Sticking Up For The Arts We Love

Sticking Up For The Arts We Love

 

In response to the bashing of  Superhero or comic book movies adaptations in general, director James Gunn had some choice words sticking up for films like the one he helmed, the mega hit Guardians of The Galaxy. Being the voice for us fans who take offense when people take shots repeatedly at comic book movies, my favorite part of what he said is that he’s directed in all genres and has always put the same effort in all of them, just because it’s a big budget film doesn’t mean you can’t put the same amount of love in it. This is coming from a director who managed to bring a title and group of characters that most that haven’t heard of outside of those who read comics and show what makes the comic book so great by bringing it to the screen.  Gunn has won a slew of awards for the film since, even the soundtrack which he helped produce went platinum. Everything about it worked and that was because Gunn appreciates art as a whole.

       Which those in Hollywood could do a little appreciating of their own, not to mention that Guardians was one of the highest grossing films in 2014, comic book movies in general tend to bail Hollywood out when it’s not doing so hot at the box office or when it hits a slump. Take a look at some of the highest grossing films of all time and you’ll see what I mean. Those who are reading for the anime are wondering what’s this have to do with my stuff, well it does really, a majority of anime is based off of Japanese comics aka manga. Many of those titles could see themselves in Hollywood under the same scrutiny and the question might be then what it is now, why?  Why when it like so many art has so much to give. It isn’t like actors have shied away from the roles everyone from Robert Redford to Michael Douglas have been in some of the recent comic book films, Marvel itself boast an impressive amount of Actors and Actresses. Even Al Pacino has shown interest. Whatever the reason it’s good to see that people stick up for it, really it’s just another part of art, it reminds me of some of the hate I’ve seen Anime get both here and in Japan despite it being such an important part of Japanese culture which is saying a lot since there are so many rich aspects to their culture that one can immerse themselves in and appreciate.

       Walk into a 7 Eleven there and you’ll see anime plastered all over the place, in fact you can buy manga there, which I did when I visited. Not unlike here, where you’re favorite comic book movies get to be on Slurpee cups and well plastered everywhere too, sure there might not be manga in them and while I’m sure they have something comic book related to read, in magazines if nothing else you can bet on all the other magazines you have the actors on the cover. Stories about who’s filming what adaption, it’s a big part of our culture the same way anime is a big part of the culture in Japan, so it shouldn’t be surprising than to see these adaptions in film as often as we do. It’s been going on for years and no matter which stance Hollywood decides to take on it, whether everyone jumps on the bandwagon for or jumps on it against, the fact remains that it’s a part of film now.  To criticize it isn’t too surprising but the focus should be what it seems like it has been of late, extra care and heart placed into the films no matter what they are, there is plenty of crap not based on anything that comes out in theaters, while Hollywood might have forgotten that, we sure as hell haven’t. In short such things of interest to fans will have to be something they defend in a elegant way as James Gunn did, there may be a time that anime has an even greater effect on the mainstream culture here. Yes it has already but I mean even more so and it might be time to defend as people do with things here or just focus instead on proving why the abundance of it doesn’t necessarily have to mean it’s downfall.

     Japan has an interesting perspective on anime, in the sense of maybe not always understanding that an Otaku isn’t the typical assumption, childish, perverted etc. Some might feel  since they hadn’t read or watch most manga and anime that it is indeed childish and have a frozen image of people that enjoy it beyond the age believed that you should. However there are many that in the coming years might help morph that particular image over there and if it ever became a subject of debate in Hollywood the way comic/superhero movies are, people here in the states will just have to do the same thing. Stick up for the arts we love and maybe some of the harshest critics will see why they clamored to make so many films on genre in the first place.  

The Concerns of White Washing

 

The Concerns of White Washing

                                                   

 

For Anime Fans exciting news was announced that DreamWorks would be releasing a live action adaption of Ghost in the Shell, something they had acquired in 2008 and has been in the limbo that many titles are dragged into when rights are acquired but nothing else is done for long periods of time. I say exciting but I’m pretty sure there were some upset  from the gecko of this announcement, things took a turn for the worse when they casted Scarlet Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi.  The outrage by some fans has caused a petition that accused the studio of white washing, many arguing that they aren’t casting a Japanese actress to play the role. Among other things.

