4. Pokémon : Japan's Contemporary Pocket Monsters
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
@8:33 PM
Kimmel (2000) stated, in relation to the Gojira film series, that they no longer are a “serious attempt to focus on the horrors of the atomic age”. Contemporary Japanese monster movies have shifted from portraying a message to the audience regarding the post-war effects on Japan, towards these 'monsters' fighting other forms of evil that pose danger towards the nation. In fact, these contemporary films also begin to take place in a more fantasised version of Japan – just as seen in the Pokémon series.
Initially based on a game-series, the Pokémon franchise has now expanded to a TV series, films, toys, and collectible merchandise. In her book, Allison (2006) states that "while the Japanese view the success of the Pokémon series as a sign of Japan’s new cultural power and the growing potency of Japanese creativity in leading global designs, American marketers saw its success in the States – just as they did with the Power Rangers series– the result of their own sophisticated efforts to sell it to American children".
The First Pokémon Movie poster comparison between Japan and America. Images (c) Google Images
Allison (2006) also pointed out how the American release of some of the episodes of the TV series were altered, whereby a few elements which show Japanese culture or Japanese writings have been airbrushed out in order to make the series 'placeless'. Besides that, Allison made references on how the American version of the movie had a different ending compared to the original Japanese movie, apparently because the Japanese ending is too ambiguous. The American version of the film shows an obvious good-versus-evil ending whereby a positive message or moral value is portrayed in the ending.
References
Allison, A. 2006, ‘”Gotta
Catch ‘Em All”: The Pokémonization of America’, in Millennial monsters: Japanese toys
and the global imagination, University
of California Press, Berkeley.
Kimmel, D.M. 2000, ‘Godzilla' -- it's a monstrous
film: ALL Edition, Globe Newspaper Company, Inc, Worcester, Mass.
ABOUT
The Author
Name: Nara Tapa
I.D.: 3695330
Major: Diploma for Graduates (Endorsed) in Anthropology
University: University of Otago, NZ
Paper: ASIA201 – Asian Popular Cultures
Contact: tapna906@student.otago.ac.nz
ABOUT
This Blog
This blog was specifically made as my final project for ASIA201 (S2 2013), under lecturer Dr.Paola Voci.
The purpose of this blog is to highlight the similarities and differences between the national and trans-national appeal of Japanese monster films – national being within Japan, and trans-national being countries other than Japan, mainly focusing on the United States of America, and a bit on the United Kingdom. I have collected information from the works of various scholars and also the reviews made by film critics on the World Wide Web. The reason behind my drawing information from a few online sources is to generally get an idea of the point of view of the general public. I will focus on a few classic kaijū films and a few contemporary Japanese monster films, and also on a contemporary Hollywood-made kaijū film, as follows;
Godzilla/Gojira (ゴジラ), Mothra/Mosura (モスラ), Gamera (ガメラ), Rodan/ Sora no Daikaijū Radon (空の大怪獣 ラドン), Pokémon (ポケモン), and Pacific Rim.
