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plastique
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 28
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 Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:01 pm |
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Gatsu-
Its true that Memiors of a giesha wasn't very realistic and Dreamworks screwed up the casting by not casting Japanese leads, but I was just pointing out an example where Hollywood made a film with Asian characters that they at least attempted to make human(though the film wasn't exactly great).
As for Die Hard, The Departed, and The Girl Next Door, I was just showing some recent American examples of how they would use Asians as caricatures and racial jokes(see also: I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry, which has a white guy in pretending to be an Asian with a horrible accent, and Asian prostitutes).
Those movies also seem to view the racial discrimination of the Asian characters as entertainment. This seems to be a policy with some of these films, racism-as-entertainment as long as not many people protest it. |
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GATSU
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 8407
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:12 pm |
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plastique: It became politically incorrect to make black people into caricatures after UPN ended its reign of terror, so Asians are more convenient.  Anyway, all kidding aside, you'd really get a kick out of Finishing the Game. |
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Lowlife187
Joined: 17 Dec 2004
Posts: 91
Location: New Macross City
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:23 pm |
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Someone please shot me  Why oh why are they making a Dragonball live action!!! Haven't we been put through enough with the 1,000 episodes of Z and please lets not talk about GT 
(if you can't tell I don't care for the anime, so bash me if you must) |
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plastique
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:27 pm |
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Gatsu-
I have seen Finishing the Game! It was hilarious, and was the thing that opened me up to this how Hollywood views Asians in the first place. Awesome movie.
Whenever they demean black people in film there's always hell to pay. Lawsuits, protests, etc... but as for Asians, like I said, 4% of America is not going to make a big enough fuss for them.
I don't think they are going to put racial jokes into Dragonball, but the fact that they cast Goku as white shows that a producer said, "I don't think America likes Asians. We need a white lead." If they ever make that Eva movie, the same thing would occur. |
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bakaShin
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 84
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:14 pm |
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judging from the pics and comments this isnt going be accurate to the manga/anime. from the pic with Chatwin walking in front of the yellow car:
This particular set is for "Unitech High School" where Goku will take classes. According to the site, the license plates of all the cars say "City Of The Future", while the cars themselves run on "solar cells". In the scene being shot, Goku is ridding a bike when the yellow sports car hits him.
looks like its going take place when goku is a teen (guessing after the end of db but before dbz but most likely not manga related) and no good can come from this if they plan to do a modernize rendition of it. please don't let this be like a disney/high school teen bop drama with martial arts added where goku is the clumsy naive kid, bulma is the rich girl, chi chi is the shy girl who likes goku, yamcha is the cool looking anti social guy, piccolo is the semi evil douche, and Pilaf is the evil genius. then the power of their martial arts come from the dragonballs......  |
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mrsatan
Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 198
Location: Olympia, WA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:59 pm |
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| CCSYueh wrote: | | Saiyans are from another planed for heaven's sake. Asians are from outer space? Really, peoples... Stop being closed-minded about it. |
But "Caucasians from space" does make sense to you? You might want to re-think that one.
| CCSYueh wrote: | | Yamcha had that symbol on his shirt so, yeah, he should be Asian. Goku's grandfather also seemed Asian by his dress. Master Roshi seemed pretty generically a dirty old man, no particular cultural type. Krillin maybe, maybe not. Yajirobe seemed Asian. Ox King-not really, though Chi Chi did (Asian mom culturally influencing the girl?) |
"Roshi" is actually supposed to be "Laoshi", Chinese for master or teacher. (His name is really Muten {Wutian}.) Kuririn should be Asian; he was a Buddhist monk from the Duolin Temple. Ox-King is based on Niu Mo Wang from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Most of the early Dragon Ball characters (with the probable exception of Bulma, as you said) are supposed to be Chinese.
Yajirobe and Murasaki (and of course most of the Dr. Slump characters) are the few characters that are intended to be Japanese. |
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tygerchickchibi
Joined: 29 Sep 2006
Posts: 795
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:19 pm |
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Isn't Goku an alien, though? Not particularly of "Asian descent," or any in race particular.
