Sarah Louise Dean writes for Live for Films.
Toy Story 3 recently made history by being the first ever animated feature film to gain a ‘Best Film’ Oscar nomination. Disney/Pixar has thus capitalised on a modern phenomenon. Animation is now not just for kids; it is ultra-cool, and is gaining respect usually reserved for mainstream cinema. Thanks to roto-scoping and advances in CGI effects, the movie business is awash with what I call proto-animated films, but it gets my goat that the megalith that is Disney/Pixar is often seen as the only pure animation fish in the pond.
Pixar was formed around 1986, but didn’t truly hit the big time until the advent of the original Toy Story in 1995 and later was taken under a massive wing of the Disney Corporation. Pixar is responsible for some of the biggest box office grosses ever amassed. However at almost the same moment of its inception, the East was formulating it’s own centre of animated brilliance, and so began the life and works of Studio Ghibli.
To this day I ask people whether they have seen any Studio Ghibli (pronounced ‘Jiblee’) films and the first thing they do is frown and shake their heads. Then if I prompt them with the names of some of the most popular work, such at Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle, a few show a glimmer of recognition. But, to my daily sadness, the talent of Studio Ghibli is largely unknown to the Western world.
Studio Ghibli was the brainchild of genius Manga animator Hayao Miyasaki and well-known director Isao Takahata, who between them, have been in the animation business for nearly fifty years. Their films veer from the whimsical to the heart-wrenchingly beautiful and poetic, with every bit of raw emotion that is poured into Disney/Pixar’s masterpieces. And Ghibli films are painted on canvas with the artistic and slightly unhinged skill of a Picasso melded with the colour-plate of Monet. The films are not only movies, but also artistic pieces.
So why are they so little revered, outside of the film community? I believe there are three main reasons why Studio Ghibli may never possess the status or fame of Western animated movies, and we had better do something to change this soon.
1. I won’t let my children watch this filthy Manga!
I think that many filmgoers confuse Ghibli’s gentle Anime with the more violent aspects of Manga. Even though Manga covers a variety of Japanese animation, the brutal Manga of late night TV is unlikely to ever go mainstream, due to its coarse nature. I reckon most people feel that all Manga and Anime animation is neither fit for children or to the taste of those of us well over the age of Eighteen, given its pseudo-documented history of ultra-violence and pornographic stories, more closely aligned with rated 18 Sci-fi than with Disney.
I think Ghibli suffers the association simply as these are cartoon films being made in the same country. However, we would never judge the British or American film industry in the same way. I come from a country that is responsible for making Scum and Pride & Prejudice; the brutal genius of the former does not affect the simple splendour of the other.
But to show how wrong this point of view is, let’s look at my all time favourite Studio Ghibli film: My Neighbor Totoro. This is a story that couldn’t be further away from the more graphic Manga. It concerns two small girls, Mei and Satsuki, who move to a new house to be nearer to their sick mother. One day Mei is exploring the environs of the new house, and she accidently bumps into a strange creature, who goes by the name of Totoro. What follows is an engaging study on familial love told by allegory. We watch Mei’s burgeoning relationship with a magical and magnificent grey cuddly animal. The film is dripping in sweetness and has a rare humour. In this scene, Satsuki meets Totoro for the first time, and Totoro discovers the music in raindrops:
My Neighbor Totoro is, if anything, the anti-Manga anime film, it is a film that is just as expressive in its tale of relationships than any Disney/Pixar movie, and without the need for large set pieces or a constantly forward moving plot. The language of the characters and their location doesn’t hinder the viewer in their understanding of the universal theme of love for family.
2. I don’t recognise the characters, and neither will my children.
Another obvious barrier to Studio Ghibli’s popularity, is that the films come from a Japanese studio. To be hugely stereotypical, the Eastern film catalogue often centres on age–old tradition and mysticism that isn’t always palatable to those who grew up on a two-fold diet of Hovis and Big Macs (or, Christianity and science, or better still, Mary Poppins and E.T.). Ghibli stories are always morally centred but often adhere to a specific set of Eastern rules, which are sometimes converse to Western ideals. Of course, movie goers the world over will watch films set in different cultures, but it seems that animated children’s films are generally more successful when safely on Western turf (see the commercial success of Toy Story and Finding Nemo versus that of Mulan and Lilo & Stitch). Anime films are definitely odd, but they can be equally as cute, disarming and morally message-heavy as Western animation.
