Japanese Forest, Japanese Spirits... and a White Girl? - The Forest (2016) Discussion

[–] olinse 8 years ago

Also being disrespectful to suicide victims..This movie is just terrible.

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There has been a movie made in japan about this forest and the subject matter as well. It's not disrespectful to make a movie about the forest that people go into and commit suicide.

If so then Texas chainsaw Massacre was horribly disrespectful too.

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[–] MissOceanB 8 years ago

What is the name of the film about the forest and is it available in English?

*I grieve for the strength to wake up each day with a blank canvas
and paint it to my liking.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0927615/

sorry for the delayed response.

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[–] chasedavidsonsmith 8 years ago

Uh wow, really? The title you provided is Korean... that's more ignorant than whitewashing. There is actually a difference between Japan and Korea.

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[–] JayKlook 8 years ago

What's the correlation with Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

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Osbourne Cox? I thought you might be worried... about the security... of your shi+.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

This is a really old post but I'll explain what I meant by that. The forest itself when we aren't talking about racial issues was called disrespectful because it is a film about a place in which people actually die. As in people honestly go their and commit suicide regularly. So some people see it as being disrespectful as a film sort of using a tragedy to get money.

I was stating that if the above is true TCM should be disrespectful as well. It was filmed in the area (not the exact same house for legal reasons I'm sure) and based on events that actually happened. People were murdered by this man and if The Forest is disrespectful for the above reason so is TCM. Not only did they turn those deaths into entertainment but they kind of glorified the killer and his family. Sure they are still the bad guys in the movie. However most people like the bad guys in horror movies. It's actually really startling how many people do and are fans of actual real life serial killers.

That's my opinion on it and I reserve the right to be 100% wrong.

I've baited my hook with my own underwear. Is it wrong that I hope to catch a fish I can relate to?-Ragdoll

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[–] JayKlook 8 years ago

TCM was only loosely based on a killer from Wisconsin, tho, not Texas. None of those events happened.

Ed Gein lived in Wisconsin and was a seemingly regular man. He wasn't a big lumbering lunatic with a crazy family (well, not noticeably a lunatic, definitely a lunatic tho).

The only real similarity between TCM and real life events is that Leatherface and Ed Gein both killed people, and did things with their bodies. Leatherface to a much greater extreme.

The opening of the 2003 TCM remake that showed "actual police footage" wasn't real. There's even a little featurette about Gein on the DVD.

Psycho, Leatherface, Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs), House of 1000 corpses, these are all loosely based on Ed Gein.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein

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Osbourne Cox? I thought you might be worried... about the security... of your shi+.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

The Forest is extremely loosely based as well. My point was that if "The Forest" is disrespectful then so to would TCM.

The only thing in the movie The Forest that is remotely based and grounded in reality is that people go their to kill themselves sometimes.

So my point still stands, and I still reserve the right to be 100% wrong.

I've baited my hook with my own underwear. Is it wrong that I hope to catch a fish I can relate to?-Ragdoll.

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[–] JayKlook 8 years ago

But it's not really the same. The Forest is a movie about a Forest where people commit suicide. It's based on a Forest where people commit suicide.

TCM is about a lumbering likely special needs man (with a psychotic family) who snatch up/chase people around with a chainsaw in Texas. It's based very loosely based on Ed Gein who killed some people in a completely different manner. The only similarity is killing people and cutting some things off them.

By the way, I'm not at all arguing against your point of whether it's disrespectful or not. I'm really just discussing the semantics of your comparison. Also, I'm not aggravated at all, just interested in this comparison. Internet arguments have a way of coming off as squabbling.

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Osbourne Cox? I thought you might be worried... about the security... of your shi+.

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[–] UpperEastSider 8 years ago

This movie is not "disrespectful" suicide victims.

Respect what you have 🌌

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[–] ScorpionTDC 8 years ago

I haven't seen the film itself, but nothing in that trailer is disrespectful to suicide victims

Death Awaits (Horror forum)
http://w11.zetaboards.com/Death_Awaits/index/

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[–] udidwht 8 years ago

No...quite the contrary. Suicide victims are deceased due to their selfless, selfish act towards those around them supposedly love. That is disrespectful.

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[–] mochteam 8 years ago

How do you know? You ever spend time around people that attempted suicide? Mr. Know it all?

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[–] Eve_of_Destruction 8 years ago

Mental illness or not suicide is ultimately a choice. My cousin and 2 close friends committed suicide. So I have been there through the repurcussuins on the parents and sisters and brothers. I myself have contemplated it but I know what I would leave behind would be worse than what I went through to put me in that position. I would never do that to my family.

