The film Perfect Blue was a very different anime film from the others that we have watched. Mima was the main character, and she started off as a pop singer, who decided that she wanted to become an actress and make it in the film industry. Unfortunately, a combination of her conscience and other people’s influence on her drove her mad and she got lost in the illusions created by her own mind and what is reality. The movie showed a lot about how Japanese society see women in media, and also shows the kind of effects it can have on these female celebrities. Mima, had to make some decisions she wasn’t happy about, that were against her moral rights, and allowed for herself to be raped and became an object in pornography so that she could make it as an actress. This is a serious problem, because it turns women into objects of lust and turns them into these things that mainly appeal to men, instead of all people. Being controlled by men, these female actresses like Mima, are likely to lose who they are as a person, and no longer know who they are. They do what it takes to make it in that world, and it changes them. This is seen very well in Perfect Blue with Mima. She starts off by doing things that she normally wouldn’t, in order to make it big, and then she begins to lose sight of who she really is.
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| Image From Karl Against The Tedium |
This messes with both you as a viewer, and with her as a character in the film. She starts off as this pop singer who knows who she is and then slowly, things start to change. Mima gets exposed to some of her crazy fans who manipulate her internet life, and she starts to believe that she really has done these things. As she finds herself in this confusing place, she starts getting manipulated more by people like Rumi and Uchida, and thinks that she turns into a killer. All this coincidentally happens and is very similar to the show she is a part of, and she begins to mix up what is reality, and what is just an illusion. All of this makes for a very complex, yet, interesting film.
P.S. - Have you seen House of Wax? Uchida looks awfully similar to Vincent...
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| Image From Cineclub |
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| Image From Yourprops |
John,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog on Perfect Blue. You touched upon the effects of gender and how women are treated more as objects than actual people. Also you mentioned the main thing that most people faced, a certain confusion throughout the film based on the loss of identity and the portrayal of an actor who has actors acting as her while she is in fact acting about acting without consciously knowing it. (Bet that sentence threw ya for a loop eh?) Anyways, the first picture you posted was very expressive of the identity loss and split in who is who. The comparison to the Uchida guy is quite uncanny although I have to admit, if I ever saw Mimania in real-life, I might have a heart attack on the spot. That guy looks freakier than anyone I've seen up to this day. Lastly, did you enjoy the movie considering it was a roller coaster ride of confusion throughout most of the movie?