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Can Hayao Miyazaki Save Disney's Soul?
IronicGrin writes "Even hard-core House of Mouse apologists have to admit that Disney's Feature Animation division has lost its way. After a half decade of pathetic failures (Atlantis) and epic disasters (Treasure Planet), the company shut its fabled Orlando 2D animation studios last year and announced that it was jumping on the computer animation bandwagon. A big motivation for the move to CGI was, of course, the Magic Kingdom's tenuous relationship with Pixar--the source of all of Disney's recent animated hits. But Disney is overlooking a better example of just what its toon team has been doing wrong...right under its nose.
Howl's Moving Castle, which opened this weekend to rapturous critical acclaim, is the third masterpiece from Japan's Studio Ghibli that Disney has released theatrically. Today's New York Times has a feature by A.O. Scott [reg required, blah blah] calling Miyazaki the "world's greatest living animated-filmmaker"; meanwhile, last Thursday, I wrote a column for SFGate.com on why Disney animation, 3D rendered or not, is doomed to irrelevance if it fails to (re)learn some basic lessons from Miyazaki and his cohorts at Ghibli. What do you think? Is Disney destined to fade to black, or can a little Ghibli flavor (mmm....Ghibli) get it back on track?"
PS: Here's an excellent series of articles about what went wrong with Disney feature animation.
just like they abused their relationship with Pixar. IIRC, the announcement that they were closing their 2d animation studio came right before Pixar announced that after their current contract was up they would be bolting from Disney? Why? Because that asshat Eisner assumed that Disney was invincible and Pixar would come crawling to Disney no matter how much they were abused.
I still don't think Disney learned their lesson. Eisner didn't have one creative bone in his body, all he did was bleed dry whatever he could(and took a lions share of cash for himself) while Disney's main properties languished. I suspect the same will go for this relationship.
Monstar L
Of course I could be completely wrong and anime would be more than just a fad, in which case this would be a good move for Disney. I guess that's the gamble.
There's no emoticon for what I'm feeling! -- CBG, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"
It's sad to see the state that Disney is in. My fiance is an animator, so we've had our fair number of trips down to Orlando. She knows a number of animators, most of which have been fired.
A lot of the animators have started up their own studios though. I think Firefly Studios is one? Regardless, I think the Disney that Walt had imagined is long gone and far from coming back. They need to stop pumping out sequels and start creating movies with good stories.
It doesn't matter what medium the movie is delivered in; it's the story that delivers.
The greatest experience we can have is the mysterious.
- Albert Einstein
Wasn't Disney animation in the same situation at the beginning of the 90s? Reduced to output like 'The Black Cauldron' (rated Worst. Feature. Cartoon. Ever. at the time). How did they get out of the trough last time?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Setting aside the fact tht TS and FN were not, properly, Disney films, I don't think that the hits are the problem. Someone at Disney has given up on animation. There have been pretty good films (not ohmygodgottaseeita100times good), and the young audience doesn't really care that much about the nuances of story line.
The best example recently is the Heffalump movie. It's a little-kid movie, not the traditional epic, but its great for little kids (I'd say under 5, maybe up to 7 or 8 depending on the child). We saw it with my 2 year old in the theater. When it came out on DVD, we got it. So, if you were head of marketing, and you had a fairly big DVD release, how would you handle the marchandising? Lots of Roo and Lumpy stuffed animals, right? Midshare, get the kids playing with them. Give them something tangible to reinforce the whole Pooh franchise, right?
WRONG! Not only do most of the retail outlets have nothing in the Pooh line except - maybe - a stuffed Pooh bear that isn't tied to the release at all, but even the freakin' Disney Store online doesn't have a Lumpy. None. Nada. Zilch. Now, they did have two Lumpys in the local Disney Store . And those were left over from the shipment after the theatrical release, when the original (meager) shipment of Lumpy and Roo sold out in about a day and a half. Flew off the shelves, according to the DS worker.