So I disagree that they are victims.

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[–] Eve_of_Destruction 8 years ago

Mental illness or not suicide is ultimately a choice. My cousin and 2 close friends committed suicide. So I have been there through the repurcussuins on the parents and sisters and brothers. I myself have contemplated it but I know what I would leave behind would be worse than what I went through to put me in that position. I would never do that to my family.

So I disagree that they are victims.

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[–] Bonesaw21 8 years ago

Because ALL Hollywood films must be set in America.
Right?

Because no white person has ever set foot in Japan.
Right?

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

This is silly. She could have just as easily been visiting japan or have a work visa to be there.

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[–] le_papillon 8 years ago

You know what's actually silly? The level of reaching people like you have to do in order to justify horrible casting.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

Yes because visiting Japan is absolutely illogical and silly. You're right my bad. Being a Caucasian person who works in Japan(you need a work visa for that by the way) is u heard of. Man I'm sorry you're right. I don't know where I came up with these half-brained schemes of mine.

Next time I need to renew my passport I just won't because it's silly and illogical for me to visit another country.

God dude,thank you so much for opening my eyes!

Sarcasm aside it's more likely she's just visiting than having a work visa or simply living there. Nothing silly about that. People vacation overseas in different countries all the time.

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[–] SecretNobody 8 years ago

What white person would travel all the way to Japan to kill themselves lol

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[–] VariaIronhawk 8 years ago

Maybe you want to see the film or read the wiki of it, to see what happened. I don't want to spoil it, but sister is living there, teaching English to Japanese kids, which is done ALL THE TIME.

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[–] neiu_girl 8 years ago

She did not go there to kill herself. She went there out of curiosity cause she liked to travel. Watch a movie.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

After seeing the film I will give you a proper response and then a jokey one cause, why not.

Proper response.

As stated earlier she could have been there on a work visa. She was: she was the english teacher at a school. She did not go to Japan to kill herself. She went to start a job as an English(Language) teacher in Japan. Just so happened she was thinking about committing suicide and went into the forest(I wont spoil it and explain why)

Jokey response.

why do white people jump out of an air plane with a parachute.
Why do white people dive into a cave in the same way
Why do white people slide down the side of a mountain with two glossed plank. strapped to each foot respectively.
Why do white people do the same as above but with one glosse plank(snowboard)

No question marks as they are all rhetorical questions.Lol and horrible stereotypes as all nationalities do these crazy things.

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[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

The level of mental gymnastics needed to believe that white person could never be a teacher in japanese school and also have a sister is the silly part.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

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[–] Ultraviolenxe 8 years ago

They could've cast an Asian woman. They should have actually. When's the last time you see an Asian lead in ANYTHING? Hollywood isn't even trying to hide their racism anymore.

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[–] justybear96 8 years ago

You're an idiot

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[–] lac925 8 years ago

When's the last time you see an Asian lead in ANYTHING?