 

       People being upset about white washing is nothing new and the actual act of it has been going on longer than you think, since the start of film actually. There are many instances when white washing was happening and people could look back and go wow that isn’t right, though most would chalk it up with the sign of the times. See any Charlie Chan film and know there has always been a debate on how he was portrayed, was it a step forward  or a step backwards in regards to race when they had white actors portray him. Was it because the films were getting attention beforehand or just the era the film was being made? Another question once the films got popular did it change anything then, does it change anything now. These questions have been present in film for a long time. How does this affect this film’s project? As a fan of Ghost In The Shell of course I want them to honor this franchise that has given back so much to both Anime and Cinema. With that said I can understand people’s desire to see someone who is Japanese or at least of Asian descent that can act as a Japanese woman and yes there are quite a few actresses that could play the Major.  Would it still remain the same movie though and is it a form of washing if the actress isn’t Japanese but another race acting as one, if so did there is washing happening in every form, in every way in film all the time.  Now that might sound extreme right, it isn’t the same thing is it or maybe it is.

 

     Now here comes my viewpoint. I am not upset that casted Scarlet Johansson and maybe it’s simply  because I’m looking at in the perspective of the industry or because they haven’t enlightened us of the exact plot points. Speaking in the way of how Hollywood might choose to adapt it. It may seem awful that they chose her to some but for Dreamworks, there’s a lot of hope riding on this project, if It works it has the chance of having more stories be told, perhaps even becoming a franchise. An anime adaption becoming a franchise in film, sounds interesting. If it doesn’t it might damn any chance of seeing anime on the big screen. Maybe not entirely but the ones they choose just might. It might affect the way they approach the projects and if they are only the first wave of something that will be permanent, it might be a test to see what they have to learn from it when they do adaptions in the future. Yet why wait for a mistake, why not get it right in the first try. Perhaps if this film is done correctly we could be preventing it from being so if we choose otherwise. Who do they get for these movies, how true will they be, will they flesh it out the way maybe they could? Those are things we always ask with adaptions but perhaps they do get easier with time. Looking at it in Dreamworks perspective, they wanted someone that can get the attention of viewers who might overlook a film at first, someone who has played a strong center role like that before and people noticed, her name helps, it certainly brings in crowds, makes people pay attention after all she is one of the biggest actresses in the world right now.

 

       If that’s true and she is the biggest actress or one of them out there than would it matter what her race was, wouldn’t they wanted her to be casted regardless. Plenty of other big names get casted for high profile projects and they aren’t always the race of the character in the source material. That in it’s self brings lots of people to the table to complain, which would make it interesting to see them talk with the group of people that felt they were whitewashing Ghost in The Shell.  The other reason it probably didn’t rouse a reaction out me or cause me to run to sign a petition is the premise of the story. It’s an amazing premise and it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to see Hollywood taking it and setting it in America. Which is what they’re probably going to do, Section 9 in America, I mean set in Japan would bring the question why is Scarlet in Japan right. Of course there is the far flung idea that maybe their wouldn’t be such a dominance of a particular race in any country in their version of the future, which would make the refugee aspect brought up in the storylines hit even closer to home. Yes there is also the fact that the Major switch bodies, cybernetic prosthetic bodies. She doesn’t have to look like any one person but it’s safe to say they aren’t going that route.

      Who knows though, that’s the thing we don’t know. It’s easy to be upset for people that love something, fans jumped on an amazingly short teaser of Star Wars and it’s one of the biggest films ever. The only reason I’m thinking the whole setting in America approach of doing in the storyline besides Hollywood being in America, is the way the struggling Akira project had said in its early stages, that it would be set in Neo New York.  A country takes a premise and sets it in their country, its familiarity, it happens in TV shows America adapts from other countries like Homeland, The Bridge, and so on and Japan is known to do it with Anime and even some of their live action movies. Have you ever seen their Sideways film? That’s one of the things with art, people take it and incorporate it in other places, it shines because it was relevant to them and some chase down the original source to get an even greater appreciation for it.  Anyone  who listens to early Rolling Stones and Beatles songs might find themselves chasing down the original artists that they admired and chose to do covers of. They owe their art to the people that inspired them to create art.

