Mezame No Hakobune
Encyclopedia
, aka Open Your Mind (international title), is a 2005 three-act musical drama
presented on a multidisplay IMAX
-like theme theater mixing CG-animated video with live-action footages directed by Japanese
filmmaker Mamoru Oshii
.
An OVA compilation version, renamed Open Your Mind: Special Edition, was available in limited quantities only at the Aichi Expo souvenir shop until it was re-released at the end of the expo as a Complete Edition which included a "Making of" bonus DVD and a color booklet.
's (" Expo 2005 Aichi
Japan
") "Mountain of Dreams" pavilion. The theme theater had a capacity of 200 viewers and the facility was named "Floor Plasma Multi MultiDisplay System" and used 99 screens. The show was available for six months, from March until September 2005, with a new 10 minutes episode
released bimonthly.
The theater was designed as a shrine with each side of the floor screens surrounded by four rows of full sized standing Ku-Nu clones. Above the 139 dog-headed generals hovered the Pan doll appearing in the movie. The goddess was surrounded by silk curtains and the doll footage featured in the Intermission: Pan scene was shot in the theater.
Viewers were divided in two groups with 30 tickets available for the floor (aka "arena") while the remaining 170 viewers had to go to the second level (known as the "slope" ).
The second part of the facility was a panoramic 3-widescreen 180° multidisplay broadcasting 16:9 footages. Pictures and light effects were also projected on the ceiling, made from eight silk curtains, or the 5 meter acrylic egg-shapped screen.
chose three kinds of music to illustrate the show. One part was made of synthethizer-based New Age
pieces, similar to Mike Oldfield
's Tubular Bells
, the other themes are typically Japanese. One was based on the use of taiko
, the folkloric drums backing Noh polyphonic chants
sung by a chorus of seven women — This is Kawai's signature since Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed and cult anime
feature film, Ghost In The Shell
. The other was the remaining meditative part combining Zen music
with the soundtrack's natural audio effects.
versions — the latter being more faithful to the 6.1 channel surround sound
original format.
and through Mythology
to Fantasy
. It is a three act musical drama concept with a prologue and epilogue, both named intermission, by Kenji Kawai who is the composer of the score. The characters' introduction and drama is narrated through the lyrics of the opera-like Noh chanted recitation, which is self referred to as utai within the movie.
philosophy — Earth, Water, Fire, Wind (referred to as kaze in the Hyakkin chant), Sky and Consciousness (referred to as "Awakening" in the movie's title).
Also it could be a fabricated dream, à la Soylent Green
, experienced by one of our descendants willing to learn how precious and beautiful the Earth
was in its prime and experienced through a chronological and geographical exploration of the planet. Dreams are a classic theme in Oshii's production including Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer
and The Red Spectacles
. The pavilion concept's name "Mountain of Dreams" is probably not a coincidence.
According to the theory, agreed by Oshii (quote interview), that the futuristic projection of Science Fiction is nothing more than a metaphorous description of the present and current society, just like Montesquieu (in Persian Letters
) and Voltaire
(in L'Ingénu) implicitly describing -criticizing- their own country through the eyes of a foreign character or civilization, this work could be viewed as a warning (or "Awakening") to preserve our, current, highly menaced
, biosphere
and ecosystem
before it is too late. This film was presented at the World Exposition hence its universal message and collective matter.
The original title "Ark of Awakening" (Mezame no hakobune), is a double reference to the Bible
's "Noah's Ark
" and to Buddha
, which means "awakened". In this perspective the movie can be interpreted as a futuristic, post-flood, returning trip to Earth on board an ark ship with the featured creatures being part of the breeding stock of saved animals. Vis-à-vis the amount of religious references being Shinto
(animist presentation of nature as a living power
, lyrics about kami
, kagami
or mikoto
), Buddhism
(mandala, music, "zen
" blue shaded photography, animal headed anthropomorph beings), the Bible
(Noah's Ark
, Great Flood
, Genesis) or the Greek mythology
(Centaur
, Chimera
), and connecting them with the depiction of fantasy ancient or future- races that are the mysterious creatures, this work could also be regarded as a mythological tale of Creation (or Genesis), in the likes of Stanley Kubrick
's Space Odyssey
.
