Tokihiro Uno: Hayao Miyazaki and the "Motherhood Utopia" (Part 1)
Who is it that loses to nihilism?
In 1997, when Miyazaki published Princess Mononoke, I remember that when I was 18 years old, I had a slight rejection. More specifically, when I saw the posters announcing the release of the film posted at the stations and in the streets, and the posters of Shigeto Itoi's big-letter slogan "Live!" "When, can't help but feel annoying. I just think that whether it is a national animation writer or a red and purple advertising writer, I can't live to close your hammer. In fact, I didn't go to the cinema that summer to see the movie. I can't remember the specific reason, but I think it was because I didn't think it was necessary at the time.
From those years on, as a teenager, I gradually lost interest in Miyazaki as a creator. In the last scene of the 1994 manga version of Nausicaa in the Valley of the Winds, when Nausicaa instructed me to "live forever", I was full of thoughts: "Is it necessary to say this kind of soup on purpose?" So the next year, in "Listening to the Ear", I saw the heroine's rival play teenager, who at the same time echoed the cultural left-wing consumer social criticism that dominated the entire work, and inexplicably confessed that "I also like the concrete road", but did anyone really dislike the "concrete road", and the characters of my contemporaries said that it seemed to be a civilization criticism specially prepared to make the leader happy, and this unnatural impression has remained in my mind since then.
But after a while, when I borrowed video software from my sister and watched Princess Mononoke for the first time, I seemed to grasp the real body of Miyazaki's recent works that impressed me with the sense of violation. In short, my disappointment lies in seeing through Miyazaki's projection of his own sense of powerlessness onto the younger generation.
Needless to say, it is not young people who are imprisoned by powerlessness and nihilism, but Miyazaki. Even if they weren't preached by middle-aged uncles, young people (us at the time) certainly had to live well, and although they didn't think the concrete roads were particularly good, they weren't too dull to see the absurdity of Miyazaki's generation praising the idyllic style in the air-conditioned Tokyo House.
It is true that the streets at that time were filled with a large number of young people, who used the slogan of popular animation, as if deliberately heard, lazily muttering "So, everyone is dead...", but this is nothing more than the use of subculture buffers to instantly let the problem of self-awareness softly land, cunning and valuable "living in an endless daily life" wisdom, which is the same for the Miyazaki generation, should not change. All in all, the nihilism that Miyazaki had erected as an imaginary enemy at the time was nowhere to be found among the young people of the 90s (my generation), and it was clear that it was not young people, nor children, but adults who were upset. Of course, Miyazaki is also conscious of this. For example, during the production of Listening, he published a long "justification" essay depicting the treatment of his generation as an animation "for young people" (Note 1). "This work is a provocation of young people by uncles who have left regrets about their youth. This work is aimed at audiences who are easy to give up and don't think of themselves as the protagonists on stage — that is, once upon a time — and I want to arouse the thirst in their hearts and convey the importance of longing. When I read these "justifications," I just felt "nosy."
But with Princess Mononoke as an opportunity, my interest in Hayao Miyazaki was rekindled. That Miyazaki actually began to be afraid. This is enough to completely change the worldview that I have established so far. What exactly was this great writer anxious about, and why did he launch a solitary battle that cost the people money? What was this great writer, a great genius, afraid of during this time?
Princess Mononoke and Ashidaka's Ethics
In "Princess Mononoke", the most reflective of Miyazaki's nihilism is the protagonist Ashidaka. As early as the time of the release, it was pointed out many times that Ashidaka almost did not actively make any commitment to any situation, and he was a hindsight protagonist who only wiped his ass for the events caused by the actions of the characters around him. At the end of the story, many viewers should be shocked by the high-profile announcement that they will pay attention to and adjust the two opposing positions of Shan and Abosh, Forest and Dadara City, nature and artificiality. His purpose is to "see the world with innocent eyes", which is clearly expressed in the work, and I am afraid that this is the title of the work itself.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to argue that Princess Mononoke is a clumsy work, nor do I want to argue that Miyazaki, the creator, has not lived since this period. Contrary. Princess Mononoke is the first foreground of Miyazaki's perhaps marrow-soaked nihilism, and only by making this foreground clear can we create a work that depicts the confrontation between nature (Shan) and history (Ebersy) in a real sense.
