Sections
Magazine
Latest Issue

Why a referendum on the death penalty might not be as far away as you think, what happens when politicians and judges pass the buck on law-making, why Britain struggles to escape the shadow of hands-off economics and the tricky moral terrain of growing babies outside of the womb. Plus Jacqueline Rose on the violence we ignore a review of Rachel Cusk’s new book

Read Now Or Checkout the archive
Previous
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
Events
Next Event

Watch: Managing global supply chains in a post-Covid world—current challenge or future opportunity?

Previous
What next for pensions? Why the 2020s are the crunch decade—discussion 2
Watch: How do we stop a generation from sleepwalking into retirement?
Watch: Homes for all—what new social and affordable housing can do for Britain
To the archive
Podcast
Latest Episode

The Prospect Podcast #184: The new Conservatives, with Rachel Sylvester

Previous
The Prospect Interview #183: Why Britain is condemned to be liberal
The Prospect Interview #182: The rise of the British shock jock
The Prospect Interview #181: The life and mind of Edward Said
To the archive
Arts & Books Magazine cinema Hollywood

Widescreen

One of the great themes of film history has been the growing rivalry between Hollywood and Asian cinema. This is the real cultural clash of east and west

By Mark Cousins  
February 26, 2006
February 2006

One morning recently I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha, Columbia Pictures and American director Rob Marshall’s account of the education of a young girl who becomes one of the figures in eastern life that most fascinates the west—a geisha. As the end credits rolled, I walked to an adjacent screen and watched Brokeback Mountain, Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s portrait of the lives of the figures in western cinema who most fascinate eastern directors—cowboys. Each is a ventriloquism of sorts, or a stealing of the rival’s clothes.

Memoirs of a Geisha and Brokeback Mountain have several things in common.…

Register today to continue reading

You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below.

You’ll also receive our free e-book Prospect’s Top Thinkers 2020 and our newsletter with the best new writing on politics, economics, literature and the arts.

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with newsletters, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click here to learn more about these purposes and how we use your data. You will be able to opt-out of further contact on the next page and in all our communications.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to letters@prospect-magazine.co.uk

Mark Cousins

Mark Cousins’s collected columns, “Widescreen: Watching Real People Elsewhere,” are published by Wallflower Press

More stories by Mark Cousins

More From Prospect