AAA - Miyazaki

And we're back! With another exciting installment of "Anime Addicts Anonymous!" Today, Hayao Miyazaki and the films of Studio Ghibli.

Japanese animation actually started with Walt Disney. He was the first person to create "moving pictures" and so any animated film must be traced back to him. I've heard several theories about Disney's influence on anime, which emerged around the same time that Bambi was released. Some people speculate that artists were trying to imitate Disney and that's why anime characters have those large eyes. Others say no, it's all symbolic and the large eyes represent innocence, which, considering there are quite a few villains with large eyes, I'm not sure I buy into that one. Either theory actually seems suspect to me. There's no denying that anime has a recognizable style. The sharp angles, weird hair colors (and styles), flashy outfits, make one automatically think "ah! that's that Pokemon crap." But, American animation, until recent years (where it's taken on a bit of a Japanese flair, think Emperor's New Groove), has always looked relatively alike too. This is probably partially because Disney held the monopoly on animation for so many years, to the extent that many people automatically assume any animated film is a Disney film. Most people aren't aware that there are several other animation studios operating out there nowadays. Dreamworks (El Dorado, Shrek), and Fox (Anastasia) have both put out big name animated movies and I'm sure there's another one or two even I'm forgetting, not to mention the countless start up operations trying to make a go of it, like Pixar did.

Anyhow, where am I going with this? Ah yes, Studio Ghibli IS Japan's Walt Disney Studios. (Disney itself is very popular in Japan as well). And Hayao Miyazaki just happens to work for them.

The first Miyazaki film I ever saw was Princess Mononoke. I was just getting into anime and I remember seeing it on video racks, and thinking "wow, that looks awesome." Apparently I pointed it out to a friend enough times that he got it for me for my birthday. We watched together and I was blown away. It was so completely different from anything I'd ever seen before.

First off, the artwork was gorgeous. This was before I'd seen Escaflowne or anything with artistic merit. All I'd seen were the dumbed down anime on Fox Kids. This was the best animation I had EVER seen. Miyazaki really does elevate these movies to the level of art, something that I don't believe Disney has ever done, as much as I love them. The film opened with low drums and strings, and almost a painting of a mountainous landscape and my jaw dropped.

This is how Online Ghilbli summarizes it. "The film follows Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Ainu tribe, who is cursed by a demonised boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure from the Forest Spirit. Along the way, he encounters San (The Princess Mononoke), a young human woman fighting to protect the forest and Lady Eboshi, the head of Tatara Ba (Iron Town). Ashitaka is forced to find a middle ground between the two ambivalent forces.

Based on Japanese folklore, "Princess Mononoke" is a riveting piece which is moving and touches upon subjects that are still relevant today - questions of war, ecology, morals and principles."

Princess Mononoke IS primarily an environmentalist film, something even my 13-or-so-year-old self couldn't fail to miss. The whole conflict between the industrialized Iron Town, where people can finally live happily and prosperously but at the cost of the neighboring forest, whose fantastical inhabitants suffer. Ashitaka is the go-between, and while there are many battles the end result isn't one of conquerer and conquered but of reconciliation. The themes Miyazaki deals with here are very complex, I never fully understand his films, I don't think he does, I don't think anyone can. Different people interpret them differently and you can always find something new to appreciate each time you watch them.

But I was baffled by the grotesqueness of the animation and indecipherable nature of its symbolism. Grotesque is used in the best possible sense, but the images were startling. Giant animal "gods," forest spirits, and all sorts of weird creatures occupy the film (including weird little bobble-head like creatures and a giant black blob, Miyazaki seems to like formless blobby creatures). The result is rather confusing to our traditional Western thinking. And yet it's so imaginative that I was spellbound.

That's one thing that Miyazaki does. He really, really creates, and the result is the unexpected, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes shocking, but always interesting. I think one of the reasons anime is so fascinating is because it's so different from what we're used to. That's not to say it's alien, just foreign.

