What are your Gripes/Concerns with the project?

[Adam]

Sheesh, Chatwin looks exactly like what I thought a "real-world" Goku would look like. I don't want to start that "Goku should be Asian" debate, however. I just always imagined Goku (and Saiyans in general) to be Caucasian...and Chatwin definitely has the look.

I love you.

 

[DorkyFresh]

Sheesh, Chatwin looks exactly like what I thought a "real-world" Goku would look like.

you imagine Goku to look like a scrawny suburban skater?

I don't want to start that "Goku should be Asian" debate, however. I just always imagined Goku (and Saiyans in general) to be Caucasian...and Chatwin definitely has the look.

that debate's already been done. check the early pages of the Goku thread. anyway...i can understand why people would percieve Goku to be white, but i don't see how you came to the conclusions that ALL Saiyans were white considering that DB was originally a show made for and aimed towards ASIAN viewers.

 

[CM150884]

eh, I still think he's a little too scrawny. I don't expect, nor want, him to be a steroid induced WWE wrestler or even as big as Butler in 300, but I was hoping him to have a little more muscle than this.

 

[TLH]

you imagine Goku to look like a scrawny suburban skater?

Facially. In comparison with the show, I think there's a justifiable similarity between the two. Minus the hair, of course. Same facial structure, same cool and confident physical demeanor. He just gives off a Goku-esquee vibe.

i can understand why people would percieve Goku to be white, but i don't see how you came to the conclusions that ALL Saiyans were white considering that DB was originally a show made for and aimed towards ASIAN viewers.

Subjective. Depends who is watching the show. Kids in Japan view the characters as Asian. Kids in the USA and Canada viewed as white. In all honestly it doesn't really matter.

 

[animefan]

eh, I still think he's a little too scrawny. I don't expect, nor want, him to be a steroid induced WWE wrestler or even as big as Butler in 300, but I was hoping him to have a little more muscle than this.

i agree, he is just too scrawny, his spirit may be willing but his body is not

 

[DorkyFresh]

Facially. In comparison with the show, I think there's a justifiable similarity between the two. Minus the hair, of course. Same facial structure, same cool and confident physical demeanor. He just gives off a Goku-esquee vibe.

wow.......i don't get that from him..........at all.

Subjective. Depends who is watching the show. Kids in Japan view the characters as Asian. Kids in the USA and Canada viewed as white. In all honestly it doesn't really matter.

actually....even Americans think Goku is supposed to be Asian. not ALL Americans but every now and then i'll run into "i thought Goku was supposed to be Asian" or "why's Goku being played by a white guy" type comment on other English typing sites. on the other hand, i bet you'd be hard pressed to find an Asian that thinks Goku is supposed to be white.

 

[craigdbfan]

wow.......i don't get that from him..........at all.



actually....even Americans think Goku is supposed to be Asian. not ALL Americans but every now and then i'll run into "i thought Goku was supposed to be Asian" or "why's Goku being played by a white guy" type comment on other English typing sites. on the other hand, i bet you'd be hard pressed to find an Asian that thinks Goku is supposed to be white.

I feel the Super Saiyan form also distorted some peoples view on what ethnic/race Goku was supposed to be ( Even thought hes a Saiyan blah blah blah.)

 

[Adam]

He has white skin :P doesn't look asian at all.

 

[craigdbfan]

He has white skin :P doesn't look asian at all.

I grew up watching the English dub and never really saw Goku as "Japanese/ any other Asian ethnic group. But I can understand why some say that Goku was meant to look like a Japanese man because it was Written by a Japanese author and targeted mainly for the Japanese people.

 

[DorkyFresh]

I feel the Super Saiyan form also distorted some peoples view on what ethnic/race Goku was supposed to be ( Even thought hes a Saiyan blah blah blah.)

i think so also...but more than anything, i just think white people want Goku to be white. it's only natural for someone to want their heroes to be the same ethnicity as themselves. i'm still waiting for an American-made comic with a kickass Asian superhero. since i like to think of Goku as Asian, he sort of fulfills that role, but as these and other boards have illustrated, he's not DEFINITELY Asian.

