Comedy and Language December 6, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Analysis, Anime, Comedy, Manga.Tags: Translation
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I’m supposed to be working on a paper for Jewish American Lit right now, or one of my other papers due next week, but I’m really not up for it at the moment. However, the topic, examining three stand-up comedian’s views on Hanukkah and how their comedic styles do, or do not, draw from their Jewish Heritage, will be a lot of fun. Once I start. But not yet. Later.
It got me thinking, though, about the old idea that comedy doesn’t translate well. It doesn’t make sense, when I actually sit down and think about it. I don’t have the book on hand, but the explanation I got about how comedy works is that it can be broken down, eventually, into two types: superiority jokes and incongruous jokes. All humor either makes us feel superior to someone or something, or makes a logical/illogical jump from one point to another. That doesn’t seem to be something dependent on language, so, translating comedy should work.
Okay, yeah, I’ll admit, I don’t think it would necessarily be easy to translate complex word humor and jokes based on specific cultural things, which means yes, in some ways comedy doesn’t translate. But in terms of cultural jokes, that’s a flaw on the part of the reader, not the translator. Okay, not really “fault” but that sort of thing, I guess.
Here’s the thing, though; to use Japanese Anime as a reference, how many various comedy animes and mangas are out, and have done well? How many involve humor in one part or another, that Americans still get? Suzumiya Haruhi, Excel Saga, Azumanga Daioh, Yotsuba, Crayon Shin Chan (sorta), Lucky Start (mostly), Ranma 1/2, Nerima Daikon Brothers, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, or the jokes that come up in dramas and action shows like Evangelion, Full-Metal Alchemist, One Piece, Inu-Yasha, etc. etc.?
The Telescopic Text December 3, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Analysis, On Writing, Reccomended Reading.add a comment
This is an interesting little experiment that I came across on another blog, mostly on design, but it has some interesting things for writers as well. It’s called Telescopic Text, and it’s just a sentence that can be expanded into a longer, more complex sentence, by clicking on the words. In the end, it always becomes the same thing, but it’s an interesting thing to check out. While the design thing is probably a more interesting element, the actual fact of looking at the writing expand and become more descriptive is another good thing to check out, as a lot of people, myself included, don’t describe things well. Here’s an actual sentence, “I made tea.” being built out into a full paragraph, full of asides, ideas, actions, and sensory effects. Check it out at: Telescopic Text by Joe Davis
The Dark Knight and Story Structure September 3, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Analysis, Movies, Plot.Tags: The Dark Knight
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I recently saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, in theaters. Twice actually, but that’s not as important. I’m sure most people have already heard the great things about it, and about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Yep, it’s incredible. Probably one of the best performances of, well, anything that I’ve seen, and an acting performance that delivers a wonderfully memorable and evil villain. But, that’s not what I’m here to talk about right now. Besides, other people can talk about that sort of element much better than I can, so I’ll leave it to them.
What struck me was a comment one of my friends mentioned after I had seen the movie. He said one great thing was that, unlike most movies, you couldn’t exactly see where it was going to go, and the twists were real twists. Most movies set themselves up for one great big shock, which, when they’re not as good, can be seen long before they come and ruin any surprise and suspense that they try to build with that. But here, he said, time and again something new jumped in and threw everything for a loop.
I won’t say that the story was the most original thing I’ve ever seen, but I have to say it was an amazing story. It took the standard superhero versus supervillan story and pushed it, hard, until it reached a point of becoming much more. The realism, the growing and breaking and changing and lying characters, and a constant devotion to holding itself to the same standards it’s set up have made it great. It hits us as real because, while some of the technology is is beyond us and some of the physical feats are more than we could assume possible, there’s nothing really in the movie that we stop and say “that’s not possible, ever.” Exactly what you want to see in science fiction; and, when you think about Batman, and his utility belt, as well as all the other toys he plays with, he is a science fiction superhero. The characters are like people as well, growing tired, reacting to their conscience and thoughts when they know what’s coming, or are caught off guard, and the events affect them and make them rework their opinions and lives. And never does it slip; never does the dialogue stop snapping, do the characters break from this mood, does the story let up from it’s grip on you. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling, even if it may not be deep or philosophical, which one could certainly argue — I’m just not feeling up to it right now.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: First Thoughts September 1, 2008
Posted by headgrenade in Analysis, Anime, Beginnings, Science-Fiction.Tags: Gundam 00, Mobile Suit Gundam
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I’ve begun watching a new anime that’s been recommended to me by my girlfriend, and the most current Gundam series. For those who don’t know, Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the biggest anime series in Japan based around giant battle mechs. It’s been popular for a long time, has spawned numerous series, and sort of defined the entire mecha genre in Japan and abroad. And I think it’s a bunch of crap, but due to my girlfriend prodding me pretty much since I met her to watch something about Gundam, I’ve started to sit down and watch it today.
