Brian Ruh, author of "Stray Dog of Anime: Films of Mamoru Oshii." Staff photo by Chris Howell.

October 3, 2004

BLOOMINGTON

In the movie poster for "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence," a lifelike female robot doll lies in pieces connected by wires next to young basset hound, who stands in stark contrast to the white background.

Next to it are the words "Official selection 2004, Cannes International Film Festival." Still further down, below the red and black movie title, in smaller, all-caps credits is the line, "WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MAMORU OSHII," which, in the eyes of most Americans, does not spark the recognition of a Cameron, Tarantino or Wachowski.

Yet American film icons and fans alike have praised Japanese director Oshii's life and works, the subject of Brian Ruh's new book, "Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

Initial reviews criticizing Oshii's latest project, "Innocence" (which opened Friday at Showplace 11, east, in Bloomington) say its amazingly rich graphics are its sole selling point. But, through "Stray Dog," IU doctoral student and assistant instructor Ruh hopes to change that perception.

"I hope to give Oshii's films and anime films in general some legitimacy … that Japanese anime can be used philosophically to present ideas and thoughts, just as much as in live-action film," Ruh said recently.

What began with Ruh enjoying Japanese shows as "Voltron" and "Battle of the Planets" as a kid developed into a full-blown academic study.

"I never actually imagined I'd end up studying (anime) or writing a book on it. It was a hobby for fun," Ruh said.

"Stray Dog" is based in part on Ruh's master's thesis on Oshii's films while at the University of Texas in Austin. With a bachelor's degree from Purdue and a master's from Texas under his belt, Ruh decided on IU's communication and culture department, where he's working on his PhD. Along with teaching a 100-level course and taking three classes at IU, he spent the majority of his time last year working on the book with his wife, Sarah ("my first editor").

The resulting 230-page critique sheds light on Oshii's cinematic messages.

"Oshii is a loner, an outsider who has been known to refer to himself as a 'stray dog,'" Ruh writes in the introduction. "In spite of the accolades he has received, Oshii remains remarkably contrarian, eschewing the limelight in favor of his own personal cinematic vision."

Compared to Oshii's contemporaries (including Hayao Miyazaki, most famous for 2001's "Spirited Away"), Ruh says the Oshii employs more adult themes and puts plot secondary to his bigger objectives.

"He often quotes from the Bible but also alludes to mythology, Japanese mythology and Authurian legend, but in this movie he really increases that," he said. "So in a sense he's kind of continuing what he's been foreshadowing in his earlier films."

"A common theme for him," Ruh added, "is the difference between dreams and reality. … A theme that has been shaped in his more recent films is what does it mean to be human, what differentiates a doll from a thinking machine."

Such themes reflect a more grown-up side of animation as a sophisticated medium of communication.

"In the early days, animation didn't use to be just for kids but gradually it developed into what is perceived as a kids-only medium. Through writing on films like Oshii's, I hope to show that cartoons and animation can be for adults too."

And the PG-13 "Innocence" definitely isn't for the younger crowd — it's a complex, sci-fi storyline of cyborgs and crime scenes mixed with ethnic shots and colorful, thought-provoking images, as well as the verbose dialogue scrolling across the subtitled screen.

"The serial of the original story was in the 'Ghost in the Shell' manga (comic), and if you look at that you can see where he got the basic plotline. But if you look at how the execution, style and whole of the film shapes up, that's all Oshii."

Ruh's book serves as a travel guide for foreigners visiting Oshii film territory, as well as for those familiar with it. Each chapter houses a synopsis and character bios, so readers need not have watched all the films in advance.

It's "a very personal thing to me as well because its themes are ones that I took away (from watching the films). I saw what my attention gravitated toward, so that's what I wrote about."

Because of time and deadline constraints, his book doesn't go into detail about "Innocence." But Ruh said that's OK, "because it gives the opportunity for a second edition."