Though it's obvious he's NOT black. PFFT. |
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Vuwazy
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 208
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:52 pm |
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| tygerchickchibi wrote: | | Isn't Goku an alien, though? Not particularly of "Asian descent," or any in race particular. |
Yeah, he is. He still looks human too though. After all he did marry one.
| Quote: | | Though it's obvious he's NOT black. PFFT. |
Can you say the same about Mr. Popo? |
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eloyabun
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 55
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:05 pm |
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| Raoh wrote: | I wonder how Shiro is going to pulled off?
I mean, he's a half dog half human ninja (Which, if ya think about it, is quite awesome. Remember kids, Toriyama invented Ninja dogs LONG before Kishimoto did!), so, unless they're gonna have awesome special effects (Which at this stage, I am expecting), than this is gonna suck.
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The setting in Dragon Ball was fantastic. Besides anthropomorphic animals, it also had living dinosaurs, robots, flying cars and futuristic architecture. The only thing that was barely similar to that was the Star Wars universe, I think.
Reading the news about this movie, I’m afraid that much of the background of Dragon Ball will be lost, and that is kind of disappointing. The last I read is that right now some scenes are being shoot in Coyoacan (Mexico City). I lived in that place, and I can tell you that it doesn’t look like anything I can remember from Dragon Ball. Total Recall was also filmed in Mexico City years ago and they someway managed to make the City look like a dystopian future, so right now the only thing I can do is wait for the final product.. |
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tygerchickchibi
Joined: 29 Sep 2006
Posts: 795
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:41 pm |
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| Vuwazy wrote: | | tygerchickchibi wrote: | | Isn't Goku an alien, though? Not particularly of "Asian descent," or any in race particular. |
Yeah, he is. He still looks human too though. After all he did marry one.
| Quote: | | Though it's obvious he's NOT black. PFFT. |
Can you say the same about Mr. Popo? |
o_o Mr Popo is Black in color, but he's also with a namek. Who knows. *shrugs.*
He could be an alien too, I never really questioned it, but he also wears a turban.... >.>; soooo, then what? |
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CCSYueh
Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 1911
Location: San Diego, CA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:58 pm |
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| mrsatan wrote: | | CCSYueh wrote: | | Saiyans are from another planed for heaven's sake. Asians are from outer space? Really, peoples... Stop being closed-minded about it. |
But "Caucasians from space" does make sense to you? You might want to re-think that one.
| CCSYueh wrote: | | Yamcha had that symbol on his shirt so, yeah, he should be Asian. Goku's grandfather also seemed Asian by his dress. Master Roshi seemed pretty generically a dirty old man, no particular cultural type. Krillin maybe, maybe not. Yajirobe seemed Asian. Ox King-not really, though Chi Chi did (Asian mom culturally influencing the girl?) |
"Roshi" is actually supposed to be "Laoshi", Chinese for master or teacher. (His name is really Muten {Wutian}.) Kuririn should be Asian; he was a Buddhist monk from the Duolin Temple. Ox-King is based on Niu Mo Wang from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Most of the early Dragon Ball characters (with the probable exception of Bulma, as you said) are supposed to be Chinese.
Yajirobe and Murasaki (and of course most of the Dr. Slump characters) are the few characters that are intended to be Japanese. |
Point being if they aren't specifically indicated as Asian, they could be anything since the DBZ world is multi-cultural. Ox King & Son Goku are demons, aren't they? Goku's a monkey. Oolong's a pig. (Never could figure out if Bulma was supposed to be Sanzo or if Yamcha was the kappa)
My point about being closed minded was the characters don't all have to be Asian just because the story it's based on is Asian. Toriyama made it pretty obvious there were all sorts there, not just Asians. |
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Animefan16
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 973
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:20 pm |
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| bakaShin wrote: |
This particular set is for "Unitech High School" where Goku will take classes. According to the site, the license plates of all the cars say "City Of The Future", while the cars themselves run on "solar cells". In the scene being shot, Goku is ridding a bike when the yellow sports car hits him.
