Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
The bust can be fixed.
Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira whitewash
- Thread starter Dusty Ayres
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Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Still not what I'm talkin' about. I got nothing against the adaptations and genre crossings, it's the stone-literal performance of the original script in a different time setting. Heck, West Side Story is my favorite musical! But all thru Brannagh's Hamlet, I kept thinking, what was Denmark's actual government in the 19th century? Who are these people replacing?
Actually, we've already spent more time talking about this then I give it thought IRL. We've taken my random comment and spent far too much time analyzing it.
Still not what I'm talkin' about. I got nothing against the adaptations and genre crossings, it's the stone-literal performance of the original script in a different time setting. Heck, West Side Story is my favorite musical! But all thru Brannagh's Hamlet, I kept thinking, what was Denmark's actual government in the 19th century? Who are these people replacing?
Actually, we've already spent more time talking about this then I give it thought IRL. We've taken my random comment and spent far too much time analyzing it.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
OMG!!!! Its a remake!!!!!!
Never gave much thought as to "when" Branagh's Hamlet takes. Did Shakespeare tie it to a particular era? It not really based on history,is it? From what I can tell Shakespeare adapted it from existing works.
Still not what I'm talkin' about. I got nothing against the adaptations and genre crossings, it's the stone-literal performance of the original script in a different time setting. Heck, West Side Story is my favorite musical! But all thru Brannagh's Hamlet, I kept thinking, what was Denmark's actual government in the 19th century? Who are these people replacing?
Actually, we've already spent more time talking about this then I give it thought IRL. We've taken my random comment and spent far too much time analyzing it.
OMG!!!! Its a remake!!!!!!
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
*Googles* Hm. It's apparently based on a 7th century legend, as put to paper in the 13th century.
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
*Googles* Hm. It's apparently based on a 7th century legend, as put to paper in the 13th century.
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Interesting, I may have to look for that when it hits DVD in 2012.
Interesting, I may have to look for that when it hits DVD in 2012.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
About 5% of the US population is of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Asian Indian descent. What percentage of movies from these countries feature Americans and Europeans in prominent roles? Just curious, I think it's relevant to the conversation.
Not that I think white-washing everything is a good idea either. The movie is called Akira, for god's sake, sounds like a Japanese dude to me, and if the movie is good enough no one will care if a person with almond eyes and straight hair is in the main role.
About 5% of the US population is of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Asian Indian descent. What percentage of movies from these countries feature Americans and Europeans in prominent roles? Just curious, I think it's relevant to the conversation.
Not that I think white-washing everything is a good idea either. The movie is called Akira, for god's sake, sounds like a Japanese dude to me, and if the movie is good enough no one will care if a person with almond eyes and straight hair is in the main role.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Good point. They sure didn't have Julius Caesar wearing a toga at the Globe! (He probably would have been arrested for public nudity and/or insanity for walking around wearing a towel.)
Good point. They sure didn't have Julius Caesar wearing a toga at the Globe! (He probably would have been arrested for public nudity and/or insanity for walking around wearing a towel.)
I'm not sure you got the point of the play...
People nowadays know how to put on a play better than Will Shakespeare did. Okaaaaay...
It's more interesting and worthwhile than the original thread topic.
Keep in mind that Hollywood makes movies for a global audience. How many people in Nairobi and Karachi can be expected to know or care that "Akira" sounds Japanese? They might just assume it sounds American. Hollywood has always been filled with odd, foreign names like Harry and Fred.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Again, you're taking the creative conceits of Realism/Naturalism and applying them to plays written centuries before those conceits were developed -- to say nothing of the fact that even today not all plays are written with any intent to accurately re-create the world of a given time period. (Do yourself a favor, for instance, and don't try to figure out when The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht is set. The anachronistic mixture of cultures from 18th, 19th, and 20th Century cultures from the Caucuses and Eastern Europe would drive you crazy.)
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
Again, you're taking the creative conceits of Realism/Naturalism and applying them to plays written centuries before those conceits were developed -- to say nothing of the fact that even today not all plays are written with any intent to accurately re-create the world of a given time period. (Do yourself a favor, for instance, and don't try to figure out when The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht is set. The anachronistic mixture of cultures from 18th, 19th, and 20th Century cultures from the Caucuses and Eastern Europe would drive you crazy.)
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
BRECHT drives me crazy.
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
Again, you're taking the creative conceits of Realism/Naturalism and applying them to plays written centuries before those conceits were developed -- to say nothing of the fact that even today not all plays are written with any intent to accurately re-create the world of a given time period. (Do yourself a favor, for instance, and don't try to figure out when The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht is set. The anachronistic mixture of cultures from 18th, 19th, and 20th Century cultures from the Caucuses and Eastern Europe would drive you crazy.)
BRECHT drives me crazy.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Aww. I love Brecht!
