Mariabella Presnell

Project

Presentation

Progress Log

Capstone Essay

Mariabella Presnell

Mr.Coussens

English 4

24 April 2020

Capstone Research Paper

Most of the movies we as society recognize as iconic or classic actually can have strong ties drawn to influential Japanese films. Due to an increase in western fascination with Japanese culture, there has been a more noticeable influence from Japan’s TV and film industry to Western film and film culture. I have always consumed my fair share of Japanese content and wanted to dive deeper into the few connections that I was able to make independently. Therefore I will be researching the influence and overlap between the US and Japanese film industry. For my project, I will be writing my own short film that is a blend of both film cultures and animates a short trailer. The readers take away from this essay is a better understanding of the history of both film industries and how they developed and influenced each other.

From the moment it was introduced to the public, film has captivated much of the US population. Eadweard Muybridge filmed the first live-action film on June 19th, 1878 in which he had twelve cameras lined up to take pictures as a person on a horse, who rode across tripwires that triggered the cameras. (Hardy) Fast Forward to the 1920s with the birth of the “movie star”, Film and cinema began working its way into the US’s culture and the glamour of Hollywood supported the large and over the top party culture of the time. Around the time of the 1930s, the ability to go to the cinema was becoming more readily available to the general public with about 65% of the population going to the cinema regularly. It was considered to be the “Golden age” of Hollywood and the industry began to see a stronger push to create more diverse genres like drama, comedy, and musicals. The early 40’s industry saw a struggle along with the start of World War Two. Later in the decade, however, picture and sound developed rapidly and 1946 was the all-time high for cinema attendance. Hollywood quickly became a large source of morality and patriotism and going to the cinema became a way to raise spirits while the world was at war. In the 1950s post-war culture became intensely focused on familial bonds and creating the “perfect family and home” as a reaction to the chaos that many families felt during war times. It was also around the time that television sets were introduced commercially and quickly became a staple in most middle to upper-class homes. Because of this, the film industry saw a large fall in attendance and many studios went through many struggles. They began to market to youth in hopes to make the cinema a fun thing to do with friends. (Hale) The US film industry has a rich and vibrant history and has captivated American audiences since the start. And having a basic understanding of the industry will also help in understanding culture and how things drift in and out of popularity. It is also important to understand how it is affected and how it affects other countries' film standards and industry.

But to understand the overlap between US and Japanese film industry, a brief history of Japanese film and TV. Japanese films can be traced back to the late 1890s. But before film as we know it today became popular, another kind of moving picture had enthralled the Japanese population. In the 18th century, the dutch had brought a “magic lantern” that could be used to create projected puppet shows that took Japanese villages by storm. While the US film culture revolved heavily around silent live action films it was quickly discarded in the 1920s, silent films in Japan lasted into the ’30s due to the popularity of narrators called Benshi. Benshi would often narrate samurai films because of how prominent they were. But once the 1930s rolled around the Japanese government began to take more interest in what was being shown in films and began using it as a form of propaganda. Post WW2 was a strange time for Japanese film with the oversight of American Military governance. But Akira Kurosawa kick-started the “Golden age” of Japanese film. After training classically with painting for years he moved on to film. (Maher) Many other filmmakers/directors have been inspired by his work. Such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese. Elements from his films can be seen in A Bugs Life, Star Wars, The Avengers, and Oceans Eleven. He directed Rashomon, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, and more. And he is often referred to as “The Shakespeare of cinema” (“A Japanese’) After Kurosawa set the stage another name emerged, Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki started drawing in the 1960s and worked on movies from other studios. He created Studio Ghibli in 1985 and is often compared to Walt Disney but his unique work and themes stand alone. Often praised for his handling of more serious topics some themes that are noticeable across his work are Man vs. Nature, war, identity, and strong female roles. Princess Mononoke was also the first anime movie ever to receive an academy award. (“Hayao Miyazaki’)

Now that a basic understanding of some important people and events in both industries’ history one can look deeper into the influence and overlap. Before diving into how on-screen Hollywood was affected there is some ‘behind the scenes’ influence first. The president of Pixar and Disney animation, Ed Catmull, said the assembly line focus is what brought Pixar large success at the start of the company. (Maher) Influenced as previously mentioned by Akira Kurosawa. Star Wars can be seen drawing themes from The Hidden Fortress and The Seven Samurai. The lightsabers and robes worn by the Jedi are from Buddhist monk robes and katanas. In fact, the term Jedi is from the Japanese term “jidaigeki” which is a genre of Japanese television period dramas. And Darth Vader's costume was inspired by Japanese warlord’s uniforms. Another very clear connection can be made between Avatar and Princess Mononoke. With both revolving around themes of destruction of the environment, fighting oppressors, and having a strong female lead. Another movie that has a clear influence from a Japanese film is The Matrix. With similar costumes, sets, lighting, and direction. The pitch for The Matrix was actually done by showing producers the Ghost in the Shell and basically saying “We want to do this. Outside of films drawing influence from other films, there is a very strong film adaptation subgenre. (Lyon) Many popular mangas, a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, typically aimed at adults as well as children. have been made into movies such as Kakegurui, Death Note, Akira, and drawing from the popularity of Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Many if not all of these already had an anime adaptation but the live-action was American. (How Manga) The best way to get a whole understanding of the overlap and affect the industries have on each other is to understand the history and some of the important people who made the industries what they are.

Though many people may not make the connection independently there are very strong ties between the Japanese film industry and the American industry. I did not know of just how deeply they affect each other and when I began my research I was expecting it to be more recent.. Now that I know more about US and Japanese film culture I feel more confident to write them into a short film. But it will still be challenging because they are very wide and it would be impossible to sum them up so shortly. The one major takeaway is just how beautifully they have developed alongside each other and how the impact can be seen.

Works cited:

Lyon, peter. “Star Wars V Matris: How Japanese Cinema Influenced Hollywood.” Forbes, June 29 2016,https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2016/06/29/the-inspiration-nation-how-japanese-culture-influences-hollywood/#4d75bb392ae6. Accessed April 7 2020

Maher, Michael. “From Godzilla to R2D2: Japan’s Influence on Modern Cinema” The beat, Shutterstock, September 9, 2015, https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/japans-influence-on-cinema-after-wwii/, Accessed 3 April 2020.

“How manga and anime inspired Hollywood”, Den of Geek, 23 May 2019, https://www.denofgeek.com/books/how-manga-and-anime-inspired-hollywood/, Accessed 3 April 2020.

Hale, Benjamin, "The History of Hollywood: The Film Industry Exposed", History Cooperative, November 12, 2014, https://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-the-hollywood-movie-industry/. Accessed April 18, 2020

Hardy, James, "The First Movie Ever Made: Why and when films were invented", History Cooperative, September 3, 2019, https://historycooperative.org/first-movie-ever-made/. Accessed April 18, 2020

“Hayao Miyazaki: Japan's godfather of animation?”, BBC, 3 December 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38074088, Accessed 17 April 2020.

“A Japanese Director’s Lasting Influence on American Cinema”, US Embassy Japan official magazine. 3 August 2017. https://amview.japan.usembassy.gov/en/japanese-directors-lasting-influence-on-american-cinema/. Accessed 19 April 2020.