Author Topic: The "Spirited Away" Memorial Kimes Family Thanksgiving Week Miyazaki Marathon  (Read 19440 times)

Melvil

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Another excellent review, steve! I rank Porco Rosso at the rear of Miyazaki's work, but I do agree it's still great fun. I enjoyed your take on the theme of honor, I had never really thought about it that closely. Interesting stuff.

oldkid

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Howl's Moving Castle



One of the most stunning thing about Miyazaki's latest film is how every room that we enter is its own complete universe.  Even the dirty bathroom is unique and colorful and amazing.  This matches perfectly Diana Wynne Jones' idea of multiple universes, some magical, some not.  And it matches the castle doorway, which can exit to multiple locations.  It's all about alternative universes.

Scene: Kimes family home


This is the Kimes family doing their usual chores-- sorting food donations. After they are done with this, they will be watching Kiki's Delivery Service on the wall behind Steve.  Unfortunately, the DVD was extremely glitchy.  It's a good thing they had another movie as back up.  Howl's Moving Castle it is!

Scene: Diana Wynne Jones' Book

Before we had seen the movie, Howl's Moving Castle was a favorite book in the Kimes' household.  This, of course, spells disaster, for a beloved book cannot make an equitable transition to film.  The book and the film has much of the same plot, but that only makes the differences stand out-- and the differences are many.  The first time I saw the film I couldn't get the book out of my mind, and it truly ruined the movie experience for me.  This time, in watching the film, I determined NOT to see this as a Diana Wynne Jones vehicle, but as a Miyazaki film.  So every time I began thinking, "But in the book it was this way..." I pushed such unworthy thoughts aside.

Scene: Mid 1800s in another universe

The setting for this film is an alternative world, somewhat like either France or Britain in the mid 1800s.  However, there are remarkable differences.  For one, flying machines abound (and for this reason alone we know we are in Miyazaki's universe).  For another, there are a number of wizards who are powerful and politically involved.  And another reason we know that we can't be in our universe is because the nations involved begin a war on the flimsiest of reasons.   ;)   One nation's prince has come up missing and they assume that the other nation has kidnapped him.  So a terrible war filled with bombs and evil-looking hawks and flying fortresses abound.

Scene: Russian Folk Literature


Throughout Miyazaki's movies, a common character is Baba Yaga, a witch from Russian folk literature.  In some stories Baba Yaga is a kindly, helpful old woman, while in others she is a mean, spiteful witch.  But she always has a house with chicken legs.  There are Baba Yaga characters all the way from Nausicaa, where the blind woman is BY.  In Spirited Away, BY is represented by the two sisters, one mean and cold and the other kindly.  In Howl's, Miyazaki is, in a sense, presenting an origin story for the kind Baba Yaga.  Howl's castle already has chicken legs, and when Sophie comes in as her old woman persona, she takes charge of it.  Howl soon gives her run of the hut and she is called a witch.  Thus is the folk heroine/villain born.

Scene: Diana Wynne Jones' Moral Mind


If there were any theme that ties all of Diana Wynne Jones' books together, it is that conflict is caused by misunderstanding.  People assume what other's are thinking or intending with their actions and so a small conflict becomes a large one.  Miyazaki has taken this theme to be the focus of his vice in this film: judgement.  Right from the beginning, the women's gossip is that Howl is a womanizer and the war begins because of an assumption that the prince was kidnapped.  Everyone thinks they know who Sophie is, but no one is correct.  But these judgments even cloud one's perception of oneself.  Howl claims to be a coward, yet right from the beginning we see him willingly head into the most dangerous of circumstances.  Sophie accepts the persona of an old woman, although the power to overcome that persona is within herself.  Although she doesn't know it, she uses the persona of the old woman as a measure of protection, so she can seem to be frail and grouchy and pushy, although as a young woman, she was none of these things.

Scene: Behind The Mask


Studies have been done that when people put on a new mask or a uniform that they feel free to create a new persona for themselves, acting in ways that they otherwise wouldn't.  A criminal can put on a ski mask and so be able to act like a criminal, although they wouldn't do so in normal life.  A police officer or soldier could act a certain way or be a certain person when wearing a uniform that otherwise they couldn't be. (What do you think of that, Colleen?)  And, in a sense, self-judgment is a mask.  We determine who we are, which allows us to act in a certain way.  Howl can claim to be cowardly, and so step out of a morally reprehensible situation.  Sophie can claim to be an old woman, and so do things she wouldn't otherwise do.  But these self-judgments can also limit us from doing what we should, or give us excuses to do what we ought.  If we do not see ourselves and others as they really are, then love cannot exist, says Miyazaki.

Scene: Howl's Moving Castle



Ultimately, Howl's Moving Castle is about Miyazaki's perpetual theme: love.  Not romantic love, although that comes into play, here. Rather, the kind of love that creates community, a family, a home.  While Sophie cleans the castle, it is her care for all, even the fire-demon, that makes the true change.  Howl recognizes this and tries to make a claim that the castle is really Sophie's now, which is why he re-created it to be like her mother's hat shop.  But, in the end, Sophie's achievement was not to claim the castle for her own, but to make it a place for all of them.  A place where others want to stay in and live in.  And this only happens when the masks are stripped away, the misunderstandings set aside.  The best community is the one that welcomes everyone in as they truly are.

Scene: The Review

Needless to say, I truly loved this movie this time.  This is possibly the most complex of Miyazaki films, there is certainly a lot to chew on.  It is also the most visually complex.  It seems as if it was Miyazaki himself, not Sophie, speaking the line, "When you're old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery"  He gives us so MUCH scenery to look at, as well as a plot that is rich with both character and plot and philosophy.  Honestly, although it still is not my favorite Miyazaki, it is a perfect film.  5/5
« Last Edit: December 02, 2009, 11:32:12 AM by stevekimes »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

flieger

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Fantastic! As always, fantastic.

Melvil

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This makes me so happy! ;D I've always felt that Howl's gets unfairly overlooked when I think it's right up there with Miyazaki's best. Love the presentation of your review as well.

ferris

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Needless to say, I truly loved this movie this time.  This is possibly the most complex of Miyazaki films, there is certainly a lot to chew on.  It is also the most visually complex.  It seems as if it was Miyazaki himself, not Sophie, speaking the line, "When you're old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery"  He gives us so MUCH scenery to look at, as well as a plot that is rich with both character and plot and philosophy.  Honestly, although it still is not my favorite Miyazaki, it is a perfect film.  5/5


Great read .  You definitely have me interested.  Nice seeing a pic with the family in it!
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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oldkid

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Needless to say, I truly loved this movie this time.  This is possibly the most complex of Miyazaki films, there is certainly a lot to chew on.  It is also the most visually complex.  It seems as if it was Miyazaki himself, not Sophie, speaking the line, "When you're old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery"  He gives us so MUCH scenery to look at, as well as a plot that is rich with both character and plot and philosophy.  Honestly, although it still is not my favorite Miyazaki, it is a perfect film.  5/5


Great read .  You definitely have me interested.  Nice seeing a pic with the family in it!

I looked all over for a good recent one with Mercy-- my youngest daughter-- I could post, but couldn't find one, except on Facebook.  This pic was in an article on me in Portland Monthly magazine, professional photographer and everything!
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

mantou

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i don't like spirited away, and i don't find grave of the fireflies sad, are you gonna shoot me now?  :-[
i think 'batman forever' is the greatest thing since haggis suppers!

Melvil

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i don't like spirited away, and i don't find grave of the fireflies sad, are you gonna shoot me now?  :-[

No use, I think you're already dead.

 ;)

ferris

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Steve, I went back and watched your Castle in the Sky review.  Really great .  I skipped reading some of the thematic elements because you mentioned a couple films I haven't seen yet..  but I'll be sure to venture back when our marathon is done.
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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oldkid

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Okay, I'm just going to finish this off with a few more Miyazaki reviews, even if they weren't on the original Marathon list.

Ponyo (On the Cliffs By The Sea)

On my second viewing, the film really opened up to me and I see how it is among the first-rate Miyazaki. The funny thing, is that he is taking some of the same themes of Princess Mononoke—his most adult feature—and relating it to the youngest audience.  I suspect that teens and pre-teens, unless they already love Miyazaki, wouldn’t care for this film quite so much.  But it is brilliant and beautiful and the story is simple and easy to understand.  And, of course, the main characters are a five year old boy and his “goldfish” aka mermaid. 



From the very first scene we are introduced to Ponyo’s father, Fujimoto, who is a human who forsook humanity so he could draw power from the ocean.  He is collecting this power so that the ocean world, which he loves so much, would be free from human control and corruption.  His idea is a complete overthrow of humanity.  However, Ponyo is tired of his overprotection and determines to strike out on her own.  In doing so, she falls in love with a boy and human life, and then she accidently obtains her father’s collected power which she uses to make herself human.



Her drive accidently throws the balance between the human world and the ocean out of balance, and the moon comes so close that the oceans rise dangerously high.  At this point, we see that Ponyo’s father wasn’t actually interested in destroying humanity, but simply separating the ocean from humanity.  So he calls Ponyo’s mother, a sea goddess, to try to get Ponyo back.  But the goddess realizes that this could be the solution.  If humanity could learn to love the ocean, through Ponyo, then right balance can be restored through love, not destructive power.

Through the beauty and majesty of ocean creatures, Miyazaki is introducing another realm of nature—the sea—to the youngest of generations, in the hopes that they too might see the life under the sea as significant and worth loving.  It is to love nature that will create balance—not just fear of it, like in Princess Mononoke. 



Aside from the main theme, there are some typically brilliant minor touches that Miyazaki throws in.  The adorable sisters of Ponyo who are both a school of fish and a school of toddlers.  The water-beings of Ponyo’s father are typical Miyazaki “monsters”, both slightly terrifying, but limited.  The most memorable scenes for me are those of Lisa, Sosuke's mother, driving like a maniac along the curves of the island.  I found myself slamming on the non-existent brake pedal before me.






It is well noted of the connection between Ponyo and The Little Mermaid, but the connection between Ponyo and Norse Mythology hasn’t been discussed as much.  Ponyo is named by her father Brunhilda or Brynhildr, one of the Valkyries famous for being in Wagner’s Ring Cycle.  In Norse mythology Brynhildr determines the fate of a war, deciding on one side against another, then was sentenced to be human then lives on a mount above the sea.  She was promised marriage by Sigurd, who betrayed her (just as the prince in Little Mermaid).  You might notice, as Ponyo runs on the waves how the music strongly resembles Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.



 It is interesting that the two stories are only given the first section in Ponyo, up to the declaring of love.  Should Ponyo ever have a sequel—which is highly unlikely—then it would have to be an adult drama about how five year old human love is not meant to last for a lifetime.  In thinking of these themes, some of the joy of the movie is just cut short for me because these stories end in tragedy, and I cannot see but Ponyo’s doing the same.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t experience the joy of the film as presented, in all it’s brightness and glory.


"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky