Ghost in the Shell podcast with yours truly

scriptweaver

scriptweaver

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Abridgelion, chrstmascarnage, RogerSmith2004, and I participated in a podcast I had uploaded recently. The general topic is live action anime films. Specifically Ghost in the Shell and its trailer. 

I went and recorded this the week b4 the movie came out, so it's about a month or so overdue, I know this. We might make a 2nd video talking about our experiences actually watching the film.

here you go.

[video=youtube]
 
If I get a chance I'll watch this Friday night.
 
Thanks for taking an interest, I don't do podcasts very often. Stand alone complex is one of my favorite anime series, I hope you end up liking it, loopypanda.

Also, just to clarify, this podcast was made b4 the movie came out, so there's no spoilers for the live action film.
 
That's good to hear, I won't have to worry too much then. I really like the anime so far when I can catch it. Podcasts are all the rage on youtube right now, so it's always nice to check out new ones. :D I'm subscribed to 5 different ones at the moment. So I always have podcasts queued up when I come home from a long day.
 
LoopyPanda said:
That's good to hear, I won't have to worry too much then. I really like the anime so far when I can catch it. Podcasts are all the rage on youtube right now, so it's always nice to check out new ones. :D I'm subscribed to 5 different ones at the moment. So I always have podcasts queued up when I come home from a long day.
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oh? I didn't know people liked listening to podcasts that much. I honestly thought podcasts by smaller channels was seen as annoying by most.
 
Watch the first half the video. I agree with that the whole white-washing is basically selective. No one complained when JPN made Attack on Titan with full Japanese cast (which the series made it a big deal that Misaka was the only asian) and Full Metal Alchemist - an European-based Setting - having Japanese actors. 

If Scarlett playing Major (I don't recalled anything that Major's body was Japanese. She was born one, but her ethnicity is irrelevant since the body is a robot) is considered white-washing (despite Japanese fans and even the creator have no problem with), then shouldn't English dubbing be considered white-washing as well? :maybe:
 
So, finally had a chance to listen to that...re: the white washing thing being selective, one point I'd make (that I think might've been briefly addressed) is that when it comes to series like FMA and AoT having live action movies with mostly asian casts, Japan's population is 99.4% Asian and I've literally never seen a white actor in a Japanese movie, chances are there probably aren't enough Caucasian-Japanese actors to fill a movie. 5.4% of America are asian and there are some asian actors here but as you all point out, none of them are really A-list celebrities. An interesting fun fact here though is that Scarlett Johanson was actually their second choice to play Motoko, originally the role was going to go to Margot Robbie before something fell through there. Keeping in mind that this was before she played Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, it's kind of debatable whether she was full on A-List yet. 

That said, I do think Scar-Jo looked the part. I do kind of understand the argument about that taking away work from Asian actors and that there isn't a lot of work for asian actors out there but I've also heard that this movie actually had cast more asian actors than any film in the last few years so there's that. Haven't actually seen it yet, might hit up a redbox and rent it or something
 
Scrolling on TV Tropes about controversy, I saw that Paramount blamed the "whitewashing" as the reason for the film's finical failure.

Such a shame considering the film's one of the best I've seen in awhile.
 
I'll tell ya the truth, Paramount is blaming it on the white washing thing but I honestly think that was only a small part of that. Really I think it's financial failure was Paramount putting too much money into it. It made $170 Million dollars worldwide at the box office against a $110 Million dollar budget and quite frankly $170 Mill a hell of a lot more than I ever thought that a live action Ghost in the Shell would ever do given that it's based on a franchise that was actually initially a flop in it's native Japan and while it is a franchise that most anime fans in their mid 20s-30s know really well and to some degree film makers and film students know well, in the scale of mainstream general audiences it's a small cult thing at best. They say it would've had to have made $250 Million to break even after advertising costs and I just don't see how it could've ever done that much. If anything I kinda think the casting controversy might've helped it if anything since nobody was really talking about it AT ALL before that.
 
JamesYTP said:
I'll tell ya the truth, Paramount is blaming it on the white washing thing but I honestly think that was only a small part of that. Really I think it's financial failure was Paramount putting too much money into it. It made $170 Million dollars worldwide at the box office against a $110 Million dollar budget and quite frankly $170 Mill a hell of a lot more than I ever thought that a live action Ghost in the Shell would ever do given that it's based on a franchise that was actually initially a flop in it's native Japan and while it is a franchise that most anime fans in their mid 20s-30s know really well and to some degree film makers and film students know well, in the scale of mainstream general audiences it's a small cult thing at best. They say it would've had to have made $250 Million to break even after advertising costs and I just don't see how it could've ever done that much. If anything I kinda think the casting controversy might've helped it if anything since nobody was really talking about it AT ALL before that.
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Yeah. I think the problem with movies based on animes is that you need to have pre-information, which I hate to that. At least movies based on Marvel Comics, you can go in there without any knowledge of the series because they introduce everyone in it. Not saying that Ghost in the Shell did not do that - perhaps it did, but most likely did not appeal to the people. Even if it did not had any "white-washing" elements, the movie would still bomb.
 
I initially typed out something much more well thought out, but i accidentally deleted it so here's the best I can do.

I think part of the problem is this negative stereotype surrounding live action adaptions nowadays thanks to films like dragon ball and avatar. Its ironic though, since this film is the first of its kind to actually (albeit marginally) attempt to address the flaws and gripes that comes with making a live action adaption. I'm not saying it was a great movie, it is littered with shameless uplifts from the original movie even when it doesn't fit the narrative, but you have to give credit where its due and thats with its care of the whole nationality issue. Essentially, they do something really clever with peoples preconceived notions of the film and I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's a real shame though since so many ppl will nvr come to discover this and appreciate this small step in progress for the live action adaption part of the american film making industry.
 
Bumping this section, what do you think about the upcoming film, Battle Angel Alita? Do you think it will fall the same trap as Ghost in the Shell? :think:
 
I'm not quite sure. It would need to depend on whose hands are involved since the only reason Ghost in the Shell turned out as not-so-terrible as it had was because the people involved actually cared about what they were making.
 
I understand Robert Rodriguez is directing it, not sure what to make of that. Never actually read/watched it before so it's hard to say how he'll do but I saw the trailer in a theater and it looked pretty cool.
 
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