d_a_renoir (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
d_a_renoir) wrote2013-08-23 03:49 pm
d_a_renoir) wrote2013-08-23 03:49 pm
Entry tags:
Names and movie inspiration
I recently read an article that mentioned that in his lifetime there's a good chance that Nobunaga wasn't referred to as "Nobunaga". The website was under construction, so this bit is still labelled "More coming soon". Well, that was interesting. It brought to mind this movie:
(Nobou no Shiro, The Floating Castle)
In the movie, two secondary characters were called "Tanba" and "Nezumi". Except... that wasn't their names. That's their titles. I forgot what their real names were (been too long since I watched it), but they're really Lord of Tanba and Lord of Nezumi.
Which makes me wonder if that half-finished article is true. I mean, in the movie Hideyoshi was never called "Hideyoshi" either. He was "Regent" (Kanpaku?) or "The Monkey". Even records written by his supposed close friend Maeda Toshiie refers to him as the Taiko, not "HIdeyoshi-sama" or whatnot. Does this mean that Nobunaga would be called "Kazusanosuke-sama" instead of "Nobunaga-sama"? Well, that's great. It sucks because I have no idea what titles other people have! GAH. And I know in fiction I can do whatever, considering many movies would go ahead and call the lords by name and not title, but still. I AM A STICKLER SOMETIMES AND IT BUGS ME WHEN I CANNOT FIND THE NECESSARY INFORMATION!
And here's a movie inspiration for the East Asian steampunk theme:
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. THIS is perfect.
I've been a little too fixated on the typical steampunk elements, like airships and ray guns and automata, that I forget that steampunk DOESN'T have to have all that. That's steampunk that plays with the future. I can make era-appropriate steampunk where there are gadgetry that is more advanced than there actually is in real life, but it doesn't have to go as far as having flying ships and robots.
The steampunk elements are little things that doesn't draw attention to itself. Like, robots and airships would make me go "Wait, what? Why?" They more minor things like machinery and mechanical iron hands. Neither existed in the Tang dynasty, but they blend into the setting well. The cut of the clothing and ornaments could be considered "steampunky" in the sense that they're not the kind of accessories or clothes that Tang dynasty people would wear, but they're still styled similarly enough to the proper attire that it doesn't look out of place.
Look at the catacombs in the right poster. That is something that is most likely not real, but still plausible. I can buy that something like that exist because it fits.
There's also pseudo-magic like acupuncture that allows the user to change their face completely and poison bugs that could cause people to burst into flames, but it's also minor. Not gods in heaven and magic light blasts like Dragon Ball. It fits this movie because this movie's theme IS a little mystic/magical.
THIS is what I wanted. Something steampunky but not too crazy that it throws history out the window. I mean, damn, if someone crazy like Nobunaga had airships, he'd go all Ozai on the other lords and flatten them in a snap *shudder* It's just... a scary thought. I mean, really, his ooatakebune are FRICKEN FLOATING TANKS. Word has it he managed to crush one of the toughest navy fleet of the time with those ships. I DON'T WANT TO THINK WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE HAD ROBOTS AND AIRSHIPS AND RAY GUNS. The only solution to this would be to equip the other lords with robots and airships and guns too, but that would totally change how history works! Okehazama and Nagashino could potentially have a different outcome and that just won't do. Nobunaga is such an important person. I cannot deal with Hideyoshi's reign and the turnover wars without dealing with him and what HE did in his lifetime. Geh. I can't even read manga for reference because a lot of the time they throw logic out the window. So long as it's cool, it's fine. History? Accuracy? What's that? Things that fly in manga and anime don't fly in prose.
I also probably could do without the magic. The only problem with this is that it's heavily visual. It would be tough to recreate something like this in prose and make the steampunk noticeable enough. Maybe I shouldn't make prose, then. Maybe I should make an RPG. Or a visual novel. Or, heck it, just set this in an alternate universe entirely. The events are loosely based on the real history but all the names are changed. So the events MAY be based on the Siege of Osaka, but the castle is not Osaka castle and it's not Ieyasu Tokugawa against Toyotomi Hideyori and it's not even Japan per se. Then I can throw in gods and robots and magic without having guilty conscience about "THIS IS NOT HOW HISTORY WORKS!"
