Big Joel - 2017-08-11
In this video, I look at one of my favorite directors, Hayao Miyazaki. I start with Spirited Away and move through a good number of his movies. I pay careful attention to the way he engages with the feeling of ambivalence. This is an analysis of the moments that created these anime masterpieces. Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bigjoel Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/biggestjoel
I remember watching Spirited Away as a kid, maybe age 7 and never seeing it again until I was an adult. I thought the entire movie was a dream because I could remember only parts and when ever I tried to talk to people about it they didnt know what I was talking about because I didnt have enough information. Then I saw Howl's Moving Castle when I was around 20 and it unlocked all my memories. I recognized the style immediately and found Spirited Away. It was an amazing feeling to watch it again years later
Edit: its so surprising that so many people have experience the same thing as me! Thank you everyone for sharing your stories 😊 they're fun to read!
It has happened to me too . Still can't find the movie i saw as a kid . It had an autumn vibe . There were two kids ( brother and sister) . there step mother was about to give birth . i think wanted to give birth in a hospital but there were also some spirits ( i have forgotten if they were bad or good ) but the kids wanted her to give birth in their home . that was it i liked the autumn feeling . would love to watch it again . i remember i watched it around the same time i watched harry potter and the chamber of secret . so the dark gloomy autumn vibes ...
@Blessed Evelyn anythingnew to the story?
Same when i watched howls moving castle as a kid in tv i didn’t really understand it it was fun and in some scenes kinda frustrating as well and because of that i remembered it as not as great movie then i don’t remember how i got to watch it again but i did because i realized that is the movie with the fire lol and then i understood it and found out that there is a studio called studio ghibli and watched most of their movies and found out i knew the cat returns from an add i saw as a kid hah
same for me but with ponyo! such a brilliant quality of miyazaki's films
That is such a beautiful memory and perhaps the best way to remember a film like this
I have just realised... the one way ride represents how life is a journey that goes as one path- a journey into the unknown. And for the shadowy figures that Chihiro comes across in the film, could symbolise the people whom we pass and see but will most likely never know. Just like in a train ride we see strangers and we are connected through the train itself but there are boundaries in that we dont know who they are as people, only their destination when they get off.
the boiler man said it used to go both ways, so maybe, the dead used to communicate with the living, but now they can't
You smartass
I’ve heard the shadow figures are the deceased, more from life to the afterlife. The reason the Boiler Man says “In the olden days, the train went both ways, but now it’s a one way ride” is because in the olden days of Japan, people would communicate with the dead and have rituals and festivals for them, but now because the rest of the world doesn’t do that, the majority of people don’t make an effort to communicate with them, which means the dead can only go to the afterlife, they can’t come back. This would make sense with Hayao’s worldview, as he’s generally critical of Western influence on Japanese culture.
@ella that's brilliant
@Sam Murphy I thought of the same poem too!
Ambivalence =
the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone
@i .candy youre welcome
Winston Smith died for this in 1984,
People died for this in Hong Kong
Do we need more violence?
The answer is obvious here, Chinese philosophy have withstood the waves of the past, I don’t understand them all right now, but I finally found the reason to learn it.
so when a girl said I love you to me, Boy I was frightened, thus I ran, ran ran away, leaving no body behind.
May the force be with everybody in the comment section, always
Kosta Jovanovic people aren’t expected to know every word and consider those that aren’t native English speakers, it’s a good comment 👌
@Kosta Jovanovic Pretty sure 99% of people didn't know that, including myself
@Kosta Jovanovic yes I didn´t knew that. Sorry for not beigng born in an english speaking country... -i still understood everything, context was enough.
I’m a Japanese, I come to YouTube to interact with foreigners, and they give me all sorts or racist comments.(e.g, I thought you ate dogs(which is not true)).
But by the way we are all deeply moved by this pure two minutes of no dialogue, I can tell that we are all of one kind.
