Japanese trivia in the movie "Blade Runner"
TANAKA Tomoyuki
i just watched the movie "Blade Runner" again
(for the 7th or 8th time).
when i watch American films with Japanese aspects in them, those
aspects usually bother me.
--- because of the ridicule: e.g., "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Gung Ho"
--- because of sloppiness: Japanese spoken by Japanese characters are
fake. e.g., "Rising Sun", "Gung Ho"
the problem is that i know too much about Japanese culture and
language --- much more than do the intended audience.
i've thought of "Blade Runner" as an exception to this rule. and i
still think it is, but this time i realized that i enjoy the Geisha
image in "Blade Runner" the same way i enjoy the "Geisha, Fujiyama,
Harakiri" images in Kome Kome Club's music video "Funk Fujiyama".
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anyway, i proffer some things that only Japanese persons would notice,
for devoted "Blade Runner" buffs.
--- trivia: the guy selling noodles played by Robert Okazaki speaks
authentic-sounding Japanese (very uncommon in an American
film).
goof: but the last thing he says is "wakatte kudasai yo"
("Please understand.", or "Please understand my position.")
which is not quite right, because it sounds like a request
about something important.
--- trivia: near the beginning, when Deckard is first taken to the
police station in a "spinner" police car, the car has two
characters KEI-SATU ("police" in Japanese or Chinese)
written on it.
--- goof: the neon-sign for "GORUFU YOU-HIN" (golf equipment)
has the character for "YOU" wrong, and has GETU (moon) instead
(missing one vertical line;
no, it doesn't look like it fell off).
also, the characters look like they are made by someone who
doesn't know Japanese.
--- goof: when Deckard is chasing Zhora, we hear (recordings of)
utterances in many different languages, to create the polyglot,
multi-national feel. but one Japanese utterance is used over
and over (5 times or more), which is very noticeable.
it sounds like,
"nanika hen-na mono wo otositetta-ze"
(the guy (dropped and) left something behind).
--- trivia: Wakamoto ad is real.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
more general observations:
--- goof: when Pris picks up the boiled egg, the water doesn't
look like it's really boiling. you can tell the bubbles are
fake. since the rest of the special effects in the film are so
authentic-looking, this stands out. when i saw the film for
the first time, i was confused because i didn't think that the
director wanted us to think that was real boiling water.
(i don't think this was in the "Blade Runner" FAQ.)
--- trivia: the film is not PC regarding race/ethnicity --- much less
so than Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or (earlier?) Star Trek,
which carefully include blacks and Asians in their crew. in
"Blade Runner" there are no blacks at all, and Asians (noodles
shop owner, Chew the eye guy, microscope lady) are all exotic
sidekicks, like Tonto.
;;; (Mr.) TANAKA Tomoyuki (Tanaka is my family name.)
;;;
;;; WWW: http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~tanaka
;;; e-mail: tan...@indiana.edu
Liang Zheping
H.L. van Kooten
tan...@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki) wrote:
>the problem is that i know too much about Japanese culture and
>language --- much more than do the intended audience.
Well, even foreigners can notice that... Movies like the Rising Sun
and American Yakuza are great if you want to have some fun, but don't
start believing them. I mean, only the plot of American Yakuza: an
American who starts infiltrating the Yakuza... can you believe it?
Japan has a few aspects that attract foreign people: one of these,
this so-called inscrutableness, somehow seems to make it challenging
for foreigners to try to understand the Japanese culture. Then, when
they start seeing that Japan isn't that different as they expected it
to be, they start creating this image, that bulks with prejudices, as
long as they don't have to put this image they like so much aside.
Result: some aspects of the Japanese culture start being exaggerated
so much that this image becomes a charicature on itself. This is what
I notice in every movie on Japan.
It shouldn't be so difficult to make these movies authentic: there are
plenty of native Japanese actors playing in it. Have they been too
long in America? I don't know. Was the director so convinced he
thought he didn't need any advice? Probably.
The most ridiculous scene I ever saw was in the Rising Sun. Here comes
Sean Connery, the guy who knows EVERYTHING about Japan... even the
Americans say he's not an American anymore...he's been married to a
Japanese woman for decades...he speaks Japanese so fluently that even
Japanese can't tell he's an American when they speak with him on the
phone...until he introduces himself:
WHATAKHSHI WHA (I forgot the name - nantokanantoka) THOW MHOWSHIMHASUU
(with this really annoying American accent)
Isn't that what you call RYUUTOUDABI, a dragon's head with a snail's
tail? The anti-climax of the century? I've never had so much fun,
really. Actually, I split my sides with laughing.
Loek.
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TANAKA Tomoyuki
In article <319D73...@vladmire.voiceisp.net>,
Croaker <mi...@vladmire.voiceisp.net> wrote:
>
>The Japanese Original Video Animations (a series of animated episodes on
>video) called "Bubblegum Crisis" features a character named Pris, and she
>is a member of a band called "Pris and the Replicants." Coincidence? I
>think not. This series is peppered with multiple Blade Runner
>references. Just thought you might find this interesting.
>
yes, very interesting.
i'm working on a WWW page on (Japanese trivia in) the movie
"Blade Runner". i'm going to put this info there.
Martin Tom Brown
> tan...@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (TANAKA Tomoyuki) wrote:
>
> >the problem is that i know too much about Japanese culture and
> >language --- much more than do the intended audience.
In the case of Bladerunner also suffering selective deafness
since Decker explains that the street language had evolved
from a mis-mash of languages including a lot of Japanese.
Languages do change - senior managers where I worked used to
regularly complain that teenagers' Japanese was undecodable.
In the future who is to say that the grammar won't change too...
> Well, even foreigners can notice that... Movies like the Rising Sun
> and American Yakuza are great if you want to have some fun, but don't
> start believing them. I mean, only the plot of American Yakuza: an
> American who starts infiltrating the Yakuza... can you believe it?
You never can tell! There may be some openings for US mechanics -
someone has to maintain their large US gas-guzzling cars ;-)
> The most ridiculous scene I ever saw was in the Rising Sun. Here comes
> Sean Connery, the guy who knows EVERYTHING about Japan... even the
> Americans say he's not an American anymore...he's been married to a
> Japanese woman for decades...he speaks Japanese so fluently
A reference perhaps to an earlier British film in which Sean Connery
plays James Bond in "You Only Live Twice" which was set in Japan.
The plot includes a Japanese marriage of 007 to a local girl.
His Japanese accent was less American in those days ;-)
Please bear in mind that all James Bond films are:
a) politically incorrect
b) tongue in cheek
It does contain some nice views of Japan though.
Regards,
--
Martin Brown <mar...@nezumi.demon.co.uk> __ CIS: 71651,470
Scientific Software Consultancy /^,,)__/