Ask John: Why Doesn’t Hollywood Make Faithful Anime Adaptations?
Question:
If Hollywood ♥ anime and manga so much, why does it have to change the cultural setting, ethnic background of the characters, and/or the approach to the source material in the live-action films? If people buy the original versions of these stories they’re indicating that they’re not afraid to see that kind of perspective in a live-action adaptation. Wouldn’t it make sense to hire people who “get it” and people who actually look and act like the characters instead of just trying to reach the widest possible audience and appealing to no one?
Answer:
Once again I need to preface the point that I’m not a Hollywood executive, so I can only speculate at the reasoning behind the decisions Hollywood executives make. To some degree, I’m rather satisfied not to be a Hollywood film studio decision maker because I have the impression that those professionals have an entirely different approach to the appreciation of film and literature than I do. I, and I think many anime fans, apprehend manga and anime first as a form of Japanese creative expression, and second as a commercial property. I think the reverse is the case for film studio execs. Major film producers, for better or worse, see concepts, stories, and ideas without gender or ethnicity. That’s why Dragon Ball’s preadolescent Chinese boy Son Goku can become a white 18 year old in Dragonball: Evolution; why the setting for Warner Bros.’ once proposed live action Akira movies transitioned from Neo-Tokyo to “New Manhattan”; and why Shinichi Goto may be played by Will Smith in the American adaptation of Oldboy.
American film makers typically consider how a Japanese story can be made American so as to be interesting and accessible to the typical American moviegoers that support the Hollywood film industry. It’s interesting to note that consistently the faithfully adapted foreign film adaptations of Japanese manga stories all come from outside of America. The 1995 Crying Freeman was primarily a Canadian/French co-production. The Oldboy movie was Korean. Shamo, Imagi’s Astro Boy movie, and the live action Blood: The Last Vampire film are Chinese backed productions. Japan, of course, has produced countless manga/anime live action adaptations that are respectably faithful to their source stories. American produced manga adaptations have consistently been either big budget productions like Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-li and Dragonball: Evolution that only superficially borrow from their source, or faithful but low budget/awful independent productions like Fist of the North Star and the Guyver movies.
I’m usually confident that Hollywood film executives think differently than genre die-hards do, but they’re not stupid. I can’t imagine that professionals that make multi-million dollar deals and decisions in an industry as cut-throat as Hollywood film production last long if their not savvy. It’s not my goal to offend, but it is my honest opinion that the inclinations of America’s anime fans provide insight into the larger American taste that Hollywood producers are attuned to. Even countless American anime fans prefer to watch anime dubbed in English. For most of these viewers, dubbing provides an immersive, natural, and familiar viewing experience – a viewing experience that’s natural and comfortable because it’s tailored to the viewer. Dubbed anime may be faithful to the philosophical objective of providing a believable and immersive viewing experience, but it’s not faithful to ethnic origins of the film. If even most of America’s obsessive anime fans prefer their anime to be somewhat “Americanized,” it’s unreasonable to expect mainstream Americans to demand and support a highly faithful American version of Japanese stories. If American audiences really were interested in Asian film, there’d be no need for American re-makes, as the original Japanese films themselves could be screened nationwide in American theaters.
Films like Black Rain, The Last Samurai, Lost in Translation, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift appeal to American viewers because these films explore and exploit the exotica of Asia to Americans. Typically American viewers are willing to accept a select number of Asian moviestars – some of them, like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, after years of attempts to earn recognition in American film – to gratify their egotistic sense of multi-culturalism. But I firmly believe that the great majority of American movie viewers prefer to see films that feel comfortable to them; films with familiar settings, white or black characters (not Indian, Asian, or Middle-Eastern characters), and spoken English language. (Yes, you can cite the box-office hit Slumdog Millionaire, but keep in mind that it was a film written and directed by a white British man. And out of thousands of Indian films, it’s the only one to make inroads into American pop culture.) Hollywood doesn’t invest months and millions into making movies that appeal to a hundred thousand American otaku, many of whom won’t support the film anyway. Hollywood makes movies targeted at the millions of mainstream American moviegoers that want interesting stories that they can relate to and feel comfortable watching.
Certainly many American moviegoers wish for Hollywood manga based films that faithfully capture the spirit, if not the literal details, of their inspirations. But in reality, those viewers account for only a small minority of a movie’s total audience. Consider the continuing declining income of the American anime industry. If America’s hardcore fan community won’t even support the commercial release of authentic Japanese manga and anime, how can those consumers, along with the larger American market of moviegoers even less enthusiastic about Japanese fiction, be expected to aggressively support the production and release of multi-million dollar American movies inspired by Japanese fiction? Experienced and predisposed afficianados will naturally long for American movies that reflect the cultural and artistic integrity of their manga & anime origins, but those fans don’t reflect the inclinations of average American movie watchers. Making film adaptations respectful to their source material seems intuitive in principle, but doesn’t actually pan out in reality. Dragonball: Evolution earned only $9 million domestically, but I can’t envision it earning substantially more had it faithful adaptated Akira Toriyama’s manga or starred a predominantly Asian cast.
Transformers 2 is crude, sexist, racist, xenophobic, and outright dumb. It posits an American executive branch distrustful of aliens. It depicts a typical American calling quintessential French cuisine “disgusting.” Apart from including transforming sentient robots, it has practically nothing to do with the original Japanese animation. And it’s earned over $300 million in America alone in just two weeks of release. The majority of Americans don’t want to see “manga” films; they want to see American films that have the creativity and excitement found in manga and anime.
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Personally I would much rather see them do this (make a new movie with some of the ideas and character names from the original manga or anime), rather than to have them license the anime and “localize” it by editing it and rewriting it into something that is no longer Japanese.
