The Man in the High Castle is an Amazon TV show based on the Philip K. Dick novel. It's something of a "What If" concept: What if Japan and Germany had won World War II, colonized the USA, and divided the country into two halves: one for Germany and the other for Japan.
At SDCC this year, Amazon put together an excellent display of props from the show, in a building across from the convention center. Here's a look inside, starting with the Japan side of occupied America:
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| Original outfit from the show |
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| The screen looped one of the mysterious films central to the plot. |
More after the jump:
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| Fantastic level of detail! The Japanese reads "Japanese Pacific States." |
Over to the German side:
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| Real dedication to detail here - a newspaper created by the Germans on the East Coast of occupied America, |
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| Kind of a disturbing uniform but true to the book and show's concept. |
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| Desk used by a key character - the main German officer in the show. |
If you haven't seen the show, it's worth a look. To me, one of the most interesting aspects is the balance brought to all sides. There are few caricatures, and the main characters in particular are multi-faceted. So whereas the story gets you to root for the underdog, counter-insurgent Americans, there are compelling elements to the complex leading characters, on all sides.
"The Japanese reads 'Japanese Pacific States.'"
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid it doesn't. Also, the "Japanese" sign behind the vase of flowers are nonsense fragments copied by someone who doesn't know how to write Japanese or Chinese script. TMITHC is far closer to tattoos featured in "Hanzi Smatter" than P. K. Dick.
Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteWith respect, the Japanese sign says 日本太平洋州, which translates directly to "Japanese Pacific State." I won't quabble about whether the final word should be "state" or "states." I believe the show uses "States" to draw a parallel between "United States" and the Japan-occupied territory.
I'm not sure about the phraseology on the flower vase, since I can't see all the characters clearly.
It's an excellent show, particularly season 2, so I'm willing to cut them some slack if their temporary display (which was also excellent) isn't perfect.