In recent years, media companies have piqued interest in remaking movies and TV shows from the past and showcasing them to a new audience, from Disney classics and Warner Bros series to even some prodigious anime. Live-action adaptations are on the rise in Hollywood, and with recent technological advances, many studios are straying away from new animations and recreating their older shows and movies through means of live-action. In doing this, studios are able to “reboot” old popular series and keep their brand in media circulation. These reboots could be an entertaining way of bringing back older beloved characters and series that ended or revitalized interest in a particular show that newer generations otherwise would not know. With the evolution of CGI technology, animators can reshape reality as we see it and create a whole new world otherwise thought impossible to be done through live action. Before this technological advancement, to create a fantastical world, studios would have to rely solely on animation as the elements required to make magical movies such as “Lilo & Stitch” or ‘Toy Story” would have been impossible to do in real life at the time these movies came out. Thanks to these improvements, filmmakers can now bend reality and showcase a whole new way to look at the real world. However, this new realm of filmmaking poses a couple of questions. Does the realism of a live-action film take away from the magic that cannot be replicated from drawings and animations, or does it make the world-building more believable and show people a new way to think about reality?

Live actions can be an innovative way to rekindle interest in a show and even modernize it to newer audiences. However, it can also take away from the illusion and allurement that comes from animation and the captivating world-building visuals. For instance, world-renowned animator, filmmaker, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, grew his brand of immersive worldbuilding and soft stylistic animation. All Ghibli films are hand drawn with little to no CGI; while many animation studios nowadays are switching to 3D-generated models, Miyazaki favors the traditional, flat, 2D look that most Japanese anime are depicted with. It was his unique style and artistry that helped create his brand's aesthetic and appeal to a wide range of audiences. This style Miyazaki has crafted is the main component that makes Ghibli's films so extraordinary and his immersive worldbuilding suspends the audience's beliefs, pulling them into his worlds of fantastical adventures and mystery. Hollywood has approached Miyazaki many times with the prospect of turning his films into live-action, but he has turned them down every time.

Something genuine and lifelike about Miyazaki’s style makes the drawings come to life on the silver screen. Miyazaki himself said that “even if the world is a lie, the trick is to make it seem real as possible . . . the animator must fabricate a lie that seems so real viewers will think the world depicted might possibly exist.” This mindset has led him to become one of the most recognized animators in the world. Miyazaki’s acute attention to detail and realism showed how vital his drawings were to him, and many fans consider his work impossible to recreate in live action.

On the other hand, due to the enhancement of CGI, filmmakers have been utilizing technology to blur the line between reality and the impossible. Disney’s most recent live-action adaptation, “The Little Mermaid,” bent reality and showcased an underwater world of wonder, with talking fish and magical sea witches; the film was able to keep all the original magical elements from the original 1989 film while still maintaining a grasp on reality. The movie, while fantastical in nature, animating creatures and monsters alongside the actors, still showed a seamless interaction between fact and fiction. Filmmakers have started to use CGI more and more in films to create alternate realities full of fantasy and magic. Another popular example in the media right now is Netflix’s rendition of “One Piece.” Based on the popular manga and anime from the 90s, written by Eiichiro Oda, “One Piece” revolves around a band of pirates traveling the seas in search of the legendary treasure of the “one piece” in order to become king of the pirates and earn worldwide fame and fortune. “One Piece” is a comical, action-packed fantasy show that Netflix recently adapted to live-action. CGI was utilized in recreating the creatures and powers that appear in the series but done in a way that matches the stylization of the show and creates a fun visual experience for the viewer. Audiences got to experience the world of “One Piece” while maintaining a semblance of real life. Despite the show being so well known amongst anime fans, Netflix’s adaptation presents the series to a whole new demographic by introducing the popular medium to a more Western audience. Western demographics are not typically accustomed to light-hearted animations made for adults, with many people viewing animation as a whole as a medium for children. By adapting the show to live-action, it caters to a wider audience amongst the public.

In conclusion, live-action adaptations can showcase television and movies in new ways that reshape how people view the world. CGI developments created a whole new way to tell stories through movies and now, it's possible to use real people in environments that otherwise would be impossible without. From the bottom of the ocean to a galaxy far far away, CGI has created a way for filmmakers to distort the world and show audiences their stories with fantastical worlds in a way that was not possible previously. But with these developments came a decline in traditional animation done by drawings, leading more companies to utilize technology for their movies. There is room to say that this technology does not always live up to the beauty and artistry of traditional animation but it has created a whole new outlet for people to enjoy new films by broadcasting these features to a whole new market of people around the world.

Written by Lauren Carmona, Photography: Kenley Becker, Social Media: Krisha Atreya

From Fiction to Reality