Ghost in the Shell (live action film)
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The Major's body in the 1995 film appears to have some Caucasian attributes. Also, the body used by the Puppet Master is supposed to be a similar model from a mass-produced line, and it doesn't look particularly Asian either.
The issue of how the camouflage works in confused by her using the headpiece and veil in one scene but not the other. It has been said by some that the camouflage is built in, and I think that's how it will be in this film.
Also, I think the neck seam, and the other lines on her body, will always be there.
In-universe:
-Motoko may well have selected a European-style body. We know that many Japanese think Western stuff is cool.
-This may have been the only model available. There's a line in the trailer: "You are the first of your kind." If the body was made by a Western company, or for a Western market, then it's believable that they chose to give it a European appearance.
-It seems future Japan is being shown as more racially diverse (not only European but also African and Middle Eastern actors) than it is currently, which is believable as Japan is slowly going that way. Given that, the choice of a European model may have seemed less radical than it would in the present day.
-Given the above, this is one of the few Japan-set animes where it is legitimate to have a European play a Japanese person.
IRL:
-Johansson was cast for her box office appeal. There are no Asian actresses with anywhere near comparable BO power.
-I think the only way they could have cast an actress with no BO appeal is if the director was a big name, like Spielberg or James Cameron. His name might compensate for the lack of a star.
-Given the lack of a Name director, demanding an unknown Asian actress is the same as demanding the people who are financing the movie to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars. It's their job to make money, not lose money. How many hundreds of millions of dollars would you give up, to put one Asian actor in one movie?
What I am hoping for is a scene where Motoko looks at pictures of herself as a young girl, and we see that she is Japanese. The racial difference would make the scene more poignant.
Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.
She has nipples in the movie but nothing 'down there' and no navel. Given she's a cyborg, the nipples are superfluous, and it fits with the sci-fi concept to omit them.
It won't be a remake, as we've seen scenes in the trailer that aren't in the first movie. The robo-geisha attack is from GITS:SAC season 1. The specific appearance of the geisha is from Innocence (apparently - years since I saw it). I haven't previously seen the scene of Motoko finding a room of people all jacked in (it may be from the later series or movies). AFAIK there is no precedent for the scene of Aramaki shooting someone with a revolver.
The word is that the plot is partly based on the Kuze ep from GITS:SAC 2nd Gig, and the trailer suggests there will also be a plot of Motoko trying to recover her lost memories.
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For the curious, here are the opening credits from the original anime (with the original animation, not the crappy CGI version) side-by-side with the footage recently shown at GITStokyo. (With the new version of the music.)
Here is 40 minutes of the GITStokyo event, starting again with that musical performance (professionally filmed), followed by lots of talk. Mostly boring, to be honest.
Here is 40 minutes of the GITStokyo event, starting again with that musical performance (professionally filmed), followed by lots of talk. Mostly boring, to be honest.
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Anime characters in general tend to have "Caucasian attributes".
As someone unfamiliar with the property, that trailer does very little for me. Looks like Lucy crossed with The Matrix crossed with tons of other similar sci-fi properties. (And no, the fact that this franchise pre-dates those by considerable margins is not likely to compel me to buy a ticket.) So ScarJo is a cyborg hitman. Does she have a soul? Better question: will I care?
She's not a hitman.
If you're not interested, what are you doing here?
It does, and that's exactly the problem. The 1995 GitS was a slow-paced, atmospheric, thought-provoking philosophical film. For grown ups. A kid would find most of it utterly boring, and the rest would give it nightmares. As opposed to this trailer which looks like something a 13-year-old would get a huge kick out of.
ScarJo is a cyborg policewoman with very little organic left.
I don't think that's what Gaith meant. It's the movie's job to make you care. The question is - will it?
I watched a two-minute trailer, which, as a member of the target/potential audience, qualifies me to comment on said trailer. An hour later, about all I remember is ScarJo in a skin-tone catsuit, and that I've never actually seen Dark City.
There's a reason why YouTube comments section holds so much notoriety. Having the urge to finish your post with the word WRONG written in caps usually indicates you don't have much faith in the strength of your argument.
I haven't read the original manga (let alone the appendices), but from what I understand (I have friends who read manga), it differs quite a bit from the Mamoru Oshii's written (and directed) movie. In fact, it's pretty much a consensus that the film surpasses and exceeds the source material.
I loved his work on The Fountain, and I loved the movie itself. I think Aronofsky would be a great fit for directing GITS. Paramount went with the "Snowhite and the Huntsman" guy instead... I guess he must have delivered a great pitch or something.
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I did. Apologies.
