Forum - View topicThe works of Satoshi Kon (no spoiler tags)
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DKL
 Posts: 1947 Location: California, USA |
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The DKL edition (8-10-06): The works of Satoshi Kon
Given that I seem to have nothing better to do, I thought that it’d be about time to finally do a project that I’ve been putting on hold for the last several months: the analysis of the super-duper awesome works of everyone’s favorite Madhouse regular, director Satoshi Kon. Anyway, given the length of his works, this probably won’t go on as long as my Monster thread; also, I probably won’t change my mind about stuff here and there as I move along given that I already thought most of this out ages ago (but everything is still open to debate, of course… I’m just saying that my perception won’t change anymore as I move along with the evidence I had already gathered in the past). My only obstacle here will most likely be my lack of effort (although, I know I should re-watch the stuff first before doing this… but I’m lazy). Anywho, let’s begin! As usual, I’d like to avoid spoiler tags given that it just makes stuff confusing. So if the reader has not seen a specific work found in this thread, take note that there are major spoilers. First up: Perfect Blue (1997). The general overview of the plot of this movie is that it’s about some pop idol, named Mima Kirigoe, who leaves her pop group, called CHAM, in order to pursue a career in acting. The change, however, brings about a series of unfortunate incidents of murder, murder and more murder. What is real? What is fantasy? Who is behind the murders? Who is this otaku person constantly stalking Mima? What is the meaning of life? Did I leave the water running? Etc. While, the general perception of the movie can be seen as a neat thrill ride of suspense and the experience of the confusion of reality and non-reality, Kon masterfully weaves his awesome ideas and insight into the narrative; Perfect Blue isn’t so much about a movie about psychologically motivated obsession and murder as it is a movie about public opinion and how people, such as celebrities, deal with it in regards to finding their “true inner-selves.” The beginning of the movie starts with the somewhat dramatic announcement of Mima’s resignation from the pop group; unfortunately, such drama is met with not only a rowdy set of fans, but with the fact that Mima’s very last performance with CHAM isn’t exactly set on a grand stage. It will be a hard road ahead, but Mima is determined to tread that difficult path to being a well-established actress. The problem here is that when weird stuff starts happening, Mima begins to contemplate, on various levels, the decision she made and that maybe being an actress isn’t all that cracked up as it’s supposed to be. On the surface, Mima is beginning to have doubts about the new way of life she has chosen mainly because of all the horrible and violent incidents that she has experience ever since the transition. But there is more to it than that given that the ever-watchful eye of the public begins to interfere with Mima’s identity to a point where she loses all sense of reality and can’t clearly make the decision between living life as an actress or a pop-idol on her own. Regret also sets in on several occasions, such as the newfound success of her former colleagues right after she left the group. This confusion of identity that celebrities experience is somewhat related to what “regular” people experience in their daily lives in which an identity is forged by the people around you (your “peers”), not of your own will; even if people can sometimes see the reality of this, they still succumb to it on a subconscious level anyway. This experience, of course, can pretty much be magnified for celebrities given that these people are the ones who are constantly under the scrutiny of the public microscope. Mima wants to be an actress, but people like Me-Mania, Rumi and even her public say that she’s better off being a pop-idol and that she’ll never ever be able to break away from that part of herself. Though, her initial efforts to further herself from the idol image are rather extreme and come in the form of some awesome nudie moments. While managing to distance herself from the idol image she wants to leave behind, this is met with inner disappointment given that she actually didn’t want to do those smutty things and only did them on the basis that she thinks that people expected it of her; it wasn’t her choice to lose her clothes and chastity on footage, but, at the time, it seemed like the best way to proving herself as an “actress.” In any event, the infamous bar scene is the equivalent of being metaphorically raped; it didn’t really happen, but it feels like it did anyway given the circumstances (that being that a real pop idol would never do such things to her clean-cut image… as to whether this is true or not in J-pop culture, I have not the slightest idea. I’m just thinking in the context of the movie. Also, as to whether or not the rape-correlation is too extreme, that’s left to opinion). If someone has evidence that J-pop idols are allowed to pose in the nude, feel free to PM me the physical evidence (har har har). Oh yes, and the physical evidence should be popup and spy-ware free. Outraged by Mima’s efforts to make a transition and abandon her idol life, Rumi (Mima’s manager) teams up with some otaku guy (Me-Mania) with hopes of eventually bringing back the “real” Mima and erasing the “fake” Mima. But, who is the real Mima? Is she an actress or an Idol? Who’s to say that the real Mima is the “real” Mima when she herself can’t even make a sound decision between the two lives she wishes to lead? The movie gets to a point where Mima can’t believe in reality anymore and can only live life on the basis of what the press and her website, which she herself does not even author, says. When the press begins to suspect Mima of all the nefarious incidents, she begins to become convinced that she herself is the murderer and this is only re-affirmed when she finds hard evidence, such as the bloodstained clothes in her closet. But, since she’s confused, Mima (and the viewers) begins to overlook the evidence, such as the fact that Rumi had been paying her regular visits; what seems like the same scene over and over again, actually isn’t. Since Mima is starting to live life in random gaps of time, she begins to think of possible reasons that could explain why she doesn’t really remember killing those people (going back: she didn’t really kill anyone, but people seem to think she did, hence Mima thinking that she did). We get a bunch of Kon’s neat “mind tricks” in the form of getting the viewer to come to several different conclusions: maybe Mima’s real life is actually a movie? Maybe “Double Bind” isn’t a TV-movie and that