Hayao Miyazaki Favorites Part Five: Princess Mononoke

All this week I'll be blogging about my five favorite animated feature films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. He also co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most well known animation film studios.

1997's Princess Mononoke is probably the greatest animated film ever made, with the possible exception of Akira, which is a topic I could debate for hours, even by myself. If I was pressed I would probably say Princess Mononoke is the best fantasy animated feature, and Akira is the best Sci-Fi. That way, they can both be best. Here's the summary, from IMDB:

On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.

Where do I even start with this movie? Well, for one thing, Spirited Away may have won an Academy Award, but keep in mind, Best Animated Feature only became an Oscar after 2001. If it had existed when Mononoke came out? The Princess would have won hands down. Or bows down, whatever.

I don't want to even say too much about this movie. It's ... it's that awesome. I'll just say this: the setting is probably the coolest world I've ever encountered outside of perhaps Middle Earth. Technically, the film is supposedly set in the Muromachi Period of feudal Japan, but that's never made clear, and there is no question that other than having a contemporary technology level for that period in Nippon's history, the setting isn't even close to realistic.

Or is it? If you're Japanese, and Shinto, or even Buddhist, you have some very interesting beliefs. You believe in Kami. You believe in Oni. You believe inanimate objects have souls (Obake).You believe gods and spirits walk the earth every day, just an humans do. It's this rich spiritual tradition in Japan that makes movies like Princess Mononoke so deep. The mythology, while original and unique, is still based on a complicated and entrenched system of spiritual history (think how The Lord of the Rings is made so much stronger by the mythology of The Silmarillion).

Anyway, look, like all Miyazaki films, I could go on about this one forever. The bottom line is that this movie is a must-see, especially for any writer of speculative fiction, in which building entire living, breathing worlds is key.



And now that this series is done, let me point you to some related entertainment:

Honorable mentions by Hayao Miyazaki:

• Howl's Moving Castle (based on the book, by Diana Wynne Jones)
• Castle in the Sky (AKA Laputa, NOTE: I'm unclear how, or if, this relates to Gulliver's Travels)

NOTE: I have not personally seen Porco Rosso, but I'm told it's wonderful.

Honorable mentions from Studio Ghibli:

• Whisper of the Heart (Miyazaki wrote but did not direct--and this is a fabulous film for any creative type person to see--I'm serious, all writers MUST see this film)
• The Secret World of Arrietty (another Miyazaki wrote the screenplay for, adapted from the book The Borrowers, by Mary Norton)
• Tales from Earthsea (loosely based on the fantastic series, by Ursula K. Le Guin)
• Grave of the Fireflies (Trigger Warning - this is literally the saddest animated film ever made)

Bonus:

• io9 discusses the trailer for From Up on Poppy Hill (written by Miyazaki and directed by his son)

And all in all, that's it. I hope you enjoyed this series, and were exposed to some new things. Have a great weekend!

Hayao Miyazaki Favorites Part Four: Spirited Away

All this week I'll be blogging about my five favorite animated feature films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. He also co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most well known animation film studios.

Based heavily on the Japanese religion, Shintoism, 2001's Spirited Away is possibly Miyazaki's scariest film, but it may also be his most unique. It is his only film to win an Academy Award (2003 Best Animated Feature). 10-year-old Chihiro is a precocious little girl, whose curiosity gets the best of her when her family, during their move to the suburbs, takes a wrong turn and accidentally discovers what they think is an abandoned amusement park. From IMDB:

In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures.

This is probably the most Japanese of Miyazaki's films as well. Inside the amusement park, Chihiro's parents are trapped by their own greed, and transformed into pigs. From there begins a harrowing adventure in which the young girl must attempt to escape from a bathhouse which serves as a rest stop for the spirit world. From the witch Yubaba and her sister Zeniba, to paper shikigami, to spider yokai, to a dragon named Haku/Sen, to a stink spirit, Spirited Away is filled with the most strange and wonderful cast of characters of any animated film that I have ever seen.

Though on the surface this is a story about a young girl, it's a very mature and nuanced tale. The liminal journey she takes is almost ritualistically psychedelic in nature, and I could imagine small children being quite scared by certain aspects of this film. When Yubaba steals Chihiro's true name, the innocence of her childhood is essentially left behind.

Nonetheless, this is an excellent movie. The animation and artistry alone make this one of my all time favorite animated films. An absolute must-see.

Hayao Miyazaki Favorites Part Three: My Neighbor Totoro

All this week I'll be blogging about my five favorite animated feature films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. He also co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most well known animation film studios.

1988's My Neighbor Totoro may be the most adorable animated movie ever made. It's especially enjoyable for families with young children, because its innocence and curiosity mirror the vigorous interest of young minds, but its mystery and underlying themes are sophisticated enough to keep even the most discerning parent entertained. From IMDB:

When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wonderous forest spirits who live nearby.

Totoro is a simple, quiet film, full of adorable spirits, and fabulous creatures, which I find absolutely endearing, even if my friend, Adam, is creeped out by Catbus (follow those links, Adam, you'll love the last one). That said, there are some serious themes at work as well: conservation, the environment, the fear of moving into a new place, and imagination in general.

All in all, I think this quote from Roger Ebert sums it up well: "one of the lovingly hand-crafted works of Hayao Miyazaki ... My Neighbor Totoro is based on experience, situation and exploration—not on conflict and threat ... it would never have won its worldwide audience just because of its warm heart. It is also rich with human comedy in the way it observes the two remarkably convincing, lifelike little girls ... It is a little sad, a little scary, a little surprising and a little informative, just like life itself. It depends on a situation instead of a plot, and suggests that the wonder of life and the resources of imagination supply all the adventure you need."

