Some Finnish Aku writer / artist. I think Kari Korhonen is the number one. (Personally, I hate his drawing style but the stories are fresh in comparison to most recent stories.)
And Don Rosa, why not? Just be brave and contact him when you know what you want to do with the project. Maybe he's coming to Finland on a marketing tour, and you could try to get some questions asked at some point of the visit. Trying costs nothing :)
Stopping and interviewing some random people on street, as described below, makes the film seem more "breathing", "living" and being close to viewer.
(null) > (null) > Some random things to ask people by: Angela R.
I am not sure whether this is the best place to post this shot, but I think there are some simple questions to be asked to everyone, famous or not, which would very straightforwardly point you to the similarities and differences of the two characters:
* Do you like Aku Ankka?
* Why do you like/not like Aku Ankka?
* Mention three or four adjectives which you find best identify Aku Ankka.
* Do you like Pirk?
* Why do you like/not like Pirk?
* Mention three or four adjectives which you find best identify Pirk.
Having this recorded for a number of people, it could be assembled together in post production so that the sentence of the one person complete the one of the other, in a very typical documentary stile, with your own voice to ask them and then comment and eventually draw conclusions if necessary.
896 days ago | 0 Thumb-ups
Aku
* Childhood hero. Like a lot of Finns I learned to read on my own just by reading Aku Ankka comics.
* Underdogs are the best characters. Besides, Aku's one of the 'deeper' characters in those comics: not only is he lone father of three stepkids, but he's also poor and in a constant unemployment problem. I don't like the fact he has so few friends, they could show another side of him. Taikaviitta (Nightwing) is a cheap and stupid character, and i can't understand why mix superhero-stuff in a comic that's about something else.
* Persistent, short-tempered, bombastic, caring.
Pirk
* 'course, probably wouldn't be on WAM if not for Pirk.
* I like how he has such an innocently one-track mind (A new dimension? Gotta conquer it!). Love how he enjoys success and wanton destruction. Like how he has such a short memory about his mistakes, and always bounces back up. I don't like how he bitches at his friends ALL the time. Doesn't have an 'off-switch' from his constant emotive 100% mode - can't tone it down for emotional subtlety and depth.
* Selfish, sexist, ambitious, short-tempered.
I am not sure whether this is the best place to post this shot, but I think there are some simple questions to be asked to everyone, famous or not, which would very straightforwardly point you to the similarities and differences of the two characters:
* Do you like Aku Ankka?
* Why do you like/not like Aku Ankka?
* Mention three or four adjectives which you find best identify Aku Ankka.
* Do you like Pirk?
* Why do you like/not like Pirk?
* Mention three or four adjectives which you find best identify Pirk.
Having this recorded for a number of people, it could be assembled together in post production so that the sentence of the one person complete the one of the other, in a very typical documentary stile, with your own voice to ask them and then comment and eventually draw conclusions if necessary.
Obviously, you cannot complete such a documentary without a little "guest appearance" of Samuli himself.
Keep it as a very last bist... after you have interviewed others and drawn your own conclusions, ask him: "So what is all this fuss about Aku Ankka and Pirk being related to each other? Is this something you planned or did it just happen along the way?"
Oh, and get him to say something in "Donald-speech", too. That would be just hilarious... ;)
Samuli Torssonen said that a lot of Pirk is indeed inspired by Aku Ankka so we have our answer. I'll be using this in the film somehow, as it's interesting to see Aku's influence on Finnish culture even outside cartoons.
(null) > Is Pirk a grown-up, human version of Aku Ankka? > Apparently he is... (Okay, I couldn't resist asking this on here as Wreckamovie has its obviously close connections to Energia and Star Wreck...)
The scene in Star Wreck ITP where Pirk gets upset with Fukov always reminds me of Aku having a tantrum, and the general character seems similar in many ways: the naive self-importance, the quick-to-anger temperament, the self-deluding stupidity, the instant desperation when in trouble etc. Pirk is a lot like Aku! :-)
Samuli Torssonen talks about taking the name Potkustart from an Aku Ankka Taskukirja, and Pirk even holds a copy of Aku Ankka in Star Wreck 4.5, so he's clearly read at least some Aku Ankka. Is it possible he built the character's personality around Aku either consciously or sub-consciously?
Would anyone from Energia be willing to comment on this for the record?
962 days ago | 0 Comments | 1 Thumb-up
I managed to discuss this topic with Samuli at the recent 2Pi shoot in Tampere, and he gave a pretty straight answer: yes, a lot of Pirk is based on Aku, he used to read a lot of Aku Ankka. And he too cited the Potkustart story as an example of how Star Wreck was influenced by his reading the comics.
So, erm... I think that's a closed task perhaps. Or does someone else have more to add?
(null) > Is Pirk a grown-up, human version of Aku Ankka? > Who isn't Aku Ankka? by: Jarmo Puskala
Almost all Finns since the 1960's have learned to read with Donald Duck, so at least subconciously he's everywhere. We've learned how capitalism works from Scrooge and generally loathe people like Hannu who seem to get everything way too easily.
In the characters of Pirk and Donald there's one big difference: While Donald is generally well-meaning while selfish he always tries to fix the mess he created until it's spiraled out of control so that he can not do so. Pirk on the other hand doesn't care.
However the biggest similarity in my mind is the dual nature of both characters. Donald is lazy and often dumb, but he is capable of doing great things and achieving great success (no matter how short lasting). Same is true for Pirk, who canbe stupid and lazy, but can still become the emperor of the Earth, or annihilate a superior alien force.
975 days ago | 0 Thumb-ups
This starts to sound like somebody could do some serious research comparing the character of Pirk and Aku. Have seen stuff written on less important stuff, so should be OK;-)
(null) > Is Pirk a grown-up, human version of Aku Ankka? > Who isn't Aku Ankka? by: Jarmo Puskala
Almost all Finns since the 1960's have learned to read with Donald Duck, so at least subconciously he's everywhere. We've learned how capitalism works from Scrooge and generally loathe people like Hannu who seem to get everything way too easily.
In the characters of Pirk and Donald there's one big difference: While Donald is generally well-meaning while selfish he always tries to fix the mess he created until it's spiraled out of control so that he can not do so. Pirk on the other hand doesn't care.
However the biggest similarity in my mind is the dual nature of both characters. Donald is lazy and often dumb, but he is capable of doing great things and achieving great success (no matter how short lasting). Same is true for Pirk, who canbe stupid and lazy, but can still become the emperor of the Earth, or annihilate a superior alien force.
975 days ago | 1 Thumb-up
Yeah, I suppose Pirk is a sort of sociopathic Aku. Aku has moments where he realises what he has done is immoral, but Pirk doesn't. Pirk is like Aku with the conscience removed. (Oh dear, that sounds like a media student's essay.)
The style is similar though. Like I said above, the scene after Pirk has missed the shot on the Excavator, or after he finds out the light balls are made of lager bottles... to me those are real Aku tantrums. ;-)
