10/06/2015

Food for Thought #6 - Why are Anime-turned Movies a bad idea?


I've said it before and I'll say it again, adaptations of most Anime, Cartoon, or Video games is a hit/miss. For the most part, Western audiences aren't pleased that the source material of their beloved shows & video games are being hollywoodized. However, I've also said that change doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing so long as the focus exists from where the material is derived from. I underline that sentence because a lot of Western directors try and try to interpret Anime, Cartoons, & Video games in a different way whereas they could already just borrow the source material & utilize the story, characters, settings, and themes. Hollywood has the tendency, in most recent years, in f*cking all that up because of the notion "Hey, we don't like that. We can do better." That alone shows that the directors, writers, & producers don't really have a central focus on the material, but rather are only making it for two reasons: Fans and Profit. Regardless if a movie bombs at the office, directors are still paid....at the cost that the direction of the film was poor and could possibly jeopardize the material that they were making a movie on. Films like The Last Airbender and DBZ not only pissed off fans, but also came to question what the f*ck the directors were thinking? I was excited to see a live-adaptation of The Last Airbender, but the storytelling was rushed, the editing was horrid, there was no emotion, and most of all the biggest middle finger a director could possible do is lose focus of what we loved about the cartoon. All this handed on a silver plate and what we got was disappointment and rage. I was one of those enraged fans that wanted to punch the director for making a sloppy and inconsiderate version of one the most beloved Nick cartoons of all time. I didn't want DBZ live, but I've read on what they've done ~ a student w/a love interest and horrible CGI, yeah sure why not. It's not like we haven't done that MANY times. Again, adaptations in the Western Audience's perspective is bias because directors won't like to keep focus. They'd rather make a sh*tty rendition of a movie for profit than actually try to interpret it the way the Anime, Cartoon, & Video Game did. There are fan-bases dedicated to hating on horrible adaptations and its safe to say that most Anime, Cartoon, & Video Game portrayals are done terribly. There seems to be no hope for Hollywood in producing an actual Anime, Cartoon, or Video game live adaptation where it DOESN'T lose focus. The fact of the matter is, it's very seldom Western Audiences be like "It wasn't bad. It could've been done better, but for what we got ~ it's tolerable." Only have I heard this notion a few, but mainly ~ it's all been negative upon negative feedback. IT seems that Japan has a way to make live-adaptations of their beloved Anime a lot better because....IT HAS A F*CKING FOCUS. I heard many good things about the Rurouni Kenshin live-action as well as the Death Note movies (even turned into a TV Drama on Crunchyroll). So if Japan can do it well, why are we so bent on changing it so much? Again, profit & Fans. If fans love it, they'll make a movie on it, but it doesn't necessarily have to live up its hype. The anticipation that fans seek is toyed with because directors (not all of course) can't direct an Anime, Cartoon, or Video Game adaptation without saying something around the lines of "I don't like that. It's not realistic. Fans won't get it." YES we will. For f*ck's sake, we know the material better than you do and the director, producer, and writers' jobs are to research, analyze, and observe how a Fan-serviced movie should be made. If they're doing it for profit, then they're not qualified for such a task. I want to see Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, or Zack Synder make an adaptation of an Anime, Cartoon, or Video game and have it NOT SUCK. I know Nolan has made the adaptation of Batman and Synder with The Watchmen & Batman v. Superman, but c'mon directors ~ take notes. I could go on and on on why adaptations aren't all bad, but I will admit ~ they've been lacking a lot. We got to step our game up because if we can't make a adaptation, then might as well leave it alone and not touch it. No, directors are greedy ~ need to make that $$$ with a story that's already been told. Slap their name and reimagine it and.....twas a dream unfortunately turned a reality.

Food for Thought? Comment below and let me know your thoughts on this topic. This was a very analytical and thorough FFT that didn't explore much into Anime, but of real life. Sometimes I'll provide #thetruth because, well, I'm a human and thoughts matter. FFTs will be posted every Tuesday. Like always, you stay classy as always! Here's the order of FFTs:

1) Anime: Subbed or Dubbed?
2) When does a Harem become stale?
3) What's Shipping?
4) What's Ecchi?
5) Can context be misconstrued? 
6) Why are Anime-turned Movies a bad idea? 

Tomorrow's Watch-list is on the Attack on Titan Live-Action Part 1 Adaptation. 

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