I agree with you there. I was really surprised that Your Name didn't get nominated. At least one anime got a nod, but let's face it, it won't win.
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I agree with you there. I was really surprised that Your Name didn't get nominated. At least one anime got a nod, but let's face it, it won't win.
Ath
Pokémon Master
Don't get me wrong, I agree that Your Name absolutely should've been nominated, but the Oscars are just as much a political process as an awards ceremony. It's about winning the hearts and minds of the Academy voters. Best Animated Feature was super competitive this year, so Your Name needed a bigger push in the US than I feel it got.
KingJimmeh
Magical Girl
Entirely possible this happened in the US considering the number of Oscar voters there are.
Buzz201
Mad Scientist
I'm not too bothered, as I think the film is massively overhyped, but it is a shame. It never really stood a chance, anime fans brought into the hype of themselves and BBC News Magazine.
The highest grossing anime of all time still hasn't grossed that much more than some US CG films' budgets. (It's currently around $332m.) It's still only been given a limited release in the UK and only an Oscar qualifying run in the US. Nobody will have seen it, especially since they refused to authorise screeners. I highly suspect more Americans will have seen the film aboard a plane than they did in US Cinemas thus far (and that takes some effort, as it's title on Emirates is "Japanese - Your Name" and it neglects to mention English subtitles are available).
And to be more specific about the film, it's a teen sci-fi film with dick and breast groping jokes. It was probably too grown up for the crowd that watches animation with their children, but not mature enough to be viewed as "adult animation". This probably shouldn't work against it, but I suspect it did -- Adult Swim is probably the closest things to a teenage animation scene the US has.
The subtitles I watched made no attempt to explain or introduce some cultural things. The Ore/Watashi scene just translated the dialogue as "I (Ore)" and "I (Watashi)", if you didn't already know, that scene would make no sense. And I only got it because somebody asked how the scene had been dubbed on the thread, when the film got it's UK release. Had I seen it clean, it would have lost me too.
Then there's the whole things about Americans being culturally ignorant, but perhaps even worse than that, they apparently actively dislike depictions of foreign countries that don't match their expectations. There was a story that Disney really upset Iron Man 3's Chinese co-producer DMG Entertainment, by refusing to use a very expensive and difficult crane shot that it had to battled to arrange, except on a TV in the background of another shot. The reasoning? Americans weren't comfortable with a depreciation of modern China, that wasn't rice fields and paddy hats. I wonder if the attempt at a more nuanced depiction of Japan, that doesn't really fit into American stereotypes of Japan, put them off.
The highest grossing anime of all time still hasn't grossed that much more than some US CG films' budgets. (It's currently around $332m.) It's still only been given a limited release in the UK and only an Oscar qualifying run in the US. Nobody will have seen it, especially since they refused to authorise screeners. I highly suspect more Americans will have seen the film aboard a plane than they did in US Cinemas thus far (and that takes some effort, as it's title on Emirates is "Japanese - Your Name" and it neglects to mention English subtitles are available).
And to be more specific about the film, it's a teen sci-fi film with dick and breast groping jokes. It was probably too grown up for the crowd that watches animation with their children, but not mature enough to be viewed as "adult animation". This probably shouldn't work against it, but I suspect it did -- Adult Swim is probably the closest things to a teenage animation scene the US has.
The subtitles I watched made no attempt to explain or introduce some cultural things. The Ore/Watashi scene just translated the dialogue as "I (Ore)" and "I (Watashi)", if you didn't already know, that scene would make no sense. And I only got it because somebody asked how the scene had been dubbed on the thread, when the film got it's UK release. Had I seen it clean, it would have lost me too.
Then there's the whole things about Americans being culturally ignorant, but perhaps even worse than that, they apparently actively dislike depictions of foreign countries that don't match their expectations. There was a story that Disney really upset Iron Man 3's Chinese co-producer DMG Entertainment, by refusing to use a very expensive and difficult crane shot that it had to battled to arrange, except on a TV in the background of another shot. The reasoning? Americans weren't comfortable with a depreciation of modern China, that wasn't rice fields and paddy hats. I wonder if the attempt at a more nuanced depiction of Japan, that doesn't really fit into American stereotypes of Japan, put them off.
Honestly, when it comes to Your Name in the Japanese box office I just want it to beat Frozen and then call it there.
Buzz201
Mad Scientist
That's all your worried about? I think you should just Let It Go.