7 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Ghost in the Shell -
One thing this video doesn't mention is Section 9. Presumably the future trailers will introduce that notion, which may help Gaith to make more sense of what GITS is about.
One thing this video doesn't mention is Section 9. Presumably the future trailers will introduce that notion, which may help Gaith to make more sense of what GITS is about.
No, it indicates strong emotion (not always accompanied by rational thought).
Even if the anime somehow invalidates the manga, the anime itself never specifies the ethnicity of the body. So the manga remains the only source for that info.
As far as the anime vs. the original manga goes, it's mostly an issue of tone. The original movies and the TV shows took a more serious, Blade Runner-esque cyber-noir approach. The book on the other had, while largely dealing with the same plot points and story beats had a more irreverent tone and style more akin to 'Dominion Tank Police'.
This is most notable in the Major's characterisation as she goes from a somewhat cliched devil-may-care maverick, spending at much time yelling about her frustrations as she does kicking arse. Which of course is in drastic contrast to the taciturn, introspective, all business Major in her animated incarnation. Spot the irony.
Personally I prefer the animated media, but I wouldn't be so quick to devalue the source material or play down it's significance.
I had a similar thought and while it has some dramatic appeal, it's a very dicey approach as it makes the whitewashing considerably more literal.
Even if that's true (and I'm hardly about to take some YT comment ranter at their word) it's an excuse you get to use exactly *once*. It only applies to the Major, not the whole cast and as we've seen, most of the prominent roles in this movie seem to be played by non-Asians and that's a problem.
I feel it'd be less so if they'd decided to relocated the setting somewhere in the US or Europe and while I appreciate them wanting to keep this tied to Japan, the casting choices create something of a cognitive dissonance.
This is most notable in the Major's characterisation as she goes from a somewhat cliched devil-may-care maverick, spending at much time yelling about her frustrations as she does kicking arse. Which of course is in drastic contrast to the taciturn, introspective, all business Major in her animated incarnation. Spot the irony.
Personally I prefer the animated media, but I wouldn't be so quick to devalue the source material or play down it's significance.
I had a similar thought and while it has some dramatic appeal, it's a very dicey approach as it makes the whitewashing considerably more literal.
Even if that's true (and I'm hardly about to take some YT comment ranter at their word) it's an excuse you get to use exactly *once*. It only applies to the Major, not the whole cast and as we've seen, most of the prominent roles in this movie seem to be played by non-Asians and that's a problem.
I feel it'd be less so if they'd decided to relocated the setting somewhere in the US or Europe and while I appreciate them wanting to keep this tied to Japan, the casting choices create something of a cognitive dissonance.
I suspect his fee was the more germane issue.
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In the manga Kusanagi uses a much younger looking body, though. Before this devolves into a canon discussion, I'll just say that to me manga and the movie are two entirely separate entities.
Speaking of which, getting someone like, say, Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim) to play the Major would have been a hell of a lot cheaper and the whitewashing controversy would have been avoided. But then, there's no such thing as bad publicity. And ScarJo's star power even managed to sell a turd like Lucy.
Rinko Kikuchi would certainly have been a good casting choice if they were going with the manga version of the Major, I'm just not sure if she has the chops for the anime version. It's a character that requires a laconic, introspective performance that borders dangerously on wooden and lethargic. Easy for even a skilled and charismatic actor to botch.
Ming Na could probably do it, though she may be a little too old for the part now. I'm not saying she's not in fine form for a woman of any age, but part of the thing with the Major is that she gives the impression of being a lot older than her features would indicate. That's just something that's more effective with a younger face with old soulful eyes. Tricky to pull off though.
For what it's worth, I rather enjoyed 'Lucy' for the silly, fun little adventure that it was. I've no real intention of watching it again anytime soon, but I was entertained throughout and I've certainly seen much worse movies. This is unusual in and of itself since generally speaking, I don't normally go in for "switch your brain off" type films. Admittedly Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman were a big part of that enjoyment, so there's that.
I mean if nothing else it's about as close to a live action version of 'Akira' that we've gotten so far....at least until the adaptation of that one comes out..
I do hope the director hasn't just created another version of Robocop.
Nicely put. The most memorable thing about Kusanagi for me have always been her large doll-like blue eyes. They intentionally made them look very artificial and lifeless, incredibly haunting and creepy. She never blinked once, I think.
I don't see many actresses pulling that off, honestly. Judging from the trailers, Scarlet doesn't even seem to be trying.
You know I never consciously noted the blinking thing before, but it makes sense. It'd certainly help with the feeling of quiet intensity she usually emanates from every pour.
Does it just apply to the Major or all the android bodied characters?
Puppet Master body's eyes were almost identical to Major's.
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