Miyazaki refers to his cartoons as "manga movies" (manga movies). We can glimpse the idea that animation should depict fiction and fantasy that is completely cut off from reality. But this Princess Mononoke is distinctly different. Miyazaki, who has always been a "manga movie"—a lie truncated from reality as a social function, insisted on the expression of "manga movie" while citing Yoshihiko Neto's historical attempts to connect with reality, thus creating a completely different work from the past, "Princess Mononoke".
At the heart of Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki's repeated question of the opposition between nature and artificiality, for which Miyazaki did not seek "answers" from the beginning. Because "Princess Mononoke" is Miyazaki's work of "seeing the world with innocent eyes".
There is no ideal to be realized in this statement, and there is no desire to express it. But it is possible to passively and after-the-fact commitment to things, and to reline when things go wrong, which is both ethical, resilient, and politically "appropriate" (and because of this, it is difficult to associate with Miyazaki's male romanticism).
There are no special conclusions, no valid hypotheses, and no dreams that inspire people (!). However, the attitude of accepting this impotence and just persevering in the face of things, because in fact it does not claim anything, can be said to be indestructible as a narcissistic narrative technique.
Indeed, in winter, colds are prevalent, and people should wash their hands quickly and rinse their mouths thoroughly when they return home. It seems difficult to refute this, and there is no need for it. But even with this information, our relationship with the world will not change (although it may be "optimized"). Why, in the end, for us in this period, only such a proper and mediocre information can be placed in all animations, and thus the core of Miyazaki's animation? Of course, it is this kind of tenacity that can accept mediocrity, which supports this work called "Princess Mononoke" with unusual strength, which is beyond doubt.
In this sense, this work is indeed a major progress for hayao Miyazaki as a writer. But at the same time, after a few years of this work—from the end of the manga version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to The Ear To Listen, to this Princess Mononoke—the Psychic Treasure Jade has been decisively lost from Miyazaki.
Yes, Princess Mononoke is characterized by its absence from the certainty of the world.
For example, in this work, Miyazaki has been obsessed with the image of "flying" in his early works, basically does not appear. For Miyazaki, the certainty of the world is deeply linked to the imagery of "flying" (abandoned in Princess Mononoke). Further, it has a deep connection to male narcissism. "Porco Rosso" (1992), featuring a middle-aged pilot, and "The Wind Rises" (2013), which depicts the life of the aircraft designer... When Miyazaki makes no secret of his self-projection of the protagonist, it must be accompanied by the presence of an airplane.
However, the characters in this game "can't fly". Humans and monsters are just crawling on the ground. Then we fought bloody battles and lost a lot of things. Humans and ghosts are deeply and deeply hurt, and for this reality, the protagonist Ashidaka is basically just a "watchman". If there is anything that can be done, it is to alleviate the excessive intervention of the human being, that is, to return the head of the wild boar god and calm his anger as soon as possible. All Asitaka can do is keep fine-tuning so that the game balance isn't upset. Neither will it improve the game system, nor will it create an environment in which the game itself can be abandoned. The premise of this is to turn the world into something positive. So, when did Miyazaki start to lose his "dream" and lose his "flight"?
Boy Meets Girl？
In the public perception, Miyazaki is a writer with a strong tendency to tell the story of "Boy Meets Girl".
For example, when "Goldfish On the Cliff" was released (2008), in the conversations of the editorial staff recorded on the movie information website on the Internet, they had a common premise that was "Hayao Miyazaki = Boy Meets Girl".
After watching this work, he said that he did not forget his original intention. Because it is the "Boy Meets Girl" story of Sosuke and Bo Niu, the protagonist is spontaneous and dynamic. When it comes to very energetic and lively action, Miyazaki's first "Future Boy Conan" is its origin. Conan uses action to create fun, so the action performance like this work can be regarded as not forgetting the original intention. ”
However, Miyazaki unreservedly adopted the adventure story of boys and girls – teenagers meet young girls, get the love of teenage girls, and thus ascend the ladder of adulthood – in fact, only his first directorial work, Future Boy Conan (1978).
Miyazaki despised the postwar animation world of war, violence, and the masculinity and joy of becoming a "father" in a subculture aimed at children, the post-war animation of masculine self-actualization (violence and sex) as a "12-year-old boy", and the consumer society of the new Japan (ネオテニージャパン), which symbolized this postwar animation, and unconsciously praised his own bloody economic prosperity that was moistened by the wars of other countries.
As a result, Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan depicts an idealized "Boy Meets Girl" story.
Neither "transformed" into a false body nor "manipulated" a fictional machine body, that is, Conan did not play an adult body, always galloping and jumping on the earth as a living teenager.
At this time, Miyazaki received the spell from the front that the post-war animation that could be simulated to obtain the idealized paternality of nearly [modern] generations of men was difficult to establish in reality. On the basis of acknowledging this proposition, he wants to use the power of animation to try to break through this distortion of the view of the body ("Astro Boy's proposition"). As a result, Conan neither "transformed" into a heterogeneous existence nor "manipulated" the massive steel body, exerting Superman's physical qualities for no reason, that is, by presenting the audience with the joy of animation of the movement of the picture, thus forcibly convincing the audience. This is also an answer to the question "What exactly was Miyazaki's animation at that time?"
Undoubtedly, Miyazaki relied on the power of animation itself because he turned his back on the post-war consumer social model symbolized by the deformed bodies of "transformed" heroes and Japanese "robots" combined with the sale of goods.
Miyazaki's depictions of airplanes and robots are full of longing for the masculinity of the near [modern] generation, but he has never exceeded a certain bottom line. Miyazaki believes that whether it is an airplane or a chariot, it is always just an auxiliary device to show the masculinity of a good boy, and it must not be allowed to become another body pretending to be masculine. He does not allow an introverted and weak teenager to achieve self-realization beyond the seven-foot body by acquiring the body of a machine, but insists that the teenager gallop healthily on his own.
If it is in the world of anime and manga movies, and more specifically, it is to tell the child, the child is the protagonist of the story, the strong teenager by his own body to effectively protect the girl (生身のまま), you can get the man's proof. A strong, gentle, and pleasing image of a teenager can stand. At the end of the adventure, the world can be changed. At least "should" change. Nevertheless, the commercial animations, supported by the sale of goods at the time, demanded that they "transform" into alternative beings and "manipulate" hypocritical bodies as a condition for teenagers to realize themselves, which was the result of the distortion of existence in post-war Japan caused by the "Astro Boy Proposition".
Of course, Miyazaki's animation is not exempt from vulgarity. However, he always wanted to use the power of animation itself to cut off the undeniable intrusion into the reality of animation as fiction. Miyazaki believes that it is precisely because it is in animation that teenagers should realize themselves alive (生身のまま). As a result, Miyazaki often had to rely on the realist operations that drove the animation itself, relying on such performances.
However, Miyazaki's attitude produced some criticism later.
"Here I am reminded of the scene from the Tower of the Sun in Your Guy's Conan.
Although Lana on the Tower of the Sun was rescued, Conan was surrounded and lost. There is no way out, and now there is only the cliffs of the Valley of Thousands of Years - it is a great crisis at the end of the road.
What did you do in this situation to get them out of trouble?
Conan just jumped briskly with Lana in his arms (!). ）
With this incredible method, coupled with a continuous and ingenious editing of the storyboard, I was convinced, first stunned, then laughed forward and backward, and finally fell into extreme trouble. With this solution, you successfully rescue the two of them, and also successfully transform the strangeness of the incident into a sense of aftermath and fix it on the character of Conan. It's a double eagle.
"It can only be done in a comic book movie that jumps three steps from the horizon to the front of you", this method does have the attributes of animation, "is a unique performance", with a certain impact. However, the excellent properties (special performances) of this kind of animation are also the limits in "animation = movie".
Let's think about it in terms of the scene of this sun tower.
Suppose the same performance, only this time rely on the use of various special effects technology, as far as possible realistic shots to shoot continuously to the last moment of live-action film to perform, and whether the result is hilarious or disappointing, in the eyes of the audience this can only be a "comic". Moreover, in the next scene, no matter how deep the plot unfolds, it is bound to lose its basic appeal as a movie. (Note 3)"
This is part of a Miyazaki critique carried out by Oshii Mori in the years after "Future Boy Conan". The key here is the effectiveness of the performance using the fictionality of the animation itself. That is to say, Miyazaki did not let Conan "transform" in this scene, nor let Conan manipulate the robot, nor let Conan be awakened by superpowers, but let Conan play Superman's physical performance to get out of the crisis without any explanation. While the audience is stunned by this unwarranted plot, it is also strongly attracted by the strong fiction unique to the animation.
Until Conan is about to jump the tower, the audience accepts this scene according to the standard of naturalistic realism. Inside the tower, the hero and heroine are forced by the enemy to the edge of the wall in a desperate crisis. The reason why this "crisis" has a sense of tension as a "crisis" is because the audience believes based on naturalistic realism that as long as he jumps the tower, Conan will die.
