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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Interesting, Jun-Dai,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Your mention of Miyazaki and your suspicion that the
promoters are going for two hits for the price of one by provoking controversy,
chimes with a piece in London's <EM>Guardian</EM> newspaper last week, 'Ponyo:
can a Japanese fantasy finally animate US audiences ? Miyazaki's latest animé
release follows string of acclaimed cartoons that had muted success in America.'
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/14/ponyo-miyazaki-anime-us-release?commentpage=1">http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/14/ponyo-miyazaki-anime-us-release?commentpage=1</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I originally picked this up in a badly-mangled print piece
the next day (in 'International'[news]) that looked like nothing more than
a studio puff-piece but, even so, the story presumably originated from the
studio *, and the use of 'original' to describe a US version with Hollywood star
high-recognition looks like an attempt to lengthen the news cycle by courting
'controversy'.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>But the connection to this thread is that, whilst dubbing
may often have some comparison to white-washing, when the publicity is all about
identifying home-market stars to the roles, then it has become, I contend,
a process wholly comparable to white-washing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>* - for a comparable, non-Japanese case of a studio
concocting a 'controversy' about subtitles last week, there was -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/used-subtitles-to-watch-the-wire-the-writer-says-thats-just-criminal-1773087.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/used-subtitles-to-watch-the-wire-the-writer-says-thats-just-criminal-1773087.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Roger</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>---- Original Message ----- </DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jd.kinejapan@kurutta.net
href="mailto:jd.kinejapan@kurutta.net">Jun-Dai Bates-Kobashigawa</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 24, 2009 11:25
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: White Washing</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>This reminds me a lot of the controversy around casting a white
actor to play Ged in the TV Earthsea adaptation (Goro Miyazaki's Ged is also
very caucasion-looking), though in that case Ged's dark skin was a matter of
great importance to LeGuin, whereas I'm not sure how much of a similar 'point'
is being made by DiMartin and Konietzko.<BR><BR>Given that Hollywood's idea of
the widest possible audience and the lowest common denominator is a white male
hero, the move makes sense. TV can be niche-targeted, but big-budget
films can't be, and unless your hero is Jackie Chan, Jet Li, or one of a
handful of established-in-the-US martial arts actors, then casting an Asian or
Asian American as your hero qualifies as niche targeting, since white people
will have a bit of a barrier identifying with the character (a barrier that
Asian Americans, African Americans, women, etc., are less likely to have
regarding white protagonists). I am kind of surprised that they chose to
make all three heroes white. That and choosing an Indian for the bad guy
makes it seem like they *want* protest websites and letter-writing
campaigns.<BR><BR>It's unfortunate, but the trend seems to be getting worse
rather than better, despite the slightly increased awareness of Asian films in
the mainstream (Miyazaki, anime in general, Crouching Tiger, etc., and, if it
counts, Slumdog).<BR><BR>How many Japanese American movie actors can you
name? (that's probably why John Cho gets to be
Sulu)<BR><BR><BR>Yours,<BR> Jun-Dai<BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 12:35 PM, Nornes, Mark <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:amnornes@umich.edu">amnornes@umich.edu</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
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<DIV><FONT face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">There has been some discussion over the years of
Asian characters being played by Caucasians in American remakes. Here’s
another one for the mill, from an article in the new Flow: <BR><BR>"Fan
Protests, Cultural Authenticity, and the Adaptation of Avatar: The Last
Airbender" by Patricia Nelson (<FONT color=#0000ff><U><A
href="http://flowtv.org/?p=4215"
target=_blank>http://flowtv.org/?p=4215</A></U></FONT>) A consideration of
the fan backlash surrounding Paramount?s choice to cast white actors as
Asian characters.<BR><BR>Markus</SPAN></FONT>
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