I don't see why everybody has beef with Frozen, the bits I've seen were funny and charming, and the songs are catchy. Maybe it is everywhere, but there's worse films that have been hyped.
Gemsy-chan
Diclonius
I watched Frozen at Christmas and couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I've seen better Disney films.
IncendiaryLemon
Captain Karen
It's incredibly easy to see how overexposure to something can lead to hatred. Whilst I can't say I bear much ill will to Frozen in particular, there are certainly other things I might not have had as much ill will towards if not for seeing it everywhere.
Buzz201
Mad Scientist
ConanThe3rd
Railgun
Frozen is only noteworthy due to the badguy having Dio's VA at a time when JJBA was in the process of exploding so the big gag of the film turned into a big ol' BUT INSTEAD IT WAS I, DIO! fest.
thedoctor2016
Mushi-shi
I dont think Japan is that shallow
ConanThe3rd
Railgun
Maybe not but they do love themselves a good meme.
Andrew Simpson
Completely Average High School Student
Going back to Your Name, surely the fact that it hasn't had its theatrical run in the US was a big factor for it to not get nominated.
Zin5ki
Railgun
KingJimmeh
Magical Girl
I'd love it if Kubo won. Its one of the most creative films at least of 2016, and one of the finest examples of stop-motion. If it has to go to Disney, I'd prefer it to go to Zootopia as I found that better than Moana (though I did enjoy Moana a lot). Didn't get to see Red Turtle or Your Name so can't comment on either of those. Either way, it was a strong year for animation at the movies in general.
Smeelia
Thousand Master
I do think it's a bit of a shame that award ceremonies like the Oscars are basically just big adverts and that they and the organisations running them are all about the business side of the industry (or perhaps too focussed on industry instead of art).
We could debate the merits of Your Name (and the appropriate criteria for judging awards) but it's a notable animation and I think it'd be tough to argue that it doesn't deserve some recognition. It may not perform so well from US focussed business or awareness perspective but those seem like a poor choice of criteria for awards that are supposed to be about artistic merit.
I can't say it bothers me that Your Name was overlooked, but it does bother me when shows/organisations make grand claims to being about art and merit when the reality is quite different. It'd be nice if they were at least a bit more open and honest about things (though I suppose that'd be bad for business). I guess you could maybe argue that they can get by on a technicality since art is subjective, it still feels a little too close to being deliberately misleading for me though.
We could debate the merits of Your Name (and the appropriate criteria for judging awards) but it's a notable animation and I think it'd be tough to argue that it doesn't deserve some recognition. It may not perform so well from US focussed business or awareness perspective but those seem like a poor choice of criteria for awards that are supposed to be about artistic merit.
I can't say it bothers me that Your Name was overlooked, but it does bother me when shows/organisations make grand claims to being about art and merit when the reality is quite different. It'd be nice if they were at least a bit more open and honest about things (though I suppose that'd be bad for business). I guess you could maybe argue that they can get by on a technicality since art is subjective, it still feels a little too close to being deliberately misleading for me though.
Buzz201
Mad Scientist
The whole "it should be about art" argument seems a little stupid to me. Nobody could see the hundreds of animated films released in a year, especially when many are only given festival screenings or incredibly limited releases. Ultimately, the idea that Disney and Universal are buying Oscars is silly, all they're doing is increasing the number of people that are able to see their films -- and anybody campaigning for films to be less accessible is stupid.
I genuinely believe that the majority of Oscar voters vote the way they do for artistic reasons. And to be honest, I'm finding this whole thing hypocritical, as nobody has provided a solid artistic reason why Your Name deserves to be included or why any of the other nominees don't. (It's important to note that the Academy's failure to nominate Your Name is not necessarily indicative of a dislike of the film, but perhaps simply a preference of the other nominees.)
The logic behind everybody's argument here seems to be that it deserves a nomination because it was big in Japan, how is this any different to nominating films seemingly just because they were big in America?
I genuinely believe that the majority of Oscar voters vote the way they do for artistic reasons. And to be honest, I'm finding this whole thing hypocritical, as nobody has provided a solid artistic reason why Your Name deserves to be included or why any of the other nominees don't. (It's important to note that the Academy's failure to nominate Your Name is not necessarily indicative of a dislike of the film, but perhaps simply a preference of the other nominees.)
The logic behind everybody's argument here seems to be that it deserves a nomination because it was big in Japan, how is this any different to nominating films seemingly just because they were big in America?