Um...watch any original JHorror...All the leads are Asian 

~~~

"Could you please get your head out of your ass? It's not a hat!" - Pitch Perfect

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[–] Ultraviolenxe 8 years ago

Yeah no sh!t because it's JHorror made in Japan. I'm talking about Hollywood, and American cinema. There's a severe lack of Asian actors, unless they're written to be a caricature of Asians.

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[–] lupitag-11852 8 years ago

You act like it's just Hollywood that's guilty of not being diverse. I can't even recall a European film that starred a non-white person, and I've seen many. Is European cinema also racist? And when was the last time you watched an Asian movie with a white lead? Yeah, but let's all just harp on Hollywood for it. Hollywood is, in fact, MORE diverse than any other cinematic region, as we have entire movies with blacks casts and insert races other than whites in other roles, even if they aren't starring in them. So shouldn't you be saying European and Asian films need to be catching up to the U.S.? Oh no, because Hollywood has to be the scapegoat.

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[–] Ultraviolenxe 8 years ago

First of all, Japanese films only casting Asians in not the same as what Hollywood does. Whire people are the minority in terms of the world, but make up the majority when it comes to representation in the media and in films. So no there's no issue with Japanese studios not casting white people, as white people are already highly represented in film.

European cinema also lacks diversity because, newsflash, there's racism in Europe as well. But Hollywood makes most of the movies that we see in theaters so that's why I'm talking about Hollywood. I think it's kind of ridiculous that this movie is based on Japan, Japanese spirits, Japanese culture, but the cast is white. To me that's just silly. There's plenty of Asian actors they could have hired but instead they cast white people because it's more marketable, and yes that is indeed whitewashing, which is racist.

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[–] Archnenna 8 years ago

You know what? Racism goes both ways. You can't blame one group of people and say the other one is fine for doing the same thing, only with a different race. I for one don't think it's racist. Racism is when you hate another race. I don't see any hate here. Seriously, everything is considered racism these days.

Also, it's their movie. They can cast who they want.

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[–] Ultraviolenxe 8 years ago

Well considering white people don't suffer from systematic racism, no it does not go both ways. And racism isn't just as simple as "hating another race". There's much more to it, that I'm not going to waste my time going into because I already know you aren't going to understand and itll go one ear and out the other. White people are the most highly represented race in film. They are not oppressed in the entertainment industry and neither in life. So no, a Japanese film studio not casting white people isn't racist.

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[–] Archnenna 8 years ago

Yes, it does go both ways. Are you telling me that, for example, a black person's racism hurts less than a white person's racism? That's ridiculous.

Make your own movie and cast who you want. It's their movie, and they have every right to cast the actors they want. Just like I have every right to represent whoever I want when I'm writing my books, filmmakers are allowed to create characters to their liking. As long as no one is being bashed, it's fine.

And regarding your comment about European cinema, would you care to elaborate what country you're talking about? You do know Europe is not a country, right? Some of the countries that are mostly white, which would explain the lack of minorities in movies.

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[–] mharvey-3-910706 7 years ago

A black person's racism (in the United States) does hurt less. White people, with very few exceptions,control the government, law enforcement, and business.

Therefore, white people have the ability to covertly harm blacks, whereas the reverse is unlikely. I'm not talking about violence, but the less obvious harm of a biased legal system and biased hiring. You say racial discrimination is illegal. Yes it is. Mr. Smith was not hired because he was black. The employer preferred Mr. Jones, a white person. Prove that it was discrimination, if you can.

As for European films, you really haven't seen many, if you believe they are "all white."

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[–] Archnenna 7 years ago

If you hurt someone based on their race (no matter if they're white, black, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.), that person is still going to be in pain. Let's say person A is white and someone vandalizes their house because they hate white people. Now let's say person B is black and someone vandalizes their house because they hate black people. Both of those people have had their property vandalized. You can't claim that person A was hurt less when both have been harmed in an equal way.

How would you know if Mr. Smith was not hired for his race? Maybe Mr. Jones was simply more qualified. Not everything is race-related, yet people from the USA always try to make it so.

I would like a quote of where I said "all white". I said that most countries are majorly white, which is true. I'm living in one of those countries. I'm neighbors with some of those countries. They are majorly white. Not all. Some. Quote or it didn't happen.

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[–] mharvey-3-910706 7 years ago

"How would you know if Mr. Smith was not hired for his race? Maybe Mr. Jones was simply more qualified."

That was exactly my point. If he was not hired, specifically because of race, he would never know, and certainly couldn't prove it. However, many people are not hired only because of their race. Since you don't live in the USA, perhaps you aren't aware of the level of racism in our society.

"I said that most countries are majorly [sic] white, which is true."
Perhaps you forgot Asia, Africa, South America and Central America. I believe you are mistaken.

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[–] Archnenna 7 years ago

It could be.

I'm sick of people online (mostly on Tumblr) talking about race relations as though they're universal, while actually talking about how they work in the USA. They never even seem to consider other countries.

"Perhaps you forgot Asia, Africa, South America and Central America. I believe you are mistaken."
I was talking about European countries (because the person before me said that European media is racist because of lack of diversity, so I pointed out that most countries in Europe are white-majority, hence the reason for mostly white movie casts), not those on other continents. I can't speak for other continents, but I can speak for Europe, or at least my and neighboring countries.

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[–] shaunqui 8 years ago

Well said and spot on. Knikas356 ^

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[–] hellojoe87 8 years ago

Just because you learn a bunch of false definitions in a women's studies class or on tumblr doesn't make it true. Casting a white person in a movie set in Japan is absolutely 100% not racist. If you want to be offended go ahead but : Full Definition of racism
