This article is from WeChat official account:Animation Academic Party (ID: babblers), author: Tata Jun, the original title of “a” disaster science fiction milestone “, this was Masaaki Yuasa messed up? “, the first picture from: “Japan Sinking 2020” stills
“Is the core event design in the text’The Sinking of Japan’ really necessary in the adaptation of this edition?”
“The Sinking of Japan” was originally a science fiction novel (written in 1964) published by Komatsu Sakyo in 1973:
In 197X, Japan experienced many natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. After various observations and studies, scientist Yusuke Tanosuke came up with a bold guess: Japan is likely to face sinking. As the countdown drew closer, a small team dubbed the “Plan D” began to move, trying to transfer assets and citizens to foreign countries. Faced with the great changes in the world structure in the future, countries around the world also have different views and actions…
This national-level classic novel has been evaluated as an “unprecedented bestseller” in the 1970s, and now there are four editions of film and television adaptations, the actual film version of 1973 and 2006, 1974 ~The TV drama version aired in 1975, and this year’s animated web drama version.
The three most famous film and television versions
Actually, there was originally a live movie in 1999, but because of the poor performance of the release company Shochiku at that time, it was difficult to support such a large production, so I gave up.
On July 9, the Netflix animation “Japan Sinking 2020” directed by the well-known animation director Masaaki Yuasa was officially launched, and the masterpiece “Japan Sinking” was once again mentioned by the world.
It seems to be to distinguish the previous film and television adaptations. The title of this version has also been suffixed with “2020” to make it clear that this version will be adapted at the current time. There are also many cultural researchers in Japan who believe that the collective memory of the “3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake” is the demarcation point of Japan’s contemporary history. This event and the upcoming Olympics are just like the 1964 Olympics after the defeat of World War II. A historical cycle.
Actually, Basically every film and television adaptation of “The Sinking of Japan” moved the story time to the time when the version was made to adapt to the contemporary context and allow the audience to have a deeper substitution. sense. For example, the 1999 edition, which was aborted, originally placed the social background after the 1995 “Great Hanshin Earthquake” and incorporated the collective memory of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Such an adaptation strategy, in fact, also proves from the side that this script itself has the charm of transcending the times.
Compared with previous versions, the 2020 version is undoubtedly the most adapted version so far, and it can even be said to be almost entirely original: not only the protagonist of the whole film has changed from the government and the scientist conducting disaster research to the disaster The story and core of the ordinary people have also undergone tremendous changes.
This article will put the Yuasa version of “The Sinking of Japan” in a more macro and historical perspective-we will review the core content of the original book “The Sinking of Japan” and many previous adaptations, based on this , To discuss this adaptation.
Regardless of other evaluations for the time being, after watching the complete collection, the author couldn’t help but think about a question: In order to highlight the core theme of the work, the most central event design in the text “Japan Sinking” is in this edition Is it really necessary in the adaptation?
(Spoiler alert: This article contains a lot of spoilers, please read carefully if readers mind)
What is a Japanese
Before entering the review of the 2020 version of “Tokyo Sinking”, we first need to have a basic understanding of the content of the original work.
In Komatsu Sakyo’s original work, he wrote this text:
“Like this sense of unity with the “government-commander” that far exceeds the sense of “community” in the township party, it is more like a child’s belief that the parents “will eventually do for themselves” , And through this understanding, to ensure the bond between each other. This kind of “blind trust in the country” thinking is still ingrained in most of the people, so that they adopt “submissive and sensible in crisis “”-Style basic behavior.
However, although Japanese people have this kind of “blind trust” thought in the lower level of consciousness, there is another “behavior mode” in the part near the surface of their consciousness. That is, in the modern society’s gains and losses, losses, insults, etc., the behavior patterns formed in sharply opposed interests and tensions. Although they yell at each other at every turn, collide, yell, damage artifacts, and blatantly criticize in the group, all this is essentially based on a kind of “blind trust” in the deep level of the group consciousness, towards the society and the responsible persons. Based on. Therefore, with the exception of some leading figures, not all people who take such actions really want to do it. They often wait for the vent of emotions to end, and then return to the state of “friendly relations”, and adjust and improve the relationship with each other. ”①
In general, this is Komatsu Sakyo’s sharp summary of the Japanese national character, and it is also the central theme of the work “Japan Sinking”-I think it can be summarized as collectivism.
In the words of the thinker Kato Kushiro, the Japanese attitude towards the group is consistent to a certain extent. One of its characteristics is “the so-called group orientation, that is, when the individual’s opinions and the group’s interests, goals, Atmosphere (Emotional preference) When conflicts arise, in principle, always take the attitude of prioritizing group interests and advocacy.”② sup>
And some of the plots in the original work are also pungent to practice the national psychology of relying on their superiors: When “Plan D”-a plan to transfer Japanese nationals and assets overseas-began to be promoted, it had not The people who had their turn to flee looked at the passenger planes that flew away every day, questioning the government officials for leaving them alone, and they were convinced that the Japanese government would eventually save them.
The text in the trailer for the 1973 version of “The Sinking of Japan” reads: Toho(Film producer) Is it scientific wisdom or political decision to ask the world a question?
“The Sinking of Japan” is largely based on such a national character for science fiction, which also makes this science fiction more like a thought experiment by Komatsu Sakyo, who will advocate the collectivist Japanese Set in an apocalyptic environment, observe the development of all parties from a highly objective perspective.
Among them, it not only includes the Japanese conservative and radical self-reflection, but also sets up the role of high-level multinationals, thinking about Japan as a nation from an outside perspective. In addition to the exploration in breadth, the work also has depth in time, thinking about the past history and the imaginary future.
It’s no wonder that some people say that this is not so much a novel as it is a thesis. And this thinking experiment directly pointed to a question: What is a Japanese?
“What is a Japanese” Kodansha Academic Library Edition Book and Shadow
From another point of view, the original book’s questioning is indeed due to Japan’s urgent need for this answer. During the serialization of the novel, Japan experienced the rise and fall of the student movement, followed by inflation and The oil crisis and other social turmoil caused the Japanese nation to reach the pinnacle of self-identity crisis. Kato ShuI said so in 1958:
“The Japanese in the past no longer exist. The Japanese in the future does not seem to have appeared yet…. The question of’what is a Japanese’ has been raised repeatedly, undoubtedly because’I am a Japanese’ What does it mean? It’s not clear…what we want as a nation is not clear.”③
As for Komatsu Sakyo’s thinking about what a Japanese is, it splits into two roles: one is Dr. Yusuke Tasuo as an older generation of Japanese, and the other is Toshio Onodera, a young scientist as a new Japanese.
Dr. Tansho was born before the Great Kanto Earthquake. Although he is not keen on getting ahead, he is an outsider of the political and academic group, but his actions all show the typical national character of Japan: Dr. Tansho even wanted to bring the people and the country together Toward extinction, he concealed the news that Japan might sink. When Japan was truly going to perish, he chose to stay in Japan, claiming that he was “married to Japan.”
The 1973 version of Dr. Tian Suo (first from left)
Although Onodera, who was born after the war, ④, is not interested in getting ahead, he is also not interested in groups and countries. He only cares about his relatives and lovers. It is a manifestation of the self-interest of the new generation of Japanese. Interestingly, in the 1973 movie version, Onodera was played by Hiroshi Fujioka, who had just starred in the special film “Kamen Rider”. In his early works, Hiroshi Fujioka was shaped into a new era. Heroic image.