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Hey, Answerman! [2009-08-14]


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irishninja



Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 344
Location: Seattle-ish
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:13 am Reply with quote
I got to see Ponyo early at a prerelease showing for free. I got my money's worth, at least. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and was quite disappointed as a result. So if you're going to see it, go in with no expectations! You'll enjoy it more. Smile
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1323
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:17 am Reply with quote
If GI Joe is as bad as either the Mummy films or Van Helsing (all Stephen Sommers flicks), movies I found enjoyment in, then no doubt I'll still enjoy GI Joe.

I found the Happy Feet video utterly, helplessly irresistable. You can't not smile at that kind of cuteness.
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doctordoom85



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 2091
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:39 am Reply with quote
I dunno, anime may not be as diverse as other countries' fiction, but I don't think it's that bad. I could name a ton of anime with non-stereotypical black characters (and even ones that are stereotypical aren't always bad. Killerbee from Naruto is definitely stereotypical, but he's also insanely awesome, and the other black characters in the series aren't stereotypes so it makes up for it somewhat), and many series will often have one or more characters from America, UK, Mexico, Australia, etc.

It's not as bad as, say, the CW (as Mad TV put it, the "Pretty White Kids With Problems" network Laughing).
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:08 am Reply with quote
I was reminded by Brian's column this week of a Japanese friend of mine, who one day changed his Facebook profile picture to a picture of him... in HIP-HOP BLACKFACE.

Horrified, I e-mailed him to inform him of the gigantic faux-pas he had made by American standards, to the point where he might be unemployable in the States. He took it down, and I was amused to find that he was really shocked. He thought he was just cosplaying...

Half of what we ascribe to racism is ignorance and lack of exposure.
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:25 am Reply with quote
Quote:
people on the internet are jerks.

I think that could be revised to...
Quote:
people are jerks.

Because I've seen that same elitism and inside joke mentality at cons and clubs. The 'I've got 500 gigs of this season's animu and seen them all and if you don't get this reference to then latest moe blob show in Japan you suck' mentality leaks out to the real world too.


As for race in anime, I'd say they're anime characters representing Japanese (usually) in a very generic stylized homogeneous cartoon look that mirrors the racial homogeneity in their culture. Meanwhile, yes, it is informed by the large eyes of western cartoons going all the way back to Tezuka. I dunno, pretty much same thing in the reply, different wording.

Quote:
Japan loves stuff like Hip-Hop and what-have-you

Hip hop? I believe you mean reggae. You know, like Janet Jackson and Will Smith. -_-



That was taken in 2005. I.. I got nothing to follow that.

Oh and that's my black friend, let's call him.. Alan, who actually lives in Japan. He got married to a Chinese girl, so nuts to racial homogeneity in Japan. Gotta start small. And yes, being Chinese is very very different from Japanese over in Japan despite how often they're lumped together in America.

Oh and yes... avoid GI Joe like the plauge. I'm a GI Joe fan and despite Snake Eyes being awesome, it's full of the stupid typical Hollywood changes and cliches I'm avoiding it. Why is Baroness Duke's ex? Why is {spoilers} Duke's best friend and brother to {spoiler}? What contrived BS is that? And Scarlett and Ripcord are set up as a couple? What? I don't even remember Ripcord! Ugh.. from the director of Van Hellsing indeed..... And dear crap I hate nanites now...

Meanwhile, I've got Evangelion 1.0 at the local ar thouse theater this weekend and trying to figure out the when and how and who to see it. Then Ponyo.
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John Casey



Joined: 31 May 2009
Posts: 1853
Location: In My Angry Center
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:46 am Reply with quote
I better not get frak on here for being a "dishonest customer" about this...but the sweetest anime deals I've ever gotten were always at the courtesy of FYE used-DVDs screw ups, alongside traders with no common sense...

Here's an example: I got the entire Madlax box set for $15 give or take. Why...? Well that's simple...cause someone lacked the common sense, and stuffed all the DVDs into the Volume 1 LE box, while FYE scanned it and marked the entire set as......Volume 1 LE.

Some of the stuff I got this way was....GITS Stand Alone Complex, Full Metal Panic! TSR, and Eureka Seven.

The Xenos wrote:

Oh and yes... avoid GI Joe like the plauge. I'm a GI Joe fan and despite Snake Eyes being awesome, it's full of the stupid typical Hollywood changes and cliches I'm avoiding it. Why is Baroness Duke's ex? Why is {spoilers} Duke's best friend and brother to {spoiler}? What contrived BS is that? And Scarlett and Ripcord are set up as a couple? What? I don't even remember Ripcord! Ugh.. from the director of Van Hellsing indeed..... And dear crap I hate nanites now...

