Rojo
An Exploration of the Themes of Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki has been referred to as the preeminent animator in Japan and that is a distinction to which I readily agree. His beautiful visual style is one that adjusts slightly from film to film. He manages to use different techniques for equally stunning combination of traditional animation, CGI, and Cel Shaded. Cutting his teeth as a young animator on various projects and Manga he hit his stride on one of his first directing projects Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Even from his early works he started establishing themes that would become his trademark later on. His focus in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) was one filled with concern for the natural world which became the most over reaching and encompassing of all his themes. His environmental sensibilities have always been an overriding concern and continue to be through his modern works. The three films I will be discussing in depth in relation to their themes today are Princess Mononoke (1997),
Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) all of which exhibit his trademark environmental concerns. Strong feminine characters, unusual for the genre also appear frequently as well as pacifist ideals. Another interesting take is looking at the films from a perspective of resistance to the stifling Japanese government. Flying sequences while not a theme are a strong part of his visual style representing ultimate freedom and fluidity for his characters.
The most constant of his themes has been a interest in nature and its spirit. He distinguishes himself by avoiding making the conflict black and white instead its always portrayed in terms of gray. This is a much more realistic approach and gives the audience a more satisfying ending through the reconciliation of the parties. Princess Mononoke is a great example of both of these approaches. The conflict is between Eboshi, the leader of Iron Town against the nature spirits and forest. The real evil is not of Eboshi but the king who insists on killing the main forest spirit and capturing its head. Eboshi, while she destroyed the forests, she also sheltered former prostitutes and looks after lepers thrown out of regular society. This shade of gray is apparent as the spirits aren’t blameless either with the boars becoming belligerent and the apes aggressive in an oddly unsettling scene where they ask to eat the Ashitaka. Even Princess Monoke is unable to put away her hatred of humans aside long enough to live with Ashitaka who loves her more than life itself. The end of the movie results in the king thwarted in his quest to acquire the head. The outcome for the others is less clear. The forest is destroyed with the promise of rebirth and similarly Iron Town was destroyed and with the promise of being rebuilt. The end is optimistic as possible with further cooperation with nature not only possible but necessary for the success of both parties.
These nature spirits play a significant role in Spirited Away (2001) as well, albeit in a vastly different role. Chihiro gets trapped in the spirit world and is constantly trying to find her way between the good, bad and indifferent spirits. She eventually succeeds in her quest to leave with the help of a friendly water spirit.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) showed a love of nature through the characters of Howl and Sophie. Howl eventually shows Sophie his secret garden knowing her love of flowers. This is significant not only because of the emotional implications of him opening up but because his most prized possession is a place to reconnect with nature. Howl eventually decides to stop running away and defend what he cares about which is Sophie and her nature.
This leads us into the character of Sophie who is strong enough to challenge Howl yet sensitive enough to take care of his emotional needs. Sophie highlights another central tenant of Miyazaki filmmaking and that is one of strong female characters operating outside of their traditional societal boundaries. Sophie is a great illustration of this phenomenon as she starts as a plain hat maker but comes into her own as the story progresses. Howl is a strong, unruly character who needs structure and love in his life and she provides both. She also has an unfailing moral compass always coming to the aid of those in need including the Witch of the Waste after she cursed Sophie and refused to lift the curse. Initially though Howl helped Sophie and that started that started the long chain of events that led them back together again under vastly different circumstances.
Chihiro in Spirited Away (2001) is an equally interesting example because she starts as a scared little girl and matures far beyond her age all in the course of a couple of days. Her love of Haku and his brotherly affection allows her to conquer her fear of the unknown, save Haku, and rescue her parents. Not bad for the sniffling little girl she started as. The matriarch of the bath house is a mean capitalistic spirit and she rules with an iron fist. She is consistently cruel yet even she loves her baby and learns respect for her twin sister.
Princess Mononoke is an interesting case study because she starts as an identifiable character, the warrior princess. She was raised by wolves which leads her to hate all humans because of their destruction of the forest. Where she breaks from stereotype is when after Ashitaka professes his love she still cannot stand to live with humans and goes back into the wilderness. She truly cannot be tamed unlike what one would expect from the premise. Her arch rival Lady Eboshi is a great counter point as she is capable of great violence as well as great compassion for the former prostitutes and lepers. She also proves to be selfless taking only one guard with her when she accompanied the kings men sent to retrieve the spirits head despite knowing there was a large chance she would be assassinated. She instead left the rest to fight the oncoming onslaught. One of her primary focuses throughout the film is empowering women including giving them an enormous strength by creating cannons that they could use effectively.