I know that people here are more appreciative of Japan, but I hope there will be more kindness in the world anywhere I go.
To those who have read this comment, thanks for bearing with my poor English, I wish you all a good day:)
That’s some perfect English, and you make good points
There were some small improvements you could make on your English, but by far it's better than many of my fellow Americans' typing.
It's pretty ridiculous how frequently we as a culture look at someone's culture of origin and try to assume what kind of person they are. After all, there are all sorts of people just in my state of Georgia.
I hope you find more open minded people on your path, and many invigorating interactions with foreigners.
Your English is just fine my friend, and I'm sorry you had to deal with those racist comments
Your english is perfect and I am so sorry people are racist towards you. American here, and I think your culture is amazing and beautiful. I cannot wait to visit next year!
Heart touching...love from India.
In Howl's moving castle, I questioned Howl being a coward, cause there is a scene where he is afraid to be summoned to Lady Sulivan so he can basically be drafted to war. The wizards who change into beasts are also a message of how war changes people, and they never return to the original forms again, because war does scar and leave people different than when they first started out, and Howl had seen the effects. When Calcifer is noting that Howl is changing too and getting involved too much, it means he is letting the war affect him in similar ways and changing him whether he is actively picking sides and being fully involved or not. In the english dub there is one solid moment when the bombs are dropping on the houses near where Sofie is that Howl says he isn't running away and has something to fight for, which is Sofie and the family they created. He isn't scared anymore of picking sides because originally he was a coward and saw the war as pointless, but when the war shifted to also involve his family, he decided to mustard courage to pick a side not because of his selfish views or for country/loyalty to Lady Sulivan and King, but for protecting his family even if the war would change him. It is very easy to miss the growth of his character because we focus on Sofie and her being freed from her curse, but the true story is how Sofie grows and reminds/gives back Howl's meaning to humanity and what matters most in life, the bonds we create and what we will do to keep those loved ones safe.
Who else didnt read this
*muster
You have to read the Books about Howl and his moving Castle
Whimmery every day I need to remember to mustard courage
Wow. Very eliquitly put.
1:56 "She doesn't even blink" like immediately after, Chihiro legit blinked. I'm sure that was intentional XD
Malcrow Alogoran I legit, purposely scrolled through the comment section just to see if anyone would catch that🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hah! Caught that as well!! Love that movie......
@Jaylen Wilbourn Me too! :D
i was searchung for this comment lol
Lin, the master of eye contact
With an East Asian background we have a pretty similar interpretation of spiritual stuff. So the way I understand the train scene in Spirited Away was just that Chihiro is stuck between the spiritual realms with all the spirits and gods and those black figures are the actual people in the physical realm. Spiritual realms and Physical realms co-exist but they can't touch each other. Since she's a girl that travels to the spirit realm, she still has this connection to her physical world so she could see them. Those black figures are just normal people and the neon lights outside the train are actual places in the physical world
I think the train ride represents her growing up. The feeling you get during the scene may be similar to the uncertain feeling of adult hood that a child has while on the path to adult hood. The only one who sits by chihiro is no face who is pretty much the embodiment of childhood and by choosing to ignore no face for most of the movie shows chihiro is slowly maturing. The whole "one way ticket" thing represents how you cannot go back to being an immature child once you take the first step to adulthood and chihiro chooses to accept this task even though she is uncertain about it. It's the whole "everyone has to grow up sometime" vibe.
@Angelina Camacho if we consider how childish and whimsical Chihiro is at the beginning of the movie, this makes even more sense
EpicLinh I agree with you
i love this interpretation. it makes me wonder if that figure of a little girl at the train station somehow saw chihiro
Vietnam is Southeast Asia, Linh.
You may find that the audience for these types of videos does not think 8+ minute videos are too long and that, instead, many people here would want your videos and analyses/observations to go on, as long as they retain this high level of quality.