philosophy), inhabited by a group of three mysterious anthropomorph creatures. They are standing still, silent, glowing in their shining white togas, they look like some kind of anthropomorph gods of Buddhist mythology. They are the Riki-Shou, the animal headed generals, sent by Pan. The creature standing in front of the trio is Ku-Nu, the dog face Riki-Shou, on his right is Hyakkin, the eagle faced, while on his left stands Sho-Ho, the fish head general. The action is seen in first person view through the eyes of an untold character which makes the viewer the main character of this story. After a while the viewer leaves the woods and the following acts will introduce the Riki-Shou, one after the other, starting with Sho-Ho. This forest scene will follow and end in the last part of the movie which is set after the Ku-Nu act.
This unnarrated introduction is wrapped with sounds of nature and Buddhist music that is in homage to Kawai's previous score on the prologue of Oshii's Patlabor 2: the Movie
which takes place in a Cambodia
n forest and features a giant Buddha statue.
Open Your Mind episode available from March 25 until May 24, 2005.
1995 classic and revolutionary Fantasy/SF 3D shooting game
which had a similar use of a 180° screen, dragon back flights, shooting of fantasy flying creatures through a similar crossair and was packed with a New Age score. Mamoru Oshii is an enthusiast gamer playing games such as Wizardry
and Virtua Fighter. In 2001 he envisioned a "living by the game concept" in the live-action film Avalon
.
Open Your Mind episode available from July 25 until September 25, 2005.
sections in order to create new hybrid beings
; the anthropomorph animals.
Ku-nu features a controversial sequence morphing human newborns with puppies. The shock comes less from the creation of a human-dog hybrid race through genetical modifications than from the explicit visual presentation of human and dog newborns as equals through morphing.
For both ethic, philosophical and religious concerns human genetic manipulations such as cloning
are forbidden and a touchy subject, or sometimes a taboo matter, in many countries in Europe and North America while not so in other parts of the globe.
Even though the conception of dog has evolved since Descartes' perception and depiction of animals as just "mechanical beings", toward the modern recognition of a more complex nature as argued by the animal rights theory
, there is a mostly Western conceptual difference between animals and humans, hence an established hierarchy
that means dogs are still considered in some human societies as food, disposable, caged, experimental subjects or used in military warfare
such as the mine-dogs (hundminen). On other hand, according to modern philosophers, the psychoanalyst Françoise Dolto
and some psychologists such as Didier Pleux the baby figure has become the only remaining holy figure of agnostic societies which sums up the concept of "l'Enfant-Roi" or "enfant Roi" (French for "Boy King" literally "Child King"). The 20th century saw the rise and crowning of the Child King which became apparent through various protection measures such as the abolition of child work, the creation of various child care and protection associations, and even the international Convention on the Rights of the Child
created in 1989 and applied the following year.
In 1995 Mamoru Oshii invited viewers of Ghost in the Shell to open their mind and think about a new social and legal status for autonomous, evolved Artificial Intelligence
creatures. Now, ten years later, his Ark of Awakening work evokes a similar reflection about genetically modified beings and by extension to the status of animals.
"I decided to take this offer because I wanted to work on something other than films.I am waiting to get the final products for display, the images to show on the monitors from the vendors....Everything should be completed no later than the end of this year....I created the concept of the entire project and I supervised all the designs. I did basically the same thing that a director would do to make a film."
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
presented on a multidisplay IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
-like theme theater mixing CG-animated video with live-action footages directed by Japanese
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
filmmaker Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
.
An OVA compilation version, renamed Open Your Mind: Special Edition, was available in limited quantities only at the Aichi Expo souvenir shop until it was re-released at the end of the expo as a Complete Edition which included a "Making of" bonus DVD and a color booklet.
Concept
Theme theater
Open Your Mind was created for the World Exposition 2005Expo 2005
Expo 2005 was the World's Fair held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. It was a Specialized International Exhibition under the scheme of the 1972 protocol of the Convention relating to International Exhibitions...