Hayao’s pacifism is also evident as in Princess Mononoke that after the conclusion of the war there are no winners, only losers, similar to real life. Nothing is resolved so one of the lessons to learn is how to get along in the current situation or another war is a foregone conclusion. The war in Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) is similar in the pointlessness. Both sides employ the same tactics; the bombing of civilians, the destruction of nature and the transformation of witches and wizards into violent mindless war creatures. There is a scene when the secret garden is breached by a war blimp and Sophie asks “Is it one of ours?”. Howl replies, “Does it matter?” and proceeds to disable it. Further demonstrating the sameness and the end of the war comes easily with merely the two leaders growing tired of the cumbersome war, further marginalizing its importance. It is said that Miyazaki decided to direct Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) after being inspired by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Another facet of his pacifism is the anti-authority stance he takes in many of his films. In Princess Mononoke (1997) while Iron Town wasn’t the best neighbor they weren’t completely evil. The only completely evil organization was the national government who bulled, threatened and stole to get whatever they were after. The quest for the Spirit’s head despite its cost in human terms or the loss to nature is the primary example. Other important injustices by the King was maneuvering of the local lords to fight each other to better position himself and using the Iron Town warriors as bait for the boars resulting in high casualties, some through friendly fire.
In Spirited Away (2001) the state can easily be equated to the regime ran by the evil witch Yubaba. She is overbearing and controls all aspects of her employees’ lives similar to how some feel the Japanese government regulates the lives of its citizens. The subverting of the traditional structure rights wrongs and works out well for Chihiro and Haku, which may allow one to draw a parallel to passive resistance to the current state.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) has an evil monarchy that fights and kills for no reason. The queen takes it upon herself to trick witches and wizards into losing their powers and risk insanity by transforming into war beasts. All for a pointless war that only serves to weaken both countries. When Howl is impersonating the King he suggests that they stop using magic to hide military targets so the enemy would stop bombing civilians. The queen laughs which is an appropriate summary of how they treated their subjects and ran their country. Howl also refuses to picks sides but chooses to fight against them both to defend his home wiping all traces of nationalism or respect for central authority.
Flying sequences are a trademark of Hayao Miyazaki and he uses them to great emotional effect for the characters. Princess Mononoke (1997) doesn’t have any outright flying sequences although she does have some sequences of her jumping which could possibly be construed as such. Miyazaki believes that experiencing flight is the closest thing to experiencing complete freedom. Chihiro gets swept up by Haku after she takes a breath and breaks the spell in a beautiful sequence. He also transforms as a dragon and fights in flight. Howl takes Sophie on an epic flight in an equally spectacular scene.
The flight sequences are always breathtaking along with the rest of his films. Truly a man amoung boys Hayao has forever altered Japanese animation. His consistent themes of environmental activism, resistance to the state, pacifism and feminism were examined as they related to Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). Each brought a different perspective to the topic encoded in his movies that will not soon be forgotten.
Princess Mononoke and her 'family' of wolves
The most constant of his themes has been a interest in nature and its spirit. He distinguishes himself by avoiding making the conflict black and white instead its always portrayed in terms of gray. This is a much more realistic approach and gives the audience a more satisfying ending through the reconciliation of the parties. Princess Mononoke is a great example of both of these approaches. The conflict is between Eboshi, the leader of Iron Town against the nature spirits and forest. The real evil is not of Eboshi but the king who insists on killing the main forest spirit and capturing its head. Eboshi, while she destroyed the forests, she also sheltered former prostitutes and looks after lepers thrown out of regular society. This shade of gray is apparent as the spirits aren’t blameless either with the boars becoming belligerent and the apes aggressive in an oddly unsettling scene where they ask to eat the Ashitaka. Even Princess Monoke is unable to put away her hatred of humans aside long enough to live with Ashitaka who loves her more than life itself. The end of the movie results in the king thwarted in his quest to acquire the head. The outcome for the others is less clear. The forest is destroyed with the promise of rebirth and similarly Iron Town was destroyed and with the promise of being rebuilt. The end is optimistic as possible with further cooperation with nature not only possible but necessary for the success of both parties.
These nature spirits play a significant role in Spirited Away (2001) as well, albeit in a vastly different role. Chihiro gets trapped in the spirit world and is constantly trying to find her way between the good, bad and indifferent spirits. She eventually succeeds in her quest to leave with the help of a friendly water spirit.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) showed a love of nature through the characters of Howl and Sophie. Howl eventually shows Sophie his secret garden knowing her love of flowers. This is significant not only because of the emotional implications of him opening up but because his most prized possession is a place to reconnect with nature. Howl eventually decides to stop running away and defend what he cares about which is Sophie and her nature.