But in the next instant, this naturalistic realism was abandoned, and Conan jumped the tower and landed safely. Then the world of the work is suddenly rewritten by symbolic realism. In the scene of the escape from the Tower of the Sun, Miyazaki takes full advantage of the characteristics of this animation that can smoothly travel between naturalist realism and symbolic realism without explanation, making it possible by Miyazaki's excellent performance, specifically the joy of the animation itself.
However, Oshii believes that Miyazaki's big hand will expose the problem at a deeper level.
No matter how the situation of the crisis is set, once this dilemma is resolved by the protagonist with superhuman power, and once the creator uses the persuasive power of animation technology itself to break through, the drama (ドラマ) loses its basis as a drama, and "animation = movie" can only return to the neutral country and buffer zone of "manga movie". Precisely because animation is a world that can only be achieved with technology, this powerful method seems more attractive, as a producer, there will be a temptation to exercise it, but it is often contrary to the method required by "animation = movie", and is a dangerous double-edged sword, which has the potential to destroy the world being built.
I think that the so-called "comic movie" actually refers to the transitional form of "movie" due to the limitations of its method. Moreover, it is a world that is completely inhabited by personal contemplation, so it has to be said that although it may resonate and be immediately moved when you first watch it, in the end there is nothing to say. (Note 4)
Here, Oshii's critique sharply illustrates Miyazaki's performance mechanism that does the opposite of the merits and constraints of animation. A further question to be asked is: Can the fictionality of the animation itself be used as a spear to truly break the shield of the human mind?
Oshii points out that the use of animation, which can only be drawn by hand, in each scene, through the clever interchange of the body that "jumps down from the tower will die" and the body that "will not die if you jump" from the tower, has a limit to its ability to move people's hearts (this view is naturally also aimed at the limits of post-war manga/animation embodied in the "Astro Boy proposition" mentioned by Hideshi Otsuka). Miyazaki's "manga film" approach (the back-and-forth movement of naturalistic realism and symbolic realism weaponized by the fictionality of animation itself) ultimately kills the appeal of the story. This is the main thread of Oshii's critique.
Oshii's critique was raised much later (1984), and for animation's near-omnipotent expressiveness that has deprived it of its storytelling power, Miyazaki can be said to have been in an indirect confrontation since "Future Boy Conan".
Uncharacteristically, in 1979's Lupin III: The City of Cariostro, Miyazaki wanted to portray a middle-aged man who could no longer fly, Lupin, for one reason.
In this work, the protagonist Lupin III embarks on a great adventure in order to save the beautiful girl Clarice from the villains. But Lupin, who is called "Uncle" in the play, is no longer a "boy". At that time, the original work was set at Lupin III, who was in his 20s, and Miyazaki deliberately interpreted it as "middle age". Lupin, a "middle-aged man", leaves Clarice after the story is reunited, although Clarice says she wants to follow him. Lupin, who is no longer a "boy = teenager", cannot walk with Clarice.
But why is Lupin portrayed as middle-aged?
This is because Miyazaki not only pursues the joy of animation itself, but also pursues the basis for the men at the story level to be able to fly. As for Conan's reason for playing superhuman physical ability, he did not simply choose "because it is a cartoon" or "because it is a comic movie" to end the show, so as to stop thinking.
What is the true face of something that can only be ensured by constructing fictional structures that are divorced from reality, such as animations and manga movies? At this time, Miyazaki chose to use animation and the form of manga films to convey the essence of what he wanted to obtain through stories and share it with the audience.
In terms of results, it should also be related to the loss of story critical power that makes up for the loss of story criticism due to the round trip between symbolic realism (the immortal body) and naturalist realism (the dead body) that takes advantage of the performance of animation performances.
"Ah, what's going on. The girl clearly believed in the power of a bad wizard, but did not believe in the power of a thief. If the child believed, the thief could fly in the air and even drink the water of the lake..."
"Hey, I'm mental. Because there are girls who believe in me, I can do it even if I fly in the sky. Mr. Thief will definitely be able to help you steal it, so you can wait! (Note 5)"
This is Lupin's line to Clarice in the work, which reflects the establishment condition of Miyazaki's "flying", that is, the establishment condition of the self-realization of the recent [modern] generation, male romanticism, that is, the need for the approval of the girl. Only when the girl's love points, the middle-aged Lupin can return to the teenager. In other words, for Miyazaki, animation is something that no longer holds true in the adult world—a place where a simulated restoration of romance can be constructed by bringing male romanticism back into the child's world.