's (" Expo 2005 Aichi
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.- History :...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
") "Mountain of Dreams" pavilion. The theme theater had a capacity of 200 viewers and the facility was named "Floor Plasma Multi MultiDisplay System" and used 99 screens. The show was available for six months, from March until September 2005, with a new 10 minutes episode
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
released bimonthly.
The theater was designed as a shrine with each side of the floor screens surrounded by four rows of full sized standing Ku-Nu clones. Above the 139 dog-headed generals hovered the Pan doll appearing in the movie. The goddess was surrounded by silk curtains and the doll footage featured in the Intermission: Pan scene was shot in the theater.
Viewers were divided in two groups with 30 tickets available for the floor (aka "arena") while the remaining 170 viewers had to go to the second level (known as the "slope" ).
Video
The visual part consisted of a two level multidisplay. The first part was a floor panel linking ninety-six 50" plasma screens. It was suitable for 1:33 video which could be individually displayed by each monitor or as a synchronized 10 m x 9 m large screen. It was made of a horizontal row of 8 monitors and a vertical row of 12 monitors, which gave a 90m² floor screen and was the world's largest.The second part of the facility was a panoramic 3-widescreen 180° multidisplay broadcasting 16:9 footages. Pictures and light effects were also projected on the ceiling, made from eight silk curtains, or the 5 meter acrylic egg-shapped screen.
Audio
The movie score composer Kenji KawaiKenji Kawai
, born April 23, 1957 in Shinagawa, Tokyo, is a Japanese music composer, for motion pictures, anime movies, video games and televised programs. He has contributed to the musical scores for numerous films from Japan and other countries in Asia, working in film genres as diverse as anime, horror,...
chose three kinds of music to illustrate the show. One part was made of synthethizer-based New Age
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
pieces, similar to Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
, the other themes are typically Japanese. One was based on the use of taiko
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
, the folkloric drums backing Noh polyphonic chants
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
sung by a chorus of seven women — This is Kawai's signature since Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed and cult anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
feature film, Ghost In The Shell
Ghost in the Shell (film)
"See You Everyday" is different from the rest of the soundtrack, being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing. It can be faintly heard playing in the marketplace scene, when Batou is hunting the ghost-hacked puppet....
. The other was the remaining meditative part combining Zen music
Buddhist music
Buddhist music is music created for or inspired by Buddhism and part of Buddhist art.-Honkyoku:Honkyoku are the pieces of shakuhachi or hocchiku music played by wandering Japanese Zen monks called Komuso. Komuso played honkyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century...
with the soundtrack's natural audio effects.
Home cinema
Due to the technical limitations of video formats the original 360°, bipolar, multidisplay system was reduced to a straight and flat projection which reduces the three dimensional experience and immersion felt in the pavilion version.Video
The Special Edition allows a better visibility of the overall film which was reduced in the pavilion due to viewers walking on the floor screen monitor and slope viewers standing in front of the wall widescreens. A benefit of the single screen projection is the removal of the mosaic effect, on the main screen, due to the PNP (Plasma Network System) architecture.Audio
The soundtrack of the OVA editions is available in both stereo and DD5.1 multichannelDolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
versions — the latter being more faithful to the 6.1 channel surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
original format.
Musical drama
The tale is of mixed genres, from Science-Fiction to EcologyEcology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and through Mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
to Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
. It is a three act musical drama concept with a prologue and epilogue, both named intermission, by Kenji Kawai who is the composer of the score. The characters' introduction and drama is narrated through the lyrics of the opera-like Noh chanted recitation, which is self referred to as utai within the movie.
Plot
The plot of Open Your Mind follows the extra–terrestrial origin of life coming from outerspace as six deities (Intermission act), evolving into water (Sho-ho) who then emerge into the air (Hyakkin) and to the ground (Ku-nu). Each of these creatures rules one of the six elements of the godaiFive elements (Japanese philosophy)
One may encounter two kinds of five elements philosophy in Japan. One is called, in Japanese, gogyō , having its backgrounds in the Chinese five elements, and the other is called godai . Godai is usually regarded as a Buddhism term in Japan, with certain influences from Hinduism. The following...
philosophy — Earth, Water, Fire, Wind (referred to as kaze in the Hyakkin chant), Sky and Consciousness (referred to as "Awakening" in the movie's title).
