Anyone a little tired of the enviormentalist themes……..
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SeisCinemaSeis — 15 years ago(August 16, 2010 06:10 PM)
I think to be tired of environmentalist themes is to be tired of nature.
By far the best post in this nonsensical and absurd thread on people moaning and bitching about something intrinsically GOOD for everyone.
It's sad to read so many complains. Shame on them. -
scarlettbees — 15 years ago(September 12, 2010 08:28 AM)
"By far the best post in this nonsensical and absurd thread on people moaning and bitching about something intrinsically GOOD for everyone.
It's sad to read so many complains. Shame on them."
Shame on YOU.
It's okay to not share your viewpoints on the environment and your love of nature. There are many arguments to be made on the arrogance of Man not only in how we treat nature but in how people believe we can have a disastrous effect on it.
I happen to believe the Earth cleans itself and that we're not important enough to destroy it. If we become too much of a threat, nature will select US for extinction, but the planet will be just fine. If it makes you feel good to use recycled toilet paper, go ahead. But you're no better than me, who puts aluminum cans in with the rest of the garbage.
I hate your stupid signature -
toddtw — 15 years ago(September 12, 2010 03:54 PM)
That's a pretty ignorant attitude. The earth is not sentient and doesn't "clean" itself. And yes, the earth will always be here in some form when we're gone, but how is that an excuse to make it an uninhabitable rock for the future of our species? I sure hope you aren't propagating.
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scarlettbees — 15 years ago(September 13, 2010 10:46 AM)
"That's a pretty ignorant attitude."
It's no more ignorant than your attitude that people are responsible for the warming of the climate or any other seeming imbalance of nature. You just can't accept the possibility that humans just aren't that significant.
"how is that an excuse to make it an uninhabitable rock for the future of our species?"
That's my point. We're NOT making it an uninhabitable rock. That's where your arrogance comes in.
"I sure hope you aren't propagating."
Not only am I procreating, I'm filling many landfills with lots and lots of disposable diapers without a second thought. Bwaaa-haa-haaaa!
Hippie douche.
The earth is not sentient and doesn't "clean" itself. And yes, the earth will always be here in some form when we're gone, but how is that an excuse to make it an uninhabitable rock for the future of our species? I sure hope you aren't propagating."
I hate your stupid signature -
toddtw — 15 years ago(September 13, 2010 12:58 PM)
Regardless of whether we're causing global warming or not, wouldn't it be logical to err on the side of caution? You seem to be so sure of everything, but the fact is no one is completely sure. I could be wrong. You could be wrong. Why take that chance? Why be a wasteful moron with no regard to anything else?
I'm sorry but if you seriously don't think humans have some significant effects on this planet you are a fool. While they may not affect our planet long-term, these things certainly have the ability to affect the survivability of our species short-term. -
WyldeSoul — 16 years ago(August 22, 2009 08:17 AM)
There is one really interesting thing about the Miyazaki environmental themes, vs the environmental themes shoved down our throat with thing such as WALLE
In all Miyazaki films, the environment is never helpless, and people are never fully bad.
With Ponyo, if you notice, one of the earliest "action" scenes of the movie involved a ship CLEANING the bay, and yet Fujimoto is blind to all the good that people are now doing, merely stuck on the bad that people have done. It's part of the flaw of his character, that he doesn't believe humanity is worth saving, but he's shown up by a little boy.
With Nausicaa, there is a very, very true fact that almost no environmental themed movie has EVER done.
Nature can adapt, and nature can save it'self. The planet was destroyed by poisons of war from humanity's past, but the poisonous air and more importantly the poisonous soil was being cleaned and purified by nature.
Place that in stark contrast to WALLE, where mere trash has completely devastated the planet of all life. And we're not even talking about poisons of war, fallout, or anything truly deadly. Nature isn't that helpless, and that's one of the major themes of environmentalism in Miyazaki's, and Ghibli as a whole's work.
Some of the more stark "people are bad" things are because before the 80's, Japan had absolutely NO intent of preserving the environment at all, and it's merely a fact of life there that there is still much trash to pick up still. Especially in the water where it's not easily visible.
I don't know about you, but I'll take Ghibli's environmental messages over Disney's any day. -
jpb58 — 16 years ago(August 24, 2009 06:06 AM)
Well said. Thousands of scientists have debunked "global warming" but let's face it, its theory makes a lot of money for some people (i.e. Al Bore).
I'm against pollution and think there should be penalties for people who do it. Just don't tax me to pay for the left's "global warming" theory. We're taxed enough. -
Sea4Shoes — 16 years ago(August 24, 2009 01:58 PM)
^^Exactly. Global Warming DOES exist, and we need to do something about it. But I agree that they need to focus more on other environmental issues, as well. So to answer the OP's question, no. I am not at all tired of environmental themes in everything.