Sean big Joel it's true. I watch long form, 30 - 40 min film essays YouTube all the time. As long as you maintain this level of quality of argument I am happy to give you views
I liked the video, and I also liked the thoughtful comments that contradicted, critiqued, or built upon the video. Everything is nice here.
I think Miyazaki makes everything calm and collected. It's a really unique aura, kind of too rare, that I think is a good attitude to introduce and teach to children.
I have a really hard time agreeing with you on this video. You’re point about the films being ambivalent is solid and well supported, but you try to say that the characters aren’t as important as the setting, which is pretty inaccurate. When you say that chihiro is passive and malleable, that doesn’t make sense, because she starts the movie as a nervous girl who just wants to go home, but she ends the film with all this new resourcefulness from solving problems with the river spirit and haku. Not to mention that the only reason no face is in the bathhouse is because of her, she has a central role in the plot and the changing of the setting. In princess mononoke, ashitaka is really angry at first that irontown is tearing down the forest, but by the end, he understands that the people of irontown are just trying to get by and have lives of their own. He also plays a vital role in the plot, which wouldn’t have been possible without him. A passive character is someone who lets things happen to them and is pulled through the plot rather than pushing through the plot. None of miyazakis characters are passive, all of them are strong and active, which is why his characters are so fleshed out
@Ged Maybury omg i just read that and I thought the same! their discussion and arguments are perfectly wise chosen 😭😭
I think that as Western people, we often confuse introversion with the absence of ideas and malleability, while western heroes are very talkative and explain themselves all the time - the same goes for the plot
@Big Joel Maybe Hayao Miyazaki isn’t the kind of writer who gives his characters explicit opinions.
@Ged Maybury Mind if I ask you how I could get started with my own goal of writing a story? There's a lot I don't know about writing and it's making be nervous whenever I try to think about a story I want to tell.
@Ace Master Thx for the question. It's one that daunts me - as - to providing a useful reply, that is!
From my own experience, I recommend Working With What You've Got. Example - I wanted to do animation, and I waited years in the hopes of buying some whiz-bang software and/or meeting someone who'd tutor me through it. Then came the day I turned to Gif-making. I was already adept at using Paintshop Pro (1998 edition! & I still use it!!) so I started with the simplest of ideas: morphing one thing into another. Over and over again - and I could instantly see my results - and could instantly set about learning/improving - and now I've some about 40 of them. SATISFYING!
So start with the tiniest of goals. At minimum - you need a pen and a pad. Get something going. Then test it/fix it. Run it again. (It's engineering!) Or start at a different place. Or write the big scene in the middle that you can't stop visualizing - because that's where the HEAT is! Or write the final page! The big ending! Hell, what matters is getting the words to flow.
Now here comes the pro-tip: Start with action. Start with dialogue. No back-story. no explaino, Don't describe! Just: Action, Dialogue! it's a stage-play so get you characters creating a scene that causes your reader to go: "WTF?! Who are they? How did they get in into this shit? More importantly - how are they going to get OUT of it?! That big question-mark will have them hooked, and you're not going to let them off easily. Make them work. Trickle-feed the clues.
Pro-tip 2# Dialogue is a sub-set of Action. What bounces between your characters bilds character, build relationship, and *advances the story too*.
Now Here's you first exercise: Write an entire short story using nothing but dialogue. GO!
Your last comment about Chihiro, referring to her as a little girl just along for the ride...made me realize this may also be a strength of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alice, like Chihiro, may have occasional strong reactions to things, but like Chihiro, she isn't judgmental of her environment or the inhabitants therein. Maybe not passive per say, depending on how one uses the term, but they're both certainly accommodating. They're chameleons of empathy, conforming immediately to the emotions and issues at hand. Some protagonists carry the story. Alice and Chihiro carry the world itself.
Well, for sure, there is some similarities. I don't know if it's based on Alice's Adventures in the Wonderland, but I think it's possible cause in My Neighbor Totoro there is a direct reference to it, when the children follow the rabbit through the bushes.
yes, Spirited Away was insoired by Through the Lokking Glass
extremely well put
I know this is a year old comment, but here's my thoughts about it. Part of the reason Chihiro (and Alice) is not as reactive to their weird surroundings is that they are children, their mind naturally has colorful imaginations and weirdness into it, and so they don't take much logic into understanding their surroundings
@Christine Tyler well its a post from 2 years ago but still... i dont think its a dream,
the purple elastic band that Zeniba gave to Chihiro is still on her... so thats not a dream, she have memories from Hako from the river she fell when she was little too
I'm not sure I agree entirely, particularly with the analysis of the train scene -- that it's an experience for the audience, certainly, but I feel it does give a glimpse into Chihiro's changes in contrast to her behaviour in earlier scenes. She has grown more mature, calmer, and she shows a sort of gently fierce determination to go through with her mission. Great video and analysis, I just think it's a smidge more complex than simply ambivalent.
Those 3 following her are a trophy that acknowledges her strength in overcoming adversities. Boarding the train alongside them is a sign that shows she had grown mature and fearless for the next stop. Nothing can hurt her anymore.
Pretty interesting read on Miyazaki's works as films that aim to provide the audience with feelings of ambivalence towards many things that happen and people within them. Keep it up.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
This video helped me realize that maybe western movies are more orientated to the audience by delivering the story of a singular character, which is why it is so important to give them thoughts and morals. This helps deliver a personal message to the audience because they can connect to this character. Which is not bad. Whereas Miyazaki's films, seem to to more oriented in delivering the story of a concept, an idea. This is why it has to be so ambivalent in order for us to not focus on one character but rather the entirety of the movie. It goes deeper than helping us get a feel of what's right or wrong, but because it's so vague. it helps us search for the answer to questions that arises throughout the experience of watching a Studio Ghibli movie.
Maybe, idk lol
I wouldn't say Miyazaki's movies are ambivalent, on the contrary, he has a very strong point of view about the world, about what matters and what actions are considered bad or good. Maybe if you contrast them with western animated movies (specially american movies) you could say that they are more explicit with wich character is evil and wich one is the hero, because evil is portrayed with a certain aesthetic that makes you dislike them, but that doesn't mean Miyazaki's characters are ambiguos. Miyazaki writes characters that act more human, that have little gestures, he focuses on details, in moments of thoughts, on them falling apart and crying but staying strong anyway. He portrays magic and fantasy in worlds of gods of nature, portraying how greedy hearts can destroy lives while honest ones, loving ones can heal the wounds of gods, can bring the forest back to life, can brake spells, can safe people who don't believe can be safe. In princess mononoke, the antagonist is shown to be a caring person, but stills get to be shade by her greedy way of looking at the world. She literally kills the forest when she tries to own a god and ends up ruining everything. In spirited away, yubaba could be loving and have a simple life like her sister, but instead, she choses to slave people, steal their names and have a lot of gold and luxury, ruining people's lives and hiding her baby from a world she choses to be scared of. At the same time he chooses to focus on protagonists that make unselfish decisions. I believe you are mistaking ambivalence with details, with storytelling that don't need to be obvious, with messages and opinions that don't need to be explicitly said outloud by a character. Your theory works only by contrasting it with western animation, but it doesn't stand by itself if we are trying to understand Miyazaki's screenwriting style.
Nediel Muñoz The missing point here, in my opinion, is that some people misunderstands what is action. Miyazaki teaches continuously how to show internal or spiritual action through images, just like, let`s say, Russian masters... From Homer to Star Trek, going through Shakespeare and Tolkien, multidimensional characters has paramount place in narrative. The problem detected in Western narrative is nothing related Christianity, it just ignorance of the real tradition of Western Civilization. It is usual amongst those who think their country is the world.
