There is a lot of highly critical discourse around the Last Samurai. Not current, because it's not a current movie, but saying that it's "okay" suggests ~~you~~ they haven't looked for criticism.

Also, weary.

Edit: clarity.

Edit2: I have since been made aware by @SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world of a different perspective that makes a lot more sense, see comments below.

[–] ka1ikasan@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Yup, Last Samourai is 22 years old. Back then a lot of social issues have not been widely discussed.

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

In 2003? What are you talking about? The only thing we weren't talking about by then was trans-rights.

The uncomfortable racism was noted.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 27 points 1 week ago (7 children)

And even then, there were people who were uncomfortable with a narrative of some heroic white dude coming in to save the exotic natives. Just wasn't a very popular opinion.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Save the natives?

Doesn’t the movie end with them all dying?

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago

I recall quite a bit of people taking issue with it. Goes back further with carradine in kung fu. Plenty didn't but same with assasins creed.

[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think it's wary, not weary. Could go either way, I guess.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 47 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Meme of Giancarlo Esposito / Gus adjusting his tie with the caption "You won't buy Assassin's Creed Shadows because you're racist, I won't buy it because Ubisoft games are shit. We're not the same"

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I hate that I'm on the same side as the racists though.

Thanks a lot Ubisoft.

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[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Headline makes it sound Ubisoft posted this, but it doesn‘t look like it.

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[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The fun thing about The Last Samurai is that the title doesn't refer to Tom Cruise. He does not play a samurai in the film. He plays an American officer.

He hangs with a group of samurai, who are collectively the last of their kind.

That said, plenty of people complained about it in its day.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I might be terribly incorrect.

But i remember that Tom Cruise's character switches sides in the movie after spending time with the Samurai (He was captured by them). He trains under them and becomes a Samurai. In the end, they fight against the (British?) and lose due to a gattling gun. All the Samurai die except for Tom's character. So symbolically, Tom is the Last Samurai.

[–] Newsteinleo@infosec.pub 17 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Yes, it's a classic "white savior" trope.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

What did he save? Literally everyone but Meiji-backed forces dies at the end.

[–] johnnyb@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 days ago

he die didn't save shit though :D

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

It is implied that Tom Cruise dies at the end. I think the confusion comes from a voice over, but you never see the character on screen again.

He also does not "become a samurai". He fights alongside them, but at no point do they call him a samurai.

Edit: looks like that link is wrong. He doesn't die at the end. I guess memory is a fickle beast.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

He also does not "become a samurai"

Correct. That's why I said symbolically.

but you never see the character on screen again

I maybe incorrect but towards the end of the movie, the Emperor asks how Katsumoto died, to which Tom Cruise replies "I'll tell you how he lived". So he was alive?

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Hm, I may need to rewatch it myself. That also doesn't match what the link above suggests about interpreting the ending: "Algren finds redemption through his newfound purpose and ultimately sacrifices his life for the cause he once opposed."

Edit: I just checked the last scene. You're right, he doesn't actually die. Which means the link is also wrong.

Still, I think it's a stretch to say he's the last samurai, since he never really becomes a samurai. One important note is that samurai is "samurai" in the plural, too.

[–] shani66@ani.social 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I hate that nazis glom onto any bad game and ruin the discussion around it.

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[–] Hyphlosion@lemm.ee 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Why do people manufacture arguments like this? Who is arguing that one is okay while the other isn’t? A couple random people on the Internet?

The only thing I can think of is The Last Samurai is a 20 year old movie and that somehow means not bringing up this historic fictional movie = you’re okay about a white dude becoming a samurai but not okay about a black dude becoming a samurai.

Whataboutism at its finest.

Did it not occur to this person that perhaps some people just don’t care about the movie, haven’t seen the movie, or plain just didn’t bring it up because it’s a movie? Is it “double standards” for one to pick their battles and not be enraged at everything all the time? My god this shit is exhausting.

Disclaimer: I have no opinion on the game itself because I frankly don’t care about it because I’m not the biggest Ubisoft fan outside of Rayman. Nor does the above necessarily reflect my opinion on the game’s historical accuracy. I’ve always loved The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha though and find both beautiful and touching films, so make of that as you will.

[–] KeenFlame@feddit.nu 0 points 6 days ago

It is a fighting game with stereotypical characters. Not historically accurate in any way. This is astroturfing by some org that wants racial in fighting

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works -3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The only thing I can think of is The Last Samurai is a 20 year old movie and that somehow means not bringing up this historic fictional movie = you’re okay about a white dude becoming a samurai but not okay about a black dude becoming a samurai.

You should watch the movie. Cruise's character does not become a samurai. He spends time with the last samurai.

[–] Hyphlosion@lemm.ee 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You should read the rest of my post. You would have learned that I have watched it.

[–] RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works -2 points 6 days ago

If that was true then why did you completely misstate what the movie was about? Cruise does not become a samurai at any point.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 week ago

when you dont have arguments that fit with what you want to do, you make up your own.

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 6 points 1 week ago

I like how OP also chose to do zero research of all the controversy of the Last Samurai, and the years of PR control.

[–] Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

Ubisoft didn’t post this

[–] Railcar8095@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago

I learnt the trope of the "white Savior" thanks to last samurai, and that was eons ago.

This is not a case of double standards, it's plain racism and influencer grifting.

[–] Viri4thus@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago

That's some grade A vintage racism right there.

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 9 points 1 week ago

Oh man I just remembered how great that could have been.

Red Dead 2 dealt with racist cults so elegantly.

And Far Cry 5's "Oh we're going there!" And making the most surface-level milquetoast bullshit I have ever seen.

[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

I remember people complaining about that movie when it came out actually

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