Buy essay on Memoirs of a Geisha: Film v. Book

“Memoirs of a Geisha” directed by Rob Marshall is based on the book ‘Memoirs of a Geisha” written by Arthur Golden. In fact, both the film and the book conveys one and the same story of a Geisha, Sayuri Niita, who narrates the story of her life and reveals the true life of Geishas in Japan. In spite of the evident similarity of the plot of both the film and the book, they have details which make them quite different from each other. It proves beyond a doubt that the difference between the film and the book is determined by the different interpretation of the story of Geisha by the director of the film, Rob Marshall from the original story conveyed by Arthur Golden. Such a difference is quite natural, into consideration the individual perception of the book by readers and the director of the film naturally interpreted the book in his own way and attempted to introduce some new details to meet his own goals and convey his own vision of the story of Geisha.
On analyzing the major differences between the film and the book, it is possible to distinguish several differences. For instance, Sayuri and Hatsumomo fight and Hatsumomo burns out mother’s house. This scene is introduced by the director of the film, although the author of the book was not inclined to such dramatization of the story and relationships of Sayuri and Harsumomo do not lead to such outcomes. At any rate, burning out mother’s house is a very bold step from the part of Hatsumomo, which Arthur Golden attempts to avoid in his book but Rob Marshall introduces this scene. In all probability, Rob Marshall had his own reasons to introduce this scene in the film. In this regard, the reasons of the director can be traced on the ground of the analysis of outcomes of the fight and burning out the house. In fact, both the fight and especially burning out mother’s house was a daring act from the part of Hatsumomo because the Japanese society had always been characterized by strict hierarchy and Japanese people could not break or challenge the hierarchy, whereas the fight and burn-out house are evidence of the challenge of Hatsumomo to existing social norms and social hierarchy. At the same time, the author of the book focuses mainly on the internal struggle between characters, which refers mainly to the field of psychology and it does not break out into the physical conflict between Sayuri and Hatsumomo. In the book, their struggle and conflict are rather psychological than physical. In such a way, the author of the book focuses on the internal, spiritual world of both characters, whereas the director externalizes their internal world and the ongoing conflict between the characters. In fact Rob Marshall externalizes the conflict to show to the audience the extent to which relationships between Sayuri and Hatsumomo are tense.
Furthermore, the aforementioned scene is not the only difference that can be found in the film and the book. To put it more precisely, Pumkin spy Sayuri, she took Chairman came to spy and Sayuri has encounter with the General. In fact, this reveals the difference between the book and the film as well as the difference between the vision of the author of the book and the director of the film on the story of Geisha and her personality. In fact, the director of the film shows Sayuri as a person who has learned to spy and she does it successfully. Moreover, she uses her spying skills to reach her pragmatic goals and, what is more important, she proves to be able to involve other people in spying activities. In such a way, the film shows that Sayuri was not a naïve girl who lives in the world of her dreams or idealistic concepts. Instead, she is a very pragmatic person who knows that all means are possible to use if she has a goal to achieve. At this point, it is possible to estimate that Sayuri in the film becomes a person whose actions are based on the principle that ends justify means. In the book, Sayuri is pragmatic but she is not inclined to a large scale spying activity. Nevertheless, the encounter with the General becomes apparently a turning point in her life.
Finally, it is worth mentioning the scene when Mameha told Sayuri: I am so sorry Dr. Crab bit the high price your Mizuage without my plan. In fact, this scene depicted in the film is different from the book and it shows that Mameha does regret about Dr. Crab’s actions and, what is more, Mameha proves that she had a plan, which reveals her pragmatic personality and shows that she is an intelligent woman but even she cannot foresee what can happen in her life and the life of other people.
In such a way, the film has certain differences which help the director to convey his ideas and vision of the story of the Geisha.

 
Works Cited:
Golden, A. Memoirs of a Geisha. New York: Knopf, 1997.
Marshall, R. Memoirs of a Geisha. Columbia Pictures, 2005.
Reynolds, W. & J. Gallagher. Geisha: A Unique World of Tradition, Elegance and Art. New York: PRC Publishing, 2003.