I agree that Miyazaki has a strong viewpoint, but I do think many of his movies don’t have completely horrible antagonists. The bad guy usually isn’t all that awful and their actions can be understood and offer insight into a human tendency of selfishness or greed. I especially like what you said about his protagonists being selfless. Or at least they grow to be by the end. But princess mononoke definitely has the ambiguos antagonist. Because truly it’s hard to determine that the people are bad. They’re just trying to live in a world and survive, of course the environment will take a bit of a toll. Meanwhile the environment doesn’t want the humans at all. Both sides feel extreme opinions and therefore both aren’t completely heroes. I found that movie particularly interesting for that reason.
I know you probably don't want to over-saturate yourself with one studio or director or what have you, but I've found an interesting topic for me is the difference between how Miyazaki and Takahata act as directors in films that often times tackle relatively similar subject matter.
Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke are both films that explore the conflict that arises when mankind and the forces of nature clash over their survival and benefits. Grave of the Fireflies and The Wind Rises both tackle the intricacies of war on the people that find themselves swept up in their country's conflicts. Spirited Away and The Tale of Princess Kaguya both follow the interactions of young girls as their lives are suddenly engulfed by the supernatural and decisions not their own.
The difference I've found is that while Miyazaki always leaves a strong element of ambiguity to his films to let the audience absorb and think through the themes themselves, Takahata is a bit more deliberate with his messages. He has a statement in mind when he makes his films and he wants the audience to feel a certain way by the end of it. The best example is of course Grave of the Fireflies, a film which Takahata has stated repeatedly that he created to make the youth of Japan in the 1980s reconnect and reconcile with their parents as he felt the youth had been spoiled and grown inconsiderate of the struggles that had been faced by their parents a mere one generation prior due to the post-war miracle in Japan completely turning the country around after the war.
Yeah this is definitely an interesting topic to consider.
It's definitely on the list, I just have to watch more Takahata. Besides Grave of the Fireflies, what are some good movies to start with?
As he noted, Pom Poko, as well as Gauche the Cellist and My Neighbor Yamadas.
Don't forget The Tale of Princess Kaguya, and Only Yesterday. I think those are his two most well known and well received of his films besides Grave of the Fireflies.
This thread just made me watch Grave of the Fireflies and wow I wish I hadn't. ;___;
The music also does give this feeling of ambivalence, neither sad nor happy, just here fitting the world and giving us ( at least for me :) ) an emotion so strong but that i cant explain. I think this makes a huge part of this feeling too :)
I think it's nostalgia (at least for me) and a beautiful melancholy.
Do not forget that even in throw away lines, "The Lady Eboshi goes around buying the contract of every brothel girl she can find."... "Milady had a kind heart, that's all.", show different sides of characters.
My example here, although I had no clue what a brothel was when I was younger, makes you realise she's not bad as she saves women from whore houses and gives them a nice life in her village - one where they don't even mind doing hard labour as it is shown to be far better than most places.
Great video but I think in some way you misunderstood these films. They’re painted with such a subtle touch compared to Western films.
For instance, Ashitaka does have thoughts on what he sees but instead of telling us this with dialogue or pointed “camera” movements Miyazaki uses silence, sounds and expressions. I think “see with eyes unclouded” means, “don’t prejudge”, not “don’t form an opinion”.
What you find out she means in the end is this: Ashitaka takes the journey out of self interest, he killed the demon out the self interest of his clan. So he is sent out to observe the faults of self-interest. And he learns that both side have a righteous claim to the land, but they are both “wrong” because they are thinking only of their welfare.
Ashitaka killed the demon, but maybe if he had acted in compassion he could have solved the conflict without killing and being cursed. After all the Deer God was able to prevent the old boar from turning into a demon later, because as we see when it is “killed” it never acts in self interest. Selflessness leads to life and healing, selfishness to mutually assured destruction.
So the film ends with Ashitaka and San risking their lives to give the Deer God it’s head, Ashitaka own selfish quest long forgotten. The Deer God is presumably destroyed but because both sides are learning to put aside their causes the land is able to start recovering and the curse is lifted from Ashitaka.