Dude....DUDE! Are you seriously defending this franchise? Are you really taking the "Well this isn't the GI Joe that I know! Boycott!" route?

Dude, not to burst your bubble...but the cartoon itself is some of the stupidest shit imaginable... So instead of taking the pointless-purist route...go along with something like...umm, a "re-imagining of the GI Joe mythology." Laughing

Really, dude. If you're going into this with that train of thought...you're gonna be disappointed by a lot of things; not just in movies, but life in general.


Last edited by John Casey on Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:55 am; edited 3 times in total
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:49 am Reply with quote
Actually, instead of going to see GI Joe this weekend, watch this homage. Hell, I think it has a better cast and direction...

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/076041c13b/the-ballad-of-g-i-joe
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John Casey



Joined: 31 May 2009
Posts: 1853
Location: In My Angry Center
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:55 am Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
Actually, instead of going to see GI Joe this weekend, watch this homage. Hell, I think it has a better cast and direction...

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/076041c13b/the-ballad-of-g-i-joe

...No... Confused
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:59 am Reply with quote
John Casey wrote:
Dude....DUDE! Are you seriously defending this franchise? Are you really taking the "Well this isn't the GI Joe that I know! Boycott!" route?

Dude, not to burst your bubble...but the cartoon itself is some of the stupidest shit imaginable... So instead of taking the pointless-purist route...go along with something like...umm, a "re-imagining of the GI Joe mythology." Laughing

Really, dude. If you're going into this with that train of thought...you're gonna be disappointed by a lot of things; not just in movies, but life in general.
It's not that they made it different. It's that they somehow made it worse. Somehow they made it dumber than an 80s kid toon. From the "what a twist" character developments to the horrible designs. Plus the comics were a bit better than the cartoon. Or so I hear. It's the mentality that something needs to change to fit Hollywood that bugs me. Instead of building on what's there, they just make crap up and shove it in if it fits or not. Again, I know the Joe toon was bad. (And the movie was total crap, even as a kid.) Yet somehow this looks even worse. Plus the lead actor said the GI Joe movie wasn't a war movie, but a sci fi movie. What?

Anyway... Ponyo looks way better anyway. Goes without saying.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:16 am Reply with quote
Here in the US, don't we have the little stereotypes of hot Asian chicks, psycho Asian chicks, etc? Asian to me has always seemed exotic. I can't see Asians seeing themselves as exotic so they would see something else as exotic & just as we in the US see Canadians a certain way (actually lots of different Canadian stereotypes exist) & I know thye see us in certain ways, the Japanese see China & India in certain ways so it would make sense you would want to differentiate a cute Japanese schoolgirl from a hot Chinese girl.
Realistically most Americans cannot tell the dif between someone from Japan, someone from China, or someone from Vietnam. Those that can tend to be those who have more extensive dealings with Asians so the average American Anime fan is likely unable to distinguish the characters outside of the exaggerated ones. If anything, most fans seem to believe if the hair is anything but black/brown, it's a Caucasian character.

Look at Onizuka/GTO. Pretty much can pass for American, except in the exaggerated moments (freaking out) when he is drawn VERY Asian. This happens in lots of anime & manga suggesting it is more the short-cut/generic look of the characters. It's not a detailed artform. To me, lots of the characters do look Japanese(Asian), even some who are not necessarily Japanese. In my opinion lots of manga characters look very Japanese, although this does get reduced in anime because the whole making the image easy to represent every week without spending 3 hrs on detail for just one character. I've seen manga artists curse themselves for giving a character a detail that takes lots of work above & beyond the few quick lines of the other characters.
Look at FMP--we have an international cast which all do look basically the same. Gundam also usually is international. FMA we have a mythical land-who knows what nationality they really represent (although it seems European). This also goes for Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth, & all the alternate world stuff.

The thing that gets me is the names.
Foreign characters with Japanese names. Even if our authors opt for a generic Lee or some such, most I've read go with some Asian name they've seen used somewhere, yet we get "Shun from America". Even the half-Japanese characers. I see more than my share of Asians in America given American names, so I sort of expect a certain number (not all) of the half-Japanese characters showing up in manga would be named Michael or John or Tristan, but it never seems to happen. Where are the Ashleigh's & Brittany's visiting Japan? It would be fun to have an anime hero named Travis or Jeremy. How about Guillermo?
This isn't Ed & Al. Maybe it's a shojo trick to make the character more exotic, but we see all these hot guys who are half Japanese who grew up in the States with Japanese names.
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John Casey



Joined: 31 May 2009
Posts: 1853
Location: In My Angry Center
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:26 am Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
John Casey wrote:
Dude....DUDE! Are you seriously defending this franchise? Are you really taking the "Well this isn't the GI Joe that I know! Boycott!" route?

