film review: Me...Myself

[Anonymous]

Tampopo (1985)

Tampopo is a rather quirky film that centers around the obsessive search for the perfect recipe for ramen soup. One of the main characters, Goro, a Japanese truck driver who dresses like a cowboy, meets Tampopo, a woman who owns an unsuccessful ramen shop. When Goro intimates that he knows the intricacies of ramen, Tampopo begs him to be her mentor. The rest of the film centers on the extremes that Goro and Tampopo go through to learn all the secrets to making the perfect bowl of ramen. The film has some sensual, sexually suggestive scenes, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for classroom use in its entirety. However, there are many scenes in the movie that would be appropriate for use in the classroom.

One thing that I think the film portrays very well is the Japanese obsession for perfection in what we in the West would consider to be rather mundane and ordinary things. In the West, the quest for perfection is only considered appropriate for things that are extraordinary. It would be considered a waste of time to seek perfection in ordinary things; they only need to be adequate or good--not perfect. The film displays a different sensibility to this quest for perfection. The Japanese seem to appreciate and value the quest for perfection in everything. The movie shows the Japanese obsession to achieve perfection. The scenes which show Goro and Tampopo on their quest to ramen perfection really illustrates this trait. I especially enjoyed the scene where Goro and his partner go to the ramen shop of a ramen master. The ramen master described each of the steps that needed to be taken to fully appreciate and enjoy a perfect bowl of ramen, from looking at the arrangement of the noodles and other items in the bowl, to the sequence in which the diner would eat each of the items.

The scene with the ramen master can also be used to reveal the Japanese affinity for ritual in their daily lives. I would use this scene to discuss how ritual can heighten one’s experiences. Students can discuss the ways ritual enhanced the ramen eating experience for Japanese diners and whether or not their own dining experiences would be enhanced if they incorporated more rituals in them. Students can then broaden their research to study the role ritual plays in Japanese culture as a whole, explain why it plays such an important role in their society, and discuss what this emphasis on ritual reveals about the Japanese. They could then research rituals that Americans perform on a regular basis and analyze what insights these rituals provide about Americans.

On a smaller scale, there are scenes in the movie which depict a variety of issues in Japan, including scenes that depict the role Japanese women play in their society, the homeless people who live in the streets, and even children who are bullied by their peers. These scenes can be studied separately to study Japanese attitudes towards these topics and how they deal with them. Because the movie has many scenes that depict different examples of everyday life and situations, it gives what appears to an authentic depiction of life in Japan. These scenes would be useful in the classroom to give students a way to experience the life of ordinary Japanese citizens.
edited by ghom on 9/2/2014

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

As to not ruin the major plot twist in the story, I'lll be brief with the explanation and give some insight as tohow I feel this movie can relate with students and/or teach something about East Asia.

The movie is about a man who meets a woman after she hits him with her car. He has amnesia, but they decide to call him Tan because of a pendant he carries with him. She helps him to try to get his memories back, which he eventually does, but he seems to want to keep his current memories with her as they are falling in love. He becomes a somewhat father figure to her nephew. Later in the movie as his memories start returning and some of his belongings as his cell phone are recovered, we learn about Tan's past sexuality and life.

The topic of homosexuality and transgender relations fits into the stereotype of what myself or my students might think about Thailand, so I might say that this is a risky movie to show especially with less mature students. The movie itself had some very comedic moments that generally keep it light (interactions with the neighbors), but the tone in which the movie is done is at times dramatic. A lot can be taken about Thai culture from the simple interactions and observations throughout the movie, but my gripe is that the premise of the movie itself doesn't offer much to expand our view of Thailand.

Arno Madathian

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