Amethyst Jacob

8a- 9:50a
Introduction to film
Film Theory of Hayao Miyazaki Films

Film Theory of Hayao Miyazaki Films

In all of Hayao Miyazaki films, there are recurring themes that he represents.
Even though these themes are always in his films its what the story and artwork
that make these films unique. In his films he uses the same art technique to create
people. The worlds that he creates are based on different cultures and places that
he has been to. His films are for any person to enjoy because his films seem more
tied to the child part of things. There is the child imagination of souring into the sky
and a place full of magic, and showing the wonder of the world. It seems Miyazaki is
fond of magic and machines being in his films. He sends messages to his audience
through the story he is telling such as environmentalism.
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan in January 5, 1941. His father was
an aeronautical engineer which Miyazaki was deeply interested in. Miyazaki was
born during World War II and his family owned an airplane business building fighter
planes that greatly affected him. He witnessed the struggle of his country to get
back onto their feet.
He loved art, but when he went to college he studied political science and
economics to help Japan recover from the war and reestablish its economy. At the
time anime was very popular and the art interested him. When he entered
Gakushuin University, he was interested in childrens books so he joined the
children's literature research society and learned about various fables and tales

from around the world. After he graduated in 1963, instead of going into politics like
he studied for he went and got a job at an animation studio. From there he got a
position as an in-betweener, a position that is responsible for adding in the drawings
that go between the main ones. He fell in love with the work and never went back to
his politics study.
Being an animator, he met a friend named Isao Takahata where they got jobs
in several different studios. While this Miyazaki was perfecting his drawing, his
talent began to be widely recognized that he made his first short Panda! Go Panda!.
After making a few more shorts and shows, Miyazaki and Takahata decided to make
their own studio, Studio Ghibli. There he had more freedom and wanted to express
what he could do with animation. Miyazaki pushed the boundaries of traditional
animation and instead of creating a script; he would let the pictures tell the story
before creating the script to go with it. His outstanding ways to create art and tell a
story made his first films so popular. So popular in fact that Disney recognized his
outstanding talent.
Humans have both the urge to create and destroy. Hayao Miyazaki
One of Miyazakis earlier films was Princess Mononoke which was released in
1997. This film was very popular and mainly focused on the theme
environmentalism. Our protagonist Ashitaka was cursed by an angry boar that had
turned into a demon by its rage. He finds out later that the boars rage was brought
on by Lady Boshi destroying the forest he lived in. She also infected him with one of
her iron pellets from her deadly rifles. Lady Boshi was tearing down the forest to get
the valuable iron out but in the process, she was destroying both the beautiful forest
and the animals that live there.

What I find in all of his films is that his antagonists arent quite so. They do a
balance of good and evil things. Lady Boshi has saved prostitutes and leprosy
people. She treats them like they are real people and they willingly work for her
because of her kindness. However, she is heartless when it comes to the animals
and forest. She kills the forest because of her greed for power and iron. She has no
heart for animals. If they are a pest she wont hesitate to kill them with her deadly
rifles.
It is so stunning how much detail that Miyazaki puts into his film. The artwork
of the forest is stunning and even tells a story all by itself. It is interesting how much
beauty is shown in the calmness and happiness of the forest, but when it comes to
Lady Boshis fortress there isnt quite that much detail and the colors are bland.
That detail gives the film a sense of realism. It could very much be real with that
much detail but we are reminded that it isnt exactly real in this story.
A few themes that are shown are environmentalism, feminism, war, and love.
The pollution that is done affects the forest greatly and is shown that humans
destroy the beauty of nature because of it. Feminism is used because Princess
Mononoke in the beginning was a wild, immature child that thought the only way to
bring peace was to kill the humans. She learns later that the killing would only
make it worse and that she needed to stop the violence between man and animal.
War was shown by the humans and animal killing each other out of rage and greed.
There are explosions, fighting, death, and fear. Love was the only thing that would
save human and animal. Love is what would bring peace between the races and
bring balance and beauty to the forest again.

The animals in this film seemed to have human characteristics. Whether it

was because they could talk and have facial expressions similar to humans or that
they had a face like a human. It gave off the feeling that the animals were the same
as the humans. The animals could talk just like the humans could; however, some
couldnt talk but do their normal sounds. So it seemed that the animals that werent
gods or special they were in their normal animal state. The forest spirit had a
human like face instead of a deer like one making him seem so unworldly.
Spirited Away is Miyazakis film that came out in 2001. This one was about a
girl named Chihiro. Chirhiro is a whiney, lazy spoiled brat. She is mad that she had
to move away from her friends. On the way to the families new home the father
takes a wrong turn. They stumble upon a little town in a different dimension and her
parents end up being turned into pigs. Chihiro has no choice but to get a job at a
local bathhouse for spirits and find a way to release her parents from the spell.
In this film the antagonist is still shown through No Face. No Face just wants
to be loved but he takes the wrong turn of eating people. He seems like an
antagonist because he tries to get into peoples hearts through fear and their greed
for money. The case is that he wants to be loved by people but doesnt know how
and thus made the wrong choices. Later, you see that he is a very kind spirit.
Feminism, Environmentalism, and love themes are shown in this film as well.
Chihiro originally was a spoiled child who then, through hard work at the bathhouse,
became a strong, polite, brave girl. Environmentalism is shown when a muddy river
spirit comes to the bathhouse. The river spirit was actually injured by a bike and all
the pollution in it. It took hard work but they made the river spirit clean and happy.
This showed the pollution that humans do and that we can help clean it up with

