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Forum - View topicANNCast - Royal Podcast Force: The Carl of Hornneamise
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_V_
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"Oxygen Destroyer" is a kickass name for a magazine.
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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I had a slightly different interpretation to the Wind Rises, particularly with the Naoko relationship.
I actually had a hard time seeing those two having a "real relationship". Of course they didn't have many conflicts, they didn't spend a lot of time together. The relationship ended before the honeymoon period was over. Naoko died before the two of them could really get to know each other as people. And the ending. Here's a man who did everything "right", so to speak. He was dedicated and driven at his career reaching the highest levels of his craft. He showed courage during the earthquake, fell in love. And in the end it all turned to crap. His dream was used to bomb cities and later destroyed in Kamikaze attacks. Because of that he barely got to spend any time with his wife before she died. And now that the war has ended he lost everything that defined his life. But the wind rises, he still needs to find a reason to live. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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Miyazaki likes Anno, because they've had a long-term friendship from when the former was just starting out. But he's specifically said that he has not seen Evangelion, and that he can only guess what it's about. I don't like otaku or Anno, myself, but I will have to concede that the dude's actually serious about his work, and not just (entirely) preaching to the choir. You cannot get up the ladder as far as Anno has without putting the requisite blood, sweat, and tears into your endeavors. That's the difference between every wannabe or groupie since him. I just wish he'd actually speak out on behalf of and support other struggling animators, instead of just doing the outsourcing thing, too.
Well, only if you weren't in London, Pearl Harbor, or Dresden, anyway. 
As for the actual "controversy" over The Wind Rises, our drones do the same thing as the Zero Fighters on a regular basis, and illegally. [I.E. without even the pretext of a "declared" war.] And most Americans don't even bat an eye. So, to be offended by this film at this point would be the equivalent of throwing a stone through your glass house. 'Cus the movie is a mirror into our own psyche. [In fact, it was ironic that the film condemned the government spying on other people's mail around the same time those NSA revelations came out.] Furthermore, there are lot of American Jiros in the aerospace industry who probably are put in similar awkward positions of trying to make a living to support their families doing what they love, while dealing with the reality that they're a cog in a corporate war machine. Oh, and I'm guessing the reason it was nominated for an Oscar was because the Academy is sick of the family animated films, especially since so many of them are so cookie-cutter. But it also has the added benefit of skewing well with the older Academy voters better than other "adult" animated films. [Though Millennium Actress would've had a shot if Dreamworks actually gave a f**k about promoting it...] I know the codger contingent should hate the "enemy" more than anything, but I think they see the character more as another romanticist like pre-crazy Howard Hughes. As for why they cast JGL in the lead, they need a name which puts 18-25 demo butts into seats. But I did like Anno, because he's the only one with the emotional baggage, er, background, to pull off Miyazaki's Jiro. Younger seiyuu might technically be able to nail Jiro, but they don't place that same sense of value on loss as someone in Anno's shoes. Though I think JGL should be able to connect with the character, since he experienced his own family loss IRL, too. And he has done more dramatic fare like 50/50 and Mysterious Skin, so it's not like he lacks experience in that area. |
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Penguin_Factory
 Posts: 732 Location: Ireland |
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I haven't seen The Wind Rises, but I just wanted to say that Carl's talk about it was seriously fascinating to listen to.
The controversy around the movie has been fascinating to watch, but one thing that bothers me about it is a certain strain of what I guess you'd call America-centrism, ie I strongly get the feeling that some people's objection to a movie about the creator of the zero stems from the fact that the zero killed Americans, and that more or less the same film about a country that never fought America would be regarded as neutral, and that the same film about an American aviation engineer during WWII would be not only acceptable but laudable (because after all, he must be one of the good guys). That sort of attitude comes up a lot around WWII and it bothers me that people, while probably justified in broadly splitting the participants into "good" and "bad" camps, seem to forget that the "good guys" also slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent bystanders, and that lionising someone involved in that should give us pause regardless of what side they were on. |
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Charred Knight
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Here's the thing you can make fiction and use it to show the reality of what happened. Fullmetal Alchemist isn't just about two brothers trying to get their bodies back its also a critique on Imperial Japan, and how the Japanese treat the Ainu.