No, in my opinion somebody at the top has purposely set the 2D animations up to fail.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
There's much irony in the fact that in his heroic years, Disney used to be a victim of intellectual property rights abuse. First, he was "outlawyered" by his coworker Charles Mintz who basically stole rights to Oswald, The Lucky Rabbit, leaving Disney seemingly without any chance. To get out of this predicament, Disney had to hastily invent another character and thus Mickey was born. But even then, major Hollywood studios have had a virtual monopoly on sound and Disney had no option but use a patent-infringing system known as Cinephone to create the first Mickey Mouse cartoon.
One might expect that being a victim of abuse, Disney should never be abusive to the others. However, in real life it's almost always the opposite. When you are a victim, you don't dream about the perfect world, where nobody is a victim - you dream of the world where YOU are no longer a victim. I think this could partially explain this company's attitude to patents, copyright and trademark. "There was no mercy for me - why should I have it now for anyone?"
Disney's contract with Ghibli requires them to not edit it. Localization in the dub is allowed, as long as the story doesn't take a big hit, but nothing else.
Rumor is, Miyazaki even sent them a genuine katana with a note to that effect attached to drive the point home.
You bring an interesting point to the table. Disney's official slant on the dvd is that it's based on Hamlet, but for those who want to see what he's talking about, here's the link.
Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
"Lion King" (which was not originally planned to be such a big hit!)
The Lion King wasn't planned to be a big hit but it was, of course it wasn't really their movie at all, just a prettier version of someone elses, likely.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
It's fascinating to see the Ghibli Museum in Japan, as Miyazaki designed, or helped design, pretty much all of it. Nothiing about it is "standard" or "normal". Even the tickets are fascinating (and keepsakes), they contain a frame of film in them (from one of Ghibli's films.) There are nooks and crannies and crawlways all over the place, kids really have a blast exploring. Even the bathroom was amazing, with some incredible stuff displayed in them. (Yep I said the bathroom.) We had a female friend with us on the trip and from talking to her we learned that not only was the women's bathroom the same way, it contained different stuff!
I agree with your assessment completely. But I'm not sure Anime's lack of acceptance here is a bad thing necessarily.
I don't know about the average Joes, but I know I loved Spirited Away moreso for its subtleties. The problem is that popular movie culture on this side of the ocean is, as you said, so much more physical/action-oriented than cerebral, and that is what sells over here. North American producers don't dub/sub and release Anime over here for the sake of the artform. They do it to make money. And while they understand that they are selling to a niche market over here, they still want to appeal to the widest possible audience.
Take the recent release of Ghost in the shell: Innocence. Aside from the fact that Dreamworks screwed it up and put the closed caption track[breeze blows] into the subtitles track, they also tried marketting it as an action-oriented flick(Compare the American DVD cover to the Japanese DVD cover) when it most certainly was not. But they understand that this is what sells over here.
It is also why I think traditional Anime will never be accepted in mainstream North America. Then again, I prefer it this way, Personally. :)
"People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
- Gov. Jesse Ventura
More specifically, if you restrict yourself to anime, you've cut your audience--some people just won't see it or else consider it crazy, far out, and inaccessible (because, let's face it, a heck of a lot if anime is crazy, far out, and inaccessible, just in an entertaining way). And, like American animation, there is some very good anime (Cowboy Bebop, a choice I hope is non-controversial) and plenty of lame ones (I'm not going to cite any examples because that's just begging for flamewars. Think so some anime you hate and put it here). Hence, you've restricted your market by your choice of style, but anime is just that-a style. It's no guarantee of quality by any means, and Miyazaki has done some amazing work, (though let's be honest with ourselves--Mononoke and Nausicaa were more or less the same movie), but part of that may be because he hasn't whored himself out as a profit moachine, but rather as a dedicated animator, and you don't need to convert to and anime-based approach to find that, you just need a Disney willing to hire people (like those who work at, say, Pixar) who share his dedication.