     Many things from America have been clearly influenced by Ghost In the Shell as was it itself influenced by other things, an American adaption might then be followed by Japan making their own version and rightfully so. Not uncommon in film and so to me it makes it seem less of a problem, sometimes casting is wrong to me but for various other reason, things they choose to adapt you can feel in your bones it won’t be right and that’s something as a fan we have a right to express. So I understand the fallout, when it comes to American comic adaptions I like to keep an open mind but there are times I know who the right casting should be. But American casts in a story from another country is not uncommon in fact it’s very common as it is of an someone from another country maybe even in the UK or Australia to be casted for an American role.

 

        Whitewashing, there are times maybe not the race but simply the choices they make are what upset us, everything from Avatar The Last Airbender to Dragon Ball but let’s face it those films just weren’t that good from the start. In the hands of who had it, with an all Asian cast it might not have made a difference but if they were the race we wanted, acted well on polished scripts with directors that could pull the vision from their mind to the screen than yeah they would be great.  We can say we don’t want the films to be made, it won’t stop it, we can hope it will go in the hands of someone that will instead make us surprisingly wowed at the results, after all that’s what film is about. There are so many Anime/ manga properties acquired by Hollywood in some form or way they are bound to have quite a few that will get it right and we can hope.

      Also despite the way some people might feel, I like Scarlet Johansson as an actress and she certainly has helped break some of the barriers when it comes to high profile, gender related roles. Along with others that have been doing the same, or have long since done it in other genres. It can also be just that reserved way we saw them approaching the film and seeing them go another route upsets us. A personal one, Battle Angel Alita has been waiting for James Cameron to helm it but I say why not give it to Neil Blomkamp, a fantastic director with the perfect vision for it. I’m just saying. Ghost In the Shell is a big favorite with me so I can see why people are deterred, you want it to be given justice but for a second let’s consider that it can work. Steven Spielberg was vocal about how much he enjoyed Ghost in the Shell and though he’s not directing it, I could imagine he’s just as interested as we are, besides he’s a big part of DreamWorks, so why don’t we just wait and see and like we always do as fans, wait, hope and look forward to a surprising wow. Worse case scenario we always have the anime and with that being so great and it's own upcoming anime film, it may not be such a bad thing after all.   

Us In Twenty Years

                                                          Us In Twenty Years

It’s a fair thought to have pass in our head, even if it is one that we don’t always ask or want to ask.  Where will we be in twenty years, a giant leap in time in our lives, a drop in the bucket some might say and perhaps both are right.  Here though is another question, as fans where will we be in twenty years, what will we consider as fans to be a legacy to pass down to the next generation. The thought can be unbelievable if we consider the world a grim place due to the news, though in honesty, things unfortunate have always happened and yet we don't know a way of truly comparing it to the time we live in now, at least not completely because we live in now and not then. Some take it to another extreme and wonder if we have twenty years to consider.  After all as people we face the task of surviving all the time, we always have, like all things on the planet and one thing we’ve always done is look ahead. We believe in it, which isn't surprising that hope is what made us fans in the first place. So taking this and running with it let’s look ahead and see us as fans in twenty years and some of the possibilities it can hopefully bring.

   As fans, even those of us who are in their teens would see themselves dancing around their thirties, those of us older could look at one generation to pass our love of Anime as a possibility of giving it to two. Anime has been around for a long time, I’ve seen all generations take part in its joy, now imagine that in all places,  anime was something that all these new or relatively new fans passed on to another generation and who knows  how much of the next set would pass on to the one after them. It would mean anime, as we know it at least, since Tezuka brought Astro Boy to the screen, could go on like anything else that has maybe only been around for just as long or twice as long. Such as Rock & Roll and Film. That's stating the obvious I suppose, besides certain statements from certain directors there is no belief of anime ending, we as fans don't consider it and even more don't want it. The things we enjoy define us and most people have a special experience when they first recall watching anime.

     I’d been watching anime and reading manga for some years at the point when Yu Yu Hakusho had moved from that short lived late night slot, midnight run, to its afternoon Toonami slot. It changed a lot of things for me. Storytelling wise it took advantage of my fascination with rich characters, unique who seemed real enough you could reach out to them. Something I enjoyed in comics and movies and books that I probably was too young to see or read at certain times. Not to mention I never saw a show that kicked ass quite like they did when they got to fighting, maybe because it seemed like it held so much purpose thanks to the storyline. Since then I’ve watched it over and over again but it’s impact never left me, since then, anyone interested in anime I knew I quickly rushed a copy of it into their hands.
 
