Miyazaki’s Animation and their universal appeal

Miyazaki’s Animation and their universal appeal


Introduction



We’re going to present Miyazaki’s animation movies and their universal appeals. Miyazaki’s movies is widely appreciated and warmly discussed among people. And people for all ages are his loyal fans. But why do they have such universal appeals? We think that each of his animation movies gives an incredible depth that touches our heart. And this insightful detail also focuses on one major issue throughout the entire plot which is full of educational significance. We’ve concluded three main issues concerning environmentalism, feminism, and relationship (including family and love relationships.) And we also think that the lyrics appeared in the movies are worth discussing. There are several good and impressive songs played in the movie, and yet we hardly get the chance to know what they truly mean. Therefore, our presentation today will cover the analyses of the three issues, and at last we will analyze the lyrics that are meaningful for you to know. Let’s start with the environmentalism issue.



Environmentalism issue

Among Miyazaki’s movies, the environmental protection issue is best illustrated in the two movies— Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Princess Mononoke. In Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, the world is in a civilized society which is overly developed, and the ecology and the balance of nature have been badly destroyed by the civilization that numerous creatures become extinct. So there creates the Sea of Decay, a forest which will spread toxic fume. The toxic fume is spread everywhere except the Valley of Wind which is shielded by the sea wind. I think Miyazaki produced this movie so as to arouse the awareness of preserving our planet. With civilization progresses, human beings gain the access for better life and living condition. But every inch of the improvement is at the cost of natural environment. And we human being tends to disregard what the nature cares about but do whatever we want. The world in the movie is like the world we live. Development of industrialization causes green-house gases which will cause climate change. But at the moment that we enjoy the better living condition, the nature is suffering from the consequences human made at the same time. We witness the natural revenge that the average temperature is much more higher than before, the sea level rises year by year which will eventually bring us having no place to live. Similarly, the world in the movie is also overly developed that the unusual phenomenon generates, the Sea of Decay which will spread the toxic fume to disorder the living condition and force people having no place to live. It is the human’s misbehavior that leads to the consequences. And Miyazaki personifies what the nature feels to tell us to stop harming the nature that he uses the rage of insects to show us the nature won’t take whatever we’ve done to them. They will rage and revenge to us. Like the movie goes, the giant insect’s eyes turn from blue to red when angry and rush into our territory to destroy us. Those facts show that it is human’s greed that they wants power much more than peace. In the movie, people fight for getting the God Warrior, the artificial beings that have nuclear-like power, to burn the Sea of Decay that they won’t have to suffer from the toxic fume. But those ignorant people fail to know that it is the Sea of Decay that helps them to purify their living condition. Deep at the bottom of the Sea of Decay is a non-toxic world that we know the forest led out the toxic fume to purify the polluted soil and produce clean water and sand. But people only see the bad condition it brings.

The other movie Princess Mononoke is also talking about the environmental issue. The world in Princess Mononoke is also the one that have civilized industrialization. They produce iron and guns by continually clearing the nearby forests, which leads to the deforestation. Again, the human’s selfishness to dominate the power, achieve the goal and fulfill their desire causes the problem. People in the movie continue to destroy the forest in order to mine more iron and they also tried to destroy the Forest Spirit, the god of life and death, who control the forest. And the head of the Forest Spirit is believed to grant immortality that people strives to get it. But different from the Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Miyazaki uses the revenge of animal to serve as another example that nature will take revenge to us. In the movie, Miyazaki personifies again the rage of the nature for example, the gorilla said “human takes everything they’ve grow, and it would be impossible that the forest go back to what it used to be. He made them said that they want to eat the human to win the power so as to fight with them, which presents the rage of the animal, and the boar also said that they want to kill human to protect forest. And at the end of the movie when the head of the Forest Spirits was returned, everything went back in order as if the Forest Spirit symbolizes the mother earth who rules over the planet that once she's destroyed, everything went wrong.

