.

But its portrayal of the Japanese is… problematic. Throughout the movie, the local characters are shallow stereotypes, used solely to highlight the differences between them and the film’s two stars, rather than given any agency of their own. Effectively, they are “othered”.The zenith of this comes in one of the movie’s most jarring and out-of-place scenes – when a prostitute is sent to Bill Murray’s room by a business colleague.Not only is her Japanese accent played for laughs - “lip my stockings! Prease!” - but her submissive, sexualised behaviour is portrayed as somehow weird as well, at odds with western ideals. We are invited to cast a negative moral viewpoint over the Japanese businessman’s way of doing things: “look at this strange Japanese sex worker and her hilarious, but wrong ways”.Other than these mis-steps, the film is beautiful, and worthy of its reputation. It’s just such a shame it treats its Japanese cast members as part of the set rather than people in their own right.