The things that were taken for granted in Future Boy Conan are solemnly stated here with lines and repeatedly. Mature men can no longer fly, but the girl's love can make him temporarily "fly" back to the teenager. He sets up an innocent and beautiful girl named Clarice, believing that Lupin can only fly when her maternal love = unconditional approval is established. From this backwards, we can assume that Conan can only jump off the tower if he holds Lana.
Here, Miyazaki's renunciation of a certain masculinity coexists with a vision that cannot be abandoned even so. For Miyazaki, the male narcissism of a teenager who completes by saving a young girl is both the crystallization of longing and something that has been lost.
A grave called Rapp him
Miyazaki's complex approach to male affairs is most directly reflected in Castle in the Sky.
Released in 1986, the film was Miyazaki's first feature-length work since he founded Studio Ghibli, and can be said to be a turning point in his career. But more importantly, this work is also a turning point for Miyazaki, the creator. This is a national work that has been repeatedly broadcast on television, and in order to advance the discussion, I will briefly introduce the content.
The protagonist, the teenager Pazu, is an orphan working in a desolate mining city. It is reported that Pazu's deceased father was a pilot, and during a flight, he discovered an artificial island suspended in the air. That artificial island, Rapp, was the product of an excellent scientific civilization that existed ultra-ancient, but for some reason perished, and is now abandoned and floating in the air. Pazu's father told people about Rap's existence after his return, but the world scorned him, and Pazu's father "died a liar all his life" (suicide?). ）。 The Pazu who remained lived strongly. Pazu's dream is to one day become a pilot himself, to rediscover Lapu him with his own strength, and to wash away the stigma of his father.
This is the growth experience of the protagonist shown at the beginning of the story, and it can already be seen that the story begins with the decisive failure of masculinity. In this work, Rapp is a symbol of male romanticism and self-actualization. And Pazu's vision of "flying = rapta" is closely linked to the lost father's love. Pazufri flies to the sky to save the girl, but his adventure is positioned as a recovery to the lost, not a connection to the glorious father's love. In the mining city where Pazu lives, there is a group of able-bodied, cheerful men at work, but the city will become deserted in the near future. Yes, this "masculine thing" has been lost, and the sunset has come from the sky city to the mining towns on the ground, and even the idealized communities in the towns on the ground (the male miners represented by Master Pazu).
So, in front of such Pazu, with the opportunity of "flying to the sky = adventure" again, one day, a young girl floated down from the distant sky. The Maiden Sita who falls from the airship has the "Flying Stone", an item that hides a special ability. From helping Theta, Pazu was chased and killed by the army and air pirates that followed. Here, Pazu fights a great battle with the help of the city's inhabitants. In order to save the girl, face a powerful enemy - as the adventure story of "Boy Meets Girl", this is the ideal unfolding.
But Pazu was still "unable to fly" at this time. Instead of fleeing to the skies, Pazu and Sita dived deep into the tunnels and tried to escape, only to be captured by the army and captured and imprisoned. Muska, a government agent who was traveling with the army, negotiated with Pazou's life and obtained Theta's assistance. Musca gave Pazu a few gold coins and then released him. Pazu suffered a decisive defeat.
Once that's the end, the movie, and the world Miyazaki once believed, will be lost. Boys can't save girls. Not only that, he was caught without flying into the sky once, but was saved by the girl, and he sold her a few gold coins and went home sullenly.
However, the film turns around from this peak. Frustrated, Pazu returns home to find that it has been occupied by the Dora family, the air pirates who covet Seata. They are a family-run "pirate" organization made up of a middle-aged woman, Dora, and her sons. The dora family, a great mother and a short child, is the prototype of the community dominated by "motherly" things that has appeared frequently in Miyazaki's works since then.
Dora scolded Pazu for "not coming out. "Don't talk big, a little ghost who can't even protect girls." "Did Ash sneak back?" Are you still not a man? In this way, the great mother proclaimed the failure of her youth (the failure to attain paternity). Pazu then said to Dora, who was trying to retake Sita, "Can you let me join you?" For Pazu, who claimed to want to help Sita, Dora further confirmed Pazu's failure, saying: Don't be a, this kind of thing has to be done on your own. After a series of confirmations of defeat like a ritual, Dora accepted Pazu. Dora asks Pazu to bid farewell to the miners' town of male soft landings and join the fat [swollen] motherhood banner, which Pazu accepts.
