kowtow to #2
2014年に亡くなった名優・高倉健さんの長編ドキュメンタリー映画『健さん』が8月に公開されます。
Why Japanese media still kowtow to Ken Takakura
“Ken San” is a new documentary about late actor Ken Takakura opening in local theaters next month. Described as Japan’s “greatest” and “last” movie star, Takakura was respected by both the Japanese people who worked with him and international film giants such as Martin Scorsese, John Woo and Paul Schrader. The star quality they identified in Takakura was, as Scorsese puts it, his “presence” both on and off the screen — a kind of “aura,” as one Japanese character actor described it. Though he was just a man, a fallible human, the personality Takakura conveyed in his movies transcended his imperfections, and he worked hard to make sure his “aura” outlived him.
今回取り上げるのは、“kowtow”/kὰʊtάʊ/という表現です。この単語をLDOCEで調べてみると、“to be too eager to obey or be polite to someone in authority”と定義されていました。また『ジーニアス英和辞典』(大修館書店)では、「叩頭の礼をする、へつらう」といった意味が記載されており、この記事では「高倉健さんに対して畏敬の念を抱く」などとなるでしょうか。ちなみに、“kowtow”は中国の「叩頭の礼」が由来になっています(『ジーニアス英和辞典』大修館書店)。(ninetails)
