"Astro Boy" 2009 Movie Mention on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

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sgupta
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"Astro Boy" 2009 Movie Mention on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Postby sgupta » 14 years ago

Heya all,

Just thought I'd mention that Jon Stewart actually mentioned Astro Boy (the movie as well as cartoon) on The Daily Show during his interview last night (Thursday January 7) with Maggie Gylenhall (viewable at thedailyshow.com for those interested).

It isn't exactly a glowing mention, but I think a common mistake most people make before they're very familiar with the character or the original source material. Basically, in context he and Maggie are talking about movies nowadays for kids like Cindarella and how dark they are with death, etc. Well the good news is Jon Stewart took his son to see Astro Boy, which is a plus ^.^. But he just briefly said he remembered Astro Boy as a kid and it was just a "stupid little cartoon" but now it's all dark with the kid dying and the dad rebuilding the boy and stealing his heart, etc., and he implied his son was a bit disturbed by that (imitating a scared child asking "Faaaather??"). He didn't really mention what he thought of the movie or if his son liked it (and I'm not sure how old his son is).

I'm not taking his words too seriously as I'd guess a lot of us can relate somewhat - I had seen bits and pieces of the 60's show on Adult Swim and prettymuch ignored it without knowing anything about it, writing it off as a silly action cartoon, and it's clear he doesn't know the cartoon/manga is actually probably slightly darker than the movie. I suppose it's also pretty distinctly American to think this stuff dark for a kids show - for me, the anime/manga version is quite a bit darker than the movie version (a more grisly death at least) and at this point I'm just more used to (and relate better to) Japanese sensibilities.

Anyways, I thought it was interesting. At least he went - I wish he would have elaborated more on whether he liked it or not. (Maybe the mention will boost people wanting to see it nonetheless though.)
Last edited by sgupta on Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Dragonrider1227
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Postby Dragonrider1227 » 14 years ago

Ah Man, the one time I don't watch The Daily Show XD Ah Well. Thanks for telling us. TO HULU!!

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Postby Fauna » 14 years ago

This episode was actually on today, since there's a 24-delay between Canadian broadcasts. I think when Jon said "stupid little cartoon", followed by acting out Astro's boot-scuffs in the 1963 series, he might've just meant that it seemed like an innocent cartoon and everything was pretty comical. This is true if you see the 60's series and nothing else.

I wasn't really bothered by what he said, though...but yes, it'll probably be drawing in more attention (positive?) to the movie. I hope it's still in American theatres, since it got pulled from ours in early November.
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Postby Laughing Dragon » 14 years ago

Huh...I was wondering what people were Twittering about (several people on Twitter were commenting that Jon Stewart really showed his ignorance about Astro Boy and so on)...I guess now I know.

I really don't watch Stewart much myself...I think he's kind of full of himself. :P

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Postby Dragonrider1227 » 14 years ago

He's not full of himself. He's just honest XD

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Postby sgupta » 14 years ago

I was slightly disappointed by his comment I'll admit, but Jon's someone I have a lot of respect for, and I love what he does - I can't say before learning about the character and Tezuka and everything he did I wouldn't have said something similar out of simply not having more knowledge. That's his honest perception of it, I'm sure, and it says something he was surprised by how dark it was. At least if nothing else, it's clear it made an impression on both him and his son, and hopefully in the end, a good one (wish he would have elaborated). If a movie simply accomplishes not being instantly forgotten (they saw this weeks ago presumably), that's something.

Also, you've gotta figure if he saw it as a kid, he must not have *hated* it, or he wouldn't have taken his son to a movie adaptation.

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Postby Laughing Dragon » 14 years ago

I dunno, these guys that comment on news are okay, as long as you remember that they're usually biased in one way or another. But they can be funny. Somebody at work had Rush Limbaugh on the other day, and Rush referred to the "underwear bomber" as "Fruit of KaBoom". :lol:

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Postby Dragonrider1227 » 14 years ago

Yeah, they clearly lean towards the left but are not against making fun of the left side when they screw up too XD
"sgupta" wrote:I was slightly disappointed by his comment I'll admit, but Jon's someone I have a lot of respect for, and I love what he does - I can't say before learning about the character and Tezuka and everything he did I wouldn't have said something similar out of simply not having more knowledge. That's his honest perception of it, I'm sure, and it says something he was surprised by how dark it was.

Indeed. I know I was surprised by how dark the Manga was when I started reading it


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