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Star-Spangled Ghibli: Star Voices in the American Versions of Hayao Miyazaki's Films

Rayna DenisonView all authors and affiliations

Volume 3, Issue 2

https://doi.org/10.1177/1746847708091891

Abstract
References

Abstract

This article offers an examination of the use of American stars in re-voicing a set of Japanese animated texts. The author argues that a new industrial, contextual and textual understanding of stardom is required to penetrate the dense network of meanings attached to star voices in animation. Furthermore, she utilizes a mixed textual and contextual approach to several of Studio Ghibli's American DVD releases to consider the markets for and meanings of anime in America. In so doing this article represents an intervention into a range of academic debates around the nature of contemporary stardom and the significance of anime in America.

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1.

1 Although Richard Dyer did initially conceive of stars as image holistically, the voice has since been lost from most discussions of star images: `by “image” here I do not understand an exclusively visual sign, but rather a complex configuration of visual, verbal and aural signs' (Dyer, 1998: 34). For another attempt at commingling these ideas see Austin (2003: 135—50).

2.

2 The dates provided in this chapter and the titles used all refer to the English-language versions of the films in question and their releases by Miramax/Buena Vista Home Video/ Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

3.

3 More so in Japan, where the Buena Vista Majo no Takyubin DVD, which contain's the Dunst version of the voice track, does not mention her in the packaging or in special features for the two-disc DVD. This supports the idea that Dunst was more important in the American market and that, moreover, the English casting was being done specifically for that American market.

4.

4 Mark Hamill's most significant role was that of Luke Skywalker in the original triology of Star Wars films (1977, 1980 and 1983), and Patinkin has starred in films such as The Princess Bride (1987) and in television serial Chicago Hope (1994—2000).

5.

5 This is not to suggest that there were not many aspects of Thurman's star persona that may have led to her casting; just that, in this period, Thurman's stardom was anchored more to her physical transformation for the role of Kill Bill, post-pregnancy, than it was to other aspects.

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