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02/17/10(Wed)19:02 No.31145059  >>31145030
cont'd
The
movie is filled with references to fantasy, philosophy and Zen and
addresses aesthetic and moral questions. The numerous quotations come
from Buddha, Confucius, Descartes, the Old Testament, Saito Ryokuu,
Richard Dawkins, Max Weber, Jacob Grimm, Plato, John Milton, Zeami, the
Tridentine Mass, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam and La Mettrie, author of "Man a
Machine" (1748).
The characters and character names contain many
allusions to earlier works. For example, the "Hadaly" model robots
refer to Tomorrow's Eve, the first book to use the word android, and
which features a human-like robot named Hadaly. The police forensic
specialist, Haraway, is most likely named for Donna Haraway, author of
the Cyborg Manifesto. Haraway's character is most likely based on Susan
Calvin from Asimov's Robot series. The Robot series is also referenced
in that the androids in the movie comply with a modified version of
Asimov's Third Law of Robotics.
Dolls are an important motif in
Innocence; many beings have a "spirit" of some sort, but at the same
time are not quite human. The female dolls are based on the art of Hans
Bellmer, who is the pioneer of ball-jointed dolls. Bellmer's name
briefly appears in one scene on a book cover. As Oshii comments, "They
want to become fully human — but they can't. That dilemma becomes
unbearable for them. The humans who made them are to blame. They try to
make a doll that is as human as possible — but they don't think of the
consequences." Even the human or partly-human characters move in
doll-like ways, grants Oshii. Oshii also planned an exhibition to
commemorate the film. The exhibition showcased several Japanese artists'
work of ball jointed dolls. |
