I don't know, I kind of feel about this the same way I did about
The Great Wall, in that what I'm seeing, again, are Americans (either Asian-American by birth, or people originally born/from Asia but who have lived here for many years) decrying something about Asians or Asian culture in a Hollywood film, while people who live in Asia have a completely different reaction.
I remember when the controversy about
The Great Wall was stirred up, there was an (inappropriate) reaction to the trailer, that it would be a white savior narrative, mainly from Americans, like Constance Wu (born and raised in the USA), and that was debated right up through the film's premiere. Never mind the fact that China funded it, and that it had a Chinese director, and that the reaction of the Chinese people was apparently one of excitement that their stars would share the screen with a Hollywood actor like Matt Damon. None of that mattered, because certain
Americans felt uncomfortable about white American actor in a Chinese story.
Now, it seems like a similar thing is happening with
Isle of Dogs, a movie which, while largely made in the UK/US, does count an actual Japanese person as a screenwriter/casting director, as well as actual Japanese people in Japanese-speaking roles. The writer of that article, who may have been born in Japan, but freely admits she is "a nonfluent (seriously, the opposite of fluent) Japanese speaker" with a "pathetic grasp of the language of the country I was born in"--that almost certainly means she moved here as a child, which makes her pretty much an American in matters like this, she certainly doesn't live in Japan if she doesn't know the language, anyway--thought she would have a problem with this movie right when she first saw the trailer months ago, so she started with a preconceived notion that there would be a problem with the film, and then looked for issues in it once she saw it, something I'm sure several others did, too.
And then, her "sample size" (of three) includes a vague description of Anthony, an Asian-American who was born in L.A., speaks Japanese and sounds like he must live in California, a Japanese woman going under the code name (!) "Lisa", who grew up in Japan (but lived in the UK/US as an adult) and lives where now? And then finally, a Thai person living in California who knows Japanese because they lived in Tokyo for five years. That's a bit lame, honestly. Even with the internet, and, I assume, Japanese parents/family, this girl can't find one person currently living in Japan to talk to about this? And as she admits as much, there is her statement that "several people mentioned to me on social media that many of their Japanese friends living in the States didn’t even
know about the film, much less have passionate opinions on its treatment of their culture", which makes a lot of sense because Japanese people haven't gotten to see it yet. But of course, who wants to wait until May for Japanese people to react to a depiction of Japan, when Americans can do it for them in March?
And the kicker is that of her three person panel, it's Anthony, the one who, again, going off very vague descriptions, seems the most American, who really felt the film had any issues at all. Beam, the Thai waiter, seemed a bit put off by "a few things that are tone-deaf", but again, Thai people who spend five years in Tokyo aren't Japanese. And unsurprisingly, the most criticism that they got out of "Lisa", the one actual Japanese person, was that there weren't really any easter eggs for Japanese viewers to enjoy. In fact, Lisa's exact comment is that she "really enjoyed the film, and thinks it will go over well with Japanese viewers when it’s released there in May. 'It’s not an accurate reflection of Japan, but it’s based on Japanese fables and a Japanese point of view, and Japanese problems. And we love dogs.'" Does that sound like someone who feels their culture was "appropriated"? Even Anthony has to admit that according to what he sees on social media in Japan, "there...[is]...a general eagerness to see it. 'People are like, "I know he’s going to respect Japanese culture,"...'Japanese people love Wes Anderson.'"
Look, I am a first-generation American myself, so I know the temptation to reach out to your familial culture and try to wear both hats. But let's face it, people are free in much of this world, and if you are an Asian-American who feels a strong connection to your ancestral country, then by all means, go move there and experience daily life in Japan or China. But if you choose to live most or all of your life in California or New York, maybe the progressive, kind, respectful thing to do is to wait for audiences living in Asia to react first. It's not really the job of an American, even an Asian-American, to dictate to the world how we are supposed to perceive Asian representation in a particular work of art.