All in all, the relationship between human and nature is like that on a balance. If one end goes higher, the other is certain to go lower. But the rule is that it should be kept balance. By this two movie, Miyazaki brings the reality and consequences that if we do not preserve the earth, it is sure to revenge on us and he wants to arouse the public attention to care more about the nature—to love it and respect it instead of only taking what we want. After all, we are one member of the nature and we will certainly fall the victim to suffer if the nature itself show the revenge. We cannot live without the balance of nature; we have to co-exist with it instead of gaining the upper hand and take advantage of it.



Feminism issue

Relationship---Family

Ponyo on the Cliff By The Sea (崖上的波妞)



Like every other film of Shun Miyazaki, whose films are always contain with more than one theme, the movie Ponyo on the Cliff by the sea also has more than just one simple theme. In this movie, it discusses relations including love, friendship, and also the parents’ love. The love of the parents, however, is the main focus and the core shaft of this movie. This movie was originated from the incident happened to Gorō Miyazaki, the son of Miyazaki, during their vacation in Seto Naikai (瀨戶內海) when he was five. Actually, being a workaholic, Shun Miyazaki never pays much attention to his family, especially his relationship with his older son, Gorō Miyazaki. Gorō once said to the press that, to him, his father is a 100% excellent animation director, but he is a zero scored father. In addition, because Miyazaki did not appreciate the movie—Tales from Earthsea—which was produced and directed by Gorō, and this negative comment and disapproval had worsened their relationship. They went on a” cold war” which they rarely talk to each other for many years. So, it is strongly suggested that the father in this film who always travel by the sea and whom seldom take care of his family is the embodiment of Miyazaki himself. This movie is actually the work of his self- introspection, the introspection of being a disappointing father. Therefore, today I would like to focus on the parents—children relationship.

In this movie, Ponyo fell in love with Sōsuke madly from the second she saw him. She kept saying “I love Sōsuke the most” in the film and wanted to become his spouse forever no matter what it took. In order to stay with Sōsuke, Ponyo had tried every possible means to be a human even if she had to give up her position as the princess of her kind (the mermaids) and left her entire family. I think Miyazaki is truly a marvelous artist who not only can draw thousands of beautiful, vivid, and warm animation but also provides many deep thoughts from his story lines. Take this movie as an example; he uses love as cutting point to further discuss the parents-children relationship, which reflects the real situation happened in modern society. Nowadays, there are more and more people, especially young adults, are so impetuous and crazy when it comes to love and willing to do anything to gain their lover’s heart or to stick with their lover, thinking that only by process him / her, their life is complete. However, from parents’ viewpoint, it is a very different story. Before parents have the fully understanding of the person who their children’s love, it is almost impossible for the parents to like that person since there are too many players or deceivers in the world. So, it is understandable why Ponyo’s father was so angry at the beginning when he found out Ponyo was in love, let alone they are not even from the same species, Ponyo is a fish, but Sōsuke is a human being. That’s also why Ponyo’s father choose to cage her when he knew that Ponyo was about to leave the family and entering the human world, the world of unknown. And it is common that sometimes we like to make presumption for others, and usually start with the bad ones. As a result, Ponyo’s father made the conclusion saying it is too dangerous and unrealistic for her to be with Sōsuke, so he brought Ponyo back to the sea and kept her in the fish jar. But, Ponyo had made up her mind to be a human and stayed with Sōsuke forever, so she figured a way to escape. I have to admit that I do not agree all the things her father had done to protect her, but at least the concept of all his behaviors was originated from “love and protection”. In contrast, the reaction of Ponyo’s mother was different from that of her father’s. Although Ponyo’s mother was as worry as her father, however, the way she handle this issue was more moderated. As a woman, she had same experience like her daughter, so her attitude toward this issue was more sympathetic. She understood why her daughter will act like this, and after her talk with Sōsuke, she knew that Sōsuke accepted and liked Ponyo as the way she was and her true identity, therefore, she no longer try to interfere them; instead, she supported Ponyo with the positive attitude. I think the different attitude held by both of Ponyo’s parents is the common reaction parents in Taiwan have. All these actions and reactions are basically the same situation we will encounter in our life.



Q1: Why did this story use Ponyo’s father as the negative force? Why not her mother or somebody else? 為什麼故事要以爸爸來當反對(反叛)的角色?



