Memoirs of a Geisha, the film, and Servant of the Empire, a novel, at first glance look completely different, until you stop and look more closely. One may be a Japanese Geisha story and the other a fantasy novel, but many connections can be made eg: both are the main part of the life of a girl/woman surviving through a rough coming of age to become legend. The main question needing attention is: ÃÂHow successful were the authors in transporting/taking you into the world of text thatÃÂs quite different from your own?ÃÂ.
The first step to getting someone to believe the film or to get into the novel; is to set the scene of the setting. Geisha, has an obvious advantage on this aspect, as visual is instant and impacting on the enticement of the world created reeling you in. Gretchen Rau (set decorator) and Mike Fantasia (location manager), play key roles in the magic of the setting of this mysterious film along with the director and anyone to do with the cinematography of it.
The sets, of old Kyoto, really pull you in at the start along with the mild help of computers, as Japan doesnÃÂt really look like that anymore. Servant, however is at a different advantage, as each person has the freedom, from reading descriptive passages in novels, to create their own unique image in their mind thatÃÂs totally appealing to them, except for the image of the front cover. For example the opening passage of Servant: The breeze died. Dust swirled in little eddies, settling grit over the palisade that surrounded the slave market. Despite the wayward currents, the air was hot and thick, reeking of confined and unwashed humanity mingled with the smell of river sewage and rotting garbage from the dump behind the...