Hayao Miyazaki upsets some fans and angers conservatives with his latest film

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21582490-celebrated-director-upsets-some-fans-and-angers-conservatives-above-fray

by doctoboggan • 13 years ago

42 24 13 years ago

economist.com

doctoboggan• 13 years ago

A SOMBRE exploration of love, responsibility and death, “Kaze Tachinu” (“The Wind Rises”) is being described as Hayao Miyazaki’s first animated film for adults.

I have been a fan of Miyazaki since childhood and am looking forward to what he can do with more adult themes.

johnchristopher• 13 years ago

Well. There were some spoilers.

rhizome2• 13 years ago

That sucks. Thanks for taking one for the team.

cing• 13 years ago

Perhaps some casual Miyazaki fans were confused about why Grave of the Fireflies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies) was not mentioned in this article. It was animated by the same studio but was not written or directed by Miyazaki.

dsuth• 13 years ago

Thanks! This was my first thought. One day I'll have the courage to re-watch that movie; it takes on a slightly different tone when you have a son and daughter about that age...

ekianjo2• 13 years ago

Yeah, that was from Takahata. Takahata is genuinely smart when it comes to treat serious topics like in Hotaru no Haka. I don't think Miyazaki could ever make such a movie himself. He excels in other areas.

bswap0• 13 years ago

A trailer for those interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DthK9nX3UQY

jjjeffrey• 13 years ago

Princess Mononoke a film for children? I'd say it's a touch too bloody for most parents to deem it appropriate for their children.

sebcat• 13 years ago

I wish I had seen it as a kid. It really has a lot of depth in it, a lot of empathy. Self-sacrifice. Not showing the world as good/bad but as the complex system it really is. Not giving up. A lot better than your average saturday morning cartoon. Kids need to learn these things (not by watching cartoons necessarily, that's just the carrier), or they might end up as adults with a too simplistic world view.

Of course, for the younger children, Spirited Away might be a better choice. And Totoro.

michaelbuddy2• 13 years ago

naruto never gives up.

tomflack• 13 years ago

Conservatives have responded by telling Mr Miyazaki to stay out of politics.

The nexus of creative entertainment and politics alienates many. If one of your well respected entertainers makes a political statement that you don't agree with it can come as a shock. This attitude of "Stay out of politics and stick to entertaining us you court jester" is present probably in every country, and the most saddening because it has an implicit attitude of "I'm allowed to state my opinion, but you are not."

GuiA• 13 years ago

Generally, it's dismaying to discover that someone whose work you respect holds worldviews that you disagree with. An example that many readers of HN will relate to is the one of Orson Scott-Card, whose books are pretty great, but who holds some pretty outdated views towards homosexuality*

*: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-becker/orson-scott-card-h...

a_bonobo• 13 years ago

Neil Gaiman wrote something pretty great on enjoying the art of people whose worldview you disagree with:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/06/in-wee-small-hours-of-...

Scroll down to the third question (questions are in bold).

xenophonf2• 13 years ago

His books are entertaining, but "great"? Speaking as someone who suffered through Speaker and Xenocide and couldn't get past the first chapter or so of the first Thomas Covenant book, I beg to differ.

michaelbuddy2• 13 years ago

this needs to be read by everyone.

sixbrx• 13 years ago

Probably because most of the "entertainers" are just people famous for pretending to be other people who are worthy of attention/respect (or would be, if they existed). Which makes their leveraging of this to push theirs views something of a hack attempt on the pychology of the viewer.

otakucode2• 13 years ago

I don't understand this. It is impossible to create anything without making a political statement. How you form the world, what consequences you have to actions, everything is a political statement. Can anyone give me an example of any film that does not constitute a political statement? I'm a bit of a film buff but I don't know of any at all. Even action movies that seem utterly brainless are backed by political notions like the virtue of the soldier or the unimportance of innocent bystanders. Childrens movies usually communicate very definite ideas about gender roles. Nearly every science fiction movie seeks to convey that intellectuals are dangerous and only follows-their-heart heroes with a gun can save us.

I think if you don't believe there is a political statement in something you're watching, you're just not paying attention... or else you agree with the ideas presented as so fundamentally true that you can not understand anyone questioning them.

rhizome2• 13 years ago

I think there's an implicit bias against entertainers expressing politics because politicians are jealous: entertainers haven't had to compromise their politics in order to become public figures, and in many cases their popularity is directly related to these principles.

The vast majority of politics is populated by people who have mastered the art of selling out, and indeed diplomacy is the art of compromise. When someone who has been able to retain their youthful idealism is able to communicate it to large segments of the public, the knives come out.

ekianjo2• 13 years ago

A very poor article on the topic. I saw the movie last week in Japan, and it was alright, but not extremely good either (But since I hated the stupid "Ponyo" movie, it could only be better than the previous one...).

It's very difficult to make a movie about an engineer who does not fly himself (and therefore where there is not much action involved). Conveying his process of thought was near impossible and most of the time you end up seeing him scratching stuff on paper in the movie, or making paper airplanes. Mmm. This could have been better.

The love story felt very pointless (and almost fake), compared to his other movies as well. And since the movie was set in a realistic setting, there was not much of the imaginative fantasy that I like from his previous works.

I liked some other aspects, like how he refers to the cultural exchanges between Germany and Japan before the War, and how Japan felt that they were clearly behind in terms of technology vs Junker. That was insightful and well done.

All in all, an OK movie. I won't go and watch it a second time, however, I don't think it deserves a second viewing. Unlike most of his other movies that I watch from time to time.

Funny trivia, that you may have heard of: the director of Evangelion (Anno Hideki) was chosen to dub the hero's voice in 'Kaze Tachinu'. However you can clearly see he's an amateur and he does not put much passion in his lines. Maybe that was on purpose. You get used to it after a while, but it really feels like he's reading.

gaelian• 13 years ago

During a visit to Japan, I had the opportunity to get along to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka[1]. I've enjoyed the Ghibli/Myazaki stuff that I have seen, even though my tastes generally lean towards the Seinen side of things. But the point I wanted to make here is that the Ghibli Museum was totally awesome and I'd recommend it to anyone with any interest in manga or anime.

1. http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/

jayfuerstenberg• 13 years ago

I also visited it a few years back.

It's no Disneyland but there's a wholesomeness to it. It's not just about money, but also about humanity.

I really love Ghibli films and want to support the studio.

otakucode2• 13 years ago

At what point would conservatives have been happy with any of Miyazakis films?

Hayao Miyazaki upsets some fans and angers conservatives with his latest film

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