Movies - TV
The Classic Dark Anime
That Inspired Darren Aronofsky
By KRISTIAN LIN
Satoshi Kon’s darker, more adult-themed animes like 1997’s “Perfect Blue” inspired ambitious Western filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky reportedly purchased remake rights so he could use scenes from the film for specific reference shots in "Requiem for a Dream."
“Perfect Blue” is about a Japanese singer, Mima, who decides to give up her pop music career to become an actress. A stalker, who wants her to keep doing music, murders people around her, and she starts having hallucinations about her character from the crime series she is starring in.
While Aronofsky has denied that “Perfect Blue” was the inspiration for “Black Swan,” they share visual and thematic elements. Aronofsky uses mirrors and body horror in a similar way as Kon, and even Natalie Portman’s character name, Nina, seems to have been derived from “Perfect Blue’s” Mima.
Just as Kon was commenting on how the Japanese entertainment industry negatively affects the female lead’s physical and mental health, Aronofsky uses the New York ballet company in a similar way. The two directors also show how fantasy and reality become interchangeable in a nightmarish way, which can not only be seen in these two films, but also in Kon's "Paprika" and Aronofsky's "π."