The problem going back to turning reality into fiction is when you try to sugarcoat what happens. For example to use my own country's history portraying the American Civil War as having nothing to do with slavery just so you can portray the South as this grand noble bunch of guys who were the last men to have true chivalry as Southern Gentlemen. |
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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I totally agree. I confess I haven't seen the movie in question, but I feel most people who are claiming it sugarcoats Japanese WW2 atrocities or doesn't go far enough to condemn them are reading way too much into it. Especially since Miyazaki is very much NOT a right-winger! Of course, our opinion is probably in the minority here. |
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rowsdower
Posts: 83 |
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I saw the movie in Japan back in the summer. I'm upset that the Zero killed Americans. I'm upset that it killed far, far more Chinese and Koreans. I'm upset it killed Japanese pilots in the line of duty. War is upsetting. This film is not upsetting, and it really needed to be. Instead of tackling the difficult questions that *need* to be addressed by virtue of its protagonist, it shoe-horns in the entirely fictional Sick Girlfriend trope that's been absolutely beaten to death in maudlin dramas for centuries. The fact that that old plot is the emotional core of this story instead of following through on any meaningful thesis in regards to the elephant in the room (personal accountability of the creator versus his/her creation) is irresponsible at best and pretty disgusting at worst, in my opinion. It gets a little lip service, but it's drowned out in lukewarm sad sick waifu feels and aviation jargon. And before anyone asks, yes, I would be (and have been) as equally upset if an American movie glossed over similar material as much as The Wind Rises does. Every single time I've discussed my (obviously extremely negative) views on this movie, I've had people go on a similar defense. "BUT AMERICA DID (X) ATROCITY SO THERE ARE YOU AS UPSET ABOUT THAT HUHHHHH?" Yes. This isn't a zero-sum game, and I'm really sick of people insinuating that it somehow is. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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row:
Ok, then how about Rambo and The Patriot? Or Disney's Pocahontas? |
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rowsdower
Posts: 83 |
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Um, yes. All of those have a lot of major, major ethical problems in their treatment of history and/or war. Are you just going to list every movie now and see if I find problems with them? |
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GATSU
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rows: My point is that they're not getting the same scrutiny as The Wind Rises.
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rowsdower
Posts: 83 |
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They're also all at least well over a decade plus older than The Wind Rises It makes sense that a very recent movie will be under a lot of scrutiny and be generating more discussion than things that are (by popular media timelines) ancient dinosaur history. Those films have a lot of criticism about their content, but of course they're not going to be springing up everywhere the way reviews for TWR are currently. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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rows: They may be older, but even when they came out, people didn't jump on them the way they have with The Wind Rises. So I'm just wondering what makes it more incendiary than those.
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rowsdower
Posts: 83 |
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I'd really like to know where you're getting your numbers in regards to how "more incendiary" (how much more?) The Wind Rises is. In my day to day life talking with other ex-pats of various countries who have seen the movie here, my opinion seems to be far and away in the minority. From my opinion, the film has been extremely well-received with rosy-tinted "Miyazaki's Final Movie" lenses and not scrutinized as much as it should be. We're both coming from different perspectives and it's effecting our opinion on how the film is being received. You assume it's being lambasted more than those (let's be real, pretty arbitrary) films you mentioned, and my extreme distaste for its soppy narrative makes me think that everyone is doing nothing but lavishing praise on it. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15604 |
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rows: Well, let's just say it's getting more flack than, say, Zero Dark Thirty, which everyone should support, because "Female directors and grrrl power!" and all that.
Anyway, it's a shame my question to Carl about how he felt about Gainax choosing not to acknowledge Toren Smith's death went unasked. |
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asdqweiop
Posts: 33 |
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Anyone else tired of the histrionics and moral outrage over this film? Last time I checked The Wind Rises is fiction. Historical fiction, but fiction nonetheless. No one would pick up Henry V and expect Shakespeare to be giving them a nuanced and even-handed depiction of the Hundred Years War, so why expect Miyazaki to be offering a historically or ethically faithful account of Horikoshi's intentions and inventions?
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