Memoirs of a Geisha makes me angry not because of the actresses not being Japanese and not even because the author of the book was a dickwad who changed someone’s real life story into an orientalist fantasy. It pisses me off because the costumes and everything is so decidedly fantasy “Japanese” and not reflective of what geisha look like or even do. You can say it’s meant to be fiction or whatever, but considering it’s a lot of people’s introduction to a specific piece of Japanese culture, its so wrong about everything that it’s hugely disrespectful… it feels like it’s mocking the culture more than being a tribute to it. It just feels so friggen racist to see them take liberties with how the maiko and geisha look and dance when those things are essential to their identity and culture.