Dude, not to burst your bubble...but the cartoon itself is some of the stupidest shit imaginable... So instead of taking the pointless-purist route...go along with something like...umm, a "re-imagining of the GI Joe mythology." Laughing

Really, dude. If you're going into this with that train of thought...you're gonna be disappointed by a lot of things; not just in movies, but life in general.
It's not that they made it different. It's that they somehow made it worse. Somehow they made it dumber than an 80s kid toon. From the "what a twist" character developments to the horrible designs. Plus the comics were a bit better than the cartoon. Or so I hear. It's the mentality that something needs to change to fit Hollywood that bugs me. Instead of building on what's there, they just make crap up and shove it in if it fits or not. Again, I know the Joe toon was bad. (And the movie was total crap, even as a kid.) Yet somehow this looks even worse. Plus the lead actor said the GI Joe movie wasn't a war movie, but a sci fi movie. What?

Whoah, whoah. What did we say about purism....

1-It's downright impossible to make GI Joe worse. It's logic. It's universal law; that cartoon is already scraping the bottom of the barrel. The only thing they could do, is make it 10x dumber, which inadvertently makes it better....which is the case with the movie.

Really, you need to enjoy life more. There's camp, then there's some stupid shit. This is definitely the latter, and because of that, the movie is far from boring. Which is saying a LOT considering the source material...

The best way I can possibly describe this movie is....like hammering a nail to your head. It hurts like the Devi's dick at first...but, soon after you just kinda go numb...

If you wanna see bad, like, lightyears-beyond source material-rape kind of bad, check out Turkish Star Wars. GI Joe is gonna seem like a sure-fire Oscar winner after you watch that tomfoolery.
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The Xenos



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 1519
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:51 am Reply with quote
Wait. I got a better way to put why I don't care for the new GI Joe.

I enjoyed Team America back when they used puppets. I didn't need to see a live action remake. Plus Kim Jong Il was a better billian. And such better motivation. He's just ronry and sadly arone.
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marklungo



Joined: 30 Aug 2006
Posts: 80
Location: Berea, Ohio
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:11 pm Reply with quote
Is it just me, or does the guy in the puppy video sound exactly like Mojo Jojo?
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John Casey



Joined: 31 May 2009
Posts: 1853
Location: In My Angry Center
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:29 pm Reply with quote
The Xenos wrote:
Wait. I got a better way to put why I don't care for the new GI Joe.

I enjoyed Team America back when they used puppets. I didn't need to see a live action remake. Plus Kim Jong Il was a better billian. And such better motivation. He's just ronry and sadly arone.

You know what...when I frickin think about it....if you replace the actors with marionettes in this movie....that's pretty much Team America 2.

Holy shit... Besides, don't insult Christopher Eccleston. That guy was acting ass off in this movie; this shit was Hamlet to him. This was stuff of Martin Scorcese caliber; he was earning his paycheck. Or...trying to.

I mean, what can you say about the rest of the cast?
Eccleston: I'm going to....DESSSTROOOOY THE WOOOORLD!
Rest of the Crew: Uuuuhh, YO JOE!
Dennis Quaid: ... *trying way too hard NOT to bust out laughing before a line*

...Rofl. Sorry dude, but this movie is just way too much fun. Anime hyper
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AnimeAngel00



Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:01 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
I was reminded by Brian's column this week of a Japanese friend of mine, who one day changed his Facebook profile picture to a picture of him... in HIP-HOP BLACKFACE.

Horrified, I e-mailed him to inform him of the gigantic faux-pas he had made by American standards, to the point where he might be unemployable in the States. He took it down, and I was amused to find that he was really shocked. He thought he was just cosplaying...

Half of what we ascribe to racism is ignorance and lack of exposure.


Ditto. With my experiences in college with various asian and indian (from India) exchange students that I spoken with and befriended, hearing about culture shocks and misunderstandings are amusing and, at times, kinda sad. Just a short while ago in one of my classes, a korean exchange student had a crush on my black gal pal, come up to her after class, and try to speak broken english"hip hop" slang in VERY baggy pants, baggy shirt ,and a long chain....priceless Laughing She's not at all "hip hop"; She's into alternative and indie music and dresses in A&E fashion. Of course, I'm laughing my butt off while she tried to get away from him. Hopefully, the student's "hip hop" phrase will disappear, tone down drastically, or he'll actually understand what hip hop culture is (I be dang if I knew) . Ah....sweet, sweet media Rolling Eyes
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