Why do the American movie and television industries dismiss the relevance and existence of their Japanese counterparts in terms of promotion? Again and again I have come across references recently in American movie and TV promotions that represent said products of Western production achieving things they aren't exactly eligible of.
Sometime these inaccurate claims aren't done by the production studio's themselves but are done by echo chambers of promotion who may or may not be financially tied to the studio. I'm not even going to get into the issue of 'white washing', I don't have the energy nor the detailed ethnographic background to do that argument the justice it deserves. Instead I am going to list three incorrect claims and theorize why claims like these exist.
In a number of places the claim that, long running American syndicated animation series, The Simpsons is the longest running animated show ever. I am not sure if FOX television themselves stand behind this claim, but I have seen it in a handful of reputable locations on the internet. The series has run for 26 years as of 2016, with over 540 episodes under its belt. This is incredibly impressive and does in fact make it the longest running scripted prime time show on American TV. It surpasses the previous holder of that title, Gunsmoke, which ran for 20 years. Episode count, it is still behind that western behemoth which ran 635 episodes. It does not, however, match the longest running scripted television show, which is Guiding Light. The American soap opera aired more than 15,000 episodes over 59 years.
When it comes to the longest running, scripted, prime time television series though the honors and Guinness record goes to Sazae-san. It has been running for 47 years with over 7300 episodes so far. But, its understandable that American audiences would be oblivious to the existence of Sazae-san, it really doesn't exist outside of Japan, partially due to the wishes of its original creator, Hasegawa Michiko, that it never be made available on film. It only really exists in syndication in Japan.
The recent live action film Deadpool has in a number of places been promoted as the first R rated super hero or comic book film. I'm pretty sure Marvel Studio knows a little better than to make that claim, on both fronts. In the western comic book super hero land you we have The Watchmen, which is very much super hero and R rated and about as well known in Western comic book circles as Deadpool used to be. Then in the general comic book based movie world there is The Crow, Sin City, Blade, V for Vendetta, 300...and another super hero story in Kick-Ass & Kick-Ass 2. Sorry Deadpool, even your fanboys should know better than to spout that claim.
Then we get into the products that come out of Japan. The obvious choice is to look at the countless anime movies based on per-existing comics, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, etc. But its not hard to look to the world of live action movies, even some made in America. Ichi the Killer, the Korean produced Old Boy (which also saw a failed Spike Lee adaptation), Attack on Titan or The Guyver: Dark Hero. These are a few that are readily available in America in a variety of formats...not to mention all of the ones that are indigenous to Japan and not readily available. But, these are also films that have a limited audience in America, not existing in the mainstream consciousness.
The one that tripped me though is for previews of the new CG film featuring Seth Rogan called Sausage Party, billing its self as the first full CG animated film for adults. The most recent full CG film for adults that I can think of would be the first Ajin movie. But few people in America know that the Ajin franchise exists given the only legitimate product available in America is the manga. So again, a product of American origin is claiming something serendipitous with little regard for actual research and global film history.
Hollywood and other American entertainment companies appear to dismiss anything outside of American shores as being relevant or significant when it comes to making claims about breaking trends. Its difficult to find fault in that way of operating for a few reasons. Without doubt, Hollywood is historically the strongest and most important player in the television and film industry. While it didn't invent it, it has established how it operates and produces for over 100 years now. On the global scale it is incredibly important and significant. Domestically it is essentially all the exists for the majority of the populace. So it's simple and effective to discount anything not related to the established domestic industry when promoting said industry domestically. The only people that will stand up and notice are the obsessive outlier's which tend to go ignored as outlier's as defined by the term outlier.
Hollywood isn't ignorant, some in the echo chamber are lazy and ignorant, but that's the state of journalism these days, so it shouldn't be terribly shocking. Foreign production industries find little success in America and offer little threat to the established companies. It is easy and simple to brush their existence off when it comes to marketing and promotion. Ultimately no one cares if something is making false claims or is directly related to something of foreign origin. All they care about is what the pundits and their friends/family have to say about the product.
