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Fantasy and Studio Ghibli - Part One: “Trees and peopleused to be good friends.”

I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli animation. Its films are famous for their meticulous detail,beautifully-paced exposition and subtle handling of difficult themes. But what I’d like to talkabout in these two articles is the way Studio Ghibli uses fantasy. Here, fantasy means morethan Hollywood monsters or bits of mythology mashed up in a big-budget melting pot. Fantasyin Studio Ghibli is a glorious celebration of childhood imagination that captures all the wondersand dangers of growing up in an imbalanced world.

My first article for Fantasy-Faction touched on my own experience of growing up surrounded byfantasy books, and the ways in which they helped me relate to my environment. The fantasy inStudio Ghibli is imbued with the same transitional power. These films build a bridge betweenchildhood and adulthood, seamlessly blending childish delight with adolescent doubt. The Ghiblititles that achieve this most successfully are – unsurprisingly – those directed by the greatHayao Miyazaki. In this first part, I’ll be taking a thematic approach in order to look at one offantasy’s major themes: man vs nature, a conflict explored across the genre from The Lord ofthe Rings to Avatar.

“To see with eyes unclouded by hate”: Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä

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While the battle between man and nature features to some extent in every Miyazaki film, thesetitles make it central to the plot. At heart, this is a conflict between progress and preservation.Ever since the dawn of civilisation, humans have sought to govern their environment, a desirethat has resulted in the extinction of species, the destruction of rare habitats and naturaldisasters caused directly or indirectly by our continued interference with the earth. Assertingcontrol over nature is part of the greater attempt to control our lives and – more poignantly – ourdeaths. And it’s this struggle that Miyazaki conveys so powerfully in Princess Mononoke.

The film’s narrator sets up a classic scenario: once man and beast dwelt in harmony. Nature’sgods ruled over the forest and life thrived. But man grew greedy; we developed technology tobetter exploit the natural world, thereby upsetting the balance. Using shocking imagery,Miyazaki reveals just how much power mankind has gained over the forest’s animal divinities.Ashitaka, the film’s hero, belongs to a small, fading people, who openly symbolise an obsoleteway of life. The dying curse of a mad god pulls him unwillingly into the story and he embarks ona journey to discover the truth behind the iron bullet that corrupted the god and turned him into ademon.

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Miyazaki employs many recognisable fantasy tropes: Ashitaka’s heroic quest unfolds againstan epic backdrop; he has a mount with whom he can communicate; a traumatic event forceshim to seek his destiny. And his cursed arm (while slowly killing him) grants a really cool specialability: it powers up his arrows so that they’re capable of amputating limbs at long distance.While gushing blood from what would normally be a fatal chest wound, he single-handedlyopens Irontown’s massive gate while carrying the wolf girl, San, on his shoulder.

Princess Mononoke contains the most graphic violence of any Ghibli film I’ve seen thus far.Add to that the brilliant character of Lady Eboshi, who employs ex-brothel girls to work thebellows in her Irontown, and you begin to see just how far this film pushes the boundaries ofanimation. Eboshi could be called the story’s antagonist, but this is Miyazaki and characters arenever so clear-cut. Her nemesis, San, was raised by the wolf god and stands for everythingEboshi wants to eliminate. Ashitaka strikes the perfect balance between the two women: heloves the forest in the form of San, and yet he remains friend to the people of Irontown, seeingwhat San refuses to: that the old order must give way to new.

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It’s difficult to go into depth about Princess Mononoke without giving away spoilers. So I’llsimply urge you to watch it and move on to another film that shares these themes: Nausicaä ofthe Valley of the Wind. Technically this isn’t a Studio Ghibli film as it was made before theStudio was formed, but since it’s a Miyazaki masterpiece, I’m going to overlook that detail.

Imbalance in the physical world again sits at the heart of this film. Like Ashitaka, Nausicaä toohas a destiny that involves restoring the bond between man and nature. We’re introduced to apost-apocalyptic society: the result of a war called the Seven Days of Fire, which turned theworld into a toxic jungle. This is the kind of future warned against in Princess Mononoke.

Nausicaä holds royal status among her people. She has an animal companion whose trust shehas earned, and her story unfolds against the same backdrop of ongoing conflict as Ashitaka’sdoes. Depressingly, humans have learned nothing from the lessons of the past. Instead ofseeking to mend the rift with the jungle and its fantastical insects, they resurrect a terribleweapon with which to burn it. Like Ashitaka, Nausicaä must pit herself against the folly of herown race, while retaining a healthy respect for the jungle that could kill her. She possesses no‘special’ powers other than her courage, selflessness and her ability to see beyond humanity’sfear and greed to a better world…which I guess are special powers after all.

“The world cannot live without love”: Laputa: Castle in the Sky

The third film I’d like to mention in part one of this article is Laputa. It shares some aspects of Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä, but the story and the history against which it is set play outdifferently. Again there’s a suggestion that human society has suffered some sort ofapocalypse: due to an unspecified disaster, the advanced technology that enabled cities to flyhas been lost and humans are forced to return to lives on the ground. However, as inNausicaä’s world, humanity still has military vehicles. It also has a developed economy, anarmy and a modern system of government. Miyazaki’s love of airships is very apparent hereand there are pirates.

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The fabled, lost city motif calls Atlantis to mind, and Miyazaki’s Laputa is a poignantinterpretation of the myth. Loneliness permeates the city’s empty halls. The complextechnology in its deepest levels continues to function, untouched by its makers’ hands. Andhere comes the classic Ghibli preoccupation with nature: on the top tier is a rambling garden,still growing while the city’s buildings fall in ruins. The child heroes of the film, Sheeta andPazu, discover a lonely robot whose job it is to tend the garden. There’s a haunting sadness tothis scene and one cannot help but wonder at the irony of an inorganic being caring for a site ofnature neglected by humans.

Although the film initially comes across as aimed at a slightly younger audience, there aremoments of violence to equal those in Mononoke, notably the antagonist Muska shooting offSheeta’s plaits and his henchmen opening fire on Pazu. Miyazaki never pulls his punches inmoments such as these; having grown up on a comfy diet of Disney, I found the children’s perilstartlingly real.

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The film’s ending is somewhat ambiguous in that it’s unclear what has actually been achievedor resolved. Skirting around spoilers, Laputa represents the irreclaimable past, a golden agethat is no more. The children’s heroism belongs to the new world, which, althoughtechnologically inferior, is burgeoning with life and hope because its technologically inferior.Unlike much of Disney’s fairy-tale fare, Miyazaki’s films are never about winning or losing;they’re about striving for understanding: a far more difficult and elusive aim.

In the second part of this article, I’ll discuss the more tangible fantasy elements of SpiritedAway, My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Title image by OnDadoor.

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