| 1. | (9 posts) | Panda Ko Panda DVD Impressions |
| 2. | (24 posts) | Gender Everything |
| 3. | (14 posts) | Where are the Fanfics? |
We looked at 106 posts by 48 different contributors.
Back to semi-normal status this week. Jet lag isn't so bad! I can go right back to my normal sched. . . (clunk!)
The DVD release of Panda Ko Panda brought out comments from several people. David Athay wrote, "if you buy this DVD\Video thinking you are getting another Miyazaki
full length, think again. This is 2 episodes of a TV program and as such the animation level is much lower (although very Miyazaki in style.)" Ryoko Toyama replied, "They are theatrical shorts. . . the budget was very limited, and they are closer to the TV animation quality than a big-budget feature-length film you expect from recent Ghibli films.
But they are still very good. :)
Noah Selsby added, "it immediately reminded me of a cross between Cagliostro (goofy, less realistic style) and Totoro (Panda)." Bruce Jones took a more critical view, "If you compare it with the works of other animators around the same time such as "the jungle Emperor" by Tezuka, I don't think it comes up trumps." Chi Chung Tse played the defender, "'Panda''s animation quality is definately great and consistant even compared to the rest of the other anime shows at that period (but unforturnately the film had a not too high production value). Even Tezuka's films always fell into "great design, great story but the fellow animator couldn't keep up with the quality" type which is a norm most of the time." Recommendations on purchasing varied from "definitely in the "curiosity and rarity" for older collectors" to "this is not to say that it is not an essential part of a collection nor that you should not run out and buy it. to "I think Panda Kopanda is great. . . I even like it more than Totoro."
Chris Meadows started the Thread of the Week© with, "I think that the gender reversal theme that goes through the movie is just too prevalent to be coincidental. . . I'm not sure what it's supposed to _mean_, but it's there." Deborah Goldsmith replied, "I hate to be a wet blanket, but I have never gotten any impression of any kind of theme of gender reversal from watching this film. Perhaps you can argue it's there from some kind of theoretical perspective, but it's never come across to me that way."
Michael Wojcik wrote, "Characterization in PM isn't about portraying "both" sides of human nature; it's about portraying *many* sides. . . I don't think gender's a particular concern in the film at all. . . Eboshi was clever in identifying under-utilized labor pools that would return loyalty for opportunity. One of those pools happened to be heavily weighted toward one gender, but that wasn't the decisive factor. . . It could be argued that women have most of the power in the film. But besides Ashitaka himself, and the gender-ambiguous Forest Spirit, what about Jiko Bou, the Emperor he represents, and his various bands of not-very-merry men?"
Deborah also wrote, "I think this is what disturbs me most about this discussion. Why is it that when women do things usually associated with men, like leadership, they are thought to be becoming men in some way?" To which Mike Arnold replied, "Because, very unfortunately, that is the way our societies still are! . . . I don't think the issue is as simple as they "become men" though. They are women taking on what are recognized to be men's roles and behaviors. They are becoming men in the sense that they are representing areas conventionally termed "male."" Mike continued with, "To me the film isn't about well-rounded, "100%" people in the kind of sense some of us are applying here. It's more about wearing a mask, playing a role... The main point of tension is where all these transformational identities meet, on the border between nature and industrialization."
Michael replied to Mike's second point, "This suggests another interesting idea: read the film in terms of Bruno Latour's critique of modernity in _We Have Never Been Modern_. Latour claims that the essential problem with modernity is that it's founded on a division between nature and culture that doesn't actually exist, and that no one really believes in anyway. I don't know if Latour's seen _PM_, but he'd probably like it. . . I think you're right, by the way, in locating the film's energy in the tension among *adopted* identities with conflicting interests, and not in *imposed* identity categories like gender. . . _PM_ is about strong characters in conflict."
Carmine Red commented, "I haven't been able to find a lot of fanfiction out there based on Hayao Miyazaki's work!. . . Why do you guys think this is?" Joe Monson replied, "I think it's because people have a greater respect for his work and don't want to take away from his works in any way. Therefore, fewer people feel they can show enough respect to his work." Joe also included a list of Miyazaki fanfics he's found.
Deborah Goldsmith added, "I've thought of some ideas for Ghibli fanfics. A couple are of the "10 or 20 years later" variety. I think that there are also lots of nooks and crannies that *could* be filled in. . . I think there are lots of opportunities for stories that respect the original work, don't undermine it, and explore other interesting facets of the characters or situations." Tom Tanida chipped in with, "But when I think of respecting Miyazaki's work with regards to fanfic, it's not that I think a fanfic would disrespect the work, it's that I think the works are of such high caliber that it would be extraordinarily difficult to write a fanfic as a follow-up, since I personally would expect near-equivalent quality as the original.
But if you're that good of a writer, you should be writing actual movies, not fanfics. ;-)
Anchor Bay reported that they will not be releasing the Nausicaa DVD. Joe Monson posted an article from the Daily Yomiuri entitled, "Japan pays tribute to its animation heritage". Nausicaa.net is down (again), but the site will remain accessible thanks to a mirror. Noah Selsby spotted a Totoro tribute in the third DVD of Trigun.
Found a job, but it shouldn't interfere with my writing schedule. Send your comments or questions, see you next week!