It seems as if everything revolves around Japan and Asia when it comes to media. Most popular cartoons today are imported from Japan (known as Anime) and are based off of translated versions of Japanese comics (known as Manga.) Kids today are familiar with popular Japanese Anime such as Pokemon, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Not only have US media catered to this interest of Anime and Manga, they've also remade several popular movies from the Asian continent. Some current movies imported from Asia and remade are:
The Ring (Ringu in Japan)
The Grudge (Ju-On in Japan)
The Lakehouse (Il Mare or Siworae in Korea)
One Missed Call (Chakushin ari in Japan)
As a fan of movies in general (both American and foreign), I've noticed sometimes it's hard to transfer the same feelings in a movie associated from one culture to another. Some reviews of the US version of the Ring complained about the plot not making sense. When a movie is remade into another culture, many things have to change in order to make the movie culturally interesting and relevant. Frightening as the US version of "The Ring" was, the original "Ringu" was far more scary. The story made more sense in it's native form where the cause was a psychic will for revenge. Although we don't believe in as many superstitions as our Asian counterparts, the idea of a video tape that can kill is fairly understandable on many levels and across most cultural lines.
The same can be said about "The Lakehouse." I really liked this movie although some of the acting was a bit stiff. I found out the movie was based off a Korean movie called "Il Mare" or "Siworae." I bought a copy off Amazon and really had fun watching it. Some people probably would not like the original compared to the US remake for several reasons: The main heroine is more submissive and weak in the Korean copy when compared to Sandra Bullock's character. They also changed the way the time stream is setup from the Korean version to the US. I won't give spoilers in case you'd like to watch it.
It's interesting to see how other cultures change our movies to fit their own image. I've seen a Korean series that was based off the US movie "Overboard." They changed the story to fit both the Korean culture and make it longer for the tv drama. It was amusing watching how they changed the style of Kurt Russell's character to fit Korean ideals. Even the character played by Goldie Hawn was made more extreme to fit the style of a spoiled Korean heiress. Where the US copy had Kurt Russell's character as a bit of a "redneck" type, the Korean copy has the guy as more of a provincial country bumpkin from a small village. These changes made the new story unique in its own way and set it apart from the original.
Asia seems to be the new source of media from movies to comic books that the US draws upon when ideas or movies are scarce. Asian directors also come to the US to profit off the large fan base they achieve when filming or promoting films. With this love of Asian culture, actors like Jackie Chan and Jet Li will never be without a job or fans and the US will continue it's trek into the world of Asian culture.
