Well.... yes! But...
1. I turned off Pearl Harbor because it made me physically sick. I expected it to be the same as every other version that I have seen of this movie. I don't like the sight of blood ( I have nearly fainted "each & every" time that I attended the births of my own children - sad but true & even further back when I had to cut up a rat in Year 11 Bio. - I would never make a nurse or doctor) and this Japanese version was over the top. I have seen the American / Australian version so many times but it is nothing like this one. Pearl Harbor is usually rated "M" - which I can show to senior students, but this one should have been rated "MA" - which I can't. So I pulled the plug!
2. So... this raises some issues. Why would the Japanese version be so violent and yuck?? Well, maybe they want you to walk away from this and think war is horrible, where as you walk away from our version thinking "God bless America". Why do I like the "nationalistic" version and hate the "anti-war" one from Japan?
3. Am I a hypocrite???? Shouldn't I (as a historian) love the version that is the closest to the historical truth??? I am sure that the Japanese version is closer to historical truth... war must be as horrible as this... but I think it is revolting and I don't want to watch it. Maybe I only like "nice" history, maybe that's why my speciality is statues of Queen Victoria???
4. I went to a conference last year where a guy had a go at a lady from the Imperial War Museum in London about the lousy way the museum re-created life in the trenches of WW1. She hit back by asking him if he "really" wanted people who visited walking out with trench foot and shell-shock??? Maybe this Pearl Harbor was a bit like that for me, just a bit too real for me to cope with.
SO over to you... what do you think????? I am really interested in what you think. Yep, I accept I am a wus! But what do you think? Did this version upset you as much as it did me??? If it didn't why didn't it???
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! Not a wuss ... maybe sensitive. Girly .. I don't know. Ha ha. Never seen the Jap version, is it a LOT different?
ReplyDeleteSeriously Sophia I was shocked. "Girly"!!!! That's gotta be Band 1!!! lol
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHHAHA. I kid ... no need to get so sensitive. LOLOLOLOL. Maybe I'll find it somewhere and watch it myself. I don't really get grossed out easy lol
ReplyDeleteBAHAHAHAHA.TOTES agree with sophia!
ReplyDeletehaha.I KID I KID.
oh yea.sophia doesn't do modern with us.i was wondering why she didn't know what you were talking about.
as to your question sir.i can't stand blood either! haha.but only in real life.if it's on the big screen, i know it's fake and so i watch it.and since i've been a little kid, me and my bro used to stay up late at night and watch all these action movies and sometimes dad would want to watch a war movie that was coming out and take my brother and i'd rage about favouritism and hence i went along.so i'm very much used to the violence and all. AND i do very much like 'action' movies.
but having said that, i also did get a tad emotional.cause after we had a big laugh about like the racist comment that the guy makes ontop of the tower about -slit eyed whatnot -and then saw all the ships getting blown up and pple running/swimming and getting shot/panic in the hospital and stuff i remembered that all of that actually did happen and felt bad for laughing at the 'misfortune' of others.and i couldn't help but be sorry to the men/families that suffered due to the attack.especially cause they were totes not prepared for it ONE BIT, leaving them THAT much more defenseless and vulnerable, which made me reflect and try to empathise with the idea of waking up one morning to suddenly find your 'perfect world' become like a hell on earth.
oh and btw i dont think you're a hypocrite at all so don't woza =)
yea but anywho.this might sound stupid but considering the movie was made by americans and more FOR the americans than any other country (i think), maybe they decided to cut down on the violence and whatnot because it might stir-up a long 'forgotten' anger and hatred for the japanese? and vice versa, in Japan, they probably wanted to show the realities of war and the consequences of it.and this is just a thought, but...considering Japanese people are also, to a degree bent on racial purity and all,and are quite nationalistic, i know this may sound bad, but couldn't it also be something to do with, by putting those extra scenes in there, they were 'subtly' saying, this is what we did to the americans?? i know it's a horrible thought but I can't help but think that after having seen Japanese 'racism' first hand.
hmmm...i feel as if i'm digging my own grave here!haha.oh well.proscratinated from doing ancient and now i'm going to go back to do me notes =)
I totally understand what you are saying Da-Hee and you say it VERY well. Thank You! To be quite honest I think this whole conflict - the Pacific War - was all about racism, on both sides - and that is why it was so vicious.
ReplyDeleteI get where you're coming from sir. I guess I'm a wus too? I always have to turn away when I'm watching medical shows like Grey's Anatomy and they show shots of the surgeries. Ahhhhh I find it disgusting. But. I don't know. I just kind of covered my eyes when the gross bits came up today and then it was okay.
ReplyDeleteI watched Band of Brothers and Generation Kill last year and while they weren't as gory as Pearl Harbor I still found them eye opening in regards to the horror of war. The episodes 'Bastogne' and 'The Breaking Point' of Band of Brothers in particular, where they were sitting in foxholes in the snow for weeks on end, were really intense and actually quite confronting and upsetting. And then the episode when they found the concentration camp, I cried a lot. I'd never really seen a war show/movie before watching Gen Kill and Band of Brothers and I wasn't sure I'd like them because I like watching comedies and light dramas and war is pretty much as far away from comedy as you can get, but I really liked them. Probably because they presented something I'd never seen and had never really taken the time to consider before but also because I think essentially they are buddy shows. You see the bonds between all the men so the real story isn't really the war but the men. That's how it is for me, at least. And I guess that's why Rafe and Danny are in Pearl Harbor and their friendship is so important. So I don't know. All the guns and fighting and everything didn't bother me that much. They serve to show you brave people stepping up to do incredible things, like the black chef who shot down the plane without having ever been allowed to fire a weapon. I know that we shouldn't glorify war and maybe that's what the movies do but after all they're based on real people and they allow us to understand the bravery of those who fought and the bonds they formed.
I think the reason the American version was more nationalistic relates to what you're always telling us about everything being propaganda. It's Hollywood and America is always about showing her power, it's there (whether as a subtle reference or as the focus) in so many films, whatever they're about. And also this is just on a really simple level, but maybe the reason why the Japanese version had more gore is essentially because the Japanese have a higher tolerance for violence in films and on television (I don't know anything about Japanese culture though so maybe that's completely untrue, but maybe) whereas the Americans knew that if they'd included the gory bits the film would have a higher rating and that'd mean kids couldn't watch it (and I guess that comes back to propaganda and ~educating~ kids about how great America is?). Hahaaha that's not as deep a reason as Da Hee's but from say, the point of view of a person trying to promote the film as a family movie and get as many people as possible to watch it, I'd be thinking that.
Thank you Antonietta! Yep... I think I understand my feelings a bit better because of your answer too. And i think you might have something with the tolerance for violence comment. My Japanese friends do seem to have a much much higher tolerance of violence - manga, anime & such. You have given me a lot to think about.... and your ideas are just as "deep" as Da-Hee's! lol
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