Forum - View topicNEWS: Live-Action Attack on Titan Films' Eren, Mikasa, 11 Others Unveiled in Costume
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vanfanel
 Posts: 1251 |
|
|||||
|
^
The live action version of "Another" (well-cast but not a good adaptation) got a PG-12, and among the many, many deaths in that were a decapitation and a spoon-through-the-eye scene. (At least the latter one didn't spoiler[saw off his own head in front of a classroom full of ninth graders] like he did in the book.) Basically, movies in general are assumed to be for general audience; there's no "kiddy" stigma to getting a G. On the schedules at Japanese theaters, they don't even show the rating unless it's above a G. |
||||||
|
||||||
vashfanatic
 Posts: 3492 Location: Back stateside |
|
|||||
Yeah, "G" has virtually died out as a rating in America because of the kiddy stigma. For fun, I'm going through the top 100 movies this year and doing rating comparisons between the two countries; only one American film has even received a G (Rio 2), while meanwhile Fury, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Jersey Boys, while all received R in America, are general audience in Japan (I haven't seen the others, but I'm quite certain that 90% of TGBH's R came from its use of profanity, which obviously wouldn't carry over into Japanese). |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18274 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
Hogun was always portrayed in the comic book as having a Mongolian-type look, but really anyone who looked distinctly Asian would have fit. All the people whom I know who were Thor comic book fans thought it was a good casting choice. They also practically universally liked Heimdall despite the total race change. In general, I usually don't have a problem with a race change in a movie adaptation as long as it doesn't fundamentally affect the story. In Speed Racer's adaptation, for instance, the race of the characters really had no bearing at all on the story, and going the other way, many of Shakespeare's works use story concepts universal enough that they could easily be set in entirely different cultures and using entirely different races and still work. (The Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet had a black Mercutio, IIRC, and it didn't change a thing about how the character functioned in a story. Se also West Side Story.) Heck, there's a new version of the musical Annie coming out in a few weeks which has both Annie and Daddy Warbucks being black instead of white, and I'm really looking forward to that. And as for posts being removed: Yeah, this thread is being watched closely. Comments interpreted as being blatantly racist won't be tolerated. |
||||||
|
||||||
mdo7
 Posts: 6311 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||||
Fedora-san, when was the last time you watched an American film? Because there's a lot of directors like Gareth Edwards, and even the Korean director, Bong Joon-Ho that can pull off a live-action Attack on Titan using Hollywood-style Special Effect, and high production value and a international cast. Also, Fedora-san, can I ask you a question are you TitanXL?? Your message kinda reminds me of that person.
I noticed that too, I wondered why people that complain about Hollywood whitewashing characters specifically Asian characters never made a big deal about other whitewashing accusation that are not Asian. |
||||||
|
||||||
The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
|
|||||
Ha. Yeah. Nice to know America isn't the only one to do racist nationalistic casting that contradicts the original manga. One manga adaptation where you'd actually want a mostly white / Euro cast.. and they racebend it the other way. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
mdo7
Posts: 6311 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||||
The same can be said about the Japanese live-action Thermae Romae where Japanese actors playing as Romans: 
|
||||||
|
||||||
Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
|
|||||
It's been pointed out a few times now why this is a faulty comparison. You are comparing a nation like Japan who's populace is over 99% Asian, be it Japanese or other east-Asian immigrants, to a country like America which is a huge diverse country with people from all walks of life from it. Hollywood's industry has been notorious for oppressing minorities and robbing them of key roles for decades. Japan using Asians for most of their production is one of necessity. You can find the occasional gaijin actor like Robert Baldwin, but for the most part it's an industry exclusively of Asians. Look at how popular American and other foreign movies can be in Japan, it's quite clear there's no racist undertones to this decision. There is no boardroom committee banding together and saying films with white leads will not sell or that audiences do not watch films with white people in them like we see as excuses all the time here when it comes to our own cinema. It'd be preposterous to think that given how big a lot of American actors are in Japan. Seeing the term "yellow washing" being thrown around so liberally tells me the people who do so don't truly understand the meaning and problem with the concept of "white washing" nor the history it has with Hollywood cinema and it's roots. The two industries are completely different and can not be compared. -Stuart Smith |
||||||
|
||||||
|
mdo7
Posts: 6311 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||||
Then why didn't Japan made Attack on Titan a co-production with Hollywood, I mean I've seen Japanese-Hollywood/western co-productions in the past like G-saviour (although I agree it was a crappy movie, but the cast was diverse), and the same goes for other Japanese-western co-productions: Latitude Zero 
King Kong Escapes I don't see a lot of these co-production anymore, and please don't bring up 47 Ronins with Keanu Reeves, that one didn't do well in Japan and around the world. As some people stated, Attack on Titan live-action should've been done by Hollywood not a Japanese film one. I mean you're not going to see Japan doing a live-action Fullmetal Alchemist, or Hellsing because that would require a non-Asian casts. |
||||||
|
||||||
Fedora-san
 Posts: 464 |
|
|||||
Last big movie I cared enough to see was Guardians of the Galaxy, and as someone who's read American comics and seen the movies I can say I wouldn't trust them with an Attack on Titan movie. Superhero movies already get changed enough as it is so I'd hate to see how they do Titan. I didn't like Edward's Godzilla adaption so if that's the style you want for Titan countl me out. Edward's Godzilla wasn't anything like the Japanese Godzilla and was its own thing. Not that I think the Japanese movie will be super amazing or anything, I prefer anime/manga over this, but as a tokusatsu fan I'm curious to see how it goes. I like the practical effects Japan still employees that America has abandoned in favor of CG so that'll be interesting to see just what kind of effects are in this. CG fighting in superhero movies always looks so awkward like Spider-Man and Man of Steel, so I doubt they could do the Titan fights any better than those. Titan would never get the budget those movies got so it'd look even worse. Practical effects might be the way to go in that regard.
