[JenB]

I'm willing to bet I've watched a lot more Japanese movies and tv shows than you and honestly the idea that "life is just something to endure" is no more true of them than of us. I understand what you're saying, that without a proper hope based in Christianity things are empty, but as far as movies or things go, it's pretty much the same, culture to culture.

[johnmark7]

Sorry, culture determines content and substance in all forms of art.

Yes, basic story telling is universal - a quest, good vs. evil, boy meets girl, solve a mystery.

And people are happy when the quest succeeds, the hero beats the bad guy, the man and woman overcome obstacles to mate, and the mystery is solved.

But the question as to why the quest is undertaken, who is the hero representing or why, what marriage is a symbol of, and what is the mystery worth knowing is different from culture to culture. And vastly different from oriental to Western and Christian.

If you don't recognize those difference, you aren't looking very closely.

If you don't see the incredible differences between German, French, Italian, and English cinema and TV, and those compared to American cinema, then you can't begin to call yourself a critic or an astute observer.

Where American movies and TV differ from the Japanese, the differences are vast. And that's where you have to look. Not at soap operas that closely mimic each other world over, or MTV music shows, or American Idol clones, but the places where things aren't being copied.