Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle Open in Japan

blamanj writes ""Howl's Moving Castle" (Howl no Ugoku Shiro), is the latest animated epic from Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. In a departure from his usual sources, this time Miyazaki has adapted a story by British author Diana Wynne Jones. The reviews look good." CT: Apparently Howl's opened a few weeks ago.

Comments

Miyazaki's films always have a moral

[BillsPetMonkey]

The moral in Sen to Chihiro no kamikaukushi ("Spirited Away") is basically "Don't destroy the environment" and "Children should learn manners".

Sounds very simple, but how many Hollywood films teach kids this stuff? It's subtle. I wonder what the moral is for this one.

Re:Miyazaki's films always have a moral

[david.given]

The moral in Sen to Chihiro no kamikaukushi ("Spirited Away") is basically "Don't destroy the environment" and "Children should learn manners".

There's more to it than that. Other themes I spotted:

• Evil is a matter of perception. (The shadow-creature, Yubaba, and Yubaba's sister are all initially portrayed as evil until Chihiro learns more about them; and then they're not, they're just people.)
• Law is fundamental to society. (There are laws and rules everywhere, and they can't be broken: if you don't cross the river before sunset, you're trapped. Yubaba must give you a job if you ask for it. Chihiro's boyfriend whose name I forget stole the charm, therefore it must be returned.)
• Everything has its place. (The shadow creature doesn't belong in the bath-house; it's evil there. But it's not when it's outside. Chihiro doesn't belong in that world, where she's considered disgusting and dangerous; she belongs in the mundane world.)
• Work is important. (There is no free ride. You have an obligation to society --- and, therefore, society has an obligation to you.)

Hollywood tends to push the blatantly false and downright dangerous True love conquers all (and don't put up with anything less) and You can do anything if only you want it hard enough. Frankly, I find Miyazaki's themes of social responsibility and the benefits of hard work far more suitable for children.

I love Howl's Moving Castle (and it's sequel Castle in the Air, which I think is even better). I'm eagerly awaiting seeing what he's done with it.

Re:Miyazaki's films always have a moral

[Neop2Lemus]

Your post is a little unclear on his motivation for why he would concentrate on "working hard".

IIRC Miyazaki feels that japanese women are undervalued in modern Japanese society. Hence he always develops 'strong' female leads in his films, leads who go places because they work hard, which is the only way you'll ever go places.

He's not perpetuating a system of exploitation for women but giving them a lesson in how to live successfully. It's also why his films are better than hollywood dreck, working hard is an alien concept to hollywood movies, but in the end, it's all that counts.

Re:News for ... who?

[Anonymous Coward]

They're cartoons, and therefore for kids.

Quite a strange opinion IMHO

Re:Spirited Away was overrated

[UWC]

From a 2002 interview with Roger Ebert (emphasis mine):

When I went to talk with Miyazaki, who is 62, I reminded him that in 1999 he said he was going to retire. Now here was another film. "I wanted to retire," he said, "but life isn't that easy. I wanted to make a movie especially for the daughters of my friends. I opened all the drawers in my head they were all empty. So I realized I had to make a movie just for 10 year olds, and 'Spirited Away' is my answer."

Re:Spirited Away was overrated

[shawb]

Did anyone else think Spirited Away was overrated?

I dunno. whenever I heard about Spirited Away, people basically said "It's a neat children's movie. Looks really pretty." Sounds like an apt description to me.

Let's start with the box and the liners...

Yeah. That's called hype. Or maybe "advertising." That's become expected in the industry. It's expected in EVERY industry. Not a good thing, but nothing that Miazaki should be called on without caling the whole industry.

I sat there, searching for absolutely anything that would appeal to people over the age of twelve

Now I see why you didn't like it. It _IS_ a children's movie. To enjoy it you don't go in searching for deep meaning or whatever. You just watch the pretty pictures and maybe follow the characters and worry about what will happen to them next. Trust me... that will make the movie watching experience so much better in a lot of instances.

Does love that young/cross-species even make any sense?

Wrong kind of love, dude.

I doubt whether any academic exegesis

As I've been saying, this _IS_ a children's film. I actually think it's refreshing to see a film made for children, not some demographically researched piece of work that tries to appeal to every market segment possible AND make a big stir in academia. No, this guy just wanted to tell some kids a story that will keep their eyes held wide open with amazement. And I think he did that.

Although, yeah. Pixar has some really great films too. But I really doubt that any of them are are worthy of an "academic exegesis."

I mean, we all know the kind of people that would try to blow this films up into the proportions that you are talking about. Capital "A" Art students who try to attach all sorts of meaning to things that just isn't there. They're trying to snow job people into thinking that their painting is worth $50 Million dollars or whatever. They're just practicing on this particular movie.

Re:The biggest concern...

[colmore]

I prefer dubbing in the theaters and subtitles at home.

Reading text on a big screen takes my eyes off the visuals for a moment, and in a Ghibli movie, that's unforgivable.