Travel Prep Through the Movies: The Ramen Girl
December 14, 2009 | Lauren Van Mullem
A chick 'n soup flick
Before I go on a trip, I like to learn a bit about the culture I’ll be visiting. And I like bad movies. So, prior to my trip to Japan I found The Ramen Girl, starring Brittany Murphy. It takes place in Tokyo and went straight to video. Double win. Even though it won’t garner Oscar noms, the movie does present valuable lessons on Japanese culture. Here’s what I learned from The Ramen Girl.
Lesson 1: Americans are way too emotional, according to the Japanese.
Brittany Murphy gave great performances in Uptown Girls, Don’t Say a Word and Clueless. So why is she bawling her eyes out like a four year old throwing a tantrum for the first twenty minutes of this movie?
Yes, “Abby”, Brittany Murphy’s character, moves to Tokyo to live with her boyfriend who promptly dumps her. But even under those circumstances, she is grossly overacting. She is also frightening the Japanese couple who own the ramen restaurant down the street; they think Abby is insane when she has an emotional breakdown over her cup-o-noodles. But this movie was made to appeal to Japanese tastes in many ways, and the Japanese stereotype of Americans is that we are overly emotive and given to extreme reactions. So rather than calling this bad acting, let’s treat it as an insight into how we are perceived abroad. And when you travel to Japan, remember to tone it down.
Lesson 2: Japanese is a hard language, but smiling and nodding generally works.
Abby doesn’t speak a word of Japanese for most of the movie. But she does what I do, which is to communicate through guessing. It’s amazing how effective body language and facial expressions are at overcoming a language barrier. In a refreshing change from similar movies, there is no minute-long montage in The Ramen Girl during which Abby magically becomes fluent. We see her struggle, and both she and the Master ramen chef, who grudgingly teaches her how to create ramen, become frustrated with each other in a very real way. The lesson? Though smiling and nodding works most of the time, making an effort to learn the language is always appreciated.
Lesson 3: The Japanese are not American
This might seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many expectations we bring with us when we travel that people will generally think like we do, and have the same values. Abby gets a rude awakening when her hot Japanese (by way of Korean parents – don’t ask) boyfriend chooses his salaried job over being with her. In a memorable moment she cries:
“Don’t say it’s because you’re Japanese, because that’s just an excuse.”
“I am Japanese!” is his reply.
He has family expectations to fulfill. He can’t quit his reliable job to follow his personal passions. This is his culture and she can’t change it. Accepting another culture and its limitations, even when it doesn’t make sense to you, is the most valuable lesson traveling can offer. SPOILER ALERT. After a year of Abby mastering ramen and him working in Shanghai, he quits his job to become a musician and joins her in New York. Is this an indicator of Western influence changing the values of this generation of Japanese, or is it just a happy ending by American standards?
Lesson 4: A thing worth doing is worth doing perfectly
What I most respect about the Japanese is their unceasing efforts towards perfection. When we think of noodles, we think of hard dry things boiled for eight minutes. But in Japan noodles are art. A dish is an aesthetic balance of elements, tastes and textures. Perfection can never be attained, but artists constantly strive to achieve it – and this goes for ramen chefs as well as Ikebana masters. And The Ramen Girl really understands this. When you go to Japan, appreciate all the effort put into everything you see and taste.
Fundamentally, The Ramen Girl is a coming of age story about a recent college graduate finding her passion, and the strength to pursue it. In the beginning, her only goal is being in love with her boyfriend, but the boyfriend is unwilling to be the center of her universe. She has to find herself and figure out what she can offer the world, and then have the courage to commit to it. And that’s a lesson for all 20-somethings everywhere.