(Nobou no Shiro, The Floating Castle)In the movie, two secondary characters were called "Tanba" and "Nezumi". Except... that wasn't their names. That's their titles. I forgot what their real names were (been too long since I watched it), but they're really Lord of Tanba and Lord of Nezumi.
Which makes me wonder if that half-finished article is true. I mean, in the movie Hideyoshi was never called "Hideyoshi" either. He was "Regent" (Kanpaku?) or "The Monkey". Even records written by his supposed close friend Maeda Toshiie refers to him as the Taiko, not "HIdeyoshi-sama" or whatnot. Does this mean that Nobunaga would be called "Kazusanosuke-sama" instead of "Nobunaga-sama"? Well, that's great. It sucks because I have no idea what titles other people have! GAH. And I know in fiction I can do whatever, considering many movies would go ahead and call the lords by name and not title, but still. I AM A STICKLER SOMETIMES AND IT BUGS ME WHEN I CANNOT FIND THE NECESSARY INFORMATION!
And here's a movie inspiration for the East Asian steampunk theme:
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. THIS is perfect.
I've been a little too fixated on the typical steampunk elements, like airships and ray guns and automata, that I forget that steampunk DOESN'T have to have all that. That's steampunk that plays with the future. I can make era-appropriate steampunk where there are gadgetry that is more advanced than there actually is in real life, but it doesn't have to go as far as having flying ships and robots.
The steampunk elements are little things that doesn't draw attention to itself. Like, robots and airships would make me go "Wait, what? Why?" They more minor things like machinery and mechanical iron hands. Neither existed in the Tang dynasty, but they blend into the setting well. The cut of the clothing and ornaments could be considered "steampunky" in the sense that they're not the kind of accessories or clothes that Tang dynasty people would wear, but they're still styled similarly enough to the proper attire that it doesn't look out of place.
Look at the catacombs in the right poster. That is something that is most likely not real, but still plausible. I can buy that something like that exist because it fits.
There's also pseudo-magic like acupuncture that allows the user to change their face completely and poison bugs that could cause people to burst into flames, but it's also minor. Not gods in heaven and magic light blasts like Dragon Ball. It fits this movie because this movie's theme IS a little mystic/magical.
THIS is what I wanted. Something steampunky but not too crazy that it throws history out the window. I mean, damn, if someone crazy like Nobunaga had airships, he'd go all Ozai on the other lords and flatten them in a snap *shudder* It's just... a scary thought. I mean, really, his ooatakebune are FRICKEN FLOATING TANKS. Word has it he managed to crush one of the toughest navy fleet of the time with those ships. I DON'T WANT TO THINK WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE HAD ROBOTS AND AIRSHIPS AND RAY GUNS. The only solution to this would be to equip the other lords with robots and airships and guns too, but that would totally change how history works! Okehazama and Nagashino could potentially have a different outcome and that just won't do. Nobunaga is such an important person. I cannot deal with Hideyoshi's reign and the turnover wars without dealing with him and what HE did in his lifetime. Geh. I can't even read manga for reference because a lot of the time they throw logic out the window. So long as it's cool, it's fine. History? Accuracy? What's that? Things that fly in manga and anime don't fly in prose.
I also probably could do without the magic. The only problem with this is that it's heavily visual. It would be tough to recreate something like this in prose and make the steampunk noticeable enough. Maybe I shouldn't make prose, then. Maybe I should make an RPG. Or a visual novel. Or, heck it, just set this in an alternate universe entirely. The events are loosely based on the real history but all the names are changed. So the events MAY be based on the Siege of Osaka, but the castle is not Osaka castle and it's not Ieyasu Tokugawa against Toyotomi Hideyori and it's not even Japan per se. Then I can throw in gods and robots and magic without having guilty conscience about "THIS IS NOT HOW HISTORY WORKS!"