Featuring playful formalism, quirky sensibilities, and a creative visual aesthetic, Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs offers the same heartfelt playfulness one has come to expect from the accomplished contemporary filmmaker, yet, behind this whimsical veneer hides a troubling exploitative core, as Anderson's latest film never comes close to justifying its Japanese setting, being a film that cheaply exploits this rich culture in a way that is misguided at its best, and downright derogatory at its worst. The problem with Isle of Dogs isn't cultural appropriation, as many Westerners are surely going to decry the film for-which is misguided in its own right, given that Japanese culture itself is derived in many ways by its cultivation of other cultures. No, the problem with Isle of Dogs is the film's unwillingness to give this culture its own voice, using it only for cheap comedic gains, serving only the purpose of building Anderson's quirky comedic sensibilities. In Isle of Dogs, Japanese culture is considered outre, used as merely a setting, with the film never coming close to justifying why it is set in Japan in the first place. Perhaps the film's worst aspect is how it literally doesn't give any Japanese character a voice, with the most heinous example being the treatment of the foreign exchange student, a blond haired American student who drives the pro-dog movement and is major force in solving the problems of the story. Anderson's intentions are harmless, no question, but the way Isle of Dogs never justifies its setting, nor gives the culture itself a voice at all in the scope of the story is troubling; one which makes this touching tale about boy and dog, friendship and love, a hard pill to swallow at times.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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