I don't know who that is. Is that a joke about Attack on Titan or something I'm not getting? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
mdo7
Posts: 6311 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||||
No, but TitanXL and you seem to share similar behavior, pro-Japanese and anti-American/western bias. The way you and TitanXL behave are way too similar. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
vashfanatic
Posts: 3492 Location: Back stateside |
|
|||||
|
While I definitely support the idea of an international approach as the best way to adapt Attack on Titan faithfully to the original story (we'll see how this premise-only version turns out), guys, can we stop comparing this to whitewashing in Hollywood? Stuart Smith is correct; the main problem with whitewashing is that it takes away work from non-white, English-speaking actors, of which there are many. If they want to make a Japanese-language Attack on Titan (and yes, it's debatable whether that should have been the top priority, but even in Japan, not everybody likes to read subtitles, I had to go out of town to find Iron Man 3 in English), that really limits their options with non-Japanese actors. There are gaijin talents in Japan, but not enough to cast an entire movie.
As to the "why didn't they...?" first of all, this has been in pre-production since October 2011, well before the anime came out, or in other words, before it became huge in the West, before it became huge in Japan, really. It changed directors a year later, again, before the anime came out, and my guess is that they weren't anticipating this becoming an international phenomenon the way it has been, so the idea of doing an international collaboration wasn't in the books. This is not me defending the final product, which I haven't seen, and while I loved Rurouni Kenshin, that's the only live-action version of a manga I've really liked, so I don't have high hopes for this adaptation. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Boneyboneboney
Posts: 3 |
|
|||||
|
One reason why I do not trust people who defend Japanese "film" industry towards Hollywood, is because majority, not all, of those Pro-Japanese fans abandoned watching any decent Hollywood films already and moved into anime and low quality Japanese dramas. But they CLAIM to have seen recent Hollywood movies, yet they cannot give logical reasoning on why they claim they are horrendous.
And I've also noticed that those people are the same people who hate or are anti-Americans in general. Now, Japan has made some pretty good adaption; such as, Battle Royal. However, that is based on a big issue in Japan. Of course they will hit the mark on that. The argument in this topic is that Attack on Titan is MORE APPROPRIATE for Hollywood and/or European production, because these genres are their forte, they have the budget, can make the accurate Walls/Location pf SnK, have a whole guild of actors to choose from (Japan just re-uses Haruma Miura in EVERY anime to live action adaption. He he always the protagonist.), and also better skills at special effects. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Boneyboneboney
Posts: 3 |
|
|||||
So you think Attack on Titan LIVE ACTION won't be bombarded with awkward CGI? Rightttttttttttttt. Even the SUBARU commercial was spammed with CGI. They used real people and basically CGI the shit out of them. I don't think you've seen any of the Hollywood movies you've called awkward, there is a limit to how you can make things look realistic, even in the film industry. However, Hollywood has gotten close to realistic countless of times. Godzilla is not meant to be a LIVE ACTION or an official adaption. It's just a new story on its own. Also, why not try to watch decent movies, like Edge of Tomorrow? It is original Japanese adapted in Hollywood. We also aren't just talking about the visual aspects of AoT live action, we are talking about the whole package in general. |
||||||
|
||||||
poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
|
|||||
|
Not particularly interested in the story but I like a number of the actors so I'm sure I'll end up watching this anyway.
I'm currently in the midst of Kamen Rider OOO and I still didn't recognize Watanabe Shu 'til seeing his name. He looks so different out of Eiji's vaguely bohemian wardrobe...
 Seriously though, what other anime-(or rather manga)-to-live-action adaptations has he starred in?
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||
|
It looks terrible, but that's to be expected. Live-action Japanese movie adaptations are notorious for their poor quality and wince-inducing CG. Plus Attack on Titan is far harder to adapt into live action than most titles given the aerial stunts and camera work that is required to make the 3DMG scenes really shine.
So yeah, add my voice to those who would have liked to have seen this as a Hollywood movie. It's not as though the manga is unknown outside of Japan - far from it. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group