Totoro

I was a bit confused as to why some of my fellow classmates said that Totoro is deassuring and has no real plot. How exactly is the film deassuring? It's like one of the most assuring film by Miyazaki. The bright colors used, the young, innocent characters, and the cute monsters all contribute to the assurance felt at the end of the film. None of the characters die, and none of them get hurt within the story. The little girls seem to just grow and their happiness and care for their mother only makes the assurance stronger. You can't imagine anything bad happening to them and it's almost like you know Totoro won't let anything bad happen. That's why Totoro is such a popular mascot throughout the world: he's big, cuddly, and reliable.
As for the plot, the film does contain the general plot points of a typical film. It first introduces the characters and settings, the girls grow fond of Totoro, a problem arises (the mom is unable to come home due to sickness), the girls conflict with each other, Totoro helps solve the problem (through the catbus), and the girls makeup and realize their mother is alright. Although the story is not completely obvious, like a Disney animation is, it's all still there. Even though Totoro is a slice-of-life, with a touch of fantasy, it is a lot more complex then a typical Disney film. For example, in Disney's most recent animation, The Princess and the Frog, the main character starts off with nothing and ends up with everything she's ever wanted (a prince and a restaurant). In Totoro, the girls don't gain anything materialistic, but rather, a greater understanding for one another, as seen when Mei runs off to the hospital after seeing her older sister cry. The girls also become more mature. That's one of the big differences between Miyazaki and Disney: Disney usually centers stories around young adults while Miyazaki has a lot of young characters, who are prone to greater change, both physically and mentally.

8.6

Castle in the Sky

The one main thing that really stood out to me upon watching Castle in the Sky, was that Miyazaki really loves to use female protagonists. His female protagonists are all very similar: young (teens), innocent personalities, and short hair (eventually). Miyazaki's views on girls with short hair is very interesting. It seems as though he links short hair with assertiveness, control, and courage. Nausicaa originally has short hair, which matches her reliable character. She rides her glider and tries to take control of her own life. In Howl's Moving Castle, Sophie is, at first, not as strong as Nausicaa (at one point, she evens displays her dependancy through tears and begging); however, towards the end of the movie, Sophie grows and takes charge of a difficult situation. This happens only after she cuts her hair short and offers it to Calicifer.
Sheeta is almost identical, if not, the origin of Sophie's character. Sheeta is dependant on Pazu and never takes the lead. It is only after Muska shoots off her ponytails that Sheeta has the power to defeat her enemy. She does so by chanting the spell of destruction. In other words, long hair is the barrier for a girls true potential of power and just.

It is surprising how people miss the details that tell you alot about (and confirm your opinions of) the characters. The one part that I caught upon watching the destruction scene a second time was Muska's true intentions. Muska only allowed the heroes to have three minutes to themselves because he ran out of bullets. He probably thought that Pazu had a shell left in his cannon, even though Pazu didn't. By giving the children time, he also got time to reload. Muska probably thought that it'd end up as a shooting spree. This is why Muska is shown to reload and why he looked so shocked when Pazu threw down his gun. I mean, come on, would Muska, a guy who threatened to shoot off a girl's ears, willingly give time for his opponents to discuss? If Muska still had bullets left, he would've just shot and killed Sheeta, then shoot Pazu in the knee to make him immobilized and torture him for the location of the stone. Muska's scary aiming shown earlier proves that he could've easily done so.

8.7

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

As I was watching Nausicaa for the first time, I saw many similar characteristics in both story and characters compared to Miyazaki's later work, Princess Mononoke. Both films contain strong female leads and have a very similar conflict between nature loving people, war centered people, and nature itself. I found it very strange how Miyazaki borrowed from his own film, especially to this extent. It reminds me of remakes of films, such as Ocean's 11 and Sherlock Holmes, and how the remakes are generally accepted and enjoyed by the public, mainly because of the time gap between the original and the remake. Despite the similarities, Nausicaa is much more female lead centered than Princess Mononoke is, making it less of a mainstream film.
In Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka, the male lead, got a much bigger part in the story than did the boy in Nausicaa did. So much so, that I could even say to some extent that Princess Mononoke's main protagonist is Ashitaka. You can't really say the same for Nausicaa. Nausicaa is definitely the main character (I even forgot the boy's name). This shift in gender role/power makes Nausicaa so much more interesting.
Nausicaa is very complex, in that it has an animistic, religious, and scientific phase. The Tolmekians are narcisstic and ascribe omnipotence to themselves. The valley people respect the toxic forest and the creatures that live in it, making them religious in a way. Science is shown from what Nausicaa finds out about the Earth. Having all three different views in one film makes the contrast between phases visible. The film is really centered on omnipotence and who should receive it. It turns out that a balance of the three is needed in order to maintain peace. The people in the film should be powerful and work hard themselves in order to grow and thrive. The people should also treat the toxic forest with respect and in doing so, recognize the power which it contains. Science should not have omnipotence, but instead should be practiced and understood, just like how Nausicaa understood how the Earth is trying to save itself and it's inhabitants.
The film gives a lot of emphasis on the ohmu. The ohmu is similar to the forest god in Princess Mononoke, in that they both have their own song which plays whenever they are shown. Upon listening to it, I always get this feeling of a majestic palace or control and power, which is pretty much what the ohmu is. It is amazing how Miyazaki makes something so huge and creepy, into something peaceful and caring.

8.8

The Castle of Cagliostro

Even though The Castle of Cagliostro is one of Miyazaki's first films, it is still very entertaining with a bunch of different elements, including festive, nostalgic, and apocalyptic themes. These were all pretty obvious in the sequences shown in class: the opening scene of robbing the casino is festive, the flashback scene is nostalgic, and the destruction of the castle and the tidal waves are apocalyptic. What I found interesting is that at the end of the film, the heroes do not end up with immense fortune as what is expected. Instead, they leave with exactly what they had when they arrived, aside from new friendships and experiences. This "happy ending" is very different compared to mainstream American cinema where the heroes always end up with treasure at the end of the film. A perfect example of this would be National Treasure where the heroes obtained riches for finding the lost artifacts. In Cagliostro, even though Lupin "found" an ancient civilization, he had no desire to become rich from it. Perhaps this is just a difference in story, or it could be a difference in culture.

8.0