Freitag wrote:GhostLine wrote:
What I find especially bothersome is the complete dismissal of something before even knowing the source material. Some of those who lean on the side of "social justice" are making pre-emptive strikes, just straight labelling something as racist. They are are purely harming their own cause because of uninformed reaction.
I'm still not going out on a limb to say that this film is great, when I haven't seen it, but it certainly is seeking to match the tone of Oshii's work and I think is a good representation of an internationally assimilated society. Some have complained that Japan doesn't have this sort of racial diversity, but remember folks...this is a post-war, science-fiction, near-futuristic story.
I have to admit I was concerned about the casting of ScarJo too, but when actual Japanese folks blew off the casting choice I accepted their authority on the thing.
I also happened to see that forum (not sure how). But I had to leave a comment this is what I left. ---->
“Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well-cast,” Sam Yoshiba, director of the international business division at Kodansha’s headquarters in Tokyo, told The Hollywood Reporter (via AnimeNewsNetwork and RocketNews). “She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place.”
“Ideally, everyone should be able to live where they want to, and in the multiracial sense Japan will probably become much more similar to the West.” – Masamune Shirow (Creator of the manga)
There you have it, from the creator’s mouths. If your familiar with the source material you will realise her body is a mass production model with customised internal combat parts. Her name is also incidental as her body was destroyed before she was two years old, her nationality of origin is unknown. Batou is also based on Steven Seagal with the remaining characters being Japanese in origin. I own all the Ghost in the Shell Mangas, books, anime series, and films, and I can tell you that the ethnic origins of the main character is utterly unimportant to the core themes explored therein. The film and manga contains aspects of zen, epistemological nihilism, christian imagery, and the exploration of “what is real?” The reflecting water and various light reflections throughout the montage and scenes with crowded streets create a surreal effect that makes the viewer question whether it is a dream or reality Motoko is seeing. It also questions the nature of conciousness, the very idea of identity within a synthetic body. The idea of the singularity where humans merge with technology to achieve transcendence, Nanotechnology, micro machines, advanced networking, and genetic engineering also play a reoccurring roll through out the series. I don’t expect everyone to know about that, after all your talking about a five hundred plus pages of manga and the hours of content within the series and films. But it really seems like people who are not familiar with the source material chimed in and this was the first thing they saw a white chick in a movie based on a Japanese anime.
All that said i’m concerned about the film staying true to the source material which is indeed uniquely Japanese. From what I’ve read it seems Oshi san is onboard and acting as a consultant for quality control. Also the film will contain the original score composed by Kenji Kawai and a recent press event had him playing with live orchestration, along to footage of the major’s “birthing sequence” from the original 1995 film. I’m afraid that the film will use the “confused girl wondering who she is trope.” When really she questions her existence and the nature of consciousness, but she never does it in a scared and whiny way. She is after all THEE best combat cyborg in the world and a military, tactical, and cyber security/hacker genius. She is someone who commands respect and does not second guess herself at all during combat. I hope that the trailer only shows a side that will get westerners into the theatre, I’m ok with promoting it for a western audience. But once the film starts I hope they don’t loose site Shirow’s original philosophical and hard science themes. I’m terrified at the idea of a masterpiece of Anime and Manga being made into another generic action flick.