| 1. | (24 posts) | Gender Theories in Mononoke |
| 2. | (3 posts) | Spirited Away Reactions from Non-fans |
We looked at 98 posts by 46 different contributors.
Arrg! Started creating this issue on one computer, forgot to transfer the file, now back to square one.
Starting off with a 2001 leftover. Since I didn't follow the list carefully while on vacation, I'm not sure at the exact start of this thread. Nevertheless, it centered around Ashitaka and the women of Irontown. It didn't seem that way when Bruce posted, but it somehow ended up there, "I believe this ties in with the gender/role-reversal theme that runs throughout the entire film.
Brief comparison of 3 members of each gender in the film.
1. Moro - Leader of the wolf-pack and San.
In contrast to this we have the 3 lead males in the film.
1. Ashitaka - Poster boy of the film, obviously there only to attract the female audience, notice how the women oogle over him when he arrives in the village? Is there any reason for this, apart from the humour value?
2. Eboshi - Leader of iron town.
3. The oracle - One of the leaders of Ashitaka's hometown, and the only one who gets decent screentime.
2. Gonza - A man of dubious intelligence.
3. Jiko-bou - The servant of the mikado, and a despicable evil man.
The key to the thread is Bruce's query about the "oogling" of Ashitaka. Chris Kuan replied, "I think it humanises the women as women rather than just ex-prostitutes. Just because they used to sell sex doesn't mean they don't know the meaning of flirting, or romance."
Bruce wrote back, "You could also liken the behaviour to that of male construction workers, they are treating him more like a piece of meat than a man. Romance/Flirting is normally a mutual action, Ashitaka doesn't show any signs of being receptive to their advances."
Andrew Osmond added, "One might as well say that Eboshi or San are only poster girls (San _was_ a poster girl). Ashitaka shapes the story far more than them. And if you insist on putting such broad gender spins on the film, it's arguable the way Ashitaka KOs Eboshi and San in the fight scene proves the film's male chauvinism."
A bit of premonition from Andrew, "Well, this was argued at length. We'll have to part company..." His quote referred to an earlier spat over Bruce's #3 male point, but it might as well applied to this thread, Bruce and Andrew duked it out into next week. The thread isn't too interesting past this point unless you're into gender theory. Go for it.
Interesting post by Havel Ormaci on taking non-anime fans to see "Spirited Away", "I watched Sen for the second time in Hong Kong, this time with colleagues and friends who are mostly American and/or Canadian, not hyperly exposed to Anime and we watched it on my recommendation. . . Afterwards we went for Dinner and talked a bit about the movie. Here are some points (not that I agree with them) that ended up coming back, though I didn't agree with them, it seemed in many situations a bit futile to discuss them but here were some of them.
1. Fun but seemed like a rip-off of Alice in Wonderland
There was also very little discussion about plot. Mostly effect. It was interesting particularly because it was a crowd that didn't know who Miyazaki was or his background and so I thought it most interesting to observe. Typically a movie that will have moved them would most likely have usually given a lot of discussions (in the past), I was expecting comments on the movie's plot, or actions like why this, why that, or whichever, this movie had plenty of discussion points (in my view).
2. Some couldn't stop laughing at the green heads
3. A "different" kind of animation, I wouldn't send MY kids to watch it
4. Most would not watch it again
Mark Yates (in a totally different thread) remarked, "CG animated films seem to appeal to adults a lot more than traditionally animated films. The audience cross-over is a lot greater I'd bet. I'm sure it's not just the story that's better, CG is the in-thing that looks cooler, cleaner, better. Just look at the b.o. of Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. both have been huge hits. . . you have to release a pretty special film to get people to go to see it at the cinema, and animation isn't special enough to that many people. . . so in short - maybe we can't just blame those marketing people!"
On a related note, Stephen Lau posted the box office results for "Spirited Away" in Hong Kong.
Mike Arnold finds Mark Shilling's top movies of 2001 list. Guess what film is #1? Frederic Goetzinger posted the details to the upcoming French DVD of "My Neighbors the Yamadas". David Mankins finds that Miyazaki was awarded a Big Prize in France. Kids, stay off the crack. Marc Hairston is back teaching that anime stuff. The Miyazaki Web turns 7 years old.
We now return you to your normal programming. See you next week.