...don't even get me started about what I think relating to Kubo.and the Two Strings.
Sometime these inaccurate claims aren't done by the production studio's themselves but are done by echo chambers of promotion who may or may not be financially tied to the studio. I'm not even going to get into the issue of 'white washing', I don't have the energy nor the detailed ethnographic background to do that argument the justice it deserves. Instead I am going to list three incorrect claims and theorize why claims like these exist.
In a number of places the claim that, long running American syndicated animation series, The Simpsons is the longest running animated show ever. I am not sure if FOX television themselves stand behind this claim, but I have seen it in a handful of reputable locations on the internet. The series has run for 26 years as of 2016, with over 540 episodes under its belt. This is incredibly impressive and does in fact make it the longest running scripted prime time show on American TV. It surpasses the previous holder of that title, Gunsmoke, which ran for 20 years. Episode count, it is still behind that western behemoth which ran 635 episodes. It does not, however, match the longest running scripted television show, which is Guiding Light. The American soap opera aired more than 15,000 episodes over 59 years.
When it comes to the longest running, scripted, prime time television series though the honors and Guinness record goes to Sazae-san. It has been running for 47 years with over 7300 episodes so far. But, its understandable that American audiences would be oblivious to the existence of Sazae-san, it really doesn't exist outside of Japan, partially due to the wishes of its original creator, Hasegawa Michiko, that it never be made available on film. It only really exists in syndication in Japan.
The recent live action film Deadpool has in a number of places been promoted as the first R rated super hero or comic book film. I'm pretty sure Marvel Studio knows a little better than to make that claim, on both fronts. In the western comic book super hero land you we have The Watchmen, which is very much super hero and R rated and about as well known in Western comic book circles as Deadpool used to be. Then in the general comic book based movie world there is The Crow, Sin City, Blade, V for Vendetta, 300...and another super hero story in Kick-Ass & Kick-Ass 2. Sorry Deadpool, even your fanboys should know better than to spout that claim.
Then we get into the products that come out of Japan. The obvious choice is to look at the countless anime movies based on per-existing comics, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, etc. But its not hard to look to the world of live action movies, even some made in America. Ichi the Killer, the Korean produced Old Boy (which also saw a failed Spike Lee adaptation), Attack on Titan or The Guyver: Dark Hero. These are a few that are readily available in America in a variety of formats...not to mention all of the ones that are indigenous to Japan and not readily available. But, these are also films that have a limited audience in America, not existing in the mainstream consciousness.
The one that tripped me though is for previews of the new CG film featuring Seth Rogan called Sausage Party, billing its self as the first full CG animated film for adults. The most recent full CG film for adults that I can think of would be the first Ajin movie. But few people in America know that the Ajin franchise exists given the only legitimate product available in America is the manga. So again, a product of American origin is claiming something serendipitous with little regard for actual research and global film history.
Hollywood and other American entertainment companies appear to dismiss anything outside of American shores as being relevant or significant when it comes to making claims about breaking trends. Its difficult to find fault in that way of operating for a few reasons. Without doubt, Hollywood is historically the strongest and most important player in the television and film industry. While it didn't invent it, it has established how it operates and produces for over 100 years now. On the global scale it is incredibly important and significant. Domestically it is essentially all the exists for the majority of the populace. So it's simple and effective to discount anything not related to the established domestic industry when promoting said industry domestically. The only people that will stand up and notice are the obsessive outlier's which tend to go ignored as outlier's as defined by the term outlier.
Hollywood isn't ignorant, some in the echo chamber are lazy and ignorant, but that's the state of journalism these days, so it shouldn't be terribly shocking. Foreign production industries find little success in America and offer little threat to the established companies. It is easy and simple to brush their existence off when it comes to marketing and promotion. Ultimately no one cares if something is making false claims or is directly related to something of foreign origin. All they care about is what the pundits and their friends/family have to say about the product.
...don't even get me started about what I think relating to Kubo.and the Two Strings.
But what if I want to know what you think of Kubo?
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