Why are the characters all apparently Caucasian?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Ponyo
Laurlcrown — 14 years ago(October 15, 2011 07:44 PM)
Very endearing film, yet something confuses me: The film ostensibly is set in Japan, but none of the characters almost all of whom have recognizably Japanese names appear to be ethnically Japanese. None have the epicanthic eye fold and none have a hair color any darker than Sosuke, Lisa or Koichi's chestnut brown. (Several, on the other hand, have reddish or even blond hair.)
I imagine this decision was made to appeal to a Western audience, but have Hayao Miyazaki or the film's producers directly addressed this decision? -
antoni109 — 14 years ago(February 11, 2012 10:05 PM)
It's a long tradition in Japanese anime for characters to appear as what we might consider to be "caucasian". Anime (and western animation) allows animators to create all sorts of weird and wonderful realities, so we shouldn't really be surprised that characters in anime don't conform to our stereotypes of Japanese people. Does this mean that they are trying to create characters that look caucasian? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Howl's Moving Castle appears to be set in a western European setting Spirited Away is set in Japan but with other Asian influences - I notice one scene has Balinese type images on the wall of the room and balinese type gamelan music.
Consider genetically Asian people who change their appearance - dye their hair, wear contact lenses. Is this because they want to "look caucasian"? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Is a caucasian person who dyes their hair black trying to look "Asian"? -
RbSnedlap — 13 years ago(January 07, 2013 06:43 AM)
Out of curiosity just what is a
Caucasiananyway?
Everybody in this film looks to me much as any person I`ve ever met or seen who happens to be Japanese.
"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan."
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keyvenx — 12 years ago(December 15, 2013 06:40 PM)
TBH, to me it seems there is a definite attempt to look less "Japanese", which in many ways, is to increase appeal. The percentage of (full-blooded) Japanese with large, expressive eyes are in a distinct minority.
It is ironic that many of the villains can be quickly identified by their unusually small eyes.
Not to sound derogatory (I'm Asian as well), but Japanese people just have a tendency for small eyes, flat-ish faces and being on the short side (relatively speaking).
Many successful Japanese models are of mixed heritage, but it seems the new generation of Japanese kids are taller than ever. -
silverred999 — 11 years ago(November 10, 2014 03:09 PM)
The simple answer because we force our world view onto other cultures so characters that arent grossly exaggerated stereotypes seem white to us. The characters are asian, look asian, in every way. Look at cosplay, someone once said to me, and see that the cosplayers who can play these caharcters are all japanese. White people do not usually have green, blue, purple or pink hair, but still we think of every character as white. We percieve every character that looks non stereotypical as white. I am not dissin you we do that too. But look at elmer fudd he does not look like a white person he looks like a cartoon. But we bring our ethnic superiority intooour view of him.
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BQQ — 9 years ago(May 02, 2016 02:16 PM)
I know people here are talking about anime tradition, and rightfully so, but I think characters in Ponyo look more Western than in any other Ghibli film.
"I don't want a bloody avatar!" -paraphrased from BQQ's annoyances with IMDb's stupidity