Hayao Miyazaki does not like to give interviews and as a great cinema master he is permitted to avoid them. However, judging by those interviews available, it is possible to conclude that he appears to be rather pessimistic in respect to the future, in general. This is rather interesting, since his cinematic works do not have any element of pessimism. Instead, the majority of his movies provide viewers with the glimpse of hope. For instance in Spirited Away, Chihiro manages to survive the hardship without any complaints and even proposes a fantastic ability to deal with them effectively. In Howl’s Moving Castle, the girl placed in the body of the elderly female, keeps her strong disposition and after all manages to regain her previous body, since lastly she acknowledges the acceptance of herself as well as her abilities. The theme of optimism in Miyazaki’s movies can be seen as the one that is referred to a particular audience that he aspires to reach with the best of his state-of-the art films, specifically, the Japanese children. Despite that fact that he does not place much optimist on the bright aspects of the future, Hayao Miyazaki definitely is willing to inspire both children and adults with hope as well as persuade them to reach out for positive things in the world.
When dwelling on the key works of the director, it is obvious that one of the most prominent is Princess Mononoke. This film served as the beginning of the era of the Miyazaki’s fame as an outstanding director, who is loved all over the world. For that time, as the most expensive movie in Japan, Princess Mononoke proved to be the number one movie of all times, both in terms of financial profit as well as attendance. Laputa: The Castle in the Sky unfolds around a boy who saves an unconscious girl as he sees her descending from the sky, and then he starts a dangerous journey to reach the kingdom based on the floating island in the sky. My Neighbor Totoro was made solely for the interest of the child audience, as it features children entering a forest spirit and making friends with it. Although, made for the child audience and comprising exclusively their needs, this movie can be also viewed by adults, with no less greater affection. According to Miyazaki, tradition happens to be obscured in the lives of modern children because of a so-called “filmsy identity” He also argues that tradition is an essential part of every person’s identity as well as his/her ability to exist. Though, in his movies, the director can inform the new generation about the richness of the previous times. Taking into consideration that the director creates his movies basically for the audience of children, it is quite clear why the majority of the lead characters in his movies are children, before they enter the adult world. As a matter of fact, this is just the matter of recognition. In addition, an interesting aspect of his movies is that his title characters are primarily girls.
Here, it is necessary to mention that Miyazaki firmly believes that those male characters that appear in the adventure stories tend to be rather cool. Consequently there arose a need for Indiana Jones-type characters, which leads to the fact that there exist certain stereotypes, namely, for the good and bad characters. An interesting example of his standpoint is that firing a gun proves to be rather typical for a man, while when it is done by a female, this turns out to be something extraordinary. Women as title characters in movies appear to depend primarily on their feelings as well as the approaches they use to share their feelings. In terms of presentation of his lead female characters, the director describes them as cure, rather than Lolita-like ones (Gritten).
Apart from the ability and willingness of the lead characters to express their emotions, the director also wants their characters to evolve. He wants their lead heroes to be able to create as well as acquire experiences in the course, during which they completely develop in the movies. Thus, the boy from the Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka, initially attempts to lift his curse. However, afterwards, as he delves into the conflict involving the mining community and the forests, he then shifts his interest to finding solution to this conflict and nearly forgets about his primary objective. This can be also opposed to the loss of motives, which is common in the Japanese animated movies, and was identified and expressed in Miyazaki’s article of 1988. Briefly, he stated that the majority of Japanese animated movies have only a scarce amount of stereotypical motivation, including professionalism, or lust. For him, conversely, it is not enough to rely on such stereotypes to create a solid story ("Hayao Miyazaki: The Art of Repetition | The Artifice"). Without exception, his movies combine the ideas of fantasy and reality. Even though the settings in nearly all of his contemporary movies are realistic, including the ancient Japan, as in Princess Mononoke, there can be spotted a number of fantasy-based elements, for example spirits along with a number of mythical creatures. Modern critics and spectators cannot deny the fact that the director is complete master of animating a wide range of creatures, like lampposts and small forest spirits ("Hayao Miyazaki - Style").
In some cases, the transition from the real world into the fantasy is necessary, like in Spirited Away, where the audience is introduced to a precise distinction between the fantasy and reality, as in the opening sequences of the movie. This transition gives the spectators an effect of entering another reality, which is an impressive feeling to have after watching a movie. The director’s job is to make the viewer to erase this fringe between the fantasy and reality so that, after the movie the feelings would become real. The main character enters a spiritual world, primarily, thanks to the mysterious entrance, and then through a real bridge. In another situation, though, there is a different element of fantasy which is introduced into the reality. This takes place with the forest spirit, which is noticed by children in a movie My Neighbor Totoro. Despite a vast usage of mythical elements in such movies as Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, there should be no underestimation of the realistic details as well ("Big In Japan: A Guide To The Films Of Animation Master Hayao Miyazaki"). One of the most frequent sequences in the movies by Miyazaki is his fascination for flying, which is said to be connected to his parents who owed a facility that manufactured wingtips for airplanes. Another key feature of the director’s movies reveals that there is not distinction between good and evil. This can be witnessed in many characters from his well-known movies. Basically, his characters are determinably not solely good or evil, as his audience is wide-ranging, from children to adults. Here, one of the best illustrations of the point is when Lady Eboshi from the movie Princess Monoke is viewed as a leader of the community that completes mining activities and whilst doing that she acts as an opponent of other characters in the movies.
Works cited
"Big In Japan: A Guide to The Films Of Animation Master Hayao Miyazaki". Rolling Stone. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Nochimson, Martha. World on Film: An Introduction. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley- Blackwell, 2010.
Gritten, David. "Hayao Miyazaki: Drawn To Perfection". Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"Hayao Miyazaki - Style". Zeight.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"Hayao Miyazaki: The Art of Repetition | the Artifice". The-artifice.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
