Now 44 years ago, the NBC network recorded its best Nielsen data ever; with an average of 26.3 million viewers, miniseries ‘Shogun’, a Nielsen spin-off. 1975 novel by James Clavell It’s about an English sailor who follows the path of the samurai in Japan in the 1600s. It was one of the titles made between the late seventies and early eighties. Richard Chamberlain in the so-called ‘king of miniseries’; Next to him the legendary shone Toshiro Mifune As a version of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun (or most powerful of all feudal lords) who unified Japan.
Eleven years later, with a change of creators, the inevitable ‘remake’ is hitting our screens. But the person who says it’s “inevitable” says it’s insurmountable, at least this time: ‘shogun’ (Disney+Starting from Tuesday, the 27th) right now The series that received the best reviews of the year in the English-speaking world. When we talk to the authorities Justin Marks (“Other Party”) and author Rachel KondoOr rather, the husband and wife still don’t seem very aware of it. “We live in Hawaii, have almost no connection to the rest of the world, and it feels incredible to us that anyone would even see our work,” says Marks, with an almost tearful smile on her face.
in a strange land
Although its plot and characters are endlessly rich, here are some general lines about ‘Shogun’ for those who are new to the subject or need a reminder. As we say action It is set in Japan at the beginning of the 17th century, during the last period of the Sengoku (“warring states”) period, which was characterized by constant fighting between daimyos.. British sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), the real William Adams is swept away by a storm to a fishing village near territory controlled by Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) sees how the remaining gentlemen of the Council of Deputies feel threatened by their power and independence. With the help of the mysterious Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) as an artist, Toranaga will attempt to utilize Blackthorne’s weapons in more ways than one to assert his authority.
Everything is translation
What does ‘Shogun’ (2024) have that ‘Shogun (1980’) doesn’t? Or in other words, how do you justify a ‘remake’ of something well known and loved? Kondo gives us an important reason: “You can understand what the Japanese characters are saying in our series. [en la anterior serie no se usaron subtítulos; solo se entendía qué decían esos personajes en las escenas en que Blackthorne se comunicaba a través de un intérprete]. I don’t know if it will be an encouragement to those who have seen the first one, but we think it is a great contrast.” Marx emphasizes the importance of the change: “Being able to subtitle what the Japanese characters say and tell the story from a variety of perspectives, not just the white man’s perspective, allows you to make a series that can tell so much more than its predecessor.”.
In the new ‘Shogun’ this language barrier is used for dramatic purposes. According to Kondo, the entire series, its tension, is based on the concept of translation, which transcends the language part. “When production started, I thought it was going to be very complicated. There were so many scenes that everything had to be rewritten over and over again. But Justin had the wisdom to lean in and say: ‘The story is based on this idea.’ In other words, it requires translating not only a language, but also a culture, a history, even translating from masculine to feminine.… It’s complicated.”
Japanese originality
The series team tried to adapt to historical reality as much as possible. “That’s why I wanted to do the series,” Marks explains. What could we achieve if we brought a Japanese team to work with us in British Columbia? [donde se rodó la serie]? What if we brought in a gesture teacher to help Japanese actors move appropriately like they did in the 1600s? Such experts came to the project under the guidance of Hiroyuki Sanada, who is both a producer and actor. “They were people he trusted from the Japanese film system.”
This attention to small details, combined with a passion for perfection – epic bursts of action that invite you to invest in the best spectacle possible – results in a series that is simply overwhelming. In his review for ‘Time’, he called it excellent Judy Berman dares to classify it as “a true masterpiece”. Marx and Kondo would settle for much less. “Every time I make a movie or a TV series,” the former explains, “I’m glad people don’t hate it. We come into the show wanting to do something different. Everything the public is looking for, or at least Rachel and I say, ‘What I’m looking for is exactly the same: never seen before. Something. These days the public knows how to quickly detect that they are looking at a recycled version of something that has already been made. And although this is a remake, it is done with different principles.”
If the public knows how to appreciate what is proposed, these few creators will have plenty of material to continue expanding the Clavell universe: The author’s ‘Asian epic’ is also the great screenwriter of the first ‘The Fly’ or ‘The. ‘The Great Escape’ consists of five novels about the conflicts between East and West at various times. Chronologically, the next film would be ‘Tai-Pan’, which was captured on film in a somewhat forgotten 1986 film about the founding of the British colony of Hong Kong. Sounds like (another) interesting challenge.