For example, in this trailer for Princess Mononoke, it is a number of forest gods (akin to Mother Nature) who are worshipped and destroyed by mankind, not a traditional cross is in sight, but the message is clear to us all:
Miyasaki & co have themselves taken this bridge in comprehension on board, and made a conscious effort to appeal not only to home grown audiences, but to entice Western children and adults with their unique take on Western stories. In fact, sometimes the animation itself strays so far away from a traditional Japanese animation format, that it becomes European feeling in its depiction. But Anime retains a timelessness in its storytelling which surpasses Disney/Pixar, who, if anything are becoming future-obsessed. A perfect example of an accessible Studio Ghibli classic is Howl’s Moving Castle. Based on a children’s story from 1986 by the recently departed Welsh writer Diana Wynne Jones, the film is a fairytale of young love over space, time and various magical curses, yet it’s a little more intelligent than any Shrek film. The scene below also demonstrates a further kowtowing to Western audiences from Ghibli, where the film is dubbed into English very convincingly, using high profile actors (here it is Emily Mortimer and Christian Bale):
3. Anime can never convey Western emotion like Disney can.
I believe Anime is not just every bit as good as Disney/Pixar but every bit as engaging as non-animation feature films. Neither commercial cinema nor American animation studios have the monopoly on condensing the continuum of human feeling into a couple of hours of viewing gold. The rarely seen (at least in this part of the world, it was very popular in Japan) but hugely poignant Only Yesterday is a Ghibli film that effortlessly depicts an adult story using animation with the utmost kindness. The film concerns 27-year-old Taeko, a hard working unmarried woman who seems happy on the outside and yet desperately yearns for love and inclusion. She visits her sister’s in-laws to help them with harvesting safflower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower). During this time she becomes philosophical, remembering her youth and first love. The score alone is incredibly moving, as can be heard here:
Going further, the films do not just concentrate on the fantastical but also on modern history. In Grave of the Fireflies, the horrors and realities of war are recalled in vivid detail, in a story of two orphans and their experience of World War II, and it is no more poignant than in this later scene SPOILER ALERT (you may cry)
There are every few Western animation films that are made convincingly for adults without them being sordid or jokey in nature. Anime never dismisses its audience or sugarcoats the harsher moments of life, and they are always beautifully presented.
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In essence, I believe that Anime is so much more than it is given credit for. Its films can be as heart-warming as Wall-E, as innovative as Up! and as entertaining as Toy Story. Ghibli movies tell heartbreakingly moving stories for adults, and fun fairytales for children. The back catalogue is full of delights, including the most famous Oscar winner I haven’t mentioned, the wonderful and brilliant Spirited Away, to the equally amazing but less seen The Cat Returns and Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind. Hayao Miyasaki is no longer directing the films himself (his son Goro is taking over, but if you’re quick you can see Hayao’s magical work in Ponyo, now out on DVD).
Finally, to show that Studio Ghibli animation is not all doom and gloom, I’ll end with the brilliant Kiki’s Delivery Service, a tale of a teenage witch with a very busy baking career ahead of her. You’ll fall in love with her hilarious cat Jiji.
I may still be climbing a steep hill in my crusade to bring the wonders of Studio Ghibli to mainstream cinema. But I know that I am not the only one who sees anime for all its beauty, eve the enemy does! You may have noticed Totoro’s bit part role in Toy Story 3, a subtle yet effective inroad into making anime more accessible to us all.
And finally, if you ever get bored of the Studio Ghibli back catalogue I recommend Belgian, French and Israeli animation films. Disney/Pixar had better hold tightly onto that crown, because everybody loves a cartoon!