I grew up watching the English dub and never really saw Goku as "Japanese/ any other Asian ethnic group. But I can understand why some say that Goku was meant to look like a Japanese man because it was Written by a Japanese author and targeted mainly for the Japanese people.

kudos, craig. i can respect other's wanting Goku to be white...but it's just pretty ignorant to think that Akira had a white Goku in mind when he was making this Asian-inspired anime for an Asian audience at first. it wasn't until later (early 90's) that it became popular in America.

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

Not to mention is he a parody of the Chinese Monkey King.

 

[Adam]

Well, Akira had said at one point, I think, that he modeled Super Saiyans to look like an American.

Not sure but it makes sense.

 

[craigdbfan]

i think so also...but more than anything, i just think white people want Goku to be white. it's only natural for someone to want their heroes to be the same ethnicity as themselves. i'm still waiting for an American-made comic with a kickass Asian superhero. since i like to think of Goku as Asian, he sort of fulfills that role, but as these and other boards have illustrated, he's not DEFINITELY Asian.



kudos, craig. i can respect other's wanting Goku to be white...but it's just pretty ignorant to think that Akira had a white Goku in mind when he was making this Asian-inspired anime for an Asian audience at first. it wasn't until later (early 90's) that it became popular in America.

Well stated.

 

[DorkyFresh]

thanx craig...you've got a good head on those shoulders of yours.

 

[craigdbfan]

thanx craig...you've got a good head on those shoulders of yours.

Why thank you good sir.

 

[TLH]

wow.......i don't get that from him..........at all.

Sorry, I meant confident facial demeanor. My bad.

actually....even Americans think Goku is supposed to be Asian. not ALL Americans but every now and then i'll run into "i thought Goku was supposed to be Asian" or "why's Goku being played by a white guy" type comment on other English typing sites. on the other hand, i bet you'd be hard pressed to find an Asian that thinks Goku is supposed to be white.

Oh, I don't doubt that some Americans see Goku as Asian. I always saw Goku as white simply because of the dub and that's just an ethnic projection. And yeah, no doubt that hardly any Asians feel Goku is white. No argument there.

Anyway, since we're talking about this...how do you feel about Chatwin playing Goku? Although I wouldn't mind more then a "he's not built enough" sort of explanation if you don't like the choice.

 

[Adam]

I think Chatwin is a decent choice for teen Goku. I'm not going to say he's a perfect choice, because he isn't.

For adult goku, however, he will need to train his butt off, or hire someone else who is built better.

 

[Ryo Jin]

Being half-Asian and half-White, I get different views from all different races. Some people think I'm white, some think I'm Asian, while others think I'm European, Native American, and even Hispanic. None can seem to perceive that I'm mixed, although a few can, namely other mixed people.

Goku, being an E.T., was still meant to "look" Asian, regardless of perception. Super Saiyajin state however, was obviously geared more toward looking caucasian.

 

[CM150884]

Goku, being an E.T., was still meant to "look" Asian, regardless of perception. Super Saiyajin state however, was obviously geared more toward looking caucasian.

Could that be a nod to Nieche's German Uber Muche? (Super Man-blonde hair, blue eyes) or am I reading too much into it?

 

[craigdbfan]

Could that be a nod to Nieche's German Uber Muche? (Super Man-blonde hair, blue eyes) or am I reading too much into it?

Not sure what your trying to say but Superman had black hair and blue eyes. (sorry if I misunderstood your post.)

