Is acting in Japanese easier?

Talk about the culture and entertainment from Nihon.
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sanufi
Posts: 3
Joined: Jun 15th, '06, 00:12
Location: Australia

Is acting in Japanese easier?

Post by sanufi » Aug 9th, '07, 13:27

I've been watching Jdramas and movies for around 2 years and find the level of acting to be great. However, I feel that maybe this could be due to the fact I only have a limited comprehension of Japanese. I am Chinese who understands Mandarin and find that alot of the Taiwanese and Chinese dramas have horrible acting. Alot of the movies and TV series from the US also have somewhat poor acting - I have lived in Australia for 22 years.

So I'm wondering why to my eyes, the level of acting in Jdrams and Jmovies seems so high. Could it be that:

- acting in japanese is easier? More specifically, speaking in the Japanese language makes it easier to act. I know that English has alot of nuances and bad actors just can't seem to convey this right. With bad acting in English, the words just don't sound right. Does the Japanese language have these language subtleties? I know if I had a fluent understanding of Japanese, then I could figure this out. However, that's not going to happen. I'm hoping someone with Japanese fluency can help me out.

- I've only watched the "good stuff" and missed the crap stuff that gets aired?

- the actors/actresses are top notch with sound training. I tend to see the same ones quite often.

- I'm completely wrong and some of the Japanese acting is bad but because I don't have fluent comprehension of Japanese, I can't see this.

TeAsEy0shi

Post by TeAsEy0shi » Aug 9th, '07, 13:41

uh i dont think so, any acting takes skills....whatever what race you are.

Li-Mei
Posts: 61
Joined: Mar 4th, '06, 23:55

Post by Li-Mei » Aug 9th, '07, 18:56

It depends on the culture. When I talk to my parents in Chinese we say things directly and get right to the point. Maybe that's why you think that those kinds of dramas have poor acting. My dad says that as a Chinese person, he doesn't portray much emotion when speaking or anything. There's no lovely-dovely, mushy acts played between my parents. Really, the only emotion that I see from my mom and dad are; frustration, anger, disappointment or depression. Sounds awkward.

I don't really like Chinese/Taiwanese dramas either because of the sometimes mushy and direct ways of portraying the story. I like ambiguity. The only actress that I like is that girl who plays Rainie's friend in "Why Why Love" because she can portray emotion very well without exaggerating. Some of the directors in Taiwan feel the need to answer every question to every situation, and some of the stories lack decent progression or the characters lack personal growth.

That's just my two-cents. I don't think that acting is really, "easy" in any country. The audience is different everywhere and it just depends on what makes you appeal to them.

LaMortImmortelle
Posts: 11
Joined: Aug 6th, '07, 03:39
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by LaMortImmortelle » Aug 10th, '07, 04:44

I'm Australian like you sanufi :lol
But i was thinking the opposite..Yes i'm impressed at some of the brilliant acting done by some dramas and movies but i don't think this goes for a lot of them..

Some jdoramas have horrible acting ><

A lot of american actors are great at acting and same with japanese actors. Though i don't think this extends to all of them.

I doubt that we have both been exposed to japanese dramas/movies enough to say that

sanufi
Posts: 3
Joined: Jun 15th, '06, 00:12
Location: Australia

Post by sanufi » Aug 10th, '07, 13:33

Li-Mei, I definitely agree with you on the directing part. Also, maybe the directing and production in Jdramas is better hence bad acting can be more easily worked around.

LaMortImmortelle, which jdramas do you think have really bad acting? I'm curious to watch these just to see what bad acting looks like lol. I've watched maybe 30 or more jdramas and alot of jmovies. I have been very impressed with the quality of acting.

Which Japanese actors/actresses are considered good and which are bad? I know there's too many to choose from but any input will be appreciated.

LilyPop!
Posts: 20
Joined: Aug 10th, '07, 00:46
Location: New York City

Post by LilyPop! » Aug 10th, '07, 15:13

i think it depends on the actor and how experienced he/she is. when they're starting out they are quite bad but get better.

i used to think that matsumoto jun in gokusen was horrrble! *dont slaughter me!* but he got so much better in bambino & hyd2

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