It was recently confirmed that Atlus are open to having some of their franchises adapted
into live action, including Persona.
This would be the first live action adaptation of an SMT game since the Devil Summoner show
from the 90's.
Come on, the stage plays don't count.
I feel like this property would be more likely to get adapted in the west than in Japan,
if only because you NEED a real CGI budget and Japanese TV shows have like a fiver to
spend on CGI.
Now, with how massively popular Persona 5 is, I think that being the basis for a live
action adaptation is a certainty.
Best case scenario, they use the Phantom Thief aesthetic but tell a new story, with some
nods to the game in costumes, Personas or moments like everyone freezing around Joker
in Times Square or Piccadilly Circus or something.
That, and we get a version of Joker who is an actual character and not just a blank slate
as every depiction of him thus far has been.
But I think it's more likely we'd get a straight adaptation of P5, just set in another country.
And I worry about how that would be handled, and not just because western live action adaptations
of Japanese media have pretty much never resulted in anything good, outside of Sonic and Detective
Pikachu?
But even if it's faithful, will it really be faithful?
Let me explain.
There is a difference between adapting the letter of a work and adapting the spirit of
a work.
The former is maintaining aspects of the source material as is.
For instance, Ann Takamaki can be brought over easily - blonde white girl with foreign
blood.
Simple, right?
Well, no.
Ann is a blonde white girl IN JAPAN.
That plays a big part in her social isolation and the expectations her classmates have of
her.
Blonde white girls are not isolated from their peers for being blonde white girls in the
west.
With all the Hashino Persona games, and especially Persona 5, being as critical of modern society
as they are, Ann's story has the subtext of racism, even if it's not explored to the same
extent, say, sexual abuse is.
So, I would argue that keeping Ann blonde and white in a western setting is inaccurate
to the source material and would need to be changed to a race that modern western society
is more likely to "other" the way foreigners at large can be treated in Japan.
An Ann of, say, Muslim descent, is therefore more faithful than adapting her visual form
directly from the game.
And race itself is bound to be a major talking point here, given how much more prominent
race is in the west than in Japan, especially in recent years.
And this isn't inherently a bad thing.
After all, Persona 5 was written as a critique of Japanese societal ills.
Lots of it carries over to a global culture, like abusive teachers, art theft, exploitation
of the poor and vulnerable, but the story is about Japan.
An adaptation set elsewhere SHOULD gear the ills being discussed more towards what is
prominent in that nation, and countries with less homogenous racial identities SHOULD tackle
this issue.
But then there's the subject of subtlety.
While very few of the societal critiques in Persona can realistically be described as
"subtle", western adaptations of Japanese media (particularly when adapted by America)
tend to strip away all the subtlety to make sure even Cletus from the incest farm in Kentucky
can understand what's being said by the story.
And I don't think much is as off-putting to me as when a story is very unsubtle about
a topic like racism or sexism.
We've all seen this CW-tier writing before and I don't think many people would doubt
that a western Persona adaptation would try to tackle these topics and completely fuck
it up by totally lacking any sort of subtlety or nuance.
And each member of the team would naturally be race-changed to suit these themes, and
there is obviously potential there.
I think most people would likely predict (not agree with, predict) that Ben would be white
because he's the protagonist; Reggie would be black because he's the aggressive comedy
sidekick from a broken home; Anne would be the ditzy blonde; Yusuke would remain Japanese
because has so much Japanese influence in his aesthetic and character that making him
anything else would feel unfaithful; Mackenzie would be Asian too because of the crushing
familial expectations placed upon her, which has become a popular talking point in animated
films recently; Tabitha would be black because redheads are almost always recast as black,
even though her hair is actually only dyed orange; and Harriet and Gordon would be white
because of the privilege their respective fathers have and these kinds of stories seem
to think only white people have money and power.
Agree or not, you can at least see the thought processes that would lead to this, right?
And again, there is potential here, like Reggie's abusive and/or absent father.
I believe absentee fathers are a major problem in certain black communities, so there could
be a genuinely heartfelt story to tell there.
But then, we have the lack of subtlety rearing its ugly head again.
Would Reggie here be aggressive or have a broken leg due to his home and school life...
or because of police brutality?
If Anne was non-white, how much overt racist language would she face?
How many times would the phrase "white privilege" be uttered unironically in regards to Harriet
and her father, or from the Phantom Thieves in regards to Gordon and his father?
How much overt sexism would Sky face at work?
What horrible legislation would the Sun confidant have supported in his right wing youth?
Some of this is already there in the game text, yes, but do you actually trust a western
writer to keep it in their pants when they realise they have an opportunity to seem woke
by discussing these topics so overtly?
I sure as hell don't.
And then there's the totally new additions, like you know at least one of the main cast
will be gay - probably Ann because it's the most uninspired choice (I doubt Ben and Gordon
would be a thing because I don't see a western writer having Gordon be forgiven or sympathised
with the way the Japanese writing does).
And if the CW made it, HALF of them would be gay, because I'm fairly certain there are
more gay people in CW shows than there are in real life.
And God help us if they ever get their grubby hands on Persona 4...
I mean, Jesus, can you imagine?
That got a little heavy there, so let's try and discuss something a little lighter to
close off this incredibly pessimistic (but also realistic) view of the topic.
You may have noticed I used western names for the characters here.
Names I chose specifically because they sound similar to the Japanese names.
Technically, this would be unfaithful as well, since many of the names were chosen based
on real people or famous fictional characters.
For example, Sakamoto Ryuji derives from Sakamoto Ryōma, a famous samurai rebel from the twilight
years of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Kawakami Sadayo derives from a famous geisha and actress from the same era, Kawakami Sadayakko.
Akechi Goro derives from the Japanese Sherlock Holmes, Akechi Kogoro, and his surname possibly
relates to Akechi Mitsuhide as a hint towards him being the traitor.
These names hold significance, so simply choosing names that are similar to them may work for
illustrative purposes, but can be argued to be less faithful due to lacking that significance.
Maybe Ryuji should be named William as a nod to Captain Kidd and Billy the Kidd, to maintain
the reference to a culturally-significant historical rebel.
Maybe instead of Sadie or something Sadayo should be named after Lena Horne, an actress
who was blacklisted during the Red Scare for her political activism.
Maybe Akechi's name should be Conan Fawkes as a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle, and Guy Fawkes.
You know, something along those lines to maintain the significance and references of the names.
Adapting a work into another culture has a lot of potential, especially when the story
was originally about the culture it was set in.
Done poorly, as most of us expect it to be, it's awful.
But if the people making it understand and respect both cultures and the significance
behind the details of the original, you could get a genuinely great reimagining of the work
that can stand alongside the original as a companion piece of sorts.
Really, that applies to any form of adaptation.
Thus, one could argue this is part of why the Persona 5 anime didn't work.
And yeah, I should really get back to working on the Persona 5 video, eh?
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Today's recommended video is Persona 3: How The Manga Ruined Everything by NinjaMushi.
Because Persona's history of subpar adaptations began long before the idea of a live action
version was ever floated around.