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2009-07-23

Variety's Online Miyazaki Articles

Variety has posted a series of web-exclusive articles on Miyazaki, in anticipation of Ponyo's US release next month. Let's take a look and see what's on offer:

- "Miyazaki Hopes to Break US Spell." Ponyo's US producers explain their plans to bring Miyazaki to the greater American public. Read here, and here's a short clip on the Disney dub:

Kennedy-Marshall set about bringing both A-list acting and writing talent to the English-language version of "Ponyo," including Oscar-nominated "E.T." screenwriter Melissa Mathison. "We felt a responsibility to subtly reinterpret Miyazaki's storytelling," Kennedy recalls. "Miyazaki-san was quite intrigued with Melissa getting involved, and she found a subtle adjustment to the language so that you understand you're watching a Japanese movie but, at the same time, you're not getting confused by a literal translation."


- "Hewitts Bring Miyazaki Stateside." A short article on Don and Cindy Hewitt, who handled the Disney dubs on the Ghibli DVDs. Read here.

- "Industry Pros Pay Tribute to Miyazaki." This was my favorite article, a collection of short essays by Miyazaki's peers in film, animation, and comics. Read here. Writers include Pete Docter, Moebius, Nick Park, and Yoshimoto Nara.

- "Miyazaki Gets Help in Support for Woodland." A short but excellent write-up on last year's art project sponsored by Pixar in support of the Totoro Forest Project, which is dedicated to wildlife preservation in Japan. Read here.

2 comments:

BionicVapourDude said...

What is so confusing about a literal translation? Is it so criminal to want to be exposed to things unfamiliar, in order to... I don't know.... learn about them?

asuka said...

i have faith the translation will be good, based on the track record.
for the subs at least...

i reckon people sometimes use the phrase "literal translation" just to mean "bad and insufficiently worked-through translation"! a good translation will be alert to all sorts of matters - such as, for example, homonyms in the target language that might lead to distracting ambiguities in the final translation, and will try to avoid these. if this makes the translation less "literal" in one sense, then that's a good thing!

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