Anyone a little tired of the enviormentalist themes……..
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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.