How We Can Learn Hayao Miyazaki's Expression of Love
If you haven’t heard of Hayao Miyazaki’s work, then I beg of you, dig yourself out of the rock you live under and watch one of his movies. Miyazaki is a director and animator; his works, or rather masterpieces, include My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, and so many others that it would take a whole page to list all his works. He was the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, which has since created amazing animated works that are known around the world. Miyazaki himself has received countless awards for his movies in Japan and in Hollywood, including an Oscar in 2014.
Miyazaki's films, both his well-known ones and the more obscure ones, are beautiful works of art that should be watched and appreciated by all.
When Miyazaki, back in 2013, announced that he would be retiring to focus on his short films, I, along with many of his other fans, was heartbroken. However, recently he announced that we would be coming out of retirement to create one last film. According to reports from the Anime News Network and Kotaku, the news was announced on a Japanese TV special titled Hayao Miyazaki: The Man Who Is Not Done. Miyazaku revealed in the special that he had been trying to create a short 12-minute film, Kemushi no Boro or Boro the Caterpillar, and had been dissatisfied with it. He decided he wanted to make it into a full-length film, and the special shows him working on the animation. The special did not, however, reveal whether he had the “green light” from the studio heads. But, honestly, this is Hayao Miyazaki. If he wants to make a film, he’s going to get a film.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Miyazaki’s movies so perfect. His movies are mostly of dystopian worlds where magic, nature and spirits roam freely among humans. His movies are perfect depictions of what is means to be alive and of human nature, yet the movies aren’t blatant about it. I suppose the best way one can portray his films is through a quote the mastermind himself said, “The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it - I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it is rotten. This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics is hopeless.”
And it’s true, too. Hollywood and just the movie industry in general, like to create movies as an escape from life’s harsh realities. Miyazaki finds the perfect way of blending life and human nature, both the good and bad sides of it and creating a film that also offers as an escape from life’s troubles.
Another way he makes his films so perfect in terms of reflecting life is his portrayal of love between his character. In almost all his films, Miyazaki has both a boy and girl as the main characters, usually the girl being the one the story follows. Both of them find their way in the world either together, and end up loving each other in a way much deeper than TV rom coms. They love each other like brother and sister, and like best friends. Miyazaki himself described the love of his main characters: “I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.” When I first heard this quote, I actually teared up, because Miyazaki’s depiction of true love is spot-on. For if we aren’t inspiring each other to live, then what are we loving for?
Miyazaki’s films, both his well-known ones and the more obscure ones, are beautiful works of art that should be watched and appreciated by all. And because I can’t possibly find words to encompass how important and perfect these films are, I will leave you with another Miyazaki quote. “I would like to make a film to tell children ‘it's good to be alive’.”