I See Broke-Ass Hosts

The Great Happiness Space (2006)

Rating ... B (61)

Men have put women so high up on pedestals that women are paying other (read: actually desirable) men to topple them. This process occurs across Japan at what's called a host club. Host clubs are derivative of hostess clubs where high salary betas drop their loose change on obsequious women - for both business and pleasure - called hostesses who feign interest in their conversations while alcohol flows liberally. In the male counterpart, female customers indulge in fantasy relationships with a host, and they'll pay whatever price - any cost is worth it for the alpha.

The Great Happiness Space mostly follows a man named Issei, top host at an Osaka club, as he darts between women, all of whom harbor the same illusions about him falling in love with her and one day becoming her husband. The women swoon in the presence of a classic alpha: "When I'm talking to Issei, mysteriously I feel happy!" (cf, betas: "I was almost raped!") The hosts, however fun and colloquial, are also very procedural in how they seduce women and capitalize on their desires. Hosts typically open with light compliments to expunge any tension before switching to what Issei calls "scolding," and more studious PUA's would call negs. The negs (think teasing insults) reinforce the high value of the host and establish subtle dominance, which the hosts then use to browbeat the women to spend more. Women see the same host many times with the impression the fling will become a love relationship, so the hosts draw out the experience as much as possible and delay both sex and any verbal professions of love. There's even a special seat with a hefty price tag where the other customers aren't visible to provide the woman with the appearance she has no competition.

The women aren't at all oblivious to the game at hand, but are willing participants through all the manipulation for the slim chance at an alpha. Hilariously enough most of the customers are hostesses or sex workers themselves with the money to blow, even though several of them acknowledge that it would be smarter to save up. There's an amusing meta incident where Issei explains that one of the patrons interviewed in the documentary specifically requested the opportunity so she could tailor her words to provoke an emotional reaction in Issei which might bring the two of them closer. As she rationalizes her futile attempts to land Issei as an investment, the documentarian cross-cuts in reaction shots of Issei who states how he despises her coercion and that he can't stand her. This illustrates the dilemma rather nicely; the men offer the illusion of availability, the women bite and grow attracted to the hosts even to the point of saying they are in love. Meanwhile the women visit multiple host clubs, saying the same thing to every host; this indicates the women do not truly want a relationship with any particular host as they claim, and this fact is well known among the hosts. Thus it is a game where women lose if they give up and return home empty-handed and men lose if they commit to a woman who only seeks them as a challenge. The funny thing is that one of the hosts interviewed, regardless of the knowledge gained from his position, still believes in the simple, soul-mate type of love and says at some point he wants that type of person in his life. This ends the film and serves as a counterpoint to the far more complex industry we've just seen, where relationships cannot form because neither party will assume the risk that the other is genuine. Mistrust and machination fill the space where happiness used to be.