Category:history
Skyfall: The Fighting Temeraire
In a scene in the 2012 film Skyfall, James Bond sits in the National Gallery, silently contemplating a painting when he is joined by Q. The newcomer briefly remarks on the painting before identifying himself to a visibly irritated 007. While the moment serves as the introduction of the new Quartermaster, it also underscores the …
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So Lonely: The Police in Asia
The music video for The Police 1980s hit So Lonely is a classic example of the early 1980s low budget guerilla filmmaking that characterized the pre-MTV era. The video features Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland wandering through the underground corridors and trains of the Tokyo metro system singing into walkie-talkies while other scenes take …
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Imagining Tokyo: Kanda Shrine and Love Live!
Tokyo is a city with two lives: the day to day reality of a bustling metropolis and a virtual life recreated in games, film and anime. As the capital of Japan, the city looms large in the Japanese imagination, occupying a space that is equal to Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York combined in the …
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Inventing a Modern Holiday: May the 4th Be With You
May 4th was Star Wars Day, a day of commemoration for one of the most popular science fiction franchises in the world. How and why Star Wars Day came about is as intriguing as the fictional universe it celebrates. Until recently, holidays seemed to be immutable, days steeped in tradition and history, but those very …
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The Origins of Godzilla: Castle Bravo and the Daigo Fukuryu Maru
Often lost in the modern fan fascination over kaiju and the status of Godzilla as a pop culture icon is the fact that the origin of the King of Monsters is inextricably bound to the atomic age, the fear of nuclear Armageddon and the anxiety over Japanese experiences during World War II. While the Godzilla …
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Darling in the Franxx and Shinto Marriage
Darling in the Franxx (or Studio Trigger does Evangelion), takes its inspiration for the Franxx pilot suits from an unexpected direction–traditional Shinto wedding attire. The eponymous Franxx robots in Darling in the Franxx are piloted by male/female pairs. The show equates the mental and physical connection between pilots necessary to operate the giant machines to …
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