@toriloveSubarukun This! So much This!! I agree with every word.
Basically, I don't think that Ghibli films (or in generals, stories like these) don't have a position, or they don't a specific premise they elaborate on. They do have. SImply, it's not clear and explicit like in many others.
Spirited Away feels so real that it's scarier than most horror movies(possibly all I've seen)
Anything from Studio Ghibly is art.
Ghibli*
I feel like this is what made chihiro such a special character to me as a child, and more importantly the movie. Because I didn’t see her reaction to anything, I felt as if I took on that role for her and was even more involved in the story. Like it was me experiencing that world
It's impossible to commend Miyazaki since he absolutely dosn't care about how North America views animation. I'm pretty sure he has no idea how it's feels to live in a culture where animation is treated like a genre.
She's growing up; becoming more courageous. It's part of the movie's theme, facing things head on.
is ambivalence the right word for that feeling? Good points though.. Miyazaki is a master, focuses on the story holistically instead of on the character's individual reactions. Also really good points about how he "gets rid of the middle man". As a storyteller myself this helps me to know.
What does he even mean by getting rid of the middle man? Ashitaka IS the middle man for both sides of the humans and beasts.
I learned so much from this video. I watched Spirited Away just the other day and I love the feelings it evokes in me. I want to learn to make movies like this.
I've been trying to put what that thing is about Miyazaki films that I love so much into words for forever and you've finally helped me see and understand what it is. I've always described it as a 'quiet'. He allows the audience to breathe and think in these dialogue-less moments that set the tone for his films. And it's something western films and TV are lacking. Like they don't trust the audience's intelligence so they have to fill all spaces with action or dialog. Thanks for your video.
I still can't get over the animation of Chihiro's reflection in the glass window. The art is so incredible
That was a very insightful video. What you just stated is one of many factors that make Hayao Miyazaki stand out. Other factors include slow scenes to sink in emotions and thoughts, many universal themes and artistry. Thanks for teaching me about Ambivalence.
You made me love Spirited Away even more, and it's one of my favorite movies.
"the staff there are fun and cheery, but they're obsessed with gold and it sort of feels like they're tied involuntarily to this place"... That's just working in hospitality 😅
I used to think about the train ride scene when I rode the train to work early in the morning. Thanks for making this.
Your video made me cry. That's exactly the thing I was trying to pinpoint in what I love in Miyazaki works. Thank you !
Aww wow, thanks so much for watching and enjoying!
disney touches the heart, ghibli touches the soul ❥
Miyazaki films are stunning! They’re better than Disney and Pixar (though both are very good studios) in my opinion
I agree with you here. I love Disney and Pixar, but Miyazaki films just feel more beautiful and more substantial.
@Big Joel maybe pixar and disney could at least one day try this miazaki formula as a test ,what do you think ?
I like this perspective! I know that some surface-level similarities have been drawn between Spirited Away and the 2014 American miniseries Over the Garden Wall, but I feel like this topic gets at the heart of some of the same feelings that make OTGW feel unique and strange and enchanting.
Pixar's character-driven storytelling rule that you quote is a good one for their kind of films like you say, but I wonder if Miyazaki maybe didn't choose to focus on characters in order to shift focus towards environment. Like, there's a give-and-take, and sometimes an extraordinary environment could clash with a willful character in terms what takes the lion's share of the audience's sympathies and attention. IDK. Love your videos as always--I know this one's older but it's my first time watching it oh well.
What a wonderful video! I love miyazaki's films, and looking at them through this new lense allows for a more reflective and thoughtful experience. Definitely gonna keep this in mind when watching his new film :)
I would not describe the relationship between Ashitaka and the conflicted factions as "just watch". I think anybody who does is missing something.