determination and hard work. Love prevails and breaks evil spells on people. Love
makes a happy ending and Chihiro a better person.
Howls Moving Castle was released in 2005. This film is about a woman
named Sophie. Sophie is a quiet girl who works in her familys hat shop. All this gets
interrupted by the wizard Howl whom gets her involved with his fight between the
Witch of the Wastes. Out of jealously the witch puts a curse on Sophie that turns her
into an old woman. This curse forces her out into the world and stumbles back into
Howls wild and complicated life.
Howls moving castle themes love, war, and deception. Love is the one that
makes things all better. War is a big theme because three countries are battling.
There are bombs, fire, fear, and fighting going on in the film. Deception was in the
film by the Witch of the Waste being big and young looking but she is old woman.
Howl hides his curse from Sophie. Sophie deceives people because she is an old
lady because of the curse when she is actually a young girl.
There is an antagonist in this film. The antagonist is the queen from one of
the cities in war. She uses the magicians magic to try to help win the war from the
other city. The Witch of the Waste did curse Sophie but when the queen took her
power away she is shown like a very kind granny. She was only evil when she had a
lot of power but when it is taken away from her she was a different person.
Ponyo is a childs film based on the story of The Little Mermaid. Ponyo is a
goldfish who wants to be human. She escapes her fathers boat and befriends a 5
year old boy named Sosuke. Ponyo struggles to maintain her magic as she also
learns how it is like to be human. Ponyos power ends up becoming unstable as the

moon gets closer to earth making the ocean rise. Ponyo is a childs film much like
Miyazakis film and tests the power of love.
Ponyos themes are environmentalism, love, and a childs spirit.
Environmentalism is shown through the pollution in the water. It is also shown how
dangerous it is to the fish when Ponyo is swimming away from the danger of the
propeller. As she does this, her head ends up getting stuck inside a bottle. Love is
what makes Ponyo human and what makes for a happy ending because of it. The
child spirit is shown in this film. It shows the imagination of a child through the art
and the two children. The ocean is alive with so many colors and fish. The waves
eyes and look like fish jumping out of the ocean. Ponyo is full of energy to the point
her father has a hard time to control her.
In all of Miyazaikis films, there is love and growing up. Love is what breaks
curses or what brings peace to the violence. It is always what makes the happy
ending in his films. In his films there is always someone or everyone who becomes a
better person. Miyazaki makes love something wondrous through his films.
He teaches us valuable lessons through his films just as we are part of nature
we need to take care of it. It is shown through the pollution of nature in his films. In
Princess Mononoke he shows how the humans are killing the forest because of
greed for the iron in it. In Spirited Away it is shown through the river spirit. The river
spirit comes into the bathhouse all muddy and later you find out he is injured
because of all items that arent supposed to be in the waters or forests such as an
old bike. In the film Ponyo shows that by showing the pollution of the ocean and
how it affects the fish.

I think of him as a great conductor and he has put, in his vision, a

piece of himself up onto the screen in every film he creates. Dave
Bossart
In all of Miyazakis films, there is a big piece of himself in each one. Some of
the scenes were based on his life experiences. A lot of the characters are based on
friends and people he knows. The locations and how people dress is what he has
seen. He studies how people work and because he knows how people work it makes
it that much real.
Chihiro in Spirited Away was based off one of his friends 10 year old
daughter. She acted just like Chihiro a bratty, lazy, whiney, and impolite child.
Chihiros father had some attributes based off Miyazakis friend such as getting lost
while driving and gobbling food. Chihiros mother was based off of one of the
members he works with at Studio Ghibli. One of her attributes that he shows about
her is that she eats with her elbow down. The location of the film is actually a place
not far from Studio Ghibli where Miyazaki loves to wonder around.
Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and
shock and emotions. Hayao Miyazaiki
A lot of his films show complex flying machines,because he enjoyed his
fathers business of the fighter planes. War is shown in such detail because he was
born around World War II which greatly affected himself and his country. His stories
have so much detail because of the imagination and hard work he brings into his
films. Even with the similar themes in his films, the stories are each unique. They
intrigue the audience because it feels so real even though they are fantasy.
Miyazakis films are an inspiration to all audiences especially the younger ones.

Works Cited:

Princess Mononoke. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 1997. DVD.

Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 2001. DVD
Howl's Moving Castle. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 2005. DVD.
Ponyo. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 2008. DVD.
"World Biography." Hayao Miyazaki Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Le-Ra/Miyazaki-

Hayao.html>.
"Hayao Miyazaki Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/hayao_miyazaki.html>.
Young, Rob. "Feminism, Pacifism & Environmentalism: The Messages of Hayao
Miyazaki." Feminism, Pacifism & Environmentalism: The Messages of Hayao
Miyazaki. JustPressPlay, 13 May 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.justpressplay.net/articles/6605-motifs-in-the-films-of-hayao-

miyazaki.html>.
2008, "Miyazaki, Hayao." Encyclopedia of World Biography., Beetz, Beetz,
Kirk, and "Miyazaki, Hayao." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2013.
"Miyazaki, Hayao." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2008.
Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

<http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Hayao_Miyazaki.aspx>.
"Hayao Miyazaki." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/>.