Miyazaki's Latest work
By
BlackArachnia,
Posted on: 2010-08-08 18:21 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
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Oh sure. I knew that. But that in no way excuses the breast-milk scene. |
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Ponyo is Miyazaki's take on The Little Mermaid, but as children, mixed with his strong pro-environment beliefs.
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"OK, first of all... Shut Up." - My 13-Year-Old Daughter
29973 "The Running of the Bulls" [SFMA] - WINNER of the Mighty Big Story Arc Contest !
- The Stellar Wind Orbital Space Platform
Old thread, but I watched the Howl's movie yesterday and I really liked what they did with the witch of waste character. In the end I really felt sorry for the character. lol
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more Hollywood than western culture|
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Hasn't Tales from Earthsea been out already? For quite a while now? I have it on DvD...or is this the US release?
As for Spirited away, and in fact a lot of Miyazaki's work, I get the feeling a lot of it is wasted on Western audiences. Miyazaki Senior uses a lot of subtlety in his work, and I get the feeling Western audiences just dont, for the most part, appreciate plots that, to them, seem convuluted and strange. Stuff like Spirited Away, where there is really no actual villain. Even the witch Yubaba isn't really a villain, because she has qualities that make her more human. Sure she can be greedy and cruel...so can a lot of people. Spirited Away is more a story about growing up and becoming happy with yourself as a person, not a fight of good versus evil (by Miyazaki's own admission. He's a spectacular artist too, and I envy him) Howls Moving Castle I admit did fall apart towards the end, which was a shame. It made sense to change the plot, however, because how many Japanese people will understand the part about Wales, and British in-jokes about beer and rugby? Very very few. Heck, even you Yanks likely wouldnt get some of them  It was written by a Brit, remember.Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke were both fantastic films. Even then, they follow the theme of not really having a main Villain. There are 'Evil' factions in there, sure, but even the likes of Kushada in Nausicaa and Iboshi and Chiko the monk in Mononoke aren't really 'Villains' in the western sense of it. What I'd give to be able to apprentice under Miyazaki...and speak Japanese. That'd help |
Western culture is full of stories where there isn't really a completely bad guy
for example, the Illiad, Achilles and Hector were both considered heroes by that story, as were pretty much all of the other named characters
likewise, the "evil" giants of Norse myth were not as evil as people believe (in fact a lot of the Gods had giant mistresses or lovers)
same with Celtic myths
Robin Hood went back to banditry AFTER King Richard returned to the throne....because he was BORED...some of the stories of his death suggest he was quietly assassinated to prevent him from tarnishing his own legend
Shakespeare's plays often have conflicts between people that are not evil, often spurred by villain, but still...and, in some cases, there aren't any real bad guys
real stories all have a fairly definite complexity to them....
however, Hollywood likes to have a clear cut bad guy and good guy so that they can cut down on the complexity
it's harder to get a complex story to sell after all
look at what they did with "The Eye"
the Chinese version: vague black figures that made the main character afraid for not knowing what they are, but which were really rather comforting
the Hollywood version: vague black figures with snarling mouths and hostile atitudes to clearly mark them as "evil"
Thrythlind's Deviant Art Page
"Notice at the end, there: Arcanaville did the math and KICKED IT INTO EXISTENCE." - Ironik on the power of Arcanaville's math
I haven't seen this but it doesn't look interesting. When the trailer is boring, you've go trouble.
I'm not a Miyazaki fanboi -- to the contrary, I've only liked a few of his films. My Neighbor Totoro is my favorite, followed by Porco Rosso and Kiki's Deliver Service and... that's it. I haven't even bothered with any of the newer ones because everything people are talking about here -- the disjointed storytelling, the lack of characterization, the over-reliance on specific cultural mores to impart meaning to the goings-on -- is something that have loomed larger and larger in the work of Studio Ghibli recently, leaving me disinterested.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Porco rosso is bad-***, I saw it when I was a little kid and really liked it.
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Ditto. It's a shame really because Miyazaki does have a wonderful imagination. He just fails as a storyteller IMO.
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Originally Posted by Ironik
I haven't even bothered with any of the newer ones because everything people are talking about here -- the disjointed storytelling, the lack of characterization, the over-reliance on specific cultural mores to impart meaning to the goings-on -- is something that have loomed larger and larger in the work of Studio Ghibli recently, leaving me disinterested.
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It's Miyazaki's son.
Huh. I thought this thread was going to be about [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3_NUCLwDwk"]The Borrowers[\url]
Which is Stuido Gibili's latest work.
"And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can mostly say they lived happily ever after. But for them it was the beginning of the real story. All there life in this world and all there adventures in Narnia had only be the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of The Great Story which no one on earth has ever read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before" - C.S Lewis, The Last Battle.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound