| 1. | (4 posts) | How To Show A Video |
| 2. | (12 posts) | Princess Mononoke DVD - Finally? |
| 3. | (14 posts) | Andrew's Nausicaa Article |
We looked at 111 posts by 58 different contributors.
The issue is already late, so why slow it down? ^_^
William Harris wrote, "I'm the President of my university's anime club, and we want to screen Mononoke at our premiere showing. Trouble is that I can't find any contact info for Miramax." Marc Hairston game some tips about obtaining the actual film print, "contact you student affairs office and find out whatever group shows films for campus wide activities. . . They have catalogs from the film distributors who specialize in renting 16mm films to colleges and they will probably have one offering Mononoke for rent."
Michael Johnson followed through to the (uneventful) ending. "It turns out that he wanted to show a videotape of the dub. I helped him contact Buena Vista Home Entertainment, who promptly replied to grant permission, on the condition that the tape was the official version." BVHE deals with videotapes and DVDs while Miramax handles the actual film prints.
Mark Yates reported that DVDTalk put up a blurb on the Princess Mononoke DVD. "Princess Mononoke has an official release date on DVD of December 19. . . 5.1 Dolby Digital English audio track AND a 5.1 Dolby Digital Original Japanese Audio Track" Shun Chan noted that Image Entertainment had updated their DVD database with the info. Robin Casady pointed out that an anonymous BVHE rep had said, "the English subtitles on the Mononoke DVD are literal English translations of the Japanese dub"
No offical annoucement about the PM DVD from BVHE appeared as this issue went to press.
Andrew Osmond sent work of his revised Nausicaa article (originally published in 1998), causing quite a stir. As with most unwieldy topics, it divereged into several different threads. One section brought up for discussion by Mike Arnold was, "One reason for the Disney deal is Miyazaki's perceived lack of 'ethnocentricity', for whether by accident or design his work draws extensively on Western sources and settings." He commented, "It isn't clear to me how Miyazaki's work. . . reflects on the idea of ethnocentrism (in relation to the west, anyway). . . obviously Miyazaki took a lot of inspiration from western fiction, but I'm at a loss to understand how Miyazaki's "western" images, references and styles (?) in themselves serve as a starting point for a "lack of ethnocentrism"."
Andrew responded, "I may have misused the word. . . I'm now aware, however, that the usual dictionary meaning is 'a belief in the _superiority_ of x culture.' This was not the meaning I had in mind, and it may render the sentence fatuous. My apologies. . . To me, it did seem overwhelmingly likely that the prevalent Western influences and settings, and the corresponding lack of Japanese settings and cultural references made the films more attractive to Disney." Robin Cassady challenged Andrew's Disney notion, "Mononoke Hime was the jewel in the crown of the Disney deal, and it has a number of elements that rely on Japanese cultural references.
1. The cutting of Ashitaka's hair.
2. The history of the period as a context for the film.
3. The forest gods/spirits. I can't think of an analog in western culture.
4. The nature of the curse -- how it is contracted and the fear/hatred aspect.
5. The role of a priest as agent/assassin for the Emperor; leading a band of warrior priests with poison darts seems rather non-western to me.
Andrew's thought (in a reply) that Disney bought the rights to Mononoke Hime without knowing what it was like was confirmed by Ryoko Toyama, "At that time, MH was still in production. . . Mr. Michael Johnson, then the president of BVHE saw the trailer of MH. . . Ghibli deliberately included the flying arms and heads in the trailer (Mr. Suzuki said that he wanted challenge Disney people). After watching it, Mr. Johnson said, " It's a tough movie."" Michael Wojcik came up with examples to each of Robin's points.
Toru Kumagai posted a list of stores in Osaka that sell Studio Ghibli goods. Shun Chan put up reviews of Princess Mononoke from Premiere and the Christian Science Monitor
Life with a single phone line is difficult. Here's hoping my cable modem gets installed quick!