This leads us into the character of Sophie who is strong enough to challenge Howl yet sensitive enough to take care of his emotional needs. Sophie highlights another central tenant of Miyazaki filmmaking and that is one of strong female characters operating outside of their traditional societal boundaries. Sophie is a great illustration of this phenomenon as she starts as a plain hat maker but comes into her own as the story progresses. Howl is a strong, unruly character who needs structure and love in his life and she provides both. She also has an unfailing moral compass always coming to the aid of those in need including the Witch of the Waste after she cursed Sophie and refused to lift the curse. Initially though Howl helped Sophie and that started that started the long chain of events that led them back together again under vastly different circumstances.
Chihiro in Spirited Away (2001) is an equally interesting example because she starts as a scared little girl and matures far beyond her age all in the course of a couple of days. Her love of Haku and his brotherly affection allows her to conquer her fear of the unknown, save Haku, and rescue her parents. Not bad for the sniffling little girl she started as. The matriarch of the bath house is a mean capitalistic spirit and she rules with an iron fist. She is consistently cruel yet even she loves her baby and learns respect for her twin sister.
Princess Mononoke is an interesting case study because she starts as an identifiable character, the warrior princess. She was raised by wolves which leads her to hate all humans because of their destruction of the forest. Where she breaks from stereotype is when after Ashitaka professes his love she still cannot stand to live with humans and goes back into the wilderness. She truly cannot be tamed unlike what one would expect from the premise. Her arch rival Lady Eboshi is a great counter point as she is capable of great violence as well as great compassion for the former prostitutes and lepers. She also proves to be selfless taking only one guard with her when she accompanied the kings men sent to retrieve the spirits head despite knowing there was a large chance she would be assassinated. She instead left the rest to fight the oncoming onslaught. One of her primary focuses throughout the film is empowering women including giving them an enormous strength by creating cannons that they could use effectively.
Hayao’s pacifism is also evident as in Princess Mononoke that after the conclusion of the war there are no winners, only losers, similar to real life. Nothing is resolved so one of the lessons to learn is how to get along in the current situation or another war is a foregone conclusion. The war in Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) is similar in the pointlessness. Both sides employ the same tactics; the bombing of civilians, the destruction of nature and the transformation of witches and wizards into violent mindless war creatures. There is a scene when the secret garden is breached by a war blimp and Sophie asks “Is it one of ours?”. Howl replies, “Does it matter?” and proceeds to disable it. Further demonstrating the sameness and the end of the war comes easily with merely the two leaders growing tired of the cumbersome war, further marginalizing its importance. It is said that Miyazaki decided to direct Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) after being inspired by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Another facet of his pacifism is the anti-authority stance he takes in many of his films. In Princess Mononoke (1997) while Iron Town wasn’t the best neighbor they weren’t completely evil. The only completely evil organization was the national government who bulled, threatened and stole to get whatever they were after. The quest for the Spirit’s head despite its cost in human terms or the loss to nature is the primary example. Other important injustices by the King was maneuvering of the local lords to fight each other to better position himself and using the Iron Town warriors as bait for the boars resulting in high casualties, some through friendly fire.
In Spirited Away (2001) the state can easily be equated to the regime ran by the evil witch Yubaba. She is overbearing and controls all aspects of her employees’ lives similar to how some feel the Japanese government regulates the lives of its citizens. The subverting of the traditional structure rights wrongs and works out well for Chihiro and Haku, which may allow one to draw a parallel to passive resistance to the current state.
One of the famous flight sequences of Hayao Miyazaki of Howl in Howl's Moving Castle.
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) has an evil monarchy that fights and kills for no reason. The queen takes it upon herself to trick witches and wizards into losing their powers and risk insanity by transforming into war beasts. All for a pointless war that only serves to weaken both countries. When Howl is impersonating the King he suggests that they stop using magic to hide military targets so the enemy would stop bombing civilians. The queen laughs which is an appropriate summary of how they treated their subjects and ran their country. Howl also refuses to picks sides but chooses to fight against them both to defend his home wiping all traces of nationalism or respect for central authority.
Flying sequences are a trademark of Hayao Miyazaki and he uses them to great emotional effect for the characters. Princess Mononoke (1997) doesn’t have any outright flying sequences although she does have some sequences of her jumping which could possibly be construed as such. Miyazaki believes that experiencing flight is the closest thing to experiencing complete freedom. Chihiro gets swept up by Haku after she takes a breath and breaks the spell in a beautiful sequence. He also transforms as a dragon and fights in flight. Howl takes Sophie on an epic flight in an equally spectacular scene.
The flight sequences are always breathtaking along with the rest of his films. Truly a man amoung boys Hayao has forever altered Japanese animation. His consistent themes of environmental activism, resistance to the state, pacifism and feminism were examined as they related to Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). Each brought a different perspective to the topic encoded in his movies that will not soon be forgotten.
