Anti-war work by Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki is a famous anti-war animator. His antiwar masterpieces include Howl’s moving castle, princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky etc. Miyazaki likes to portray the cruelty of war in a love story, especially the damage to nature, and he has a unique insight into the effects of warfare on the natural environment. Miyazaki said ‘Before long, the apprehension of nature’s alterity turns into dread. Nature is no linger seen as an inert setting available for scientists to poke and probe, but rather as a threatening agency.Hayao Miyazaki’s World Picture (2015, p.31) As a child, Miyazaki had to flee his town of Utsonomiya amid the firebomb raids of World War Two. Growing up in post-war Japan, he witnessed firsthand its rapid modernisation and rapid urban sprawl.These experiences would make a lasting impression on Miyazaki who has pushed anti-war and pro-environmental messages in his films, which were rare when he first started out.Hayao Miyazaki: Japan’s godfather of animation?(BBC news, 2016)
The princess Mononoke , this film is a classic of Miyazaki’s anti-war works, especially on environmental protection. In the movie, because people are greedy to mine more iron, the habitat of animals in the forest has been destroyed, and at the same time, the animal sand human beings are at loggerheads. In my opinion, this film is also be the most cruel film from Miyazaki, people can see the blood and the severed body at every where. Environmentalism is a primary theme, as the characters struggle to balance human survival with the needs of the nature around them.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is Miyazaki’s first work, in the film Nausicaa of the Valley of Stroke (1984), in which two apocalyptic kingdoms, Tolumekia and Pejite, are locked in a struggle for survival for control of an ancient weapon of mass destruction called “Giant Warrior”.Even to destroy their own country completely in order to destroy another country.Studio Ghibli’s first official work was Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky (1986).As in Nausicaa, the main villains are agents and soldiers of an imperial government determined to rediscover and use an ancient weapon of mass destruction.Like Princess Nausicaa, the young heroes of Sky City, Princesses Sita and Pazu, try to avoid war by destroying weapons of mass destruction.
Takahata’s Tomb of the Fireflies has a very different narrative style than Miyazaki’s, even though Tomb of the Fireflies comes from Studio Ghibli. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote in a 2000 review that “since the earliest days, animated films have been cartoons for children and families. But these films exist within safe confines, arousing tears but not sadness. The grave of the firefly is full of emotion. Such a powerful experience forces people to rethink animation.” (Heather Chen, 2018). BBC News (World) (2018) tweeted its assessment of the Grave of the Fireflies “If anyone thinks anime is only made up of over-the-top facial expressions, a lot of sexual content and corny teen romance, watch Grave of the Fireflies and prepare to be proven 100% wrong.” Grave of the Fireflies opens on the same day that Studio Ghibli releases another film, My Neighbor Totoro.
The two sisters ran barefoot along the country road, in the home to the pipe at the foot, so beautiful scene reminiscent of childhood good life, but the manager of the fireflies in the tomb of the two brother and sister but let a person love dearly, father go to war, the mother had been killed, stay in relatives and intermittently cynicism, the sister died because of malnutrition, male leading role also lost power last live starved to death in the street. It’s clear that Ghibli is using Totoro’s beauty as a counterpoint to the brutality of war.
Despite his deep disappointment with the adult world, Miyazaki describes himself as a pessimist, and doomsday images recurs repeatedly in his films.But he is not a hopeless pessimist. His films are filled with brave and caring young men and women who act as sober messianic figures to save the day from the human devastation wrought by careerists.
Dani, C. (2015) Hayao Miyazaki’s World Picture Japan: Jefferson NC : McFarland & Company.
BBC(2016)Hayao Miyazaki: Japan’s godfather of animation.Available https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38074088 (Accessed: 20 May 2021)
Chen, H. (2018) ‘Grave of the Fireflies: The haunting relevance of Studio Ghibli’s darkest film’ Asia 16 April. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43695803 (Accessed: 9 March 2021)
BBC News (World) [@BBCWorld] (2018) [Twitter] 16,April. Available at: https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/985736379903639557