Today I'm following the usual protocol: I have a million things to do and I'm tired out of my mind so naturally it's time to update my blog.
I've actually been staying pretty on top of my Ghibli movie watching spree. It's surprisingly easy to do when you have consistent free access to a gigantic film collection (thank you Orem Public Library!). Today I'm going to talk Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky.
Nausicaa has a very long and semi-interesting history about how it got to America. It's pretty dramatic to some people (myself included, at least the first time I heard it) and if you're really curious you can read about it (here) but I'm lazy and I don't think the story is relevant so I'm not going to discuss it further.
If I wanted to get technical about it Nausicaa actually isn't an official Ghibli movie since it's creation pre-dates the official founding of the studio but it is ceremoniously considered the first Studio Ghibli film. Which I think is a good thing because Nausicaa blows Castle in the Sky out of the water in terms of awesomeness.
Nausicaa is very obviously a Miyazaki film. He has a tendency to recycle the following themes: environmentalism, feminism, pacifism, loving relationships (not just romantic love), and flying....the guy really has a thing for flying mechanisms. Nausicaa is super heavy handed with the environmentalism and pacifism themes. In fact, the environmental plot line in this movie could almost be used as an allegory for pacifism.
Allow me to explain:
Nausicaa takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where, due to tampering with technologies too powerful for mankind to handle, humanity has essentially destroyed the ecosystem and created a vast and deadly toxic jungle infested by gigantic hostile insects. However with time and a lack of tampering the jungle is purifying itself, a fact that is unbeknownst to most of the population. In addition, the Valley of the Wind has learned that by harnessing wind power and generally leaving the jungle alone they are able to live peacefully. If they try to hack away at the jungle it only leads to the spread of noxious spores and death. By this we learn that aggression only leads to greater calamity and chaos and if we chose not to become entangled in futile troubles then things have a tendency to work themselves out and we are better for it.
Another big theme not just Studio Ghibli movies but in a lot of animes in general is the fatality of tampering with technologies that we don't fully understand and that could have major repercussions. This is a big reflection on modern Japanese history. You may have heard of a little incident that happened way back when referred to as "World War II." If you're unaware of how that war ended in Japan it happened when America dropped two giant ass bombs, vaporizing countless people in seconds and killing countless more in the weeks, months, and years following the event. In fact, to this day Japan still feels the repercussions to that catastrophic event. A small one of those repercussions is the realization of the frailty of man. This idea is reflected rather subtly in Nausicaa with the inclusion of the character Kushana who makes a disturbing implication to being more metal than flesh and bone due to a previous encounter she had with an insect. Also the inclusion of the "God Warriors" with their horribly destructive powers that nearly wiped out the entire human population and lead to the creation of the toxic jungle. Ok....so that one's not so subtle but it still gets the point across.
All in all Nausicaa is a pretty rad movie. It's not the most refined of Miyazaki's films but it still does a bang up job and it gets the point across.
Castle in the Sky however....
This movie is mediocre at best. It still deals with themes of peace and environmentalism(ish) and flying machines are heavily featured but there isn't really a progression in story. And the themes seem to simply be slapped onto the end as an afterthought. All in all it's pretty crude for Miyazaki and when it's compared to all his other work it falls a little flat.
And that's all for now!
Next time we'll discuss the world's most depressing movie and the great atrocities war can exploit children to....specifically children.
Cheerio!
