MovieChat Forums > Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) Discussion > Mr. Tanaka

Mr. Tanaka

posted 11 years ago by unknown_soul278
3 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone else think he did mean well? Chiyo's father was desperate for money to help his dying wife, so he was convinced to sell his daughters by Mr. Tanaka. The book tells us Mr. Tanaka has a geisha mistress of his own in a neighboring town. We know that clients and others have no idea what geisha training involves or what their personal lives are like. All they see is glamour and beauty for women who are paid for only their company and nothing else. I think he may have really thought he was helping the girls have what he saw as a better life. He was wrong, and I am sure money was a consideration, but did he know what they would be subjected to? And did he know Satsu would be sent on to be a prostitute?

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] corazonbandido55 9 years ago

I think the parents meant well. Early in the filmchiyo's parents die after she has an accident, which was soon after she was sold to the geisha house. My interpretation is that they were both ill and knew they would die soon, so they sold their daughters to secure their future instead of leaving them to fates hands. I haven't read the book, so it may be different there.

[–] el_torko 8 years ago

I think he was fascinated by the geisha and thought they we're living the lives of queens. I think he genuinely thought he was doing good by them. Which he did cause if their parents had died when the girls were with them I'd imagine I need they would end up dead or prostitutes anyway.