Hello, dear listener! We’re back with another entry in Keithan Smith’s sponsored Anime Marathon. This week, Arthur takes the hosting seat as we talk about his host pick, Speed Racer. That’s right, Arthur cheated—well, kind of. He chose the 2008 live-action adaptation of the popular anime and manga from the Wachowskis. Speed Racer gets one of the most diverse reactions of any movie that’s been featured on this podcast. So Keithan Smith, thank you for being a Patreon Sponsor and thanks for tasking us with another Anime Marathon.
Our game this week consists of us talking about Desired Live Action Cartoon movies. We have a good time as we make our way down nostalgia street. We want you to participate as well, so keep your eyes on Twitter for our weekly game poll and participate in the conversation. After the game, we get down to business. We throw Speed Racer on the table to open it up a bit. Surprisingly, we mine quite a bit of analysis.
Spurred by a recent Twitter discussion with Daniel Aaron Austin, Caleb gets things going with a look at adaptation. He asks the question that Daniel posed, “Is Hollywood out of ideas?” Dalton goes next and he highlights the battle of art and commerce. He questions whether this is the Wachowskis’ exploration of their own relationship with studio filmmaking. From there, we move into a brief discussion of the commerce of film. Alexandra then takes the mic and looks at the vision of the future presented in the movie. She references George Orwell and Aldous Huxley and draws comparisons of their work to what we’re seeing from the Wachowskis. Finally, Arthur brings the conversation home with a look at the grammar of film. He cites Christian Metz and Ferdinand de Saussure and discusses how Speed Racer toys with the language of film.
We’re off to the races this week, Dear Listener. So, we hope you enjoy the show and remind you to check out our sponsor Loot Crate. Also, this is the perfect month to take a look at the LootAnime crate, if you’re into anime and manga.
Speed Racer Timestamps
00:45 – Welcome, Announcements and Introductions
05:47 – Synopsis and Reviews
19:41 – The Game: Desired Cartoon Live Action Adaptations
29:42 – Social Media
32:55 – Analysis
1:04:07 – Shelf or Trash/Else or Instead
1:08:00 – Wrap Up
Arthur is a creator of content, lover of movies, and father of dogs. If you want to keep the conversation going, then click here to follow Arthur on Twitter. If you would like to keep up with what Arthur is watching, then head over to Letterboxd and give him a follow!
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