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  • Essay / Geisha Romanticism - 2965

    Asia and Asian people have generally been portrayed by Western culture to fit certain perceptions. Stereotypes and pre-established ideas about Geisha have been created for many reasons. These reasons are misrepresentation in Hollywood and cinema, culturally Western gender-based male language as dominator of language, lack of aesthetic and cultural appreciation and understanding on the part of foreign men who have encountered geishas, ​​​​and finally the confusion between the geisha and prostitute quarters and what are the limits of a real geisha. Orientalism, which is a Western style aimed at dominating, restructuring and exercising authority over the Orient, by imposing limits on it and defining it as "the Other" (Said, 3, 1979), influenced the creation and strengthening the submissive Orient, exotic and decadent geisha. Unfortunately, these romanticized images continue to persist and are used to provide a false understanding of the geisha. Geishas are defined as performers who study classical Japanese music and dance, perform music and dance at parties, and are officially registered with a central office. (Foreman, 34, 2005, Prasso, 200, 2006) The combined mastery of music and dance with a sense of elegance, tact and grace that wins the respect and admiration of patrons. (Groemer, 159, 2009). They were high-end artists and the common man could not afford to gift them as artists. They are expected to be witty, flattering, excellent conversationalists, and must endure long years of strict training in traditional dance or the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument (Struck, 2000 ). Only those who were very wealthy could pay for the accompaniment of a Geisha. Overall, Geisha should be interpreted as performers, just as in the West, ho...... middle of paper ......tude of "geisha" which cannot be attributed to a certain set characteristics and attributes. . For these reasons, geishas have been romanticized and misrepresented. Therefore, when it comes to describing geishas, ​​one should not make general statements about the group as a whole. And that geisha are actresses selling an image, and therefore how they appear when they work does not transcend their individuality and does not necessarily define who they are as a person. As a result, it is safe to say that whenever a statement is made about an ethnic group, we should question the sources and influences that shaped that statement. And at the same time, we must remember that people are individuals and that although they may belong to a group category, they themselves have characteristics that will not fit into the mold or stereotypes imposed on the group..