MovieChat Forums > Hoshi no koe (2003) Discussion > Impossible vs. outdated technology...

Impossible vs. outdated technology...

posted 19 years ago by mylkoo
12 replies | jump to latest

First of all: Hoshi no koe is an absolutely amazing movie, even more when considering its production process. I find it truly moving and I do like its simple, yet imaginative story.

However, there are some things that really bothered me, mostly concerning the terran technology of 21st century mentioned and used in the movie. I mean come on, who would possibly use cellphones with monochromatic display that are being outdated even right now, when at the same time humanity obviously fights alien invaders with such technology as giant mecha bots and spaceships capable of warp jumps... It could be that author wanted to emphasize the emotional side of the story and so he chose not to use any super hi-tech gadgets that would mess with the process of writing the messages, but still, it just bugged me sooo much... Even the boy Noburu used the same old cellular throughout all the years.

My second complaint would be about the means of actual delivering the message - could it be possible to send a message from another planet, that would have to slice through two atmospheres and eight light years between them, using a regular cellphone? Hmm, maybe with the use of some superpowered radio beam transmitter, but that again doesn't fit in well with those poor cellulars from year 2047...

Finally, when the terran spaceships were leaving for Sirius, they didn't jumped in time, only in space (through this beautifully drawn warp gates). However, Mikako wrote a message to Noburu, stating that next message form her would come in eight years, as if she'd known that she wouldn't return... Because you know, if that was to be hit'n'run mission to attack the Tarsians and quickly drop back to Oort Clouds or wherever, it wouldn't definitely take so many years to do and she would be back in no time, so that her own message from Sirius would reach her much later... So what's the point in writing such message? Could it be some hidden layer in the story about knowing of one's death coming, aka certain suicide mission?

I hope you didn't get lost in my would-be scenarios. The movie is great nevertheless, I just thought somebody might have similar point of view... Gotta go, my cell's ringin' :)

[–] Adramin 19 years ago

Regarding the use of cellphones for interstellar transmission.

Given there is a sufficiently advanced transmitter hooked up to the cellular network this should not be a problem. A cellular phone does not send a message very far, only to the nearest basestation antenna near you. These basestations are then in contact with eachother. If you then have a lightspeed (or faster*) tranmitter connected to the network, this will be able to send the written message/video/sound clip on to other planets and perhaps further (although going outside the solar system could present obstacles we could not overcome with such tech).
By using lightspeed technology there would be problems with actually having a phone conversation. The ligth from the Sun uses 8min (don't remember the figure, but I think it's 8min) to reach earth. This would make a transmission at lightspeed use the same amount of time to reach the receiver, if a transmission were to be attempted at this distance (another planet in our solar system). You could try this with a friend: Say something to your friend - he waits 8 min then reply - then you wait 8 min...and so on. But given that some of the technology we are talking about does not actually function as this yet. (We do have lightspeed communication: laser, IFR light and optic cables. We just don't use them for this purpose.)

*But some sort of subspace technology would possibly be able to sort all this out. This is pure scifi speculation though.

The point is that current technology would be able to send messages in space, at least inside the solar system. And monochromatic display cellphones are just as usable for this as flashy gadgets. Especially if you have ever seen the displays used in advanced military equipment.

[–] mylkoo 19 years ago

Sure I do understand how cellphones work, I've been using them since 1997... Our country is slowly (or rather rapidly, considering that short time period) being penetrated with them, as I believe happens in your country, too (Sweden? Norway?). One can only wonder if it helps or hinders personal intercommunication...

Anyway, that high-end transmitter - reciever system could possbily work, I do agree on that, but about those cellphones... Why would the guy use some kind of GSM (or 3G, or xxxG) military equipment - do you use such hardware yourselves? In terms of functionality, no one can object to purist black&white display, but would you buy one like this? I remember those 5-pounds-each archaic cellphones you had to wear in distinctive heavy case (and maybe carry the second one as an emergency power supply) which proved you were one of those lucky individuals who were honored to enjoy the most expensive communication freedom since the paid-for pony express mail. But behold, ten years have passed and now you can hide your mobile phone into whatever tiny hole suits best and no one will notice... That's what perplexed me so much about the movie - 50 years after various Nokias, SEs, Motos, already being overpowered by any of new smartphones, have come into the global market, the boy would use something that looks outdated even right now...

Maybe I am digging too deep and too pointlessly. Hoshi No Koe is great. Plainly, I love it.

p.s. Have you seen The Cellular? Comparing these two pieces, both of them directly dealing with mobile communication technology, I think Cellular sucks so terribly it can't even be described... Yet the cell phone used in there looks much better than in Voices of Distant Star ;))

[–] margy626 19 years ago

I don't see why a black and white display makes the cell phone less advanced. To read text you really don't need more colors.

