MovieChat Forums > Alpointeu (2004) Discussion > Hard for westerners (at least this one)

Hard for westerners (at least this one)

posted 16 years ago by ucalderonagosto
22 replies | jump to latest

The plot is confusing but I think the real problem for non-asians is that it is extremely hard to tell the characters apart. Ten korean guys of roughly the same age, in the same uniform and with a helmet most of the time, I didn´t know who was who (the names don´t help much either). The lieutenant and the other officer were easier, but the soldiers were just a mess in my head, unless there was a close-up , and only for the ones with the more peculiar faces, like the mechanic or the cook. I wish they would have enlisted a fat guy, a bearded guy, someone with a scar... for the platoon.

PS: In case you are wondering, I am not an ignorant or a racist who thinks all koreans look alike, please don´t go there. I´ve seen quite a lot of korean cinema. I just found it hard to tell the characters apart in this particular movie.

[–] Dali-Fan 15 years ago

I'm not much of a bigot either, but do you think a bunch of Korean lads would think different if they were all wasps?

Not a bloody bad fill, I'd have to say.

"I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring." JG Ballard

[–] cbsteh 15 years ago

>> PS: In case you are wondering, I am not an ignorant or a racist who thinks all koreans look alike, please don´t go there.

The moment you start saying "all <fill in inferior race here> look alike to me", regardless of how you try to rationalise or qualify it, people will still call you a racist.

Kris (99.82% pure Ayran)

[–] pfnuesel 15 years ago

Welcome to the world of prosopagnosia! ;-)

One gets used to it.

[–] Taags 15 years ago

How can it be racist if someone thinks people look alike?

I think they do in this movie but i still didnt have problem knowing who they all were.
Good movie :)

[–] trapdoorstudios 15 years ago

I struggled a bit at the start as there were so many soldiers to try and pick apart. But as the film moved on it became pretty easy to tell them apart, more by their personality and actions necessarily than by their looks.

This is fairly standard. As western caucasians tend to tell each other apart by eye color, hair color, face shape. Other races use different signs... Whilst this may sound a bit racist its not meant to be, its simply the way people see each other.

[–] KaRa308 14 years ago

I didn't have a problem at all. I watch a lot of Asian films, I don't know if that's why but I didnt have a hard time. I have hard times with names but I could tell basically who was who.

[–] christy51274 14 years ago

I agree. For someone who's mother is Korean and father Caucasian (Irish-American), I can see both points of view. Even my son mentioned that he had difficulty in determining who was who. I think regardless of the race, put a bunch of soldiers together with the same hair and eye color, similar complexions, with the same uniforms and helmets, it would take a while to get accustomed to the faces. However, there are other distinguishing characteristics to go by: facial shapes, nose shapes, etc. I've heard people genuinely say that they have difficulties, in general, differentiating between Asians. And not only one group or nationality. I've been told by many Westerners that they cannot tell the difference--physically speaking--amongst, for example, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. We/they don't all look alike. Trust me. Sometimes you must go beyond the hair and eye color. I've heard Caucasians say this about black people, as well, but I don't get where they get that either. People should just get out more. LOL.

"Don't like me? Then jog on, my friend."

[–] vanglak 14 years ago

they have black hair and brown eyes. no diversity in the genetic pool so of course, they look alike. asians won't admit that they look alike. blacks are lying when they say whites look the same too.

i can tell who is who in japanese cinema and mostly chinese cinema. but koreans are worse when it comes to differentiate one from another.

[–] castlerock20002000 14 years ago

The korean names are what gives me headaches...

[–] bigXT 14 years ago

It had a promising start but then it just sort of lost me mid way. Too slow.

[–] SherlockVonEinstein 14 years ago

i'm an american and sometimes i have trouble telling american actors apart in american war films: a bunch of young guys with the same hair cut, wearing the same clothes and facial expressions.

then there are wong kar-wai films: there's usually 3 or 4 incredibly beautiful chinese women competing for the same guy and they all look the same. (i want to live in a wong kar-wai film.)

[–] mikaeel 14 years ago

it's not racist. I'm an african american who watches a lot of films foreign and domestic. Ensemble casts often look alike to me no matter what race they are if the actors are not big stars or are otherwise unknown to me. Unless one's a fat guy another is skinny or one is blond and the other has a beard, well you get the picture. As a kid I thought Dustin Hoffmn and Al Paccino were the same guy.

But I never mistaken anybody for Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[–] EarlGreyWhore32 13 years ago

It's not racist at all. It's a familiarity thing. If you're raised in a certain part of the world, your brain adapts to specific patterns and it takes repetition to change those patterns. For us in the West, we are used to identifying people through blatantly obvious characteristics because there's so much variety in hair colour, eye colour, skin pigment (even amongst whites), not to mention people of multiple ethnicity.

My boyfriend used to dislike Asian films because he couldn't empathize with the characters due to their similar appearance making it difficult for him to differentiate, especially where there were uniforms involved. So, I showed him some horror, some comedy (where there's plenty going on to hold your attention besides character development) and after a while, his patterns of familiarity adapted to recognize the more subtle facial characteristics of Asian actors.

[–] LivingCrazies 11 years ago

As was said before, it is definitely a familiarity thing. I am Caucasian, and can often tell the difference between someone who is Chinese, Japanese, or Korean by their general facial features (if I know their name it is a great deal easier). Sometimes I have a hard time telling white people apart from each other.

For me it can happen with any racial group. I guess I'm a pan-racist!

-------
I'm not sure if I'll regret it,
But I'm glad I finally said it.

[–] wjtweston 12 years ago

It is actually normal, for people of all cultures, to have difficulty in distinguishing individuals from ethnic groups with differing facial characteristics from their own. Orientals often have a hard time distinguishing Occidentals of similar appearance from one another, and vice versa.
It has to do with how the brain processes facial geometry.