Hayao Miyazaki Favorites Part Two: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

All this week I'll be blogging about my five favorite animated feature films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. He also co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most well known animation film studios.

1984's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is one of the first Science-Fantasy tales I ever came across (as in guns, motorized gliders, giant-airships, but also knights and swords and monsters). Technically, it's actually a post-apocalyptic setting, but you wouldn't necessarily know that unless you'd read the manga. From IMDB:

Warrior/pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.

Nausicaä is a young princess, who rules the Valley of the Wind, and spends much of her time researching the mutant giant insects in the poisonous jungles surrounding her homeland. When the kingdom of Tolmekia invades, and tries to use ancient technology they don't understand to destroy the jungle, Nausicaä must convince them of the errors of their ways.

Set in one of the most fabulous landscapes, and containing some of the most iconic creatures ever to grace the animated silver screen, including the gigantic, armored caterpillars/trilobites called Ohmu, Valley of the Wind is Miyazaki's second feature film. And though it is not technically a Studio Ghibli production, it is considered by most the spiritual antecedent to that studio's rise to fame.

Upon it's English re-release, the film continued in the Miyazaki tradition of casting famous actors to voice the adaptations, and included such heavyweights as Patrick Stewart, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, and Eward James Olmos.

I could not actually find an official trailer, because this movie is old and somewhat rare, but this one will give you a good idea of the tone of the film:

Hayao Miyazaki Favorites Part One: Ponyo

All this week I'll be blogging about my five favorite animated feature films written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. He also co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of Japan's most well known animation film studios.

So, today is about my fifth favorite Miyazaki film. 2008's Ponyo is the quintessential Miyazaki film. Set in a contemporary Japanese coastal town, it features his well known mix of realism and fantasy. From IMDB:

An animated adventure centered on a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who longs to become human.

This movie is absolutely adorable. The relationship between Sosuke and Ponyo is brimming with adventure, and that tender kind of love that only comes with first friendships. There is an underlying environmental theme, but it's subtle, and the magic that occurs throughout the tale feels just right, with only a hint of the seriousness of it all hovering beneath the surface.

I could go on forever about this film, as I could for all Miyazaki features, but I'll just leave you with the trailer, so you can all get back to your days:



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Kristen Wixted Mini Interview

Man, since I've been on hiatus so long, I think I kind of forgot how to blog. I used to be so good at it, writing series, publishing flash fiction, featuring successful queries, along with critiquing good ones that needed just a little work. But now, it's all I can manage to eke out three or four sentences.

Well, I'm doing it to you again today. I'm over at Kristen Wixted's (an awesome writer and blogger I've actually met IRL). She has a new series she's calling Quick Questions with Kristen, which are basically just fun, light, mini-interviews. Here is the link to mine.

Happy hump day.

A Song of Ice and Fire

This series could have been called A Song of Onions, Turnips, and the Human Nipple. I'm only kidding, but Martin did seem a bit obsessed with certain things.

Anyway, I just finished A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book in this series, on Friday. I'm not really going to review the series, because, for one thing, I don't do reviews, and for another, the scope of this story is just too grand to be analyzed by me, especially when I'm not yet done absorbing everything the tale has to say.

I will talk about some writing mechanics type things that Martin does well. I won't talk about any possible weaknesses, although these books can be very frustrating at times. Mostly I want to talk about what it's like to take nearly a year to read a series, and then be nowhere closer to any kind of conclusion than you were before. This feeling is why I usually don't begin a series until it's all been published, but when I heard about HBO doing the show, I knew I'd be left with no choice.

The nice thing is, now I'll be able to read other books. It's not like I haven't read any other books while I was reading Martin, but each of the books in this series is at least 800 pages long, so there was a certain time commitment necessary to get through them all.

Anyway, this post will end up going on far too long if I try to talk about everything that comes to mind ... maybe I should turn it into a series. No, that time would be better spent on my own novel. But I do want to cover what I think is Martin's greatest strength.

There are no heroes and no villains. Just like in real life, people do not go around thinking "I'm a good guy," or "I'm a bad guy." They just don't. Some people do the right thing, because they were raised that way, or because they enjoy it, or for any number of reasons, but people don't go to war, or on missions, because they want to be a hero. Some people have less than worthwhile motives and goals, but they don't set out to be evil, just for evil's sake. They generally believe what they are doing is right, or that at least the ends justify the means.

Martin is the master are both creating and portraying both sides of the spectrum. There are absolutely no heroes and no villains in this story. The characters you begin by absolutely hating, eventually come around to earn at least some sympathy. The characters you were at first convinced were full of nothing but honor or innocence, or both, reveal their humanity soon enough.

There is one particular section, I believe it was the fourth book, in which I was so over having to read chapters from this one character's point of view, because this character was essentially reprehensible, and yet. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.

Have you ever experienced something like that? Obviously if this would have happened earlier in the story, I probably would have given up on it, but I think the way that Martin built the plot (or lack thereof, depending on your opinion), up to the point where even reading the POV of characters you essentially hated was still fascinating. I basically have no idea how he made it work.

Wow. So this probably makes very little sense to any of you. Has anyone read these books? Seen the show? Even if you've read them, can you make any sense of my spoiler avoiding ramblings?

How bout those Kansas City Chiefs?