Avatar

[Kukhee Choo]

I have a short article in last year's Post Script on the visual
influences of anime on US films. In the article, I have a sub chapter on
Cameron's Dark Angel TV series (2000) in relation to the Japanese Battle
Angel Alita manga (1990) and anime (1993) series. So even 10 years ago,
at least among anime aficionados, it was quite obvious that Cameron was
heavily influenced by Japanese anime. And there were also reports during
the mid-2000s that he was also going to produce a live-action film of
Battle Angel.

On a side note, I have seen many online discussions on Avatar's
connection to Miyazaki, but not enough mentioning Final Fantasy The
Spirits Within (2001), where there is a spirit at the core of the Earth,
which seems more similar to Avatar in both narrative and visuals than
Miyazaki. As for the flying stones, there is an almost identical scene
in an anime called Houshin Engi where the protagonists are trained to
jump onto small-scale floating islands. Of course, this image may have
been inspired by Miyazaki's visuals anyway. I'm attaching an image of
Houshin Engi just for reference.

So to me, Avatar = Final Fantasy + Pocahontas (and The Smurfs!)

Best,
Kukhee


Jonathan M. Hall wrote:
> This is far from the serious answer that Markus' question deserves, but those here in Tokyo whom I've talked to about the film, have specifically mentioned Miayazaki too!
>
> jmh
>
>
> ________________________________________
> $B:9=P?M(B: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu [owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] $B$O(B Nornes, Markus [amnornes at umich.edu] $B$NBeM}(B
> $BAw?.F|;~(B: 2010$BG/(B1$B7n(B19$BF|(B 17:45
> $B08 at h(B: KineJapan
> $B7oL>(B: Avatar
>
> Everyone is talking about Avatar$B!G(Bs connections to Dances With Wolves and various white messiah narratives. But while I was watching it I couldn$B!G(Bt help thinking of Miyazaki (floating islands, luminescent natural scenes, strange and wonderful creatures, wonder in general) and Oshii (metal suits and avatars, sans any serious philosophical contemplation of the implications). It felt like the film would really not have been possible without anime. I don$B!G(Bt have the patience to track down and read James Cameron interviews, really, but was wondering if anyone has seen him discuss a relationship to Japanese film. Anyone?
>
> Markus
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software.
>
>
>
>   

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: houshin.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 100913 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20100120/24b4ccb6/attachment.jpg