‘Avatar’ Struggles Show How Japan Is Ditching Hollywood
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
In general I believe that there's some audience CG fatigue around the world, but it hits some markets more than others and in different timeframes. In the US I do think that there is a bit, but in general if it's happening it's happening very slowly as evident by the high box office numbers for all Marvel films (often breaking records). In contrast I suspect that it's higher in Japan, driven in part by high quality non-CG animations as well as by nationalism, as the article points out. This feels like it helps explains both the lack of interest in the Marvel and CG-heavy films, as well as films like other Disney films and ones from well known directors like Tarantino, del Toro, or Paul Thomas Anderson, better than a pure CG fatigue reason.
Nationalism is a loaded term, but there's absolutely an international aloofness in Japan that is seemingly worse compared to decades prior. The consumption patterns of my younger Japanese friends are way more domestic compared to some middle-aged colleagues of mine, who had a voracious appetite for hair rock, shoot em ups, and Robert De Niro in general. I don't think the Japanese culture industry necessarily improved over the course of this generational chasm, but it became more hegemonic. Couple that with a shit currency and ridiculous notions of safety, and you have a bunch of kids who just aren't getting out there and exposed to different ideas.
I can't stand Hollywood and my first post reflected that, but the breakdown in cultural exchange has been mutual; I can't remember the last piece of Japanese media that's taken the Western mainstream by storm. Competent dramas like Shoplifters or Drive My Car make it to theaters here, I enjoy them, then forget them. But on the whole, Japanese media is far too inward looking and fan-servicing: the same things I hate about Marvel.
Pound for pound though, Japanese people still have a better sense for what's good looking. There's a trend in American media to deliberately bombard the subject with ugliness and then bully them into accepting it. It doesn't work in Japan.