| 1. | (3 posts) | Brazilian Film Festival |
| 2. | (18 posts) | "Sen" Strikes Japan |
We looked at 84 posts by 44 different contributors.
A _dramatic_ improvement over the past few weeks. Why, there's a full 100% more threads this week!
Another Small World example. Fabio Burla wrote, "There is an animation festival called Anima Mundi that is happening in Rio de Janeiro since the July 13rd (will end in 22), and is later going to São Paulo from July 25th to 29th. It's a large festival with animation from everywhere in the world, and they brought some really nice anime presented by the producer Takashi Namiki. Along with some very old anime short movies from his archive, we have exhibitions of Serohiki no Goshu and a small exposition with anime posters, sketches and cels from a lot of old classics, including Miyazaki, Takahata and Ghibli works. . . Even though they didn't show any Ghibli movie, Miyazaki's name was remembered with such kind (and well deserved) words from the people who wrote the panels in the exposition."
Ilan Nguyen replied, "Namiki Takashi is the leading person of ANIDO, one of the most ancient groups dedicated to animated film in Japan. He has worked as an animator during the 70's, and is now a producer and publisher in the animation field. . . Could you send some more detailed info on the titles screened, and the materials shown at that exhibit ?. . . I would like to know if some parts of what is held these days in Brazil have something in common (and if so, in which way and proportions) with what had been shown in France two years ago.
I am the one who commited the presentation panels (which were also translated in English) for the Annecy exhibit in 1999, and I know Namiki-san has kept the data file containing them. I would really like to know which materials have been presented at Anima Mundi... The Annecy exhibit took a form displayed in six parts, each one dedicated to the work of one person, animator or background artist.
Fabio wrote back, "I forgot to mention the website of the event, it's http://www.animamundi.com.br, and they have an English version.
The movies (in the site, it's located in Fest Program, Feature Films) were Goshu and Kono Hoshi no Eu-ni (made in 1998). They credited both movies to Takashi Namiki, something that I thought was really weird (I thought they would credit the directors). . . The short movies were presented once by Takashi Namiki himself (he will be doing it again in São Paulo) and later they made other sessions with only the
videos being shown.
I believe these artists you mentioned are the same that were presented in the exhibition I talked about:
A Landmark for Japanese Animation - http://www.animamundi.com.br/prgrm/eexpos.html
With "Sen" opening this week in Japan, a whole mess of threads appeared. Ryoko Toyama wrote about the opening, "According to Yukan Fuji Newspaper, About 2000 people, including 700 who stayed up all night, lined up to see Sen to Chihiro" at Hibiya Scala-Za (and Miyazaki-San's appearance) on July 20.
The total number of the audicence on 20th was 120% of that of Mononoke Hime. Since the number of the theaters has increased compared to Mononoke as well, I'm not sure if I can say that Sen is more popular than Mononoke at this point. However, it seems that Sen has had a good start.
Mike Arnold pointed out a review of the film in the Daily Yomiuri (receiving 3.5/5 stars). The article is no longer on-line, but Chris Kuan quoted part of it, "The film, featuring a town set in Miyazaki's characteristically indeterminate past, gazes more with nostalgia at pre-high-growth Japan than with realism at contemporary society."
Chris commented, "I get the feeling that allegory and (dare I say it) melodrama have given way to literal didactism and realism as the preferred story-telling modes of modern literature and art."
Michael Wojcik replied, "I'd say "sentiment" rather than "melodrama". I don't think Miyazaki's work is melodramatic, but it is sentimental. . . One general conclusion does seem to be that since high literary modernism (Joyce, Woolf, etc.) sentiment has been decidedly out of favor with the literati, and this is not necessarily a Good Thing.
I also know some critics who feel that the experimentalist techniques of high literary modernism itself has been neglected of late, with novelists tending toward, as you put it, "literal didacticism and realism". . .