(Though I suspect he'd have preferred your reaction to mine.)
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
Again, you're taking the creative conceits of Realism/Naturalism and applying them to plays written centuries before those conceits were developed -- to say nothing of the fact that even today not all plays are written with any intent to accurately re-create the world of a given time period. (Do yourself a favor, for instance, and don't try to figure out when The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht is set. The anachronistic mixture of cultures from 18th, 19th, and 20th Century cultures from the Caucuses and Eastern Europe would drive you crazy.)
BRECHT drives me crazy.
Aww. I love Brecht!
(Though I suspect he'd have preferred your reaction to mine.)
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Akira is not the main character, he's supporting. They could easilly cast an asian dude, it doesn't matter at all. Hollywood cares about the characters in the trailers and on the posters, not Akira.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
He's kinda the McGuffin, actually.
He's kinda the McGuffin, actually.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
I really don't know why they'd want to do a live-action version of the manga. Why not just do a multi-part anime?
I really don't know why they'd want to do a live-action version of the manga. Why not just do a multi-part anime?
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
But if they did a multi-part Anime.. would the voice actors need to be Asain, or would people continue to bitch if they weren't?
But if they did a multi-part Anime.. would the voice actors need to be Asain, or would people continue to bitch if they weren't?
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Probably because they think they can make lots of money.
Probably because they think they can make lots of money.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Well that's good if you never want to see this movie made at all. It does sound like it's getting a poison rep...
Well that's good if you never want to see this movie made at all. It does sound like it's getting a poison rep...
If Hollywood can't get a big box office name (ie, white dude or off-white like Keanu) then it won't happen. I personally don't care one way or the other. I want Doctor Strange and Sub-Mariner movies!!! I wish Keanu could act, he'd be a great Namor...
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Good question, I mean they could still set it in New York, couldn't they? Anything that's closer to the source and doesn't feel hopelessly compressed like the anime feature I'd be willing to give a chance I suppose. Although given the choice between a feature-length "re-interpretation" and a multi-volume subtitled OAV in Japanese I'd take the latter.
I just don't see the point to producing a feature film which is essentially a live-action version of the original anime. I can't watch that since reading the manga. Yes it looks great, but it loses a lot of the clarity and characterisation of the manga because of how much was cut out to fit the film running time.
I suppose that's going to be a problem with adapting graphic novels to film generally though, which is why I tend to avoid watching those movies.
Good question, I mean they could still set it in New York, couldn't they? Anything that's closer to the source and doesn't feel hopelessly compressed like the anime feature I'd be willing to give a chance I suppose. Although given the choice between a feature-length "re-interpretation" and a multi-volume subtitled OAV in Japanese I'd take the latter.
I just don't see the point to producing a feature film which is essentially a live-action version of the original anime. I can't watch that since reading the manga. Yes it looks great, but it loses a lot of the clarity and characterisation of the manga because of how much was cut out to fit the film running time.
I suppose that's going to be a problem with adapting graphic novels to film generally though, which is why I tend to avoid watching those movies.
Re: Racebending and other Asian-Americans speak up against Akira white
Hollywood's blockbusters tend to have white, American leads (often, admittedly, international actors playing American characters - as that popular comic book movie where a Welshman and an Australian faced off).
They're only geared to international audiences in the sense they're flattening - you neither need to know much or care much about the particularities of American culture to follow the gist of any given blockbuster.
Well is it necessary to adhere to those conceits now?
It's not like realism is the indelible ironclad rule of cinema, and a science fiction movie with a dabbling of surrealist nonsense may be crossing a few of its boundaries by default.
Hell, back when this movie was still going to be directed by Ruairi Robinson (i.e. when I still cared), the setting was going to be somewhere called Neo Manhattan. Assuming they're still transposing the story to America, having white actors isn't completely ridiculous even by realist standards.
Hollywood's blockbusters tend to have white, American leads (often, admittedly, international actors playing American characters - as that popular comic book movie where a Welshman and an Australian faced off).
They're only geared to international audiences in the sense they're flattening - you neither need to know much or care much about the particularities of American culture to follow the gist of any given blockbuster.
Of course, all Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in contemporary Elizabethan costume without regard to their time setting. But we're supposed to know better these days.
Again, you're taking the creative conceits of Realism/Naturalism and applying them to plays written centuries before those conceits were developed --
Well is it necessary to adhere to those conceits now?
It's not like realism is the indelible ironclad rule of cinema, and a science fiction movie with a dabbling of surrealist nonsense may be crossing a few of its boundaries by default.
Hell, back when this movie was still going to be directed by Ruairi Robinson (i.e. when I still cared), the setting was going to be somewhere called Neo Manhattan. Assuming they're still transposing the story to America, having white actors isn't completely ridiculous even by realist standards.