Memoirs of a Geisha Movie: Highlighting the Lack of Femininity and Modesty in American Culture

Living in the United States almost my whole life, I forget just how different our culture is from the cultures in the Orient. After watching Memoirs of a Geisha, I started thinking about femininity and modesty. These things are thoroughly embraced in the east, but in the west, they have been replaced by overt sexuality, glitz, and glamour.

In the American culture, women in general have given up on the appeal of modesty

Because my father and brothers valued modesty, I always thought that they just wanted to keep guys away from me to protect me. I'm sure that was their idea, but I never realized just how desirable modesty can be to the right kind of men. I think it is because it highlights a women's mystery. After walking out of the theater, I had a newfound appreciation for demure dressing. I could see how the geisha were highly desired, even though they were covered head-to-toe in layers of fabric. They had a mystery about them because they revealed very little. Their method of seduction was alot more subtle than the seduction techniques in our culture. I saw this in the example of the geisha showing their wrists when they poured tea. I mean wrists? Sensual? As American women we feel liberated because we are free to flaunt our stuff, but in the process we lose the power of modesty that belonged to our former, less revealing generations of women. By making flesh so easily accessible to the American male eye, we also desensitize men to the novel appeal of a woman's body. How can a woman's body be special if so many women showcase all their goods in the media?

In the American culture, women in general have forgotten the power of femininity

When my two coworkers and I exited the theater, I noticed a sudden change in our movements and posture. Strangely we all walked a bit more gracefully and had better posture in the car. I even had this urge to find a feminine dress in my closet to wear to work the next day. Then it dawned on me. I want to be more distinct from the male species. I love being a woman! Sloppy dressing and torned jeans didn't have their same appeal. After seeing the movie, I realized that since our culture has gone through the Feminist movement, we have tried to become equal to men but also have tried to be like men. We have become a generation of women with powersuits, torned jeans, loud, brash behaviour, uncontrolled drinking and laughter. Don't get me wrong, I love jeans and powersuits make me feel professional, and well, powerful in the corporate world, but I noticed just how Pumpkin's Americanized self looked so out of place in a culture that valued geisha because of their femininity, mystery, grace, and comely attributes. All these attributes are what set us apart from the males. They also are part of our appeal as women. Again it all goes back to mystery.