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Posted: 01/14/2005
Photography: Courtesy of Crispin Freeman
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In Part Two of this exclusive special feature, we go on to learn that Crispin Freeman has been very busy directing and adapting, as well as working on a number of Anime series currently being shown on the Cartoon Network. You’ll also get the chance to listen to the full audio interview with Crispin, whose charismatic energy communicates so much more when listening to him speak, just as his voice acting does in each series he works on. This audio download is a rare treat for our readers here at JIVE Magazine.
JIVE: Tell me about Strawberry Eggs, and what did you like the most about directing that? Has directing always been your goal, or did you just sort of fall into this spontaneously at some point?
Crispin: I think I started directing a lot because I already knew what was happening. I tried to direct more in New York, but it was difficult. There were politics that were not letting me direct for some reason. It got to the point where I became so frustrated that I left New York because it just didn't make any sense to me. There are many different studios in New York, and some of the studios would work in ways that I didn't understand. It made it difficult to raise the quality of dubbing. So I thought, "You know, I want to go where the best people are." So I left. There are many great people in New York, too, I just wish they would come join me in LA, because I need them. So what I liked about Strawberry Eggs was the idea that a man could love as deeply as a woman and that the whole cross-dressing thing was not a Mrs. Doubtfire comedy. We weren't going for comic drag; we were going for honest, sincere drag. This guy dresses up as a woman, and passes! He really comes off as this nurturing person. It just happens to be that he's got a Y-chromosome.
That's a big deal to me, as someone who really sort of rails at the whole cult of the "Real Man," especially in this country, to have a story like that, and have a passionate, sincere, teacher who is not fey in any sense of the word. He's a gym teacher for God's sake! He's incredibly nurturing and caring. I mean, the only time you see that is the Father on Little House on the Prairie!
I mean it doesn't happen very much in American culture, and in fact there are a lot of things that stop that from happening. Men are not allowed to be emotional; women are. That's a problem and when you don't allow men to be whole human beings, you get Fight Club. What is Fight Club, but a bunch of guys that have no way to deal with their emotions. So what they do is they beat the crap out of each other. They don't beat the crap out of each other because they are mad at each other; they beat each other because they don't know how else to deal with their emotions. And when they are done beating the crap out of each other, they don't hate each other, they love each other! The hug each other! Then they think, "Oh man! We've been through something together! I feel great! I feel like I've released something.
JIVE: That is a little twisted, isn't it?
Crispin: It's very twisted, and I think it's very unhealthy. I think it makes it very difficult. A lot of women's issues stem from the fact that men can't deal with their emotions.
JIVE: I am actually married to an Asian man who was literally raised on Anime. I don't know what it is about Anime and its ability to instill moral value systems into young people, children, and on up the age ranges, but it's interesting, his system of values. I always poke fun at him and say he was "raised by Anime," that his whole value system is based on Anime series, including [Rurouni] Kenshin and honor of the Samurai. He's a very honorable man, and I'm wondering if not more Anime should be instilled in American culture as far as required material in schools or something. There are a lot of good stories about honor and integrity and how a many should be or not be, and women as well. What do you think about that?
Crispin: Well you've just hit on one of my favorite things. I don't thing anything should ever be required. Anything something becomes required, you're in trouble. But what I think there should be is the freedom to explore those. Any time anything is restricted, that's where I start to wrangle because that's just wrong. There are many different cultures on the planet. We can learn something from all of them. You don't have to subscribe to all of them, but you should not keep anyone else from doing that.
The Japanese woman who is the director friend of mine, when I first told her I was working on Anime, besides asking me if I was over-acting, she also asked me have I seen Nausicaä. At the time I hadn't seen Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind. Then I did. She said, "That informed me as a little girl. That gave me a lot of my value systems as a little girl."
Now when you think of that, that's huge. The Japanese culture, on a whole, as it seems, and this is what Miyazaki is railing at, really likes this sort of Lolita complex. Miyazaki really wanted to fight that. He said, if you put a young boy with a gun in his hand to protect his people, you expect that. If you put a young girl in that position, it changes everything in the Japanese culture.
When you look at a character like Nausicaä, and you look at a lot of Miyazaki's female characters, you don't see them in any other places, in Japanese storytelling, or in American storytelling, for that matter. If a woman is powerful, she's a bitch! But here you have Nausicaä, you have Kiki's, and in her own way, Kushana in Nausicaä.
Stories are very powerful, because what stories allow us to do is experience the consequences of our actions without actually doing them. That's the power of a story, so that you can learn a life lesson without doing damage to yourself. |
Stories are very powerful, because what stories allow us to do is experience the consequences of our actions without actually doing them. That's the power of a story, so that you can learn a life lesson without doing damage to yourself. Now, if that is the case, you have to look at the kind of stories that we have told over time. Especially if we're going to limit it to animation and say, look at Disney.