Characters
- Pan ' onMouseout='HidePop("86184")' href="/topics/Pantheism">PantheismPantheismPantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
")
- The three headed goddess sending the generals to Earth. Her six arms physical aspect remembers BenzaitenBenzaitenBenzaiten is the Japanese name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati. Worship of Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her...
, Japanese pantheism goddess of music, arts, sciences, wisdom and a protective figure.- The 6 Riki-Shou
- Sho-Ho
- Hyakkin
- Ku-Nu
- Batoh
- Ryo-Ketsu
- Kon-Goh
- ChimerasChimera (mythology)The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
- The 6 Riki-Shou
Possible interpretations
Open Your Mind starts as a kind of space journey and exploration of a foreign planet by an advanced civilization. The time is unexplained: it could be an offworld intelligence form visiting our planet, or it could be future human travellers visiting a remote galaxy.Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...
, experienced by one of our descendants willing to learn how precious and beautiful the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
was in its prime and experienced through a chronological and geographical exploration of the planet. Dreams are a classic theme in Oshii's production including Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer
Urusei Yatsura movies
Urusei Yatsura, a Japanese anime and manga series, has six movies and twelve OVA releases. During the television run of the series, four theatrical films were produced. Urusei Yatsura: Only You was directed by Mamoru Oshii and began showing in Japanese cinemas on February 11, 1983...
and The Red Spectacles
The Red Spectacles
is a 1987 absurdist, surrealist Japanese film directed by Mamoru Oshii, co-written with Kazunori Ito, and starring Shigeru Chiba and Mako Hyodo.This is the first film of the Kerberos saga and last episode in Oshii's Orwellian Watchdog of Hell feature trilogy.-Chronicles:Kerberos saga historical...
. The pavilion concept's name "Mountain of Dreams" is probably not a coincidence.
According to the theory, agreed by Oshii (quote interview), that the futuristic projection of Science Fiction is nothing more than a metaphorous description of the present and current society, just like Montesquieu (in Persian Letters
Persian Letters
Persian Letters is a literary work by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who are traveling through France.-Plot summary:...
) and Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
(in L'Ingénu) implicitly describing -criticizing- their own country through the eyes of a foreign character or civilization, this work could be viewed as a warning (or "Awakening") to preserve our, current, highly menaced
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
, biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
and ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
before it is too late. This film was presented at the World Exposition hence its universal message and collective matter.
The original title "Ark of Awakening" (Mezame no hakobune), is a double reference to the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
's "Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
" and to Buddha
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
, which means "awakened". In this perspective the movie can be interpreted as a futuristic, post-flood, returning trip to Earth on board an ark ship with the featured creatures being part of the breeding stock of saved animals. Vis-à-vis the amount of religious references being Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
(animist presentation of nature as a living power
Gaia philosophy
Gaia philosophy is a broadly inclusive term for related concepts that living organisms on a planet will affect the nature of their environment in order to make the environment more suitable for life. This set of theories holds that all organisms on an extraterrestrial life-giving planet regulate...
, lyrics about kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
, kagami
Amaterasu
, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami who...
or mikoto
Izanagi
is a deity born of the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology and Shinto, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male-who-invites" or Izanagi-no-mikoto. It is also pronounced Izanaki-no-Okami....
), Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
(mandala, music, "zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
" blue shaded photography, animal headed anthropomorph beings), the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
(Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, Great Flood
Flood (mythology)
A flood myth or deluge myth is a mythical or religious story of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution...
, Genesis) or the Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
(Centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
, Chimera
Chimera (mythology)
The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
), and connecting them with the depiction of fantasy ancient or future- races that are the mysterious creatures, this work could also be regarded as a mythological tale of Creation (or Genesis), in the likes of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
.