In this way, the film regrouped. After experiencing a decisive paternal renunciation and entering maternal asylum, Pazu's "adventure" restarts from his own home. At this time, Pazu "flew" for the first time. Riding with Dora's mother on a small flying machine used by the air thieves, Pazu "flew" the sky for the first time to rescue Theta. Pazu and the Dora family succeed in retaking Theta, after which the story transitions to a rivalry between the military and the Dora family to find Rapp, and a showdown after reaching Rapp.
In the second half of the story, Pazu depicts scenes of several subsequent maneuvers of the plane, all of which have Theta ride together. Dora commented that Theta was "just like when I was younger", and in fact, Dora's private room was pasted with "pictures" of her youth, which was exactly the same as Theta.
Theta, who reappears in the second half of the film, not only maintains the superficiality of being a young girl who should be protected, but also gives the meaning of the teenager's life through "being protected", and does not hide the nature of actually being the protector = "mother" who protects him. With such a Sita ride, Pazu can fly in the air. Once the "mother's" protection is lacking, the teenager cannot fly in the air.
After arriving at Rappta, Musca confronts the protagonist with the Flying Stone in his hand, and the plot reaches its climax. At this point, the villain Musca plays a failed male romantic avatar in the first half of the film, no, before the film begins. He said that the "dream of mankind" Rapp, he will not perish, but will revive countless times. In contrast, Theta argues:
Now I know exactly why Rapp perished.
Rooted in the soil, born with the wind
Spend the winter with the seeds and sing the spring with the birds
Even if you have such a terrible weapon
Even if you manipulate so many poor robots
Without the soil, it is impossible to survive (Note 6)
It is worth noting that in the first half of the film, it is Musca as the villain who really recognizes the realization of Pazu's "masculine self-actualization = flying" dream, while the heroine Sita promotes the impossibility of this dream. It can be said that Musca embodies what Miyazaki gave up. In the failure of the first half of the film, Miyazaki's obsession with Pazu, in the end, he stands on the side of denying his father's dream, Rap him. Pazu joins Sita in a duel with Musca, and the "Spell of Destruction" passed down from generation to generation by the Sita family causes Laputa to collapse. Whether it is the existence that the father once dreamed of, the symbol of male self-realization, or the things that were once destroyed, they must be overthrown together and can never be turned over. Pazu negated the dream of his dead father and agreed with the "maiden = mother" theory in front of him, ultimately destroying Laputa.
To sum up, at first glance, "Castle in the Sky", which at first glance is the adventure of "Boy Meets Girl", is precisely the impossibility of this kind of story. The so-called Rapta is the "grave" that completely buries male sex.
The story of a pig that can't fly
In fact, Miyazaki after "Castle in the Sky" can neither tell the adventure story of the teenager saving the girl, nor the story of the teenager flying in the sky. For example, as mentioned earlier, Ashidaka in "Princess Mononoke" travels back and forth between the two heroines of Shan and Abersy, who symbolize wild and civilization, and can only "guard" and cannot make active commitments.
Originally, in works after Miyazaki, the male protagonist almost never appeared. In addition to "Princess Mononoke", only "Porco Rosso", "Hal's Moving Castle" (2004), and "The Wind Rises" have male protagonists, and the protagonists are set as adults rather than "teenagers".
Poruc Russell, the protagonist of "Porco Rosso", appeared as a "pilot". He thought of his fallen fellow pilots as he kept flying. Yes, Polluk flew while contemplating lost masculinity. The self, which is still flying, has become a "pig" because of the curse he cast. Once again, the work closely links masculine self-actualization with flying. As a result, Polluk, who is still flying, who is simulating the recovery of what he should have lost, has to curse his body. This is in stark contrast to the previous work "Witch House Emergency" (1989), the heroine Kiki, although almost overwhelmed by the gravity of the girl's troubles, always flew in the air as it was.
In The Moving Castle of Hal, which features the male protagonist as the protagonist, Hal, a handsome young man with a strong sense of omnipotence, arranges the female Sophie who travels between the girl and the old woman (mother) at the beginning of the story to him, thus flying gracefully in the sky. However, in the face of the imminent war, Hal also took the initiative to transform into an alien and fly to the sky in order to protect Sophie.
So, if they don't have the protection of something like a "mother" like Pazu, they will never be able to fly in the sky of Miyazaki's writing. Pazu can fly under the protection of his "mother". Polluk cursed himself to become an alien and fly. To be an alien is to live in a fiction that is separated from reality. Men living in such a fictional world play a game of home-and-family airplanes, which contain romance — politically impotent, but literaryly established through the internal context of a closed community — affirm the existence of self-actualization through warm attention, and the heroine Gina is the "mother" who gently watches the children's "house game".
