Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film
IB Film 2: Week 55.2Anime—Tradition of Genre?To gain a better understanding of the films being discussed in this lesson, check out these trailers.Metropolis: Away: 7: Suit Gundam: Fiction and AnimeWe begin by looking at an anime film,?Metropolis, directed by Rintaro and written by Katsuhiro Ohtomo based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka.Several times in this course we have made the distinction between a tradition and a genre.Some traditions, like the Bollywood Masala film, incorporate and blend conventions of many different genres.Other traditions, like the film noir, are linked by both narrative and cinematic concepts even though the tradition itself encompasses several genres, like the crime drama film, the hard-boiled detective film, and the gangster film.Anime is also a tradition, a style of animated filmmaking, which encompasses many different genres.Since the theme of this module is science fiction, the film you are viewing is a dystopian science fiction film inspired by the German silent science fiction film with which you are already familiar,?Metropolis?(1927).You will find the story very different, as it is onlyinspired by the German film, but not based on it.In fact, the manga on which it is based (a Japanese comic book) was drawn by Osamu Tezuka before he had ever seen the film.His inspiration was the stills he had seen from the German film.Further ViewingThe film recommended for further viewing is?Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind?(1984), a post-apocalyptic science fiction film by one of the most famous Japanese animators, Hayao Miyazaki.Director or Animator?Miyazaki 's film?Spirited Away?won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2001.Miyazaki is probably the most widely known animator in the world at this time, with a reputation that rivals Disney Studios.Miyazaki does not like the comparison, since, as he points out, he is a director and not a studio production chain.Nausicaa?is one of Miyazaki's earliest films, based on a manga, which he drew himself.Even in this early work, you can see many of the trademarks of his films - a concern for the environment, a strong and independent female hero, an ability to create vivid fantasy worlds, and a directorial obsession with flying.God of ComicsOsamu Tezuka was known in Japan as the 'God of Comics'.Just as in the United States, where artists like Jack Kirby and Stan Lee served as inspiration for many modern comics artists, Tezuka influenced generations of artists and writers.He also started an animation studio and produced television versions of his?Jungle Emperor?( known in North America and other western countries as?Kimba the White Lion?and recognized as a major, though unacknowledged, source for Disney's?The Lion King?) and?Mighty Atom?( known in North America and other western countries as?Astro-Boy?).However, unlike North America, where the most inspirational artists worked in a single genre - the superhero comic book - Tezuka worked in many different genres.From science fiction like?Metropolis?to dark film noir mysteries like?Black Jack?(1996), to fantasy stories like?The Phoenix?series, to the jungle stories of?Kimba, Tezuka told stories in many different genres.Stories in MangaBecause the father of Japanese manga worked in so many different genres, stories in manga are much more wide-ranging in terms of genre than comic books in North America.Naturally, as animation became popular in Japan, this tradition continued to influence the choice of subjects.There are many different anime genres -ChambaraLike Japanese popular cinema, there are Chambara anime, traditional Japanese sword-fighting films, like?Samurai 7, and also, Ninja films like?Dagger of Kamui?(1985).Often series are based around the problems of high school students, like?Kamichu!, in which a high school junior discovers she has become a god and has to balance the requirements of godhood with her ordinary life.Magical RomanceMany rom-com series exist, often featuring a kind of 'magical romance'.The?Urusei Yatsura?series features an alien girl who ends up living with a Japanese boy, much to his chagrin.In the case of this romantic genre, it is not the science fiction element that is important, but the unique nature of one of the romantic pair, who in other series and movies might be a demon, a goddess, one of the animals of the chine se zodiac, or a computer.The important thing is the difficulty of matching one's ordinary life to the life of the 'magical'?character.Mecha AnimeMecha anime was the source of the popular American series,?The Transformers.In Japan, a mecha is more like a suit of armor than a robot, with a human character piloting the 'robot'.The most popular of these series is?Mobile Suit Gundam, which has been on-going in the form of both television series and movies since 1979, but there are many, many more.If you become interested in anime, there are many other genres to explore.Metropolis - Things to ConsiderAs you watch?Metropolis, note how the dystopian science fiction elements grow out of the many historical elements that have been added to the story, with fairly clear references to both the Nazis and Soviet Russia on view.The workers of the original film have been replaced by robots here, and the theme of artificial intelligence has become an important part of the story. An element of the 'magical romance'?story is here too, in the relationship between Tima and Kenichi.The director of?Metropolis?is Rintaro, a pseudonym of Shigeyuki Hayashi, who is also famous for works likeGalaxy Express 999?(1979)Harmagedon?(1983)The Dagger of Kamui?(1985)The writer of?Metropolis?is Katsuhiro Ohtomo, famous for the animations?Akira?(1982) and?Steamboy?(2004).In a way, the entire film can be seen as an homage to their mentor, Osamu Tezuka, who was the author of the original story.One of the interesting things about Tezuka's work is his cast of characters.Many live-action directors in Japan use the same actors over and over, partially a practice that evolved from the studio production tradition in Japan, but also based on the idea of a team, referred to as a 'gumi'?(or group) of regularly used actors.Tezuka, over many different genres and series, drew the same characters performing in different roles. He treated these drawings almost like actors, 'casting'?them in different stories over the years.Rintaro and Ohtomo continued this tradition when making?Metropolis, drawing from Tezuka's 'actors'?for new characters they added as they expanded the story from the original manga.As you watch the film, pay particular attention to the various rich sources from which it draws.Tezuka's characters and manga have been blended with historical material and a soundtrack that derives from New Orleans-style jazz music.In particular, stunning use is made of Ray Charles' 'I Can't Stop Loving You'.Like a lot of work in the science fiction genre, the ideas on which the movie is based are drawn from diverse international sources. ................
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