This way the original anime is still available for those who can appreciate it, and those who want to see an American movie can watch the Hollywood production.
“Major film producers, for better or worse, see concepts, stories, and ideas without gender or ethnicity. That’s why Dragon Ball’s preadolescent Chinese boy Son Goku can become a white 18 year old in Dragonball: Evolution;”
I thought it’s because he’s an “alien”, so he’s “not really Asian”. =p
“; why the setting for Warner Bros.’ once proposed live action Akira movies transitioned from Neo-Tokyo to “New Manhattanâ€;”
What really bugs me is having biker gang-members played by emos Leo Dicaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
“American film makers typically consider how a Japanese story can be made American so as to be interesting and accessible to the typical American moviegoers that support the Hollywood film industry.”
Of course, CTHD and Slumdog aren’t typically American, and they did fine at the box office.
“It’s interesting to note that consistently the faithfully adapted foreign film adaptations of Japanese manga stories all come from outside of America. The 1995 Crying Freeman was primarily a Canadian/French co-production. The Oldboy movie was Korean. Shamo, Imagi’s Astro Boy movie, and the live action Blood: The Last Vampire film are Chinese backed productions.”
There’s some American involvement in Freeman and Astro Boy, just not as much as here. I’m guessing the reason the ones you mention work is because the int’l. production companies are run by people wanting to make something people would like, rather than produce something they can shove down people’s throats.
“American produced manga adaptations have consistently been either big budget productions like Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-li and Dragonball: Evolution”
Those are big-budget?! Over-budget, maybe, but that’s about it. Otherwise, they look more low-rent than a Wong Jing production. And his Jackie Chan SF II parody in the LA City Hunter’s more accurate and faithful to the source material than the real thing!
“or faithful but low budget/awful independent productions like Fist of the North Star and the Guyver movies.”
I hear Guyver’s not so bad. DLW[Or was it Matt?] told me the FX weren’t bad for their time; and Hayter used the subtitle of the second movie to name his production company. Fist, though, is embarrassing, especially considering the MK movie came out the same year.
“I’m usually confident that Hollywood film executives think differently than genre die-hards do, but they’re not stupid. ”
Green-lighting a movie with Nick Cage in a bear suit would indicate otherwise.
“I can’t imagine that professionals that make multi-million dollar deals and decisions in an industry as cut-throat as Hollywood film production last long if their not savvy.”
Well, we’re still waiting for Rothman to get the axe, so…
“If even most of America’s obsessive anime fans prefer their anime to be somewhat “Americanized,†it’s unreasonable to expect mainstream Americans to demand and support a highly faithful American version of Japanese stories.”
Why? They supported Watchmen and V for Vendetta; and while I wouldn’t call them faithful, they at least somewhat retained the spirit of the material. Hell, how many successful American comic book movies ventured so highly off the original story that they destroyed what was appealing about them?
“If American audiences really were interested in Asian film, there’d be no need for American re-makes, as the original Japanese films themselves could be screened nationwide in American theaters.”
Of course, the irony of that statement is that most of those remakes have been bombs, while the originals tend to do better theatrically in terms of PTA and WOM.
“Films like Black Rain, The Last Samurai, Lost in Translation, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift appeal to American viewers because these films explore and exploit the exotica of Asia to Americans.”
Actually, Black Rain was a disappointment, while Tokyo Drift was the weakest grosser of the series. Last Samurai made money simply for being a Cruise movie, while Lost in Translation was a chick-flick which just happened to be in Japan. But other than Black Rain and Last Samurai, those films barely interact with their Asian settings.
“Yes, you can cite the box-office hit Slumdog Millionaire, but keep in mind that it was a film written and directed by a white British man. And out of thousands of Indian films, it’s the only one to make inroads into American pop culture.”
Well, Bend it Like Beckham was directed by an Indian woman, and that did alright. I know that was more of a cross-cultural production, too, but
it still had an Asian perspective at the helm.
“Hollywood doesn’t invest months and millions into making movies that appeal to a hundred thousand American otaku, many of whom won’t support the film anyway.”
The comic book geeks support their series adaptations. I think the otaku will get on board, too, if it looks good enough. After all, those Viz screenings of Death Note were successful.
“Dragonball: Evolution earned only $9 million domestically, but I can’t envision it earning substantially more had it faithful adaptated Akira Toriyama’s manga or starred a predominantly Asian cast.”
Forbidden Kingdom’s more of a DB film than the real thing. And it made money.
“Transformers 2 is crude, sexist, racist, xenophobic, and outright dumb….Apart from including transforming sentient robots, it has practically nothing to do with the original Japanese animation. And it’s earned over $300 million in America alone in just two weeks of release. The majority of Americans don’t want to see “manga†films; they want to see American films that have the creativity and excitement found in manga and anime.”
TF 2 also mostly panders to kids and man-children, demos which don’t necessarily reflect the average American audience. And even with that gross behind it, TF2 still couldn’t beat TDK’s box office. Furthermore, TDK helped spawn good sales for the anime spin-off. So, if given the opportunity for an accessible adaptation which doesn’t insult people’s intelligence, Americans will bite. The only question left is what’s considered “accessible”?
Jonathan: The problem is the industry needs a shot in the arm with the movies.
>>>John says: “Apart from including transforming sentient robots, it has practically nothing to do with the original Japanese animation. ”
Fascinating that about ‘Transformers’, because the story was developed by two Americans named Jim Shooter and Dennis O’Neil. It was also produced in America by a company that used both Japanese and South Korean studios. It was primarily developed for American Kids. So connecting that show to Anime is rather odd in my opinion.