For Polluk, who transformed into a pig, "flying" has a strong connection to the image of death. It can be said that Polluk's alien form is actually the embodiment of the impossibility of male things, and at the same time the realization of his afterlife. The alienation of Polluk under the protection of the "mother" means that the "flight" in the hands of The "mother" in the past was actually something connected to the world of death for Miyazaki. Hal can only fly in war (the world of cruelty) if the "mother's" love and alien changes exist at the same time.
The reason why I think so is because of "Goldfish on the Cliff".
The work's protagonist, Sosuke's family, is also depicted as a family whose father never returned from the sea. The "sea" in "Goldfish on the Cliff" is a symbol of motherhood that governs the world of the story. Sosuke meets the heroine, Haru, and qualifies as a husband by completing a small adventure with her.
But all of these adventures are just safe games under the supervision of Gramman Marlene, the mother of the Goldfish Princess. The fate of Sosuke and The Goldfish Princess, who completes the game, will also be determined by a "negotiation" between their respective mothers.
In "Goldfish on the Cliff", the man is nothing more than a helpless individual floating in the ocean of motherhood. Just as Sosuke's father never returned to land, Princess Goldfish's father is also portrayed as a diminutive being. He was just one of the many husbands of the Sea Spirit as a "wife" in various places, and he could hardly even see her.
Moreover, the world of "Goldfish on the Cliff" is full of "the aroma of death".
In the middle of the story, the Goldfish Princess disembarks in order to see Sosuke transform into a human.
At this time, the great tsunami hit the town where Sosuke lived, and the stage of the film was engulfed by the entire sea. Later, Sosuke and Bo yu embark on a safe adventure under the supervision of Gramman Marlene, and this "in-viviparous" world is almost depicted as the afterlife. In the play, there is a female-only nursing facility where Sosuke's mother works, and the old women who live there are able to move freely because they are engulfed by the tsunami and recover from the inconvenience of their limbs. It was as if he had been summoned to the sky.
Or maybe Sosuke and Bo Yu meet a wonderful young couple and their young son in the process of "adventure". What's so strange about the little two who are fleeing from the tsunami? That is, their costumes are of the Taisho era.
What does this mean about the appearance of a small couple who has nothing to do with the development of the storyline? At the beginning of the film's release, these elements were often considered a metaphor for "death". For example, an interview with the work's producer, Toshio Suzuki, published in the Yomiuri Shimbun on July 23, 2008, was conducted on the premise that the world depicted in the work was "the world after death."
"Although the story of returning from the other side of the world is the subject that many people have depicted so far, Mr. Miyazaki has also been working hard to renovate. It may be said that he used the work "Bo Niu" to explore this point deeply. At the moment when life is about to be born, death is like a shadow. Isn't it the same with living? ”
In other words, the "tsunami" in the middle of the story completely engulfs the town on the cliff, after which the characters become ghost reconcess. In this way, the "rehabilitation" of the old woman in the nursing facility or the existence of the small two mouths dressed up in the Taisho era can be explained.
In Goldfish on the Cliff, at first glance, Sosuke seems to have completed a sweet "Boy Meets Girl" story and grown, but his "adventure" is a "family" game completed in a great motherly "in the womb", paving the way for the boy's fantasy (a girl who should be saved by him coming unilaterally and bringing him romantic fantasy). Importantly, this "dead" figure has a strong connection in this work to the image of the mother's womb.
In Goldfish on the Cliff, the world under the patronage of the Goldfish Princess's mother, Gramman Marlene, is actually described as the "world after death". As they cross the dark tunnels of the birth canal, sosuke and the Goldfish Princess's "adventure" comes to an end. Afterwards, their fate is determined by consultation between their mothers, as if deciding whether or not to give birth to them. In the death and regeneration presented here, centered on the strong return of the mother and fetus, there is no room for the intervention of the paternal love (munakata's or their father's). Here, the so-called patriarchy is nothing more than a existence that is given from the motherhood as a game of "passing the family".
But, as we have seen, Miyazaki's depiction of the afterlife began a long time ago. Beginning with the decisive unfolding (abandonment) of Castle in the Sky, Miyazaki at least never depicts the world of the living through the eyes of a male subject. When the male protagonist is set, the world does not regenerate, but becomes a world of death.
Why is this collusion between the sea of motherhood and the men floating in it (in the womb)—this collusion between "fat motherhood" and "short fathers"?