And, though it's responding to flamebait, American animation isn't crap. I would go so far as to say that it's objectively better than Japanese animation. Please don't take this as an insult to anime, potential flamers, (Bebop is in fact my favoritest show ever, blah blah blah), merely an observation. The drawing in American animation tends to be less elaborate than that in anime (also somewhat less stylistically limited. It's a rare anime that doesn't include at least one of the following: drawing hair as an impossibly elaborate system of spikes sprouting of characters' heads, "expressive" eyes that take up half of people's faces, or chins likes knives). However, the animation is much better. The elaborate drawing required of anime, and in particular its frequent conversion from the still medium of manga, results in a great deal of scenes defined by minimal physical movement, or action scenes that jerk through a series of 1-second stills. Conversely, American animation, especially Disney, is always very, well, animated. Compare something like Trigun or DBZ (as examples of shows in which motion is very important) to Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast and the differences in the way motion is portrayed are just phenomenal, and there's more and smoother motion in American animation, hands down. Miyazaki's work is to some extent a partial violation of this tendency--Studio Ghibli's work at times reaches American fluidity--but the fact of the matter is that, in general, American animation is objectively better as animation. American animation tends towards the fluid and anime towards the static and elbaorate. I'm not saying either is "better," but any contention that work like Disney's represents "crap" represents the work of someone who enters a battle of wits unarmed.
As far as I am concerned, Disney has always been about seducing children to the dark side. After all, Mary Poppins was a witch who took her charges to a meeting of her coven. Then there are films like "bedknobs and broomsticks". Or clips like Mickey as the sorcerers apprentice. Can anyone think of a Disney film that has promoted faith in God... didn't think so. The trouble is that our whole culture has become so hedonistic and pagan, that the devil no longer *needs* Disney, he has video games teaching children to cast spells and make pacts with demons before most of them can read.
"Sic Semper Path of Least Resistance"
Disney need to do a serious focus group research with today's kids. I have a number of relatives aged 10 to 13. These kids were never taught to hate Disney, but they absolutely think it's lame.
They highly favor Yugiho/Pokemon over Mickey mouse for example. Is it me or are Japanese the only ones creating fucked up anime-ish characters for kids? Americans play their character creation process too safe, fearing political correctness. In the end American characters are boring.
Atlantis, IMHO, is underrated, if only for the humor. Yeah, the story's nothing new, but the characters are engaging, and some parts make me laugh even though I've seen it a dozen times.
Don't get me started on the sad, sad release of Atlantis 2, or Tarzan 2, or Lion King 1 1/2, or Cinderella 2, or...
I can tell you what spelled the death of Disney.
Direct to video
My kids would rather see Land Before Time XIX than Cinderella 2. Has Disney (not Pixar) even released any animation over the last three years that didn't have a number after it?
My kids certainly don't have the fondness or loyalty to Disney that my siblings and I had in the seventies...
You are comparing two big budget American motion pictures (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) to a Japanese WWF tv show (Dragonball Z)?
At least compare equally. Pit "Spirited Away" or "Princess Mononoke" vs the two from Disney. Even the aging "Ghost in the Shell" fares well.
Because Disney isn't about animation anymore, its about Parks, Hotels, T-Shirts and films signed off by the sort of people who next week will sign off the building of a 500 room "luxury" hotel.
Until Disney drives its animation division as a seperate company run by people (business people) who understand that market it will be doomed.
Perhaps, but the same people were actually fairly successful for a long time. One of the problems I find, repeated through much of their films is lack of imagination. Most of their characters are terribly overused cliche's and the scripts are predictable. Pixar has been far less so as has Miyazaki. Robin Williams and Elton John saved Aladin and Lion King, where if you think about it, if they were pretty much any other people these films, too, would have been mediocre.