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Sounds like a good cheese flick. Whether or not it will suck, I'll probably enjoy it. If it's good, cool. If it's bad, I'll laugh. |
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NomakeWan
Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:39 pm |
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| CCSYueh wrote: | Saiyans are from another planed for heaven's sake. Asians are from outer space? Really, peoples.
Toriyama also commented he used English words for Vegeta's attack names because he wanted something that sounded foreign to Japanese ears & English seemed pretty foreign to him.
Yamcha had that symbol on his shirt so, yeah, he should be Asian. Goku's grandfather also seemed Asian by his dress. Master Roshi seemed pretty generically a dirty old man, no particular cultural type. Krillin maybe, maybe not. Yajirobe seemed Asian. Ox King-not really, though Chi Chi did (Asian mom culturally influencing the girl?) Bulma and her family never came across as Asian. The King was an animal & animals fought in the Tourni as if they were normal members of society. Tienshinhan had 3 eyes (Real Asian there. Actually sounds more alien than Saiyans) Chiaotsu looked like a china doll come to life. That school Gohan went to-did Sharpner seem Asian to anyone?
Stop being closed-minded about it. |
Way to go. As soon as I saw the cast list, that's the first thing I thought; that they were casting Asian characters where they make sense (Chi-Chi, Yamcha, Mai) and seem to be freely casting places where race doesn't have to come into play (Goku [saiyan], Piccolo [namek], Bulma). Was totally logical to me. Neat that they're going for a Dragonball angle, though. I wonder if they'll do a sequel to it if the first is successful at the box office? |
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Bunk
Joined: 06 Sep 2004
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:56 pm |
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Does anyone know what kind of budget they're getting for this? That might be one of the best indicators what kind of show this will turn out to be. I want fireworks, man. Big CG kamehameha's. I want to be visually dazzled, if nothing else. DBZ is known for its action, so I just hope they have the money to do it justice. The fight scenes are phenomenal and one of its selling points. I'm not getting my hopes up for the story line (Goku in High School? C'mon!)
But I said it before and I'll say it again, I'll be seeing it opening night no matter how bad it might turn out. I gotta support it. After reading the DBZ manga recently, I am convinced that Akira Toriyama merits every bit of fame and success he garnished from creating Dragonball Z. His artwork and characterizations are top notch.
btw - James Marsters would be a great Demon King Piccolo, but The Rock would be an amazing Piccolo Jr. If this thing has a sequel and the Demon King spits out his baby Piccolo egg, I hope they'll find a way to cast The Rock. |
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dewlwieldthedarpachief
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 235
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:38 am |
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| ikillchicken wrote: |
I would be if we were talking about them say...editing the actual anime. However they aren't. They are making a hollywood adaptation. I can understand wanting it to stay true to the original material but realistically thats just not possible. Hollywood adaptations have to appeal to manstream audiences which will require changes. |
Well, you have me there. Cinema is more business than anything I suppose, especially where Hollywood is concerned. Kind of begs the question: why Hollywood? Casshern was made for something like $40 million, right? Or Hong Kong, they made an Initial D movie, so why the hell not a DBZ one? Now that I think about it, it seems like strange way to go about things.
| CCSYueh wrote: |
My point about being closed minded was the characters don't all have to be Asian just because the story it's based on is Asian. Toriyama made it pretty obvious there were all sorts there, not just Asians. |
That's all fine and dandy - but like the other guy pointed out, Goku IS pretty Asian, and its like they have to swim upstream in American movies. Its distressing because to some of us at least this seems like its just plain and simple a poor choice. Gotta admit, this might seem obsessive, but for all the talk of being "close minded" it seems like it is the casting people being close minded by pussing out on an opportunity to have an Asian lead.
But who knows, maybe nobody else showed up. |
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