In the summer of 2011, when the country was still in turmoil due to the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Studio Ghibli's "The Hillside of Yu Beauty Blooming" was released. The original is a girl manga of the same name by Chizuru Takahashi (author) and Tetsuro Sasan (original). In 1980, it was serialized in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine "Best Friends" (なかよし). The director is Hayao Miyazaki's Nagasaki Goro.
Miyazaki debuted in 2006 with the animated film The Battle of the Earth and the Sea. Considering the "retirement" of Miyazaki, who was 65 years old at the time, the "situation" in which Goro was trained as a successor to Studio Ghibli can be seen, and the film caused a stir because of the use of Le Guin's world-famous fantasy novel as the original, which was a box office success. But the evaluation of the work itself is generally very low, and for Wu Lang, it is indisputable that this work is positioned as a kind of revenge war.
Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa co-wrote the script, and according to the published script notes, it can be seen that miyazaki came up with ideas and summarized by Niwa (Note 7). Miyazaki repeatedly made positive remarks about the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the incidental Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Therefore, as Miyazaki's message to society, the story of this work has also received widespread attention.
And how does the movie "The Hillside of Yu Beauty Bloom" perform — before we start discussing it, let's briefly introduce the story.
Set in Yokohama in 1963, the heroine Matsuzaki Hai attends a private school while helping out at her grandmother's homestay "Yumei people's village" in her hometown. Matsuzaki Hai's father, a former sailor, died of involvement in the Korean War, and Hai took care of his grandmother, younger siblings in place of his mother, who was often absent from home for work. Every morning she raises a signal flag to the sea in memory of her late father. Using this signal flag as an opportunity, Toshi Kazema, who was playing with her, began to notice the sea.
Joon, who goes to sea every morning to help with the sailor's stepfather's work, notices the signal flag hoisted by Kokai, and at the beginning of the story, he is already aware of the existence of the first-grade sea. The two men gradually approached by participating in the old school building conservation campaign of the high school they attended.
The old school building, called the Latin Quarter, is popular with some students as a ministry of culture such as the Ministry of Information, where Kojun works, but the school is in disrepair and is planning to demolish it. Haewatoshi and his partners complained directly to the school's operators and finally agreed to preserve the building. However, during this campaign, people began to suspect that Hae And Joon was not actually a half-sibling. Of course, this skepticism ultimately proves to be a misunderstanding, and as the skepticism is dispelled, the story has a happy ending. Hae and Joon reconfirmed in the process that their respective fathers were victims of the Korean War.
This is the synopsis of the film, and this story has changed a lot from the original. So, I want to start by reading Miyazaki's view of history as the script. The biggest change in the adaptation of the original manga of "The Hillside of Yu Beauty Blooming" into a movie is the stage setting. The original manga may have been set in 1980 (or earlier in the 1970s) as when the magazine series was serialized, while the film version was set for Yokohama in 1963, as mentioned earlier. This can be said to be a great change. The reason why I say this is because the original manga, promoted by tetsuro Sayama, the so-called "All-Communist Fighting Remnant Party" (or Tetsuro Sayama, who has a similar psychological quality), is a work that is full of the atmosphere of the 70s gakuen struggle, or the "stink" of the underground culture of the 70s (アングラカルチャー) in the 70s.
What Toshi Kazema did in the original work was not political, but culturally "deviant", a sensitive and intelligent teenager who had both excellent student characteristics and bad atmosphere.
He allied with his friend Mizunuma, the president of the student council, played mahjong with geisha, gambled with geisha, and squandered money, only to use the student union's budget. In order to make up for this money, Toshiwa Mizunuma planned to increase the sales of the school newspaper, so he thought of launching a school uniform liberalization campaign on campus. On behalf of the opposition and Mizunuma on behalf of the institutional faction, Jun instigated an atmosphere of "confrontation" and set off a "match pump movement" to increase newspaper sales.
Here, the cynical-faced Toshi Kazema's investment in "girly manga-style" melodrama is short-lived, and as a manifestation of the generational political coldness (シラケ), we can even see that his attitude is to devote himself to idle and boring things.
In contrast, the film version of Toshi Kazema is not a student who opposes the system in order to pay off the debts incurred by gambling. Miyazaki's re-depiction of Jun in the film version is a pure teenager who wants to symbolize the continued existence of the Latin Quarter, which symbolizes the tradition of the school.
Considering that the depiction of Joon in the original work relies on the "air" of the 70s, Miyazaki's changes to the stage setting and Toshi's