[Torg] Torg Timeline + A United Living Land

[Scott Palter]

A lot of TORG comes out of the era it was written.

Scott Palter
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Knevitt" <jknevitt at gmail.com>
To: <torg at justintimeadventures.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Torg] Torg Timeline + A United Living Land


> Valid points. I think the days of the Big Scary Japanese Corporation
> are more or less over in popular culture; however, people re more
> accepting of Japanese influence in 'Western' culture than they were in
> the days in which NT was written. Then again, one could play NT
> exactly as written -- it really isn't Japanese culture; it's
> Marketplace culture dressed as Japanese culture. The over-the-top
> corporate stereotypes still hold in terms of internal context simply
> because that's the literal reality of Marketplace.
> 
> Now, as for NT's "no invaders here, everything is normal" attitude:
> that could play fine if one not "in the know" interprets the subtle
> shifts in culture and attitudes as the Japanese reaction to the
> incredible events initiated by the invasion itself. This ostensibly
> untouched Japan would be in a prime position to provide much needed
> reconstruction dollars (yen?) to the Pacific Rim (including a
> beleaguered California).
> 
> Stranger things have happened.
> 
> On 8/13/08, Kansas Jim <ksjim at sdc.org> wrote:
>> James Knevitt wrote:
>>
>>> Well, it's not really the content that's important-- it's accepting
>>> the presence of Japanese culture. How else would companies like Ichi
>>> be able to just waltz into LA and very publically start buying up like
>>> crazy in any modern politico-ecomonic climate?
>>
>> I'd say they would do it exactly the same way they did in the late 80s
>> and early 90s, by throwing giant piles of money around! Especially since
>> present-day Japanese corporate culture is a lot more like American
>> corporate culture, it's not all insular, protective zaibatsus like in
>> those previous days.
>>
>> Plus if you're actually sticking with Nippon Tech as a mega-corporate
>> reality, I'd think that the Law of Intrigue would actually discourage
>> doing anything very publicly; sneaky behind-closed-doors business
>> meetings and deals is much more the style.
>>
>> (Not to mention that realistically speaking, anime is still a very niche
>> market, if you want to make the masses more accepting of Japanese
>> culture that's probably not the most effective vector to use. Take over
>> American movie studios and start producing movies and TV shows which
>> deal a lot with Japanese culture, that would be more effective. And hey,
>> Sony's already firmly established in Hollywood....)
>>
>> --
>> Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
>> Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html
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> 
> 
> -- 
> James Knevitt
> jknevitt at gmail.com
> 
> "O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
> Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you."
> -- TS Eliot, 'The Waste Land'
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