Alex Dudok de Wit
Alex Dudok de Wit is a British journalist and writer.
Biography
Dudok de Wit is the associate editor at the Cartoon Brew magazine, and has written for several other publications, including Sight and Sound, The Independent, and Time Out.[1] He also works as a Japanese translator,[2] and translated Hayao Miyazaki's manga Shuna's Journey (1983) into English in 2022.[3] He is the son of the animation director Michaël Dudok de Wit.[4]
Dudok de Wit published a book examining the film Grave of the Fireflies (1988), directed by Isao Takahata, through the British Film Institute in 2021.[5] It is the first English-language reference work to focus on the film.[6] He had started the project in 2018, when Takahata's death brought renewed attention to his filmography. Dudok de Wit was also inspired by a Japanese collection of materials on the film, as well as Andrew Osmond's reference work on Spirited Away (2001).[7]
Anime News Network's Rebecca Silverman wrote that the work was "thoughtfully and engagingly written", and took a naturalist perspective on the film that recontextualised many other war stories by deemphasising their overtly emotional and tragic aspects.[5] Sight and Sound's Michael Leader praised Dudok de Wit's "uncompromising attention to detail" and depth of research.[2] Osmond, also writing for Anime News Network, said that the work analyses "a mentality that Japan was the 'victim' in World War II."[8] Oliver Jia of the Asia Times wrote that the book was a "valuable service to Japanese animation studies", but felt that Dudok de Wit's conclusions lacked depth.[6]
Bibliography
- ——— (2021). Grave of the Fireflies. British Film Institute. ISBN 978-1-83871-924-1.
References
Citations
- ^ Bloomsbury.
- ^ a b Leader 2021, p. 91.
- ^ Mateo 2022.
- ^ Dudok de Wit 2019, 4:07–4:11: "The name is a bit of a giveaway, but I'm also [Michaël's] son."
- ^ a b Silverman 2021.
- ^ a b Jia 2021.
- ^ Ue 2022, pp. 200–201.
- ^ Osmond 2021.
Sources
- "Alex Dudok de Wit". Bloomsbury. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
- ——— (31 August 2019). Michaël Dudok de Wit interview (video). Emile Awards. Retrieved 23 April 2025 – via YouTube.
- Jia, Oliver (8 May 2021). "Grave of the Fireflies: misunderstood masterpiece". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
- Leader, Michael (June 2021). "Grave of the Fireflies". Sight and Sound. Vol. 31, no. 5. p. 91. ISSN 0037-4806. EBSCOhost 150136275.
- Mateo, Alex (22 February 2022). "Hayao Miyazaki's Shuna's Journey manga gets English release in U.S." Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- Osmond, Andrew (6 May 2021). "Alex Dudok de Wit, author of BFI Classics: Graves of the Fireflies". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 26 February 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
- Silverman, Rebecca (6 May 2021). "Review: Grave of the Fireflies". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
- Ue, Tom (December 2022). "From fireflies to lit windows and from lit windows to fireflies: Alex Dudok de Wit on Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies". Book 2.0. 12 (2): 199–206. doi:10.1386/btwo_00072_7. ISSN 2042-8022.