Mima actually has two personalities? Maybe Me-mania is behind everything? And so on. The truth, however, manifests itself during the final scenes of the movie where we discover that Rumi is the mastermind behind everything; this is the “Mima” that Me-mania was in contact with and based his creepy voyeuristic website around. The reason why Mima and the viewers see “Mima” even though it’s clearly Rumi is because she dons a wig and the personality required to recreate the illusion of “pop idol Mima;” Kon essentially makes everyone see Mima even though it should obviously be Rumi, which was probably the case during the CHAM concert (where the remaining members of CHAM had an obviously discomforted look on their face when “Mima” jumped on stage) and when that photo dude guy was murdered. Once again, what this says is essentially: since the real Mima can’t even make a decision between being a pop-idol and an actress, who’s to say that the fake Mima (Rumi) is a fake? The conclusion to the climactic confrontation of the movie is during the ending when Mima sees herself in the glass of a store-window and finally understands that the true Mima is not an idealized pop idol, but the broken woman that she now sees before her; “the truth is in the glass” or something like that. This illusion ends when Mima, with her own hands, strips the fake Mima (Rumi) of what makes her Mima: the image that only the public eye sees (the wig). So, a few months later (or so), we see Mima, who is now an established actress, visiting Rumi in what appears to be a mental ward. Rumi still can’t tell what’s what, unfortunately, and it may be long before she can actually come back to reality and understand what it is that she did. We discover that the motivation behind Rumi’s madness was that she wanted to live her failed pop idol dream through Mima, but when Mima abandoned that dream, Rumi lost her dream and along with it, her reality. Ironically, however, Mima is now able to see her true self because of this fake self that she saw in Rumi. And the final line of the movie is equally interesting given that not only does it re-assure that Mima sees reality before her (she looks in the mirror), but she is now convinced that the true Mima is who she says it is: an actress. Such a neat way to tie the whole movie together with just one line of dialogue; few directors and storytellers in anime are capable of this and on that level of sophistication. Hooray, that was fun and neat and totally awesome. The next installment will be up… as soon as I get it together… maybe after I get my new Strawberry Marshmallow DVD and watch it. It’ll totally happen soon, I promise. ====== Uh... been thinking about it... since there's no tags... uh... if someone wants to discuss a specific work, they should headline their reply with the name of the work being commented on since it's entirely possible that people have seen only SOME of Kon's work... Man, this is gonna be a problem when I get to Paranoia Agent... but hey |
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taoofjord
 Posts: 42 |
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Tagged. Thank you so much for making this thread, I was going to do something similar. I actually think Kon is extremely underrated in the anime community. He's truly one of the most talented people in the animation industry by far yet people rarely talk about him or his films.
I'll read this soon, but again, thanks. |
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Shonen Bat
 Posts: 382 |
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And yet people talk about Miyazaki like he's a freakin' god. Kon in my opinion is much more talented and realistic than Miyazaki. Satoshi Kon mainly focuses on stuff that happens in real life where as Miyazaki praticaly has the imagination of an eight year old and focuses on..well mostly kiddy stuff (ie, Totoro,Spirited Away, etc). Miyazaki is extremly overated where as Kon is extremly underated. Sorry to Miyazaki fans but I just don't see the big deal about his movies. Also Paranoia Agent and Tokyo Godfathers are Kon's best work. A Kon fan for life. -Shonen Bat |
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DKL
Posts: 1947 Location: California, USA |
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Actually, I like both directors and see them as the most competent the industry has to offer... but... uh... I'm very passable to begin with, so... yeah.
In any event, the only probable reason why I'd side with Kon is that he's a Madhouse regular (Madhouse being my favorite animation studio)... but man... Miyazaki is still pretty damn boss. I actually might do my next project on Miyazaki (but Oshii is next... though, I've really only seen a few of his works, so it might be inefficient). Okay, up next is Millennium Actress... let me just type it... will be done in 4-5 hours. |
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Enjeru
 Posts: 221 |
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Satoshi Kon to me is today's version of Alfred Hitchcock. I have heard so many different interpretations of Paranoia Agent(many of which I believe are wrong) but that's not the point of this.
I am really looking forward to seeing Paprika. Should be in limited theaters in early 2007. |
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Shonen Bat
Posts: 382 |
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I wasn't saying Miyazaki was bad at what he does. I just think people give him more credit than he deserves. There are Some movies that I haven't seen of Miyazaki's such as Castle of Caliostro(Not sure I spelt that right) and Princess Monokoke that I think look pretty cool but I just like Kon better. He made one of my favorite animes (Paranoia Agent) which is one reason I like him better. Miyazaki's decent in my opinion but I think Kon just does a bit of a better job. |
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DKL
Posts: 1947 Location: California, USA |
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Well... I dunno... I actually really like Miyazaki and in the end, him and Kon make different kind of movies, so I dunno.
(I really like Miyazaki with his microscopic eye for detail and the contrast between his understated storytelling and incredibly imaginative worlds) ... I dunno.
... Make sure to take it easy on my Paranoia Agent interpretation... Oh yeah, that'll be the last stop of my thing given that I'm doing everything. |
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Enjeru
Posts: 221 |
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Oh I never pick anyone apart when they give their interpretation of any series. Everyone sees things differently. Of course if someone is way off base I will give suggestions. However I wont ever flame someone or pick them apart for something like that. |
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