When Ashitaka stops the fight between San and Eboshi, he declares them both to be sick (with hate). You'll notice, every time he feels hatred, a human emotion that he cannot escape, he wants to enact violence, and his curse acts accordingly. The outcome is almost always violent death. Miyazaki did include a scene wherein he harnesses his conviction though, when bending back Eboshi's grunts sword to break up the fight I just mentioned.
When Ashitaka meets Eboshi for the first time. He is tempted to draw is sword. He wants to see with eyes unclouded, but understands well that he wants to kill Eboshi. When he mentions that it would not stay his hand or cure him, it is an acknowledgement of his hatred for her, but also an acknowledgement that hatred, revenge, and violence, will never bring peace.
Eboshi is destroying the forest, paying no heed to the gods and world that has existed for countless years before the town came. Ashitaka comes from the forest and has a close relationship with it. He is well aware of this and the audience can be too, if they pay attention.
Contrast how clearly possessed Eboshi can seem with greed to San, whom he also declares sick. He feels for San, who is possessed with anger. Of course, there is a difference. He does not ever wish to hurt San, but he is compelled on his journey to see the world for what it is, as his elder said. Ashitaka in a way has sides of his own. Early on, it is not unreasonable to think that Ashitaka would do away with the ironworks if he could. And he would not be wrong to do so. The ironworks are not an ambivalent town, just as the forest is not ambivalent in it's feelings towards the ironworks. They are at war.
By the end of the movie. Ashitaka has experienced inner growth in huge but subtle ways. If he did not, he would still be cursed and destined to die.
Eboshi has realized how foolish she was. Her town was necessarily something that deprived others of life. As two sided as it may be, it is undeniable that Eboshi is the cause of the pain that was felt by the forest, and Eboshi who was able to end it. As an audience, how can we not sympathize with the forest, how can we not be sickened by the callousness that is given to nature, who is ultimately the giver of life. Her decision to rebuild the town as one that lives in conjunction with nature is symbolic of her own growth. Every character in this movie grows.
Anyway, that's just off the top of my head. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie and I know I do not entirely understand all that Miyazaki wants to express with it. I do however want to say that the characters are all very human. I worry that this video discredits some of the enormous efforts put into their relationships with each other.
I love these moments in anime. You just take in the ambiance and for me, the illustration and the emotion. Hayao Miyazaki is one the greatest
i have always love character driven stories, but miyazaki movies were always kind of an exception that i could never really place as to why i loved them, but i think you worded it perfectly. thanks for sharing!
The Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga, which I have been obsessing over for about a month, actually takes this ambivalence and makes it a central theme of the story in a really interesting way. Nausicaa's world, like the world of Princess Mononoke, is one full of opposing sides constantly in conflict, none of which has the moral high ground, but unlike Ashitaka, Nausicaa isn't an outsider; she's deeply, personally involved in every single conflict. In some ways, she fills the role that the audience fills in a movie like Spirited Away by actively questioning the opposing sides of each conflict, but on the other hand, that tendency to question is just treated as something Nausicaa does because that's who she is. She's on a quest to find the truth, and that involves a lot of attempting to reconcile many dissonant emotions and ideas. Critically, particularly as the story nears its end and shit really starts hitting the fan, we're never expected to agree with Nausicaa-- she's still the undisputed hero of the story and she wants to do the right thing, but she makes her decisions within the story because that's what she would decide to do given her goals at that point, not because Miyazaki wants us to think she's doing the right thing. Indeed, by that point Nausicaa the character very much wants for the whole ordeal to just be over already, makes decisions that are in accordance with that goal, and it's an open question by the end if what she ends up doing is actually the right thing.
Basically, Nausicaa is a very active character, basically everything she does is because she wants to because of her opinions about the world, but she's presented as a passive part of that world, moving in accordance with her nature just like everyone else, while a deep exploration of morality, transhumanism, and environmental ethics is set up around her for the reader to unpack as they follow her along. We're along for the ride-- here's a problem, and here's how Nausicaa decides to fix it. What do you think, reader?