 

[DorkyFresh]

Oh, I don't doubt that some Americans see Goku as Asian. I always saw Goku as white simply because of the dub and that's just an ethnic projection. And yeah, no doubt that hardly any Asians feel Goku is white. No argument there.

glad we can agree

Anyway, since we're talking about this...how do you feel about Chatwin playing Goku? Although I wouldn't mind more then a "he's not built enough" sort of explanation if you don't like the choice.

apart from him being skinny, i honestly feel he's wrong for the role. when he was first announced as Goku i can remember my first thought being "wtf, really???" because it was a casting so far removed from what i was expecting regardless of ethnicity. i honestly don't have a problem with them casting a white actor for the role so long as they get a qualified or inspired actor. not necessarily someone who has martial arts experience but at least someone with charisma. even with Chatwin's thin frame, i wouldn't mind him as Goku if he were charismatic but he simply isn't.

there's really nothing about him that makes him stand out from the typical white suburban male. i've watched War of the Worlds, Invisible, and the episode of Lost that he starred in and there's nothing about him that makes me like HIM, in particular. he pretty much annoyed me in War of the Worlds and bored me in the Invisible. when i saw those movies, there was nothing that he did that made me go "i can't imagine any other actor in his place"...and that's something that i wanted for Goku even if whoever's cast doesn't match my ideal Goku, physically.

i remember watching Invisible and thinking to myself "does this guy's face ever change?" he didn't really do much in the Invisible besides a lot of shouting and pointing but i won't hold that against him. i understand that the script required him to do that but that's really all he did. he didn't convey true emotion, or if he did...his face didn't express it. when his mom was crying over his death, it was supposed to be an emotional, tear-jerking moment, but it fell flat because Chatwin just kinda sat their unphased when a better actor with little more initiative would have taken it upon himself to run with it and do something a little extra. i wasn't expecting an oscar-winning or stage actor, but i definitely wasn't expecting a flavor-of-the-month actor either.

on top of that, i feel he doesn't really understand or care for the material. there was a short video of him conducting a public interview in Mexico at an event for kicking off the filming of Dragonball. in the very brief interview, he kept insinuating that Dragon Ball Z is a kids cartoon and that a lot of kids watch the cartoon. then he said he hopes that he can play the character "good". his remarks about Dragon Ball being a kid cartoon (instead of an anime) is a possible indication that he only thinks kids watch the cartoon or that it's a children's cartoon and him saying that he hopes he can play Goku "good" (not "well") is an indication that he doesn't have a strong grasp on how the character should be portrayed or that he doesn't have much confidence that he can deliver. mind you, the lady asking him questions spoke broken English and he had close to 20 microphones circled around his head but this was at a public event that he should have been prepared for. even if he was nervous, his words are still clues as to how he feels about the project.







in short, i feel they picked a less than stellar "actor" for Goku. i don't care that he's white or that he doesn't have muscles like Hugh Jackman. i just care that he doesn't seem to be the type of actor that would take this role seriously. in the end, i can't blame him because it seems like the only people who are taking this movie seriously in the first place are not the people involved with the film, but the fans.

 

[CM150884]

Not sure what your trying to say but Superman had black hair and blue eyes. (sorry if I misunderstood your post.)

Yeah, but I believe (if my super expensive college history course is correct) that the German Nieche(sp?) came up with the idea of the "super-man" (in fact, the creators of Super-man, who were Jewish, actually took from some bits from the idea, i believe). I was just wondering if, since Goku is kinda the Japanese Superman, (alien, comes to earth as a child from a destroyed planet and becomes its supreme protector) that the blonde hair and blue eyes of a super-sayjin could be a nod all the back to Nieche (of course the blonde hair, blue eyes comes from Hitler, who, in fact, was a student of Nieche). I have a feeling, tho, that I'm looking too far into it.

 

[JP]

*cough*

the GRIPES and CONCERNS thread. . .

 

[craigdbfan]

*cough*

the GRIPES and CONCERNS thread. . .

"Bah, Humbug!"

 

[DorkyFresh]

*cough*

the GRIPES and CONCERNS thread. . .

why'd you bring that up?