I don't think it's the academics who are the driving force behind the movement away from sentiment, allegory, and fantasy as prefered narrative modes. For one thing, we aren't the trend-setters. Publishers, distributors, bookstore buying agents, and to a lesser extent
authors and readers have orders of magnitude more influence over what kind of stories get told in novels, and the situation in film is similar. Reviewers like Gerow may bemoan the lack of literal reference to contemporary Japan in _Sen to Chihiro_, but to be honest I doubt they have much influence on the production or reception of movies, from Ghibli or other studios.
David Mankins interjected, "But academics are probably fairly influential among professional critics and the criteria they apply to judging films. . . _PM_ opened to near-universal critical acclaim, but the critical acclaim didn't seem to prompt many people to actually go see the films. Many other films have suffered the same fate (and many other films have been wildly successful despite condemnation by the critics)."
Andrew Osmond wrote, "I sensed a lip-curling distaste for fantasy behind some of the negative Mononoke reviews in America. Here's a trio of examples:" ...example quoting... He continued, "Richard Schickel, a respected veteran critic, thinks so. He wrote in Time that the Firebird sequence 'did everything in ten minutes that Mononoke did in two-and-a-half hours.' Which for me says it all; mythic fantasy is fit for beautiful soundbite vignettes and Shrek-style deconstruction, but for goodness sake don't put it in a serious film."
Michael wrote back, "I'm not arguing that there isn't a certain prejudice out there against fantasy. The article's problem is that it's locating it in the wrong demographic. It's not academia that's anti-fantasy (at least in the US), or (in the majority) anti-popular-culture. It's middlebrow culture which holds fantasy and indeed narrative in general in a certain amount of disdain. . . And *that*, I think, is more than any other factor why _PM_ didn't do particularly well in the US. It was marketed against the grain. Most of the middlebrow audience thinks its shameful to take fantasy seriously. They'll go see _Star Wars_ movies because they can treat them as camp and adopt a superior air - they were just slumming. . .
Academics may not have done much in the way of really good work with Miyazaki yet, but we're not the ones beating him down. That's the weekly soapbox set - the reviewers, the self-appointed arbiters of fashion. In the US today, there's no group farther from being fashionable than academics. . . And I think Chris Kuan was right to see that as in general a distrust of allegory (except the most banal allegory, the business parable, as in _Who Moved My Cheese_). The middle class hates subtlety and indirection.
Mike Arnold chimed in with, "From what I've read, Gerow seems to be a very qualified reviewer. Maybe the problem aren't biases about how 'literal' a movie should be to 'mean' something--if that's what you're suggesting--but instead simply that Miyazaki said it would be about contemporary Japan, and it ended up weighing in more as a nostalgic view of modernizing Japan or whatever, regardless of how literal or allegorical the presentation was."
Michael replied, "Perhaps, but that's a difficult argument for a reviewer to make. The line between nostalgia and allegory is difficult to draw, and in some cases is nonsensical; after all, an overtly nostalgic portrayal can be used for allegorical purposes. . . if that's the argument Gerow wants to make, he could have been clearer. Of course the constraints of the newspaper column format and editorial snippage may have done some injustice to his presentation."
In other related threads. . .
Derek Webster posted about all the different trailers (and in his mind) the resulting confusion.
Mike Arnold fought the Sandman and posted his thoughts on some of the "Sen" TV specials. Mike also found a nice (Japanese only) website dedicated to "Sen".
Andrew Osmond pointed out an article on the Ghibli Museum and a review of "Sen" from the rec.arts.anime.misc newsgroup. Tom Wilkes posted his notes on the new Ekonte volumes. Studio Ghibli is hiring! Julio Gea-Banacloche posted a lengthy report on the Spanish version of Nausicaa. CD Japan now has a section devoted to Studio Ghibli. Deborah Goldsmith noted the use of fiber to stream "Sen" to theaters. Atsushi Fukumoto posted an announcement about Miyazaki's trip to South Korea. A list of similarities between "Final Fantasy: TSW" and "Nausicaa" from Michael Johnson. Marc Hairston looked into a Miyazaki homage in "Atlantis". A good sign. Ryoko Toyama spots an expensive plushie.
OK, so 100% of 1 isn't that impressive.