chomage

Dig the "Pop goes Japanese culture" article in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Looks like they interviewed the rouges gallery of villains for it, including me.

Comments

[Carl Horn]

The article sounds a bit as if it could have been written two, five, or ten years ago, with certain modifications (perhaps it was, and gets re-released at intervals with certain updates). Also, it talks about "middle America" but then seems to think The New York Times, the New Yorker, and NPR are part of it--actually, this culture has probably been better known among middle America before hoity-toity media such as those got around to it. But maybe I'm just jealous, because I'm 34 yet not boyish.

[Daniel Zelter]

Carl: Any thoughts on Kiki being made into a live-action flick by Disney?

[Carl Horn]

Well, although we often focus on Disney's home video or theatrical releases of Ghibli, KIKI has gotten great exposure through repeated airings on The Disney Channel (at least a dozen times in the last few years). The positive feedback from this "core audience" might have prompted the idea. As for the staff of the live-action version, I would say they're faced with a bit of a challenge. Miyazaki is not my I AM THAT I AM, but I can't see many directors simply watching one of his films and exclaiming, "Well, shit--I could do as good a movie as THAT!"