Usually, when daughters get into a relationship, parents will pay much attention, especially the fathers. When a daughter wants to start a relationship, it is often the dad who will interfere and be very picky with the guy whom her daughter is dating with, and, oftentimes, he will become overprotective. From a man’s perspective, a father might be overprotective because he understands men’s behaviors too well, including what they think and how they act. Men usually are more powerful, demanding and resolute, and they don’t like to leave any room for negotiation, so the way for them to show their care is by some drastic measures; whereas women who are more flexible and tender are more likely to use other moderate methods. Therefore, one reason why Miyazaki used the father as the negative force is because he wanted to reflect the reality that dad is always the one who play the role of Antagonist when it comes to daughters’ happiness. Another reason for using the father as the one who opposed Ponyo’s wish is because Miyazaki likes to emphasize the feminism in his work. Almost all his works use female as the leading role instead of the male like what my member had just mention. So, it is very reasonable to let the male be the one who do many crazy things just for blocking the love between Ponyo and Sōsuke.





Trailer with Chinese subtitle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP9HWmvJoJI



The official trailer (English version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfjww2cA2FE&feature=fvw



Relationship---Love

Love –Howl’s moving castle/ Whisper Heart



Howl’s moving castle—a journey to self discovery and self-facing

The love between Howl and Sophie is dramatic but strong. In the story Sophie was been cursed and turned out to be a 90 year-old lady. Both have built a wall around themselves; Sophie chose to conceal from her true self and Howl chose to hide his fright and coward. However, their love helped Sophie to follow her heart and live out herself, and helped Howl to overcome his fear and to comprehend love, affection and protection.



Here are the major scenes where we can detect Sophie’s love for Howl



When Howl asked Sophie to represent in front of Mrs. Saruman as her mom, she defended for him. As a result she became younger once again, a proof that she unknowingly spoke for love from the bottom of her heart.

The other time for her to be younger was in her dream; she woke up and went to the tunnel where Howl was hiding. Seeing him as a monster she still accepted him as he is and said “But, I love you!” But when she woke up she returned to be the old lady, because in contrast she didn’t show her love towards Howl in the reality.

When she traveled back in time, she witnessed the contract between Calcifer and Howl. This was the timing when she realized Howl needed her and faced her true self.



I think this switch from an old lady to a young lady is the reflection of our own heart. Although this sudden change of appearance won’t happen in our real life, it is still a reminder to us: when you try to live out yourself is the time you are the real you.



So here love led her to face herself, helped Howl and broke both of their curses.

The love led them out of the obscurity.



Whisper Heart—a journey of getting mature and pursuing dream



Love in Whisper Heart is much simpler and more common. It’s the story of two high school students who have their own dream unlike other classmates. The girl wanted to be a writer and Seiji a violin-maker. Seeing Seiji driving closer and closer to his dream, Shizuku started to panic. It must happen to someone when you feel inferior compare to your girlfriend or boyfriend and start to be stressful and eventually end up thinking you’re a burden. But by some encouragement and self-awakening, she woke up from her messy and negative world. Therefore this love turned from burden to a motive power in writing.



Here are some scenes that promote simple but touching puppy love:



Before they met, Seiji knew that Shizuku loves to read, so in order to impress her, he managed to read ahead the genres of book Shizuku might read.

When she watched Seiji making a violin and described about it. Every girl must feel amazed and admire this boy who was seriously doing something with so much passion.



The next one is what happened in every high school, when a boy came to your classroom and ask for you to come out and have a talk. When they are out, their classmates will definitely talk about it and even follow the couple like these scenes.



The next love and touching scene is when Seiji came back after two month and picked Shizuku for a ride. When they were climbing a steep road, Shizuku got off from the bicycle to help Seiji to push the bicycle. We may encounter different pressure in our life; however, Shizuku found out other way to keep being positive.

They watched the sun rise together and Seiji surprisingly propose to her! Actually the audience might expect Seiji to say something like I love you, but rather said: “Will you marry me?” This scene might sound conflict because they are just high school student, but along with the plot, it drew people back to their school life when life was simple just filled with dream and love.



Lyrics---Theme songs