Manga and Film

[Aaron Gerow]

Michael Badzik asked this good question:

>I would love to hear other comments on 
>the problems of taking manga to film.

This question, which has theoretical, aesthetic, cultural, and historical 
dimensions to it, is of course very pertinent to the study of Japanese 
cinema.  It may not be extreme to say that you can't study Japanese 
cinema of the last 20 years without confronting this question.

There are many, both on this list and in the critical community at large, 
who believe that Japanese cinema lost something, either realism, quality, 
social pertinence, cinematic depth, what have you, when it began to 
produce film adaptations of manga in droves at the end of the 1970s.  I 
for one, don't always agree with that, but clearly the presence of manga 
has greatly changed recent Japanese cinema.  But why has film been so 
eager to adapt manga?  Beyond the obvious--the more popular manga bring 
an audience to a declining cinema--are there other reasons explaining why 
and when manga became an important part of Japanese film?  In some ways, 
the relationship has been long and reciprocal: postwar manga began with 
Tezuka's adaptation of cinematic technique into manga and manga matured 
with the influence of action cinema on gekiga, etc., so it is only 
natural cinema would in turn receive some influence from manga.  

Many would want to connect the phenomenon to Japanese culture.  Perhaps 
the same cultural/social/historical reasons which explain why manga is so 
central to Japanese culture explain the influence of manga on Japanese 
film?

There are also theoretical issues.  Manga and cinema are different 
entities despite (or because of) their history of mutual influence.  
Still lines and words drawn in panels on flat paper promote a different 
vocabulary than a photographic process using celluloid scenes of motion 
recorded from some "reality."  It is inherently impossible to put manga 
on film; one can only change and adapt.  But many people have tried, both 
in live action and in animation (Oshima's _Ninja bugeicho_ is an 
interesting, if failed experiment in a non-animated adaption of manga 
drawing).  This is essentially Michael's question, but what needs to be 
changed and adapted when bringing manga to film?  One can answer this 
both in a theoretical dimension and by citing particular films.

Many, however, would want to raise aesthetic questions.  Is Japanese 
cinema better off as cinema by adapting manga?  Peter raised the question 
of a loss realism, but I would note that the dominant trend in manga 
since the mid 1970s (and gekiga before that) is precisely greater 
pictorial realism.  But in shonen manga at least, this realism has come 
through an emphasis on externalized body action as a means of narration 
(this was very apparent to my young students when we read Mizuki 
Shigeru's _Kappa no Sanpei_, an older work which often refuses to narrate 
through bodily action: they were not used to such a still, quiet, and 
timeless work--though they loved it).  But when brought into film, which 
at least in classical cinema emphasizes the psychological dimension of 
characters, this emphasis on externalized characters produces the sense 
that they are "shallow" or "manga-like," or that the story is "extreme" 
and "unmotivated."  (On the opposite end, shojo manga have moved towards 
narration centered largely on internal states.  Certainly there have been 
many adaptations of good shojo manga, but I really wonder if anyone could 
succeed in adaptating Oshima Yumiko or Kurata Emi.)  Is this an inherent 
problem?

There have been plenty of good film adaptations of manga, but what have 
they done right?  Are there manga artists who are conducive to being 
adapted to film?  Why do Tsuge's works tend to come out well?  Why do 
some manga artists like Ishii Takashi succeed as directors?

Any comments?


Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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