IMHO Disney has let the business of imagination be taken over by Dreamworks and others while they simply try to broker small, new talent for profit.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
> Treasure Planet took one of the greatest adventure stories ever written and turned it into a muling pile of crap.
I take exception to that. Treasure Planet captured the spirit of the story and most of the details. The whole eighteenth century with robots and rockets style was cool. The soundtrack was good. The voice for Billy Bones was great. It had the most creative version of Ben Gunn since Miss Piggy in the Muppet version. The scene where Israel Hands flies out into space from the mast instead of dropping into the sea was a nice way to reimagine the story's most exciting moment.
Treasure Planet was good. I think it was too esoteric to be a commercial success.
"Give a man a fish and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries!"
"So, being that I was born in '78, is there anyone that can speak to the glory days of Disney? Was it pure and good while Walt Disney was in charge? And exactly when did it lose it's way?"
I dunno about when it lost its way or if it was ever a "do no evil" sort of company. But, as an animator who was born in 78, I can tell you their glory days are certainly creating positive ripples even today. There's a book floating around called "The Art of Life" (err I hope that's the title, memory's a little fuzzy) that talks about all the advances they did with animation over the years. It's a VERY interesting read and it's certainly changed my life with regards to my career. Basically, those dudes turned animation into a huge main-stream business. It's difficult to watch a Pixar movie without seeing some of their influence.
What happened in the 40's aside, Lion King and Aladdin were both largely responsible for entering the field I'm in now. Can't say I'm a huge fan of their business today, but I do remember when Disney was 'magical'. Hmm I'm not sure that really answers your question, but it wasn't all that long ago that I didn't despise them.
"Derp de derp."
If the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons went into the public domain, the character itself would also become public domain. Although more recent Mickey cartoons would still be copyrighted, anyone could start making their own new Mickey Mouse cartoons. Or t-shirts, or watches, or lunch boxes... One would only need to be careful to derive their Mickey drawings etc. from the public domain works, rather than later versions.
You were pretty close... The book is called The Illusion of Life. It's required reading for any animator and is also known as the animation bible.
A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals...
I grew up on Disney cuz of my mom (of course). But I also got a early dose of anime not in this country. The earliest anime ive watched is Mazinger Z, Gatchaman, Candy Candy (chick stuff) and some others i cant recall. Now I liked that stuff too cuz it was different look and feel. But as I got older I got smarter. One thing that pissed me off was that American cartoons didnt follow continuity and didnt have a ending (like smurfs). I started looking for toons that had more plot and thats what attracted me to Anime. The only few american toons to follow plot and have an ending was Gargoyles, Exo Squad (anyone ever seen this on dvd.. of course not!). Gargoyles was by far Disney's best item.. but it was "TOOK DARK". WAAAAAAA we'll scare of little kids and they will think Disney is evil.. Ah if they only knew. And for the record Im not totally bashing Disney. They are just lacking massive creative substance. I did enjoy and do own things like Toy Story 1 & 2 and Definitely enjoyed The Lion King (even though they somewhat ripped that off, Kimba...) This is what i think of disney. Yes they are a money grubbing empire.. But nothing will save Disney. It has become Cult-like no different than star Trek or Star Wars. What will keep Disney going is that the current disney fans will have children who will show them the world of Disney. So disney fans breeding disney fans. If I evever had kids Ill show them both Disney and Anime.. I'll let them choose and embrace what they want to. I figure as anime becomes more popular and starting to ensnare younger audiences thats whats taking away from the Disney Empire. As someone pointed out earlier eventually Disney will be nothing more than a place where you go to visit (at $50-$75 a head) and buy loads of merchandise.
There's no Freedom like UFP-dom
So, maybe he's onto something here. The characters in his stories struggle, but don't fall into the trap of demonizing their enemies. It's touching, really. He's not saying that Good will vanquish Evil, he's saying Good can transcend the very division of the world into Good and Evil.
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