Racebending "Akira"

[Nerys Myk]

I've seen adaptations of Shakespeare that change the setting to, respectively, 1930s England, 1990s Miami, FL and modern day NYC.

I've seen Prospero turned into Helen Mirren, Othello into a basketball player and MacBeth into a mobster.

Why can the bard's settings and characters be changed and not a comic book's?

In nearly every one of those examples, the filmmakers did not use the titles of the plays they based their movies on....

Richard III: William Shakespeare's classic play is brought into the present with the setting as Great Britain in the 1930s. Civil war has erupted with the House of Lancaster on one side, claiming the right to the British throne and hoping to bring freedom to the country. Opposing is the House of York, commanded by the infamous Richard who rules over a fascist government and hopes to install himself as a dictator monarch.

Romeo + Juliet: Shakespeare's famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona still retaining its original dialogue. The gun-toting members of the families wage a vicious war on the streets as the star-crossed lovers, their tragic destiny.

the Tempest: In Julie Taymor's version of 'The Tempest,' the main character is now a woman named Prospera.

Richard III is one of the best Shakespeare films ever.
Romeo + Juliet...not so much.

As for Akira, I tried watching the anime but couldn't get into it, so I'm not sure how much of the plot and characters rely on a Japanese setting. From what I saw, I'd say not much.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Aficionados reckon the manga is far superior to the anime, which gets quite silly in parts if you stop and think about it. The Geinoh Yamashirogumi soundtrack is what grabs me. It'd be unfortunate to lose that.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

It's not about race, but rather about culture, and setting, and how it affects the story. That's what's grating on me.

I'll admit I'm not too familiar with Akira, but I looked up a synopsis and I don't see anything about the story that seems that strongly tied into Japanese culture, or can only be told in Japan with Japanese actors. Care to enlighten us?

 

[Noname Given]

Pattinson, Pine, Fassbender, Timberlake...

No asians need apply.

Just, you know, fuck Warners.

Hey, they already 'Americanized' it as it's set in "New Manhattan"

(Hey, at least we avoided the Disney remake of "Space Battleship Yamato" where the Script rewrite wanted to change the ship to the U.S.S. Arizona. And I'm a re-blooded U.S. born citizen and know my history, but to BUY a Japanese produced property that has a following and a 37 year history of its own and change the ship.... <--- If the fact it's the Yamato bothers you enough, here's a tip - DON'T ACQUIRE THE RIGHTS TO AN EXISTING PROPERTY!)

 

[Bishop76]

I don't have a problem with that, either. If that's what they want to do with a property they own, have at. I wouldn't go see it and I'm sure not a lot of other people would either, but I'd imagine that factored into their decision not to green light it.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Yep, it is their property. They paid for it, and they'll do what they want. It's morally fine, there's nothing really wrong with it, its just crass and cynical and annoying, but eh, whatever.

 

[USS Mariner]

Make Akira an acronym rather than a Japanese superkid. AKIRA is already an acronym for "Artificial Knowledge Interface for Reasoning Applications", so how about "American Kids Improve on Real Asians".

Simples.

 

[Forbin]

Hey, look how well the Americanized Godzilla turned out!

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Oh, well then everything will be all better.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

I don't think the 1998 Godzilla movie failed because it was too "Americanized", it failed because it was trying too hard to be Jurassic Park.

So, I still would like to know what is it about Akira that's strongly tied to Japanese culture. Why does the story have to be set in Japan and feature Japanese actors?

 

[beamMe]

(Hey, at least we avoided the Disney remake of "Space Battleship Yamato" where the Script rewrite wanted to change the ship to the U.S.S. Arizona. And I'm a re-blooded U.S. born citizen and know my history, but to BUY a Japanese produced property that has a following and a 37 year history of its own and change the ship.... <--- If the fact it's the Yamato bothers you enough, here's a tip - DON'T ACQUIRE THE RIGHTS TO AN EXISTING PROPERTY!)

Agreed.

But this was done once already when they stupidly changed the Yamato's name to Argo for the English language version of the anime series.

Hopefully the Japanese live-action film will be release to the American or European markets very soon.

 

[the G-man]

But that's the thing. The US has been "Americanizing" anime for nearly fifty years, going all the way back to (using the American names) Tobor, Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer.

How is this different or particularly more offensive?

 

[beamMe]

But that's the thing. The US has been "Americanizing" anime for nearly fifty years, going all the way back to (using the American names) Tobor, Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer.

How is this different or particularly more offensive?

How about starting to appreciate the work/material without feeling the need to have it 'Americanized'?

 

[the G-man]

Every country adapts material from other cultures and changes it in one way or another. Always have, always will.

 

[Bishop76]

Yeah, there are a lot of Japanese cultural norms that don't apply to other cultures. Makes perfect sense to adapt them.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Yeah, there are a lot of Japanese cultural norms that don't apply to other cultures. Makes perfect sense to adapt them.

And in the case of Akira, those are...?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

But that's the thing. The US has been "Americanizing" anime for nearly fifty years, going all the way back to (using the American names) Tobor, Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer.

How is this different or particularly more offensive?

How about starting to appreciate the work/material without feeling the need to have it 'Americanized'?

Why not appreciate both, if you are so inclined?

This is yet another one of those cases that make me wonder, just because Remake of X happens, does X somehow vanish into the ether? Will it no longer be available by DVD or "other means"?

More stuff is never bad. If it's bad stuff, it can be ignored. I've never seen Akira (don't bother to squawk, I've tried anime on people's suggestions and found that I don't like it nearly as much as the suggestors do), but maybe I'll check this new movie out.

 

[Bishop76]

Yeah, there are a lot of Japanese cultural norms that don't apply to other cultures. Makes perfect sense to adapt them.

And in the case of Akira, those are...?

In the case of Akira, there's nothing. I was just speaking more generally.

 

[Davros]

Why does the story have to be set in Japan and feature Japanese actors?

Because that's the way it was in the original. If you are not going to use the source material why use the name other than to try and cash in on the appreciation of the original work? I loved the original both film and book, and would have loved a faithful adaptation. With these changes, my money is going elsewhere. Not that my economic vote carries much weight on it's own.

 

[Bishop76]

What adaptation is ever truly 100% faithful? A lot of movies are based on things and aren't perfectly faithful to the source material. I mean, it's not even like we're talking about a plot point here. It's the setting, which is in no way important to the story of Akira.