My original problems with Gundam, as a whole concept and not just a series, is the fact that the Gundams, these extremely rare but supreme mechs, are just way too over the top powerful. I’m a big fan of science fiction and Japanese stories and manga, and I, like many people interested in these sorts of stories, would just love to see two giant machines of death battle it out surrounded by explosions. But these Gundams are just too powerful; agile in ways people can’t come close to despite being giant machines that weigh thousands of tons, loaded down with weaponry that defies logic in terms of damage inflicted, near infinite ammunition, impregnable armor that seems to be invincible except against other equivalently overpowered mechs, and an all-together lack of weakness to be exploited leaves these completely insane. I find many other series, which I won’t go into, such as Armored Core, Mechwarrior, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Code Geass, and even a fantasy series like Escaflowne, do a much better job at making these mechs seem realistic. For one example, in Neon Genesis Evangelion, they have an extremely limited amount of power (approximately five minutes after a full charge, and only a minute if using all their systems), they have to fight things supremely more powerful than them, a lot of the weapons are conventional and remnants from our technology, and their armor protects them only from the weakest of attacks. Maybe the whole idea of giant mechanical bipedal tanks are quite a bit unrealistic, but like all of science fiction, you can hold things to some degree of realism.
Compounding the original problems I have with Gundam, their stories are, for the most part, pretty dumb. The characters are uninspired, the amount of pointless carnage as these huge mechs blast through thousands of weaker ones, and the over-dramatic tone throughout most of the series undercuts any real suspense and excitement about what’s going on. Now, there are times where one of the series is engrossing, compared with most, but there’s a point that they don’t ever reach, some invisible line that separates good dime-store novels from the real well written stories.
Now, it’s also not all crap, these series; they do a fairly decent job all around making a convincing prime time television show with some thought provoking ideas. They bring up a lot about war, killing, humanity and it’s future, energy, morality, and while there’s a general black and white view pervading, there is almost always some gray areas. One of the older ones, Gundam Wing, was quite entertaining for a long time (I only got through a quarter of it; I didn’t have time for more and couldn’t get a hold of the second half anyway).And besides, everyone, from time to time, enjoys a good campy action flick or a cheesy romantic comedy or something. Sometimes we just need something that only just barely challenges us, if at all, to relax and just enjoy things without having to think much afterwards. It’s a good group of series for that, at least.
Then again, having watched the first two episodes of this series, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, I’m really depressed. It started on a high note for me, with a fantastic opening segment with child soldiers and gritty war. It seems to have a good overall theme, where a group of paramilitary soldiers swear to end all war by destroying all military and all offensives, as well as the defending military at the same time, and turn all hatred and warmongering towards themselves for an as of yet unknown reason. I’d like to see how that plays out, and how they figure that would work, because it is certainly an interesting topic.
However, the characters are almost impossible to tell apart by what they do, their voices and tones (I’m listening to the Japanese version with subtitles) are almost exactly the same “cool cucumber” type, and I feel like there are a lot of lines that were thrown in and used because they “sound” cool, even if they destroy the entire reality of the situation to make it a happy-go-lucky mess. Maybe I don’t know something yet, because it seems there’s more yet to be seen, but I’m not holding my breath to be surprised.
I want something more realistic. Is that really so much to ask? I’m glad at least one of them expressed remorse at being a mass murderer by bombing a military base for a moment, then turned to his ideals to keep himself focused, but I don’t know if a lot will come of it. I doubt they’ll let one of their four pilots go down nearly permanently because he’s shell-shocked. I would gladly watch the rest of the show if they do, though. War is one of the worst things ever to happen on our planet, and to human beings. They really ought to show it that way, if you ask me, at least sometimes.
