Earthsea: What a Long Sad Trip It's Been ... (not really news)

[chomiji]

You may recall the travesty that was the Earthsea television special. You may also recall the joyous news that Studio Ghibli (best known for Miyazaki-sensei's films) was going to make an Earthsea movie, and then the much less joyful news that it was Goro Myazaki (Hayao's son) who was actually going to be making the movie.

More recently, Oyceter brought to my attention the fact that in the Ghibli movie - as in the TV mess - everyone is white.   > sigh <   With that in mind, having stumbled over a link to the Australian website for the Ghibli movie, I thought I'd post it here so people can see the trailer etc. if they haven't had that chance. And for good measure, here's Le Guin's commentary on the film, which also mentions why we won't be seeing it in the United States anytime soon.

Comments

[oyceter]

Yeah.... It is so pretty, but given that I didn't like Howl's Moving Castle much (they took out all the things I loved about the book!) and the race issue, I think I will be avoiding this one.

Argh.

[chomiji]

Oh, I definitely agree on Howl (although the green slime scene had the right idea, at least). I much prefer Miyazaki when he's working from his own imagination.

I just thought that some more people ought to be aware that things were happening this way. It seems such a crime. Since the Lord of the Rings movies and Spirited Away came out, I've had all sorts of lovely daydreams about the movies that might be made of various fantasy classics, either as live action or animation, and it looks like very few of these dreams will ever come true.

[theloomofmoira.livejournal.com]

the music in the trailer is lovely, but whether the Japanese regard the characters as "darker" or no, they could stand to be much darker indeed. if you made them any lighter, they'd look like they were drawn with Wite-Out.

I haven't read the books (or Howl's Moving Castle)(although I do know the basic plot and themes), so I imagine I could enjoy the movie, to an extent. but why does it have to be stereotypical good vs evil, and why do they have to mess with a 40-year success? it's not as if Goro can claim the movie as coming from his own imagination, and his changes are to the worse, not the better.

saying the move is created by the same people as Spirited Away is very close to an out-and-out lie, since Goro has never created a movie before this one. sure, many of the same colorers worked on both, but that is not what Created By means, and we all know it.

the tv series was horrible; I wondered at how Ursula Le Guin's name could be dragged through the mud like that.

doesn't anybody realize they could have the same financial rewards as LOTR if they stayed true to the story and did a good job? yes, I have issues with the LOTR movies, esp sending in the elves, but I have a hard time figuring how they could have done the battle of the trees as well as I imagined it... the movies were pretty close to the books, if not by any means 100%. isn't that all we ask? ah well.

[chomiji]

Studio Ghibli is, I think, trying to poise themselves for the day when the senior Miyazaki finally does retire for real (he keeps coming back). But I think they're fooling themselves: everyone knows who the real genius is.

I presume your "to read" stack is already of Sears Tower vertical dimensionality, so I won't attempt to urge you to read the Earthsea books ... Howl's Moving Castle is fun and many people enjoy it, but it's not my most favorite Diana Wynne Jones (although I maintain that DWJ on her worst day is better than many fantasy authors at their best).

[theloomofmoira.livejournal.com]

my favorite book growing up, and I think my first quazi-science fiction book ever, was Dogsbody :)

[chomiji]

I like Dogsbody, but it's so sad! It's a favorite of Neil Gaiman's too, if I recall correctly ... yes:

... yesterday I finished reading Diana Wynne Jones's marvelous Dogsbody to Maddy yesterday. When I finished she didn't say very much. Then she looked at me and put her head on one side and said "Daddy? Was that a happy end? Or a sad one?"

"Both," I told her.

"Yes," she said. "That was what I thought. I was really happy, but it made me want to cry."

"Yeah," I admitted. "Me too." It also made me try to figure out why and how Diana had made the ending work so well, triumphant and heartbreaking at the same time. I want to do that.

- http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2002/03/neil.asp

By my estimate, Maddy Gaiman was 9 or so at that time (she's about a year younger than my daughter).