Martin

[–] dangcs 19 years ago

I guess that's the way Shinkai has chosen to present his story and the main idea of the store.

In my humble opinion the director wants to tell a story about how a relationship survived unavoidable distances of time & space - and more importantly - how impotent our "current" terran technology are when faced with the vast time of eternity. The whole layout here isn't actually that important - the galaxy voyage or the warp jump thing is only set their to give a cause for the distance of 8 light year: it can be anything else up to the director's choice.

And about the mobile phone - I can understand the perfectionism that everything should be perfect without and flaws in such a good short animation, however, whether it is a high-tech gadget with color screens, projected virtual reality and speech recognition etc, or a plance black&white screen with a dozen of keys - that does not make any difference (at least it does not make any difference in our current (or in some other coming years unless we can transmit data at a speed faster than light - hey if mass like that battlecruiser can be warped why data cant be? they're just energy of different state - okay i'll assume that that's due to they haven't got any "anchors" left on their track)) technology. So, that will not make any difference to the way the storyline is presented.

I would think that Shinkai made this short animation in order to remind us that, in such an information packed world today, though people are convenient with the technology used to communicate, that you can get in touch with friends on the other side of the globle in a glimpse, there are still impossibles. that's simply we havent faced it.

Just consider the past days, when I was quite young, my mother have to wait a month to get a letter full of love from my father, who is continents apart from her. One month, two months, another month - they've been like that for years before we can actually afford international calls - and ten years later, internet came through.

Perhaps we're just too young that we haven't experienced the hard times. If my dad can arrange time to look at this, I bet he'll be more sentimental than I..., though my love didnt survived the 11,000km distance as theirs.

Thats why technology keeps evolving. Make the possibles impossible.

Perhaps when someone from 2047 actually looks at this short animation in the future, he's get some completely different comments. :)

[–] Oneiros_endless 19 years ago

I dont know about all the other stuff, but when i watched it, i noticed that Mikako called the system of communication 'air mail', maybe this is the futures version of Snail Mail>???
just my thoughts on it.

"In the words of general Tacitus, Take history by the scrotum" --Jingo

[–] nofan 19 years ago

man, we need more cell sites and satellites on outer space so that we could communicate faster there in the future.

p.s. - Portuguese and Spanish are not the same language.

[–] cogliastro 18 years ago

Concerning

"Finally, when the terran spaceships were leaving for Sirius, they didn't jumped in time, only in space (through this beautifully drawn warp gates). However, Mikako wrote a message to Noburu, stating that next message form her would come in eight years, as if she'd known that she wouldn't return... Because you know, if that was to be hit'n'run mission to attack the Tarsians and quickly drop back to Oort Clouds or wherever, it wouldn't definitely take so many years to do and she would be back in no time, so that her own message from Sirius would reach her much later... So what's the point in writing such message? Could it be some hidden layer in the story about knowing of one's death coming, aka certain suicide mission?"

Recall the american female voice stating that there were no known routes back to earth, I think that your notion is very plausible.

As a sidenote, when the guy got her final message, he already knew that she was dead; a lot of people seem to miss this point.

[–] MrVibrating 16 years ago

I thought they kept the phones for nostalgic reasons...although that doesnt explain why they have those phones in the first place in 2046! Who cares really, the cellphone is a symbol, and even with some futuristic hologram mail thing it would be outdated sooner or later. The classic green monochrome cell phone is the original and thus recognizable for all ages.

*
I'm not dying yet. I have to kill quite a few men first.

[–] zeta1983-1 14 years ago

Some suspension of disbelief is required but I get what you mean. I feel instellar travel and warp drives will be possible eventually but very very doubtful in 30 years, we'll be lucky to get to Mars by then. But it does kinda bug me too when I see societies with super advanced technology but still not having improved on more minor things. But then again how much more advanced can you really make a cellphone? Do we really need more advances in technology to send a basic message? Except perhaps for holograms or virtual reality links I really can't think of anyway to advance basic communications that would require us to build something new and complex. How much smaller do we need cellphones anyway? Speed, efficiently, size will likely change but the cellphone is fairly basic and needs no furthur development.

[–] mike_n_ike_322 17 years ago

how can a cellphone transmit over lightyears?? its love man...'love'

[–] masuka-fan 11 years ago

I did notice the old phone the boy had, but also realize this film was made before smartphones.

As for the transmission, I just assumed by then they had a new technology that would allow communication over such distance.

In the end, it isn't really about the technology, but the bond between the two characters.

"Passion is just insanity in a cashmere sweater!"

[–] PreachCaleb 10 years ago

Well, said. Complaining about the boy's phone is like complaining about the Delorean in Back to the Future. That's not the focus of the story.

The human element and emotion is what drives the story.

Straightedge means I'm better than you.