I got the impression from the prologue that the jaeger pilots weren't necessarily mainstream military, but were more like specialists (although I recall two 'being interviewed' in uniform). If you don't go through bootcamp, you don't learn that particular kind of mindset, so it makes sense to me that Raleigh is an individual/personality, along with the rest of the pilots. I think the difference here -- since all (shonen) heroes are expected to question orders -- is that Raleigh questions for clarification. He doesn't come across as questioning with his own answer prepared, as in "I'm asking questions in prep for poking holes in your command and proving I know how to do this already and don't need you bothering me." It's really more the clarification I saw amongst the people under my father's command, or the way I try to ask questions when on a team: to make sure I understand.
A nuance (and I might be over-reading but this is the sense I get from watching plenty of East Asian cinema) is that in the Japanese context, such questions are a kind of impudence. (As in, a good underling just knows.) The shonen hero amps it up to eleven by taking the impertinent (Western) mindset of knowing the 'right' answer or 'playing by his gut', which the text almost always proves to be right, and the original orders in hindsight to have been wrong in some way. So while Raleigh is much more military-modern-accurate in terms of respect, he's also respectful in a Western sense -- of asking for clarification instead of accepting the order at face-value. Yet Mako is respectful on a different level, and b/c she has that additional insight of the father/daughter relationship.
I find that a much more compelling, if subtle, culture clash (compared to the usual bombastic 'westerners have no respect at all' where the Westerner in question really doesn't have any respect!). They're both being respectful, just in different ways, and I like that it takes a bit for each to see the other one's way has value, too. Without any sappy romantic sub-plot. Spare me the stupid romantic sub-plots.
Also: I totally want to steal the quote from your icon and slap it on a picture of Raleigh and Mako. That is so what he'd say, and I'm pretty sure she has the exact reply-expression at least a dozen times in the movie. Bwah.
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Date: 11 Aug 2013 01:42 am (UTC)A nuance (and I might be over-reading but this is the sense I get from watching plenty of East Asian cinema) is that in the Japanese context, such questions are a kind of impudence. (As in, a good underling just knows.) The shonen hero amps it up to eleven by taking the impertinent (Western) mindset of knowing the 'right' answer or 'playing by his gut', which the text almost always proves to be right, and the original orders in hindsight to have been wrong in some way. So while Raleigh is much more military-modern-accurate in terms of respect, he's also respectful in a Western sense -- of asking for clarification instead of accepting the order at face-value. Yet Mako is respectful on a different level, and b/c she has that additional insight of the father/daughter relationship.
I find that a much more compelling, if subtle, culture clash (compared to the usual bombastic 'westerners have no respect at all' where the Westerner in question really doesn't have any respect!). They're both being respectful, just in different ways, and I like that it takes a bit for each to see the other one's way has value, too. Without any sappy romantic sub-plot. Spare me the stupid romantic sub-plots.
Also: I totally want to steal the quote from your icon and slap it on a picture of Raleigh and Mako. That is so what he'd say, and I'm pretty sure she has the exact reply-expression at least a dozen times in the movie. Bwah.