Ask John: How Will Spirited Away’s Oscar Win Affect Anime in America?

Question:
What do you think Spirited Away’s win at the Academy Awards will do for anime in America, Japan’s interest in anime in America and America’s interest in anime in Japan?

Answer:
Only days after Spirited Away’s Best Animated Film recognition at the Academy Awards, and still three days before the film is scheduled to finally go into theatrical “wide” release, any prediction of mine is pure speculation. It’s certainly wonderful that Spirited Away won the Oscar for Best Animated Film, but given its competition, which included titles such as Treasure Planet and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, any other outcome would have been an outrageous injustice. Unfortunately, against such competition as Lilo & Stich and Ice Age, which may be good but lightweight films, the sheer artistic and technical mastery of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi seems to mismatched and incomparable that the race itself seems a no-competition. As such, the film’s win as best film at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, where it was recognized above all other movies animated and live-action, in all categories, seems more significant and tremendous than its Academy Award win against slim competition in a new and still largely unrecognized category.

But the influence of the Academy Award is undeniable. The award alone is enough to convince Disney to re-release Spirited Away in six times the number of theaters it was originally released to in America. There should be little doubt that the film’s recent award will help boost recognition of anime as a legitimate form of cinematic art, not merely a marketing tool for children’s toys or erotic-grotesque pornography for emotionally underdeveloped cult fans. However, my instincts warn me not to expect too much. An incisive example is the tremendous success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This distinctly Asian film won 4 Oscars in 2001, yet two years later, there has still not been an appreciable representation of Asian films in the mainstream American box office. Even two-time Academy Award nominee Zhang Yimou’s awe-inspiring martial arts epic Hero, China’s entry into the recent Academy Award nominees as Best Foreign Film, has received virtually no theatrical support in America. Sadly, even multiple Academy Award wins evidently do not instantly assure an Asian film’s success in America, nor do even multiple Oscars portend a sudden rush of similar films into American theaters.

Spirited Away has already turned heads in America, and made considerable steps toward enlightening certain minorities of American mainstream culture to the qualities of Japanese animation. There should be no doubt that the theatrical re-release and upcoming DVD release of the film will also educate new viewers in the wonder and brilliance of quality anime, one viewer at a time. But I don’t foresee the theatrical re-release of Spirited Away causing the sort of revolution in American cultural awareness that some fans may vaguely anticipate. As a family film, Spirited Away will certainly prove that Japan is capable of producing exceptional children’s animation, but I don’t predict that Spirited Away will be able to convince mainstream America that anime is the next “must see” form of cinema. In effect, Spirited Away is an exceptional film, but it’s not revolutionary, and I doubt that even its Academy Award win is likely to cause a revolution in the American film industry or conscience of America’s filmgoers.

While I’m making amorphous predictions, allow me to go one step farther and hazard a guess at the next anime that I think will have the potential to revolutionize America. Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. There are three major upcoming anime imports to America: The AniMatrix (it’s status as “anime” proper is arguable, but for the purposes of this discussion, it’s close enough), the Cowboy Bebop movie, and Kill Bill. Based on what’s been revealed so far, the AniMatrix is simply too esoteric to generate mainstream interest in the anime art form. In fact, the AniMatrix itself is designed to be an outre supplement to the successful American franchise, not an introduction to Japanese pop art. As such, it’s likely to be digested in America as a successful and interesting experiment, but not the beginning of a staple diet. The Cowboy Bebop movie, also by its nature, has innately limited influence in America. Because the Cowboy Bebop television series has already aired in America, the movie is probably doomed to be considered, at best, a big screen installment of a small screen franchise (which, of course, it is). Regardless of its success, the Cowboy Bebop movie probably won’t be able to establish itself as a spearhead of a new anime invasion because American viewers and critics will inevitably view it as an extension of a moderately successful, past its prime TV franchise like the Scooby Doo movie- possibly fun, but ultimately a diversion, not a revolution. Then we come to Kill Bill.

Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming action film, in my opinion, has the potential to generate more interest in anime among mainstream American viewers than any other upcoming anime release due in part to the fact that Kill Bill isn’t anime. Production IG will be providing 10 minutes worth of animation to be included in Kill Bill. This may well be a case in which less is more. As his first film in five years, there will be considerable mainstream buzz and anticipation for Quentin Tarantino’s latest film. His name, as director, is assured to draw more viewers than director names like Hayao Miyazaki or Shinichi Watanabe can. And perhaps no other anime studio besides Production IG seems to have the potential to produce revolutionary animation that simultaneously exhibits the Japanese characteristics of anime while appealing to a universal sense of awe and wonder. The unique combination of name recognition, audience anticipation, and anime exposure likely to convene in Kill Bill may have the potential to pique the curiosity of American viewers. In my mind, I can imagine theater patrons discussing the film and particularly the brief clip of memorable animation glimpsed within the film. The inclusion of anime within Kill Bill is specifically designed to surprise and captivate viewers. The fact that it will be only 10 minutes worth of footage instead of an entire film may be just tantalizing enough to make viewers want to see more. The fact that this unusual footage is included within an already trendy film only fuels its post-modern appeal. Of course, what remains to be seen is whether or not Kill Bill is any good.

The Academy Award recognition of Spirited Away as Best Animated Film is certainly a tremendous honor, but in some respects a hollow one because the category itself carries little weight within American mainstream consciousness. Furthermore, the film may, and deserves to succeed in American theaters and on home video, but I don’t foresee it convincing hundreds of thousands of American film-goers to demand, and pay for more similar animation in America. On the other hand, Kill Bill may have the influence needed to convince mainstream America that Japanese animation is “cool” and trendy among mainstream consumers- not just late night TV, children’s cartoons and underground cult fans.

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