       Which says a lot, there are so many great anime shows before the show and afterwards that I could have placed in their hands but it always felt right to give them that one. It also kind of gave a boot to my backside, to realize at some point what it was that I wanted to do with my life, give power to the thought that might have already been present in my head. To tell stories.

   It never fails to amaze me, how much there really was to say in that show. Just take a look for a moment at the main character Yusuke, yes dead in the first episode but kind of a misunderstood loner, everyone thinks they have him pegged as something he isn’t, saved for a couple of people. His mother tends not to be around, though she cares she’s a drunk too. Once he becomes a spirit detective, impossible tasks are thrown at him, ones he shouldn’t survive. Like the character has to be written off and yet he doesn’t. It’s that sort of attention to detail that seems to go with every other character. Instead he finds a greater purpose and understanding of himself through it, the world around him as well as the people he cares about. He could never be again the person that he felt no one understood.

       There is a sense of growing in the show. Kuwabara the tough seeming street thug, one teachers believe they could trick and write off as nothing much like Yusuke, though we know the truth, he has an honor code, values his friends and for the right reasons would risk his life for strangers. You would think that Kuwabara is the ideal person we could strive to be and yet who would notice him in a crowd as being that sort of person. At the end of the day though that is people for you.

       Kurama, the demon in a human body, who becomes attached to the human world through the kindness of his host’s mother, someone who shows another side to demons, as well as being our gateway into seeing not all demons are evil, not all humans are good, not everything is black and white. Hiei, a badass with a bad temper, short but no one you should underestimate, he can seem ruthless and cold hearted but he is a puzzle, that’s pieces are constantly changing. After all Hiei himself has an honor code and has attachments as well, his sister Yukina born to a group of people that damned him to a death that could not kill him. 

       A sister he refuses to let know who he is because of the things he’s done. Is this acceptance being returned even living beyond the people that labeled him an outsider, does acceptance from his sister still a thing that concerns him. If it doesn't hurt him, is he afraid it would hurt Yukina. Someone born the opposite of the people he would be born into, is it possible that Hiei’s outlook might be more important than those that live in a normal circle, with normal lives?

     Perhaps and if these characters are any indication than you can imagine what it’s like when you see some of their biggest adversaries, those that turn the main cast’s world upside down not just because they struggle to defeat them but their view points and perceptions as well, as will yours. I saw aspects of these characters in everything around me and it was like the show voiced it to say yes we see what you see. Not bad for a show where people working on it were just doing their job, yet some of the enjoyment they might have gotten out of it shows.  The show is potent and I knew watching shows like this was something that I would continue to carry with me for the rest of my life.  Is that something I could see in twenty years, certainly it's already been over ten, though that isn't the finish line nor is it the ending.

      Moments you can bring up in a casual conversation with a friend, moments that in turn move you. That is why we enjoy what we do, pass it on as often as we do, not bothering to wait years  to see other people get the same happiness from Anime.  I’m not the only one, we as fans have those shows that we hold dear to us for various reasons, whether we put ourselves in the shoes of characters or allow it to move you to tears whether joy or sorrow. We as fans find anime to be important in storytelling, in art form, something noticed by most of the world but there are other things some of us complain about, when they feel that it is not as respected as it should be, when it comes to releases, a push in theaters, proper adaptations in the West and various other reason.

 While there is a profound respect, certain works held high in prestige, any actual complaint that might be valid (not that it’ll stop us from complaining, I mean come on), might just be something that will come with time.  It’s a nice way to look forward to things during the passing of time. Also showing how not only those that may come to enjoy anime in the future won’t be the only ones pleased.

                                             Things To Look Forward To

    In the same way, shows that we’ve waited to see more of, have a high chance of coming back in the coming years, the market’s change might even help to make that come true. Looking forward to your favorite shows coming back or hey even manga adapted that have never had the chance. The future can seem dim sometime but in anime it always seems very bright, especially with it's fans a part of it. Just imagine moments you remember sharing when watching a show, looking forward to another episode of it and talking with friends while you wait for another, or a new season or for it to come out to buy. Scouring conventions for it or merchandise for it, or even dressing up as its characters. Imagine that and then imagine all those moments to come like it and perhaps it’s the best way to see yourself in twenty years as an anime fan.