1
: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2
: racial prejudice or discrimination

Your bs definition is not the real definition, so stop treating it as such. And please, if you are offended by everything, go away.

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[–] Thorshairspray 8 years ago

They are hihgly represented in Western Cinema you tit. You won't find many in Indian or Far Eastern cinema.

Lets think why? Hmmmm.......no white in Japanese films......not many white actors in Japan.
No Japanese in American films?.......not many Japanese actors? No Whitey is racist.

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[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

Neither suffers from systematic racism. And yes, racism is as simple as hating another race. Please learn something before opening your mouth next time.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

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[–] udidwht 8 years ago

Your giving em to much credit. Racism is NOT by very definition the hating of a race. It goes much deeper than that. If a white person grows up in a predominately black neighborhood he/she is quite likely to grow up hating those in the hood. Is it because of the color of their skin? No

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[–] KoRnRuLz 8 years ago

I think you will find that America and Europe cast more Caucasians because they are the majority race in those areas... simple really.
Just like Japan casts more Japanese actors in there films, because they are the majority race there and the majority of people watching their film will be Japanese.

If this film was going to be aimed at say a Japanese audience, then the film makers would have cast roles to suit that, but not it was made for an American movie going audience, the majority of whom are Caucasian.

It has been proven that people like to see or read about Characters based from their own ethnicity or gender or both because they can then identify more with that person. Therefore they will be more willing to spend their money on a story that involves a character more like them.

And before you start on, yes people do make exceptions of course, and no it's not racism, everyone has it, it is subconscious.

I'm not saying there is no racism in Hollywood, but they are doing better than many other places, and it is not the giant conspiracy theory people on here are making out to be.

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[–] Theshornwonder 8 years ago

White people make up the majority in the United States and Europe. If you decide to criticize a national film industry because it doesn't represent the population of "the world" then you're pretty silly.

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[–] janisvstr 8 years ago

White people make up the majority when it comes to representation in the media and films - in the West, FTFY. And it's only normal, since we are the majority here.

You think European cinema lacks diversity because there's racism in Europe, but you find it silly that a movie based in Japan doesn't have a Japanese lead? Your racist double standards are sickening!

Boy, are you retarded or what...

Not a native anglo.

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[–] udidwht 8 years ago

BS...This country IMO is overboard with diversifying everything. It's become quite silly.

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[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

There is severe lack of Asians in America as well. Its no wonder most leads are white when population is majority white.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

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[–] ipoisonthenachos-57368 8 years ago

I'm going to disagree. Just because this movie was set in Japan does not mean the lead has to be Asian. Would it nice? Absolutely...but not necessary. There are many instances where I would agree with you ...the Chun Li movie was one, the remake of Death Note, etc. But in this case - no. I think you are just looking to be offended.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

Chun Li movie

I'm slightly offended, and I'm offended FOR you, because you watched the movie quoted above.

It's not every day that someone shares a bond through pain.

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[–] bcjester 8 years ago

Ninja Assassin I guess. Sorry but that's the only thing that came to mind.

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[–] IvyTempleton 8 years ago

They could've cast an Asian woman. They should have actually. When's the last time you see an Asian lead in ANYTHING? Hollywood isn't even trying to hide their racism anymore.

Are you saying Asia casts Americans as leads often in their films? America is the most welcoming country in the world in regards to diversity yet people constantly complain about them. America does not owe anybody anything. If other races want a movie made all they have to do is make it. It's up to their own race to go to the theaters (along with the white people who LOVE Asian film) and pay money to see it and make it successful.

I work in Theater and there are barely any other races interested in participating. We actually try to recruit people and they just don't come.

White people do not actually run the world. It's not 1950 anymore. People are free to do whatever they want.

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[–] town_night 8 years ago

You know that is the philosophy of alot of KKK members. They say now they don't hate people of other racists but should not be mixed. Say for instance they would only want the Japaneses to be with Japanese, and black people with black people. This is exactly what you are asking for. So to help you out here is the link to the KKK application for you to join. http://traditionalistamericanknights.com/Application.php Hope you find this helpful.

This movie is not about a real person, so there can't be whitewashing. Now that would be wrong. This movie is just about a girl trying to find her sister who went into the forest. White people do exist in Japan, and are even aloud to visit if they want. In this movie case she was probably the actress they wanted for a fictional role.

Would you applaud a British film if they cast a Japaneses girl in the lead role? Im sure you would due to the diversity. I myself would have no issue with that. You can't have it both ways.

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[–] Satan2016 8 years ago

This one's twice as RACIST, Lost in Translation (2003), there are two white leads! Sophia Coppola must be a KKK member!! Off to the The Death Camp of Tolerance (2002) with her!!!

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[–] ingve1974 8 years ago

99% of movies that do well have a white lead. Welcome to the world.

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[–] xfastfurious15 8 years ago

Exactly how hard was it to find a female Japanese lead who spoke English??

I bet you're wondering what a place like this is doing in a girl like me-The Mummy

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[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

Why should they?

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

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