Opening
This introduction begins with the Buddhist representation of the cosmos through mandala shaped cogwheels emitting a mechanical clockwork sound. The following sequence is set in space with a liquid planet soon entered by six shining globes (the Riki-Shou sent by Pan) moving at fast speed and coming from each side of the screen.Intermission: Riki-Shou (prologue)
This first live-action scene is set in a foggy forest (which is also an Element in the gogyōFive elements (Chinese philosophy)
The Wu Xing, also known as the Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, and the Five Steps/Stages, are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device, in many traditional Chinese fields....
philosophy), inhabited by a group of three mysterious anthropomorph creatures. They are standing still, silent, glowing in their shining white togas, they look like some kind of anthropomorph gods of Buddhist mythology. They are the Riki-Shou, the animal headed generals, sent by Pan. The creature standing in front of the trio is Ku-Nu, the dog face Riki-Shou, on his right is Hyakkin, the eagle faced, while on his left stands Sho-Ho, the fish head general. The action is seen in first person view through the eyes of an untold character which makes the viewer the main character of this story. After a while the viewer leaves the woods and the following acts will introduce the Riki-Shou, one after the other, starting with Sho-Ho. This forest scene will follow and end in the last part of the movie which is set after the Ku-Nu act.
This unnarrated introduction is wrapped with sounds of nature and Buddhist music that is in homage to Kawai's previous score on the prologue of Oshii's Patlabor 2: the Movie
Patlabor
Patlabor also known as , is an anime and manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Itō, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki.The popular franchise included a manga, a TV series, two OVA...
which takes place in a Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
n forest and features a giant Buddha statue.
Act I: Sho-Ho
(Sho-ho: Mizu no kioku, lit. "Sho-ho: Remembrance of water"Open Your Mind episode available from March 25 until May 24, 2005.
Act II: Hyakkin
Open Your Mind episode available from May 25 until July 24, 2005.Like a video game
This act features sequences with a moving crosshair appearing on top of the 3-panel panoramic screen and locking onto flying creatures that explode in a myriad of polygons when fired opon. This presentation is close to the principle opening stage of the Panzer DragoonPanzer Dragoon
is a rail shooter video game released for the Sega Saturn in 1995; and later released on PC, PlayStation 2, and as a bonus in its sequel Panzer Dragoon Orta for Xbox...
1995 classic and revolutionary Fantasy/SF 3D shooting game
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
which had a similar use of a 180° screen, dragon back flights, shooting of fantasy flying creatures through a similar crossair and was packed with a New Age score. Mamoru Oshii is an enthusiast gamer playing games such as Wizardry
Wizardry
Wizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, which were highly influential in the development of modern console and computer role playing games. The original Wizardry was a significant influence to early console RPGs, such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. ...
and Virtua Fighter. In 2001 he envisioned a "living by the game concept" in the live-action film Avalon
Avalon (2001 film)
is a 2001 science-fiction film by Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Oshii. The name of the film originates from the island Avalon in the legend of King Arthur.-Overview:...
.
Act III: Ku-Nu
lit. "Dog Being: Remembrance of Seedling"Open Your Mind episode available from July 25 until September 25, 2005.
Answers
In this concluding act the viewer gets answers about the origins and nature of the mysterious creatures met in the forest. These were made through scienctific achievements as the civilization was actually human and used nanomachines to modify DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
sections in order to create new hybrid beings
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
; the anthropomorph animals.
Controversy
For both ethic, philosophical and religious concerns human genetic manipulations such as cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
are forbidden and a touchy subject, or sometimes a taboo matter, in many countries in Europe and North America while not so in other parts of the globe.
Even though the conception of dog has evolved since Descartes' perception and depiction of animals as just "mechanical beings", toward the modern recognition of a more complex nature as argued by the animal rights theory
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, there is a mostly Western conceptual difference between animals and humans, hence an established hierarchy
Great chain of being
The great chain of being , is a Christian concept detailing a strict, religious hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by the Christian God.-Divisions:...
that means dogs are still considered in some human societies as food, disposable, caged, experimental subjects or used in military warfare
War dog
Dogs in warfare have a long history starting in ancient times. From 'war dogs' trained in combat to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military usage.-History:...
such as the mine-dogs (hundminen). On other hand, according to modern philosophers, the psychoanalyst Françoise Dolto
Françoise Dolto
Françoise Dolto , was a French doctor and psychoanalyst, famous for her research on babies and childhood. Dolto revolutionized the field of psycho-therapeutic work with babies and with the mother baby dyad....
and some psychologists such as Didier Pleux the baby figure has become the only remaining holy figure of agnostic societies which sums up the concept of "l'Enfant-Roi" or "enfant Roi" (French for "Boy King" literally "Child King"). The 20th century saw the rise and crowning of the Child King which became apparent through various protection measures such as the abolition of child work, the creation of various child care and protection associations, and even the international Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
created in 1989 and applied the following year.
