The What and Why
of Hayao Miyazaki
April 2, 2002
We’ve all seen it. The huge, watery eyes. The spiky, rainbow-colored hair. The incredible, out-of-this-world plotlines. All of these things have become synonymous with anime, more commonly known as ‘Japanimation’ here in the States. Recently, several series have been brought over from their native Japan and shown on U.S. television; shows like Pokemon, Sailor Moon, and Card Captor Sakura have enjoyed great success with young children. Meanwhile, films like Akira and The Princess Mononoke and the popular TV series Fushigi Yuugi and Cowboy Bebop are rapidly gaining popularity with their intended audience, teens from 13 years of age all the way through their 20’s.
According to a recent New York Times article, the anime revolution began in Japan in the early 1960’s with the animator Osamu Tezuka (Kehr 2). Oddly enough, the genre that we in the States view as distinctly Japanese actually began with Tezuka’s admiration of our own Walt Disney. Following his example of large eyes and colorful images, Mr. Tezuka began his first television series, Astro Boy, in 1963. From there, several other animators began to imitate his style, and anime evolved into the form we know it as today (Kehr 2).
Based on personal experiences I have had while discussing anime with people in the United States, I have come to realize that they seem to carry one of two common misunderstandings. The first group sees anime as the Japanese version of the American Saturday morning cartoon--a half-hour filled with badly developed plotlines, poor animation, and terrible voice acting. The second group seems to see anime in a very different light--a genre of television characterized by graphic violence and pornography.
Sadly, neither of these assumptions are very far off the mark. It’s true that there is more than a handful of poorly-done and offensive anime, but the genre also has its beautiful and commendable masterpieces.
In Japan today, there is one animator who can clearly be called the leader in the creation of such masterpieces. Hayao Miyazaki, born in Tokyo, Japan in 1941 (Feldman 1), is the creator of nine feature length films and four television series (Kehr 4). According to an article by David Chute, Miyazaki’s most recent film, Spirited Away (known as Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi in Japan), recently beat out all the box office records in its native country, an achievement that Miyazaki’s 1997 film The Princess Mononoke can also boast (Chute 1). Disney even formed an agreement with Tokuma Publishing (who holds the rights to all of Miyazaki’s works in Asia) in 1996 for worldwide distribution rights to 11 of his films (The Disney-Tokuma Deal 1).
As I began to realize how much popularity Miyazaki’s films are enjoying both inside and outside of Japan, I began to wonder what inspired him to use his creative talents in the film (and more specifically, animation) industry.
In 1958, the first-ever full-color anime in Japan was
released, a feature film called Hakuja Den (roughly
translated as Legend of the White Snake) (Feldman 1). In his article About Japanese Animation,
Miyazaki says, “At the end of that year [1958], I, who was a senior high school
student and was supposed to be preparing for the university entrance exam, met
this movie at a third-class cheap movie theater (About Japanese Animation
1).” At the time, Miyazaki was a manga writer (manga are
Japanese-style comics). Miyazaki
continues,
“It made me realize what a fool I was, who was trying to be a manga writer by writing an absurd drama, which was in fashion at that time. . .Since then, it seems that I came to think seriously about what I should make. At least, I came to think that I should work with my true heart, even if that’s embarrassing (About Japanese Animation 2).”
From that point forward, Miyazaki worked at several studios, including Toei Douga, A-Pro, Telecom, and finally Studio Ghibli, where he still works today (Feldman 2).
After finding out what had inspired Miyazaki to work in the film industry, I moved on to my more pressing question--why are his films so popular? Through my research, I have decided that there are three key elements that help his films enjoy immense popularity: His films are fantasies that parallel reality, portray realistic views of human beings and society as a whole, and provide hopeful outlooks for the future.
Since most of Miyazaki’s movies are targeted at a young
audience, they are most often compared with Disney’s films here in the
States. Miyazaki says, “When my children
were old enough to go to the movies, there was nothing that we wanted to
see. Neither as parents or film
lovers...Panda! Kopanda! [a
film of his] is just written to describe everyday life...they [
I believe that this lack of a ‘happy’ ending is something that helps make Miyazaki’s stories and characters extremely believable, even if they do lie within the realm of fantasy.
This article and the others I consulted, however, seem to
leave out another key point that separates Disney and
There is one final thing that I believe makes Miyazaki
films a huge success. This final element
is actually something that his films share with Disney’s: a positive attitude towards life and towards
the future. In a short biography,
This was also something I observed for myself while watching the two films mentioned earlier (The Princess Mononoke and Kiki’s Delivery Service). In both cases, there was a wonderful feeling of optimism throughout the entire film. In Kiki’s Delivery Service, the main character is a young witch, Kiki, who travels away to another town with her black cat, Jiji. Despite an initial shyness and many hardships, Kiki eventually learns how to live in this new town and make new friendships.
This same optimism was also present in The Princess Mononoke. Although I found the film to be rather raw and viciously realistic in nature, the hope of the future and the will to live were clearly present. In fact, I came to realize that there were several positive themes showing themselves in the film. To always keep a will to live and a hope for the future was clearly the most prominent one.
Therefore, through research and my own experiences with Miyazaki films, I have come to believe that his works enjoy great popularity because they show reality through fantasy, show human beings as human beings and nothing more, and provide a hopeful outlook for the future. I believe that as long as these three key elements are present, Hayao Miyazaki’s work will continue to enjoy great success with both children and adults.
References
Chute, Dave. “Organic Machine: The World of Hayao Miyazaki.” Film Comment. November/December 1998: 3 pages.
Feldman, Steven. “A Hayao Miyazaki Biography.” 3 pages [Online]. Available: www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/miyazaki/miyazaki_biography.txt
[
Kehr, Dave. “Anime, Japanese Cinema’s
Second Golden Age.” The New York Times.
Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Screenplay by Hayao
Miyazaki. Original
Story by Eiko Kadono. Dir. Hayao
Team Ghiblink. “The Disney-Tokuma Deal.”
July 2001: 8 pages [Online].
Available: www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/disney
[
Team Ghiblink. “Details About
The Princess Mononoke. Screenplay and Original
Story by Hayao Miyazaki. Dir. Hayao