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<div style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; ">I haven’t seen the film, but I did notice a bunch of stories in the Japanese press about Freddie’s ‘lifelong love for Japan,' with all kinds of wild speculation about why. Hard to say how much this
drove the BO, but it’s a ready-made narrative for the news and probably ramped up the mythification aspect even further. Pictures of him eating eki-ben on the shinkansen also went viral on Twitter earlier this week: <span style="color: rgb(20, 23, 26); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(230, 236, 240);"><a href="https://twitter.com/tsdebut/status/1077559411554410496">https://twitter.com/tsdebut/status/1077559411554410496</a></span></div>
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<div style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; ">Paul</div>
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<div><span style="color: rgb(0, 105, 164); font-family: HelveticaNeue; font-size: 12px;">Paul Roquet</span>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 105, 164); font-family: HelveticaNeue; font-size: 12px;">Associate Professor of Japanese Studies<br>
Massach</span><font face="HelveticaNeue"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 105, 164);">usetts Instit</span><font color="#007db3">ute of Technology
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<div><a href="https://proquet.mit.edu"><font color="#0069a4" face="Helvetica" style="font-size: 12px;">proquet.mit.edu</font></a></div>
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<p class="airmail_on">On December 29, 2018 at 11:13:02, Gerow Aaron (<a href="mailto:aaron.gerow@yale.edu">aaron.gerow@yale.edu</a>) wrote:</p>
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On our last day in Portland, the family and I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody in the theater. I am not really a Queen fan; in fact my main interest was trying to think why this was such a huge hit in Japan. As of today, it’s made $55 million at the Japanese BO
(with predictions it will go over $70 million), with Japan being the film’s third biggest non-US market (the South Korean BO numbers are higher, but it opened there earlier).
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<div class="">I did not like the film that much, for its mythification of Freddie and predictable direction, but I wonder why it has not only made a bunch at the Japanese BO, but also came in number 1 in Pia’s satisfaction survey for all of 2018. </div>
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<div class="">My inclination is to look at both its melodrama and its depiction of family—and the promise of mass unity—but I was wondering what others think, or what others might have written about this.</div>
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<div class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none;">Aaron
Gerow<br class="">
Professor<br class="">
Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures</span></div>
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of Graduate Studies, Film and Media Studies</span></div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" class="">Yale
University</span></span></div>
<div class="">143 Elm Street, Room 210<br class="">
PO Box 208324<br class="">
New Haven, CT 06520-<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;" class="">8324</span><br class="">
USA<br class="">
Phone: 1-203-432-7082<br class="">
Fax: 1-203-432-6729<br class="">
e-mail: <a href="mailto:aaron.gerow@yale.edu" class="">aaron.gerow@yale.edu</a></div>
<div class="">website: <a href="http://www.aarongerow.com" class="">www.aarongerow.com</a></div>
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