In 1995 Mamoru Oshii invited viewers of Ghost in the Shell to open their mind and think about a new social and legal status for autonomous, evolved Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
creatures. Now, ten years later, his Ark of Awakening work evokes a similar reflection about genetically modified beings and by extension to the status of animals.
Intermission: Pan (epilogue)
This second filmed part shows the theater as the silk curtains opens to reveal Pan. The last scene is a return to the now deserted forest.Releases
The pavilion included an Open Your Mind souvenir shop selling figures, books, keyholders, pamphlets, posters, soundtrack CD and the limited premium DVD "Special Edition".Book
2005.04.DD: : Gem in the Pan, art book- Mamoru OshiiMamoru OshiiMamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
(text) / Tetsuya Nishio (illus.), Be-next (15.5cm, 32p., color) ISBN 4-906069-39-8
Audio
2005.08.24: Open Your Mind: Original Soundtrack, OST CD- Kenji Kawai, (SVWC7283) Aniplex / Sony Music Dist.
Video
2005.04.DD: Open Your Mind: Special Edition, 1DVD (limited) Aniplex 2005.08.24: Open Your Mind: Complete Edition, 2DVD Aniplex / Sony Pictures Ent. (110 min. making of bonus disc, color booklet)Toy
2005.04.DD: ) ("Riki-Shou figure: Sho-Ho, Hyakkin, Ku-Nu"), 1/12 polystone painted figure (22 cm)- PoppyPoppyA poppy is one of a group of a flowering plants in the poppy family, many of which are grown in gardens for their colorful flowers. Poppies are sometimes used for symbolic reasons, such as in remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime....
(Bandai-Namco GroupNamco Bandai, also known as the Bandai Namco Group, is a Japanese holding company formed from the merger of Namco and Bandai. It has interests in toys, video games and arcades, anime, and amusement parks. The new entity was founded on September 29, 2005...
)
Quotes
- Mamoru Oshii, about his upcoming work (September 2004)
"I decided to take this offer because I wanted to work on something other than films.I am waiting to get the final products for display, the images to show on the monitors from the vendors....Everything should be completed no later than the end of this year....I created the concept of the entire project and I supervised all the designs. I did basically the same thing that a director would do to make a film."
Trivia
- Patlabor: the MoviePatlaborPatlabor also known as , is an anime and manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Itō, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki.The popular franchise included a manga, a TV series, two OVA...
(1989) is another feature film, directed by Mamoru Oshii, that refers to Noah's Ark. Also, one of the featured character happens to be named Noa.
Staff
- Direction supervision: Mamoru Oshii
- Producer: Atsushi Kubo , Masuo Ueda, Tomonori Ochikoshi
- Direction: Hiroyuki Hayashi
- Music: Kenji Kawai
- Arts: Toshihiro Isomi
- Technical director：Yasuhiro Yamaguchi
- Character design: Jun SuemiJun SuemiJun Suemi is a Japanese illustrator, born in Ōita, Ōita, Japan.-Illustration works:He has provided artwork, including monster design and graphic design, for various video games, fantasy and science-fiction books, the Guin Saga novel series written by Kaoru Kurimoto and the Kerberos Panzer Jäger...
- Ceiling iron modelling work:
- Ceiling doll (Pan):
- Floor dolls (Riki-Shou):
- Egg shape screen production:
- Silk curtain installation work:
- Project manager:
- Technical producer:
- Sound & visual engineer:
- Lighting director:
- CG producer:
- Acoustic supervision: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
- Sound supervisor:
- Production manager:
- Coordination production: Dentsuu Tech
- Distribution: Deiz
- Theme zone exhibitors: Sekisui House, Chubu Nippon Broadcasting, Tokai Television Broadcasting, The Chunichi Shimbun