Music Topics!
Asian/Asian American Composers in Film
There is a lot between the notes, and even more behind the scenes.
Jerry Goldsmith on "Mulan"
John Williams on "Memoirs of a Geisha"
With this notion that music is music, it is easy for Western-influenced composers to be able to create effective and historically/culturally accurate scores for films that deal with subjects surrounding (traditional) Asian culture. All that's needed is a little research and musical knowledge.
Western on Eastern
For "Geisha", Williams utilized traditional Japanese instruments and employed compositional techniques that musically situated the film within its cultural and historical context.
In "Mulan", Goldsmith uses certain pentatonic chords and scale progressions, as well as specific instrumentation, to give the movie an Eastern flare.
In "Samurai", Zimmer still relies on his old electronic music tricks, but utilizes certain sounds (drums and specific rhythms) and pitches that are ingrained within Japanese cultural history in order to make the film come alive.
Hans Zimmer on "The Last Samurai"