We're having too good a time today, we ain't even thinkin about tomorrow
Public Enemies -
jpb58 — 16 years ago(August 25, 2009 08:32 AM)
What disappearance, Lib Koolaid Drinker? They're still there.
http://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/earth_icy_planet/glaciers04-en.html?i d=9 -
cutebruiser — 16 years ago(September 03, 2009 02:16 PM)
They are still there, for now, but they're continuing to shrink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retreat_of_glaciers_since_1850#Greenland -
rdufault — 16 years ago(March 22, 2010 12:51 PM)
Apparently the coincidence of world temperatures rising hand in hand with human adoption of coal and gasoline burning technologies, coupled with the destruction of the ozone layer (remember that, from the nineties? Funy how no one talks about that any more!) is meaningless when conservative governments and giant corporations tell you it's just one of nature's cycles.
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paolo_oprandi — 16 years ago(February 13, 2010 01:34 PM)
I am completely with WyldeSoul.
I'd also say as
individuals
humans are "probably" the only species capable of considering the future of species other than themselves.
However, Miyazaki correctly portrays humans as a
collective
like any other species - blind to the future and only really concerned with their own survival.
Only individuals in Miyazaki's films are wise (spiritually aware). In Princess Mononoke Ashitaka is wiser than all of the Gods (the boars, the wolves, or the apes) except perhaps the Forest Spirit.
Miyazaki in a way also debunks the environmentalist because he demonstrates we are just part of nature and despite being the most intelligent species nature is less in our hands than we are in its. Yes of course we should take care of it because we are part of it, but it will always come back whatever we do.
Anyway Ponyo is not even about remotely the environment. -
dave_o-1 — 16 years ago(February 20, 2010 10:23 PM)
paolo oprandi, it's funny that you should say that, i think after we deforested, mined, depleted all of the resources and kill our selves off the planet will go back to it was before we ever came. it might take 10,000,000 years but its just a drop in the bucket.
by the way love miyazaki -
dballred — 16 years ago(September 03, 2009 06:38 PM)
I'm not the least bit tired of them. If I were worried about how he expresses his political leanings instead of sitting back and enjoying each msterfully-crafted story, I would have stopped watching from the start. He and his long-time associate and producer, Toshio Suzuki, were student radicals during the sixties and haven't changed a bit now that they are in
their
sixties. Miyazaki's an environmentalist, a feminist, and a pacifist. All of these themes appear in nearly all of his films. He holds little regard for the traditional nuclear family, showing nearly all of his young heroes and heroines as products of their communities instead of parents.
Nonetheless, the poltical themes don't overpower any of his stories. Just think of his injection of a political message as a paid commercial. -
Knightmessenger — 16 years ago(September 08, 2009 04:05 PM)
I haven't seen Ponyo yet so I can't comment on it. However, the political theme that most annoyed me was actually the anti-war attitude in Howl's Moving Castle. Now I tried to read the book and found it very confusing but I know there wasn't a war in the book. And it had absolutely no plot point at all in the movie. Then at the end, the lady says "It's time to end this pointless war" with no explanation why that was the proper time to do so. Why not earlier if she knew it was pointless? It seems like the only reason the war was ended was because it was the end of the movie.
In other Miyazaki films, his themes tied in with the story and were very relevant to movie. The war in Howl's Moving Castle just seemed tacked on for no apparent reason.
http://www.youtube.com/Knightmessenger
originaltrilogy.com -
taikero — 12 years ago(January 10, 2014 11:14 AM)
However, the political theme that most annoyed me was actually the anti-war attitude in Howl's Moving Castle. Now I tried to read the book and found it very confusing but I know there wasn't a war in the book. And it had absolutely no plot point at all in the movie.
In other Miyazaki films, his themes tied in with the story and were very relevant to movie. The war in Howl's Moving Castle just seemed tacked on for no apparent reason.
You need to go back and watch Howl's Moving Castle again, preferably with English subtitles turned on so you don't miss key information.
We clearly overhear near the beginning of the film that a war is beginning because of the missing prince, who is Turnip-head. The other kingdom thinks that Madame Suliman's kingdom has kidnapped/killed their prince. Obvious reason there for a war. Countries have battled over far less.
As for the "anti-war" message, if anything it seemed more like the film was concerned with the use of magic (advanced weaponry) in the war that endangered citizens. Howl didn't agree with the way the war was conducted as it left a lot of damage in its wake. There is some room for interpretation as to Howl's motivations, as he does refer to himself as a "coward" in some scenes (some say he's a pacifist, though I don't fully agree with that). However, I wouldn't exactly say the film is anti-war. If anything it's somewhat philosophical in its approach, positing that great damage is being done to both kingdoms over one person who was cursed by some witch or wizard we never have true knowledge of within the film. The war is actually occurring under inaccurate pretenses (we don't know which kingdom the prince's cursing occurred in, nor do we know the reason), due to a lack of trust and communication between the two kingdoms.
You could almost say that the war is less about the two kingdoms and more a commentary on how relationships often thrive or fail based on trust and communication, and when that falls through, conflict arises.
Then at the end, the lady says "It's time to end this pointless war" with no explanation why that was the proper time to do so. Why not earlier if she knew it was pointless? It seems like the only reason the war was ended was because it was the end of the movie.
The prince is clearly visible still on his scarecrow stick as Heen shows the misfit family to Suliman at the end of the movie. Suliman sees the missing prince has been found and that is why the war will end.