- 8 Aug 2005
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So I just went and saw the new Ghost in the Shell movie. I looked for threads about the movie and found this one from all the way back in 2008, when Dreamworks first bought the rights, full of cautious optimism: Live action GITS film | Japan Forum
There was a lot of controversy over the casting of the film in the US, and as a result, I believe it'll flop (it seems to be headed that way). It's an interesting example of whitewashing and its reactions. When a Japanese vlogger went around asking people in (I'm guessing tokyo?) about it, they responded positively to the casting. This is being used by some outlets as an example of how SJWs in the states are getting all worked up over issues that don't matter to the people they claim to be defending. More on that below.
My thoughts (spoiler alert):
Please read this interview, these ladies sum it up pretty well: 'Ghost in the Shell': 4 Japanese Actresses Dissect the Movie and Its Whitewashing Twist | Hollywood Reporter
I totally agree with them: the reveal (and much of the movie) lacked any emotional development or investment. I feel like in changing the backstory of the character, the film makers had the opportunity to take a new twist on the story and really delve into the psyche and what it means to be an individual (and actually face the race issue head-on). In the end, it came off like a cheap attempt to explain casting Scarlet Johansson as a character that was originally Japanese. They had the individuality-suppressing drug trope (Equilibrium did it better) and the human experimentation angle (which they glossed over quite a bit). This could have been done in a way that might have satisfied a lot of those critical of the casting, but I don't think it made its case very well. Just because people in Japan might be complacent in their cultural appropriation doesn't excuse the whitewashing: it just shows how pervasive these attitudes are, a testament to the power of Hollywood and cultural hegemony.
The movie was beautifully shot and had such high production value (costume design was pretty on-point, with some exceptions), and in many ways lovingly recreated the aesthetic of the anime, but the heart of it felt bare. Also, I felt like the script was weak; Takeshi Kitano was already phoning his Aramaki in (which was thankfully but inexplicably the only character that spoke Japanese in the film), but his lines were pretty flat. When he was rambling an expository monologue at the Major, and used the loan word ゴースト, my eyes rolled all the way back. The only scene he seemed to enjoy was his little action scene where he got to play out his surplus gangster "Outrage."
Overall, I'd say it's marginally rewatchable, but I heard they were assembling the original anime cast to voice the dub. That sounds interesting, I wonder if it would change how I feel about it, since most of my misgivings are due to casting choices. I just wish they'd trusted the project to a Japanese director who was familiar with the original material and the culture from which the material came, rather than the target audience.
What did you think of the film? Do you think the film makers made mistakes in casting and direction?
There was a lot of controversy over the casting of the film in the US, and as a result, I believe it'll flop (it seems to be headed that way). It's an interesting example of whitewashing and its reactions. When a Japanese vlogger went around asking people in (I'm guessing tokyo?) about it, they responded positively to the casting. This is being used by some outlets as an example of how SJWs in the states are getting all worked up over issues that don't matter to the people they claim to be defending. More on that below.
My thoughts (spoiler alert):
Please read this interview, these ladies sum it up pretty well: 'Ghost in the Shell': 4 Japanese Actresses Dissect the Movie and Its Whitewashing Twist | Hollywood Reporter
I totally agree with them: the reveal (and much of the movie) lacked any emotional development or investment. I feel like in changing the backstory of the character, the film makers had the opportunity to take a new twist on the story and really delve into the psyche and what it means to be an individual (and actually face the race issue head-on). In the end, it came off like a cheap attempt to explain casting Scarlet Johansson as a character that was originally Japanese. They had the individuality-suppressing drug trope (Equilibrium did it better) and the human experimentation angle (which they glossed over quite a bit). This could have been done in a way that might have satisfied a lot of those critical of the casting, but I don't think it made its case very well. Just because people in Japan might be complacent in their cultural appropriation doesn't excuse the whitewashing: it just shows how pervasive these attitudes are, a testament to the power of Hollywood and cultural hegemony.
The movie was beautifully shot and had such high production value (costume design was pretty on-point, with some exceptions), and in many ways lovingly recreated the aesthetic of the anime, but the heart of it felt bare. Also, I felt like the script was weak; Takeshi Kitano was already phoning his Aramaki in (which was thankfully but inexplicably the only character that spoke Japanese in the film), but his lines were pretty flat. When he was rambling an expository monologue at the Major, and used the loan word ゴースト, my eyes rolled all the way back. The only scene he seemed to enjoy was his little action scene where he got to play out his surplus gangster "Outrage."
Overall, I'd say it's marginally rewatchable, but I heard they were assembling the original anime cast to voice the dub. That sounds interesting, I wonder if it would change how I feel about it, since most of my misgivings are due to casting choices. I just wish they'd trusted the project to a Japanese director who was familiar with the original material and the culture from which the material came, rather than the target audience.
What did you think of the film? Do you think the film makers made mistakes in casting and direction?