In Professor Tyran Grillo’s classroom, students analyze Hollywood remakes of Japanese films from “Godzilla” to “The Ring” to “Shall We Dance.” They evaluate the ways these remakes erase Japanese culture or tokenize it with weak attempts to retain a connection to Japan. On this episode of Challenge. Change., Grillo, a professor of Asian studies, explains what makes a film adaptation worthwhile — or not.  

“It’s more than simply looking at Hollywood as a profit-making machine and capitalizing on these stories that already performed well in their home culture, but also looking at what kinds of processes needed to happen for the films to be relevant to American audiences,” Grillo says. “I want students to look beyond what is being presented on the screen and find those hidden meanings they might not normally look for because they’re just viewing it as passive entertainment.” 

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Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson and Andrew Hart for Clark University. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.