What I'm saying is Nausicaa is really good and everyone should read it.
howl is very clear about his feelings towards the war and the soldiers.
This was beautiful. Thank you for taking such an in-depth look at the way Miyazaki allows the audience to experience firsthand the emotional complexities of the worlds he creates. I've always loved the understated train scene in Spirited Away and I think you've expressed its genius wonderfully.
I think I am most fascinated by your idea of "getting rid of the middle man." Indeed, in stories where the protagonist has more explicit, concrete thoughts on the world and the events that take place, their interpretation that is conveyed to the audience colors the audience's interpretation a bit, leading us to conclusions, either consciously or unconsciously, that we may not have arrived at independently. By removing that in-story judgment, we as the audience are free to examine the morality and meaning on display in a purer form, removing a slight barrier between the audience and the message.
This of course also opens up the greater possibility of multiple interpretations of the work, some of which the creator may not have intended, so if, as a creator, one intends to unambiguously convey a very specific emotion or meaning, a passive protagonist of this sort is likely not the way to go about making your work. Although, granted, there are other ways to explicitly convey meaning, so in the hands of a master (like Miyazaki) you can make a passive protagonist, while still conveying specific ideas and worldviews, while maintaining the benefit of flexibility, relative ambiguity, thematic closeness that such a protagonist provides.
All in all, this was an excellent video, and I thank you for making it!
My interpretation of the train scene is that the train somehow connects the spirit and the mundane world, but nowadays it only goes one way (spirit world to mundane), because the urban lifestyle (represented by the faceless commuters) has astranged people from spirituality.
Oh my goodness... that train scene. Spirited Away has a lot of amazing scenes, but the train scene is probably the greatest in animation I've ever seen.
I love how, in a way, it lets us have a childlike view on the world. Children interact with the world often not fully understanding why things are the way they are, and even though many things are completely new to them, they often just observe things instead of actively reacting to them. They might even have a slightly wrong interpretation of it in their minds because they don't know how everything works beyond what they see and are told - many people share certain views they obtained as a child that they held onto for years, and it's usually quite funny (e.g.: "I thought swallowing watermelon seeds would make them grow in my stomach", "I thought actors who died in movies died in real life", etc). But children don't really know how they should react to new things in the world if they don't have an adult's reaction as reference (which is why many parents are advised not to freak out when a child falls or gets slightly hurt, since children often freak out more as a reaction to the parents' worry and not their pain).
Children just observe, not fully understanding how everything works, just taking things in. And that's how we interact with these worlds that are new to us, as well.
The feeling of nostalgia is always really strong in his movies too I would love to see a video as to why that is though
Miyazaki, to me, is one of the best film makers of all time. I hope he’s remembered well in history as just that.
Amal - 2018-01-29
hayao himself has said that he never makes movies where theres is an explicit antagonist/protagonist because thats not how the world works. So he makes sure that every character has a little bit of both worlds
Romancer • Bladetech - 2019-12-14
im watching this video because im looking for closure
A W - 2020-02-22
that is the typical eastern view of the world. We don’t see this world has devided into good and evil, like most western culture does, influenced by Christianity. Eastern culture looks at the world through the relationship of cause and effect. We see any action has a positive and negative side equally. Life is about finding balance between everything, every action has it’s benefits and consequences.
Erin Dugan - 2020-03-01
There's even an exception to prove that rule! Musca from Castle in the Sky is very much a villain and a conniving one at that. He kidnaps the two main characters, multiple times in the female leads case, manipulates the army, blackmails Sheeta, steals her most prized possession, and ruthlessly murders the soldiers under his command, all so he can gain access to a super-weapon he can use to fulfill his ambition to take over the world. (Bison: OF COURSE!!! Me: Bison, get out of my comments!)
Jona Wüstkamp - 2021-02-21
That's what I was gonna say. There is just no black or white. Instead a greyscale of individuals.
Matias Edward - 2021-08-20
Instablaster