Informal article.
I wrote about Ghost in the Shell 2.0 in a previous article concerning the peril of abusing artistic mediums and (for example) mashing them up in revised "special editions" that jam new effects into old films. Now that the damn thing is out, there are some serious issues with GitS 2.0 beyond animation aesthetics. Much of its revisions attempt to make the film more visually and stylistically consistent with Innocence, by changing the films characteristic greens and blues to a saturated orange, and pasting overly flashy and animated CG graphics over several scenes.
Of course that shit doesn’t work at all. Jamming Mamoru Oshii circa 2008 into Oshii circa 1995 doesn’t add up to a stronger artistic vision. All of its new flashy Innocence-esque stylings only serve to delude the stylistic impact of the film. There’s a certain peril in revisiting old projects that I can talk about from a personal perspective.
I’ve tried it in the past, mostly with music projects. I have made a few energetic, angsty songs that are kind of awesome in a way that my current output isn’t. More than once have I wanted to put the best of both worlds together. The core problem is I’m not the same person i was 10 years ago. I don’t have the right mindset (the angst) to connect with my old work. Without being able to do that, I wasn’t be able to elevate the work to greater heights, because I no longer have it in me to create angsty work.
I often wonder if directors were tempted by money to revise earlier works. Ridley Scott was in his director’s cut of Alien– the DVD’s liner notes explicitly state that Ridley still considers the original cut the true "director’s cut". GitS 2.0 is so inane and gimmicky with its revisions, it has to be a vehicle to milk hardcore fans of the film, or Oshii has lost his mind.
I know not to approach old projects, because I know I can’t connect with them. As another example, Hayao Miyazaki circa 1983 is a pretty different Miyazaki compared to today’s. He did the right thing… not going back and revising his seminal work, Nausicaa. Instead, he created a brand new film, Princess Mononoke, that parallels and complements his earlier work, leaving fans with two distinct, striking artistic visions rather than a watered-down mishmash.
Shit I’m working on:
1. Dave Walwark & me dance music collaboration. Techno & hiphop with funk guitars and basslines. It’s less retarded than I make it sound.
2. How to build a garage kit… under 10min video that demystifies the hobby and the process. Filming’s already done editing’s underway, I just have to get a friend to narrate the rest of it.
3. Original music video for Dave’s rock band. I’m also doing some mixing for some of his band’s recording sessions.
4. goddamn f—ing new album. I’m so close to finishing it, but I’m so lazy too. I want it to be out in a month but watch it not get done in another million years. The core issue is the first few tracks suck and I need to figure out how to make them… not suck. It’s difficult.
5. A zillion other things I dream of finishing, but I’ll likely not get around to it.
The day needs to be twice as long