If you look at Walt Disney's stories, it's very interesting what Disney wanted to sort of put forward as his value system. That value system of Disney's has informed animation throughout this country and still does to this day, many times, I think to its detriment. I think they sort of missed what Disney was really going for. The original Disney stuff was scary! Pinocchio is terrifying!
JIVE: It was evil versus good most of the time though. Black and white.
Crispin: Right. Now that's a very Western thing. There's all evil and there's all good and we've got to do the battle of good versus evil. But I think we've gotten past that. No, wait. We haven't gotten past that. Our president proves we haven't gotten past that. [laughing]. But I think we should try to get past that because it's not a good representation of the world. It's not a good model by which to live one's life. It gets you into a lot of trouble.
JIVE: It's also not very human, from a reality point of view. People are more complex than that.
Crispin: Yes, they are. That's what I think is so interesting about Anime. Its roots and its world view, comes from a very different place. You see a lot of characters fighting huge societal structures and institutions to find their own way, and that's a big deal for them. Well, that's what we try to ask our people in this culture to do all the time-be an authority for yourself. Question authority, don't just subscribe to it; whereas in Japan, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
There are different cultural values that will always come through the storytelling. The main problem I have with American animated storytelling is that it has painted itself into the nursery corner. You can not do an animation show in this country right now without it being for kids, and that reduces an entire medium of expression to one genre of style.
JIVE: Well, it's either only for kids or it's highly twisted like in some of the Adult Swim shows.
Crispin: Now that's satire or comedy. The only time you'll get something that's adult is if it's like South Park or The Simpsons. We are used to cartoons being satirical, and we'll do it "adult," and that's fine. But to actually do something dramatic or important, and do it adult .. If you take NYPD Blue and make it animated, people would throw a fit! They would! And yet what do we have on Adult Swim but Ghost in the Shell? And what is that but cyberpunk cops?
So that's the problem. As long as it's satirical, America is very comfortable with satire. We spend all our time criticizing the British all the time. You know, A Modest Proposal.
JIVE: Well, don't you think Anime has really grown in America? I base that on how many titles and rows of Anime I see going up at Media Play. You know, five years ago they may have had one tiny little 12-inch section. Now there are two or three rows at any given Media Play. It's making this huge rapport with this country lately and I wonder what you attribute to that.
Crispin: Money, the Internet, and the sort of "artistic bankruptcy" of American animation. First is money. The Japanese economy had not been doing well for a long time, and so what happens, especially in the last 10 years, is that the Japanese realize that there was another market out there-in America-that they could sell their Anime to, to make more money because their own economy was not doing too well. Now I heard this-and I believe this is true-that there are as many Anime DVDs sold in Japan as there are in America, except that in America, that's only like a two percent market penetration, whereas in Japan it's a huge market penetration. They found out that there is money to be had over here.
In terms of Anime increasingly becoming popular in this country, the Internet helps incredibly. It allows a scattered fan base to unify virtually. It allows communities, irrespective of geographic location. That could not have happened before.
JIVE: Well from what you've told me about the monetary aspect of this, it seems like it's purely a labor of love for you, to some degree.
Crispin: Yes. I don't make any money at this. [jokingly] For the first three to five years of my Anime career, all my Anime voice-acting did was pay for my Anime habit. I took the check I got for voice-acting and went out and bought more Anime. It just wasn't enough to cover my living expenses. It's only recently that I started making enough to pay for my living expenses.
JIVE: So can a person make a living at this?
Crispin: On just Anime? No. [laughs]
JIVE: Go ahead and plug for me what are you currently working on right now in Anime, theater, movies, television, directing, anything...
Crispin: Ghost in the Shell on Cartoon Network [started November 6, 2004] and I'm playing Togusa in that. There's a bunch of other series that I'm continuously working on like Initial D and whatnot. I'm directing and adapting a series called Scrapped Princess for Bandai. ...
[Click here to download and listen to the edited full interview audio file and hear Crispin discuss more of his work and future projects - mp3 format - 39.41 minutes - 55MB - This download is recommended for high speed internet connections only.
This completes JIVE Magazine's two part special feature on Crispin Freeman. Be sure to check out Part One
Other Related Links:
Official Crispin Freeman website
Crispin Freeman Yahoo Group
Feature Credits:
Jewels: Feature Concept and Interview
Imran Khan: Research, Editing Assistant
Patrick Caldwell: Editing Assistant
Thomas strickland: Editing Assistant
Rick "Low Tek" Merced: Photography Aquisition and Formatting
Katie Seyba: Transcription
JIVE Magazine wishes to thank Crispin Freeman for his time and assistance with this feature and the Daniel Hoff Agency for their assistance with coordination as well.
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