Anyhow, Princess Mononoke quickly became one of my favorite movies. Not because of the characters, not because of the themes, not even because of the artwork, but because the journey was so engrossing. So when I heard that a Miyazaki film would be playing in select theaters in Spokane, well, I called every friend I could think of to try and go. I finally found an old highschool chum who seemed interested and so we made our way downtown to watch Spirited Away.

Miyazaki on the big screen is magic. He's an artist, his films are art, and they deserve to be seen as they were meant to be seen, in a theater. Spirited Away was a different animal entirely than Princess Mononoke. It reminded me of a Grimm's fairy tale, some liken it to Alice in Wonderland.

This time the story is in modern-day Japan. 10-year-old Chihiro is moving to a new town with her rather unsympathetic and fairly stupid parents (something I disliked about the film was its portrayal of her parents). They stop at what appears to be an abandoned theme park, the parents are hungry, they find what they think is some food for sale, they eat it and turn into pigs. From this point on Chihiro becomes trapped in the "spirit world," where she finds a job in a bath house for spirits. (Spirits are a recurring theme in Miyazaki movies, this film is particularly pantheistic, giant black blobs and enormous old ladies also show up frequently). The house is run by the sorceress Yubaba who takes control of Chihiro by giving her a new name.

The plot and the characters are absolutely bizarre. The bath house is inhabited by an old man with like eight or so arms (who runs the furnace or something like that), little cute dust mite things, a strange masked thing, a giant baby, and a hopping lamp just to name a few. But it's all rollicking good fun if you're up for it. I didn't take to it as much as I did to Princess Mononoke, mainly because I'm a sucker for epics with sword fighting, but I was glad I got to see it on the big screen and I knew I had to see more.

And so I went to the library where I found Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Each was delightful in its own way (an important note though, NEVER watch the dubs, they're generally horrible, always watch with subtitles) although Princess Mononoke still remained my favorite.

Miyazaki doesn't necessarily bother with setting up the plot too much. Things kind of start in media res and we're left to catch up and figure out what's going on, which sometimes takes multiple viewings and in a few cases, not everything is explained completely. I've found this irks me a lot less now. Life isn't cut and dry, we don't understand all of it, even from a Christian standpoint, and whether or not the indecipherable nature of some of Miyazaki's films is a reflection of this I don't know. But it doesn't make them unenjoyable. I think Roger Ebert explained it as "spectacle without meaning" or explanation or something like that. We don't care that we don't understand what's going on, because it's so entertaining.

Recently I checked out Howl's Moving Castle (which is actually an excellent book by Diana Wynne Jones, I highly recommend). It had the same attention to detail, the same sense of fun and magic. Miyazaki really is a minimalist and he will get the most out of a single movement or shot that he possibly can.

I could write pages on each of Miyazaki's films, but I don't exactly have the space or time for that now, though Howl's Moving Castle will definitely get a review. Miyazaki's films may seem unconventional, even weird or disturbing (hopping green heads?) to the typical American mindset, but there's something present in his work that American filmmakers would do well to sit up and take notice of. The greatest strength and delight in Miyazaki's films is, for me, his willingness to just steep you in the moment. Whether that moment is a train ride, or a walk through a flower garden or whatever. Miyazaki milks every emotion, every expression, every movement for all it's worth and in doing so captures real life in his two-dimensional creations in some ways better than any live action film can do. And that's kind of the point.

I'm not saying that Japanese sensibilities are any better or worse than anybody else's. And I'm not saying money is any less the bottom line there than it is here. But it sickens me to think of how many billions of dollars have been blown on meaningless popcorn fair that doesn't do anybody a speck of good and how few thoughtful, artistic films are made. Producers and studio execs rely on what's worked before, on overused cliches and reused ideas, because it's a safe bet. It's unfortunate that so few are willing to take a creative gamble and really allow cinema to fulfill its potential. After all, if you're going to spend that much money on something, you might as well make something worthwhile.

It's obvious that Miyazaki enjoys creating and that he wants to make something worthwhile. And he consistently does. Hopefully I'll find the time to tackle each of his films individually because they really are fantastic. And I hope this post made an ounce of sense because I do tend to ramble mindlessly.