Talk:Last Life in the Universe

Who wrote The Last Lizard

'The Last Lizard' is supposed to be written by Yukio Mishima. Can anyone confirm this? ISBN if possible.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.78.230.149 (talk) 20:01, 27 March 2007

I'm not sure the book is real, but there is a certain poetry to having Yukio namechecked in the film. — WiseKwai 20:24, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I can’t confirm that the book is real. The title says 「さびしさの彼方を。」 (no matches with a book in google) and I’m not really sure how to translate it. It reads “Sabishisa no kanata o”. My Japanese knowledge is very limited and I know zero grammar, but the parts are: “sabishisa” — loneliness, desolation; “kanata” — the other side, the distance. I think you can put it together now. I may be wrong about “kanata” part. —Octopuserectus (talk) 02:06, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

The "rape" of The Mob Boss' Daughter

I changed the article from saying, "Yukio fled from Japan to escape the wrath of his employer, whose daughter he raped" to

" Yukio fled from Japan to escape the wrath of his employer, with whose daughter he had had sex."

In the conversation in which Yukio and the mobster discuss why Kenji and Yukio must stay in Bangkok, and can not return to Japan, the mobster simply says, "You fucked his daughter" by way of explanation. There is no information given to suggest that it was not consensual between this girl and Yukio, although it was clear that the mob boss did not approve of it, and wanted to kill him. Therefore, the more neutral term, "had sex with" would be a better way to describe what occured, since, to say "rape" implies something for which there is no evidence.

When I edited the article re: the "rape" of the mob boss' daughter, it was changed back, citing the reference of the movie at 13:18. This is exactly when the conversation occurs in the movie. However, there is no evidence to suggest that it was rape. The version that I just watched of Last Life in the Universe is the english sub of the original japanese and thai.

It is possible that in a dubbed or other language version the word rape was substituted, or that the original japanese script contains a word that implies rape, however, it would have been easy to substitute "You raped his daughter" for the subtitle, "You fucked his daughter", and would not have offended the sensibilities of the movie. Because "rape" was not a word choice used, and because of the context of the scene, it does not make sense to assume that this is the case without some kind of direct evidence, or link to the language used.

It is possible that because the other mobster says, "If you fucked my daughter, I'd cut your dick off and stuff it in your mouth." The original writer assumed that this implied a lack of consent on her part. The only thing it actually does imply is that mobsters don't like it when people have sex with their daughters (without their own permission).

I am going to change it so that it is more neutral. It should be up to the viewer to interpret the scene, or there should be a longer explanation if you are going to interpret it yourself, citing multiple interpretations. However, due to the lack of explanation or evidence, I think that kind of nuance is better left up to the reader.

Also, note that Yukio says, "He's just in a bad mood", referring to the boss. It would not make sense for him to say that if he raped someone. It would make sense for him to say that if he seduced this girl, or had an affair with her.

Schisme (talk) 00:41, 11 June 2011 (UTC)