Terror news in Japan / Sen Broke the Record

[M Arnold]

The news in Japan is still covering the events of the past few days, but TV 
is starting to return a little to normal.  When I was flipping channels 
during prime time last night, for a while most of the stations seemed to 
have their regular shows on.  Now that they've had a little preparation time 
the newscasters have been pulling out plastic models of Manhattan and planes 
and buildings to demonstrate exactly how the attack occurred.  NHK is still 
doing reports on the destruction and aftermath fairly continuously.  I did 
see a couple of cases of news programs discussing the PFLP and terrorist 
actions that have some historical resonance here, and I think back to the 
news of someone like Adachi Masao possibly re-entering the "film world" in 
Japan.

Honestly I don't know what scares me more: the attacks on New York or Bush's 
particular choice of words as he promises to get the bad guys.  Today I read 
more reports on racial violence against Arabs and Arab-Americans in the U.S. 
  Anyway I don't want to join in making this list a forum for emotional 
debate on a barely-relevant issue, but I want to make one more comment:  One 
line different people have been repeating in my office is, "it's just like a 
movie!"  And frankly, for someone in Japan like myself who is not at the 
moment directly connected to the tragedy, it very much is a movie, coming to 
me through the TV, narrated by professional commentators and young, 
well-dresssed female newscasters, punctuated with dramatic music and footage 
of explosions right before the commercial breaks, framed with scrolling 
lists of the Japanese companies in N.Y. and the status of their employees.

I asked several middle school kids here today, what is your favorite movie?  
What do you think they said?  Pearl Harbor.

But for now I have other things to discuss:

>From: Aaron Gerow <gerow at ynu.ac.jp>

>(Spirited Away) has broken the attendance record

I've gone to see the film four times now, in part because I do enjoy 
visiting Miyazaki's "world of mystery", but also because I find it a little 
too mysterious, and want to resolve what I think are several skips or errors 
in the narrative.  I'm frankly a little surprised that this film is doing so 
well.  It surely has a level of entertainment value, but the story 
itself--and arguably Miyazaki's intended message(s)--simply don't come 
together in the end.  It almost feels like a few scenes (that would include 
necessary plot explanation) were cut along the way.  As I look around at fan 
discussion groups on the web and thumb through the various books and 
journals that have been published, I keep seeing the same kind of comments 
and the same kinds of responses.

Comments:  "It's missing something.  It doesn't make sense."
Responses:  "It's a movie for kids.  You're not supposed to think so much 
about it.  That ruins the fun."

Unfortunately I do think about it, and as someone who is fairly well 
acquainted with Miyazaki's previous works, I find it lacking.  I've been 
asking the people around me as well and many of my acquaintances have 
already seen it, but I haven't spoken with one person who thought it 
deserved to become a masterpiece.  Can any other list members who have seen 
the film offer comments on their feelings about how and why the film is 
succeeding?  Succeeding story-wise or in the box office, either way.  I've 
been trying to consider examples of other films that are "from a child's 
point of view" or "don't explain everything" and some that come up are 
Spirit of the Beehive, maybe Oshii's Angel's Egg.  There also seem to be 
some glaring similarities to Alice in Wonderland (perhaps the Disney 
version), despite all the advertising that stated Miyazaki's new work would 
be a new style of "anti-hollywood" entertainment.

Mike Arnold

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