When it comes to making otherwise mundane things fun to watch, Japan seems to have a key ingredient in mind: melodrama.
From using overly dramatic reenactments and cheesy background music to dressing special mannequins, Japanese TV thrives on taking the sensationalist dial and cranking it up to eleven.
That's especially true when it comes to the coverage of the general election happening right now. Two of the top networks, TBS News and Fuji TV, have chosen to portray voting day as more akin to doomsday. Using pictures of the country and Diet building on fire and ripping off music from Terminator 2 to help viewers realize just how important selecting the next set of leaders will be.
Above is the Fuji TV intro, which actually uses the term "Judgment Day," and cribbing what looks like footage from the trailer to Terminator Salvation. Below the jump is the intro from the TBS evening news, which reminds me more of a commercial for a Pay-Per-View boxing match than coverage for an election.
In contrast, it seems American news networks are more partial to the frivolous use of high technology.
live comments!
Can I repeat that? OMG. I'm going to have to show that to my professors. *is a journalism student* You have no idea how often we've debated the over-use of flying graphics and incomprehensible tickers on major news networks in our classes. But this just blows everything out of the water. Seriously, that pic of Japan in the TBS intro looks like a blood splatter! Plus, the headshot of Taro Aso makes him look like a demon with that red filter and uncomfortable crop. I could never imagine something this blatantly sensationalized going out over the air in the U.S.
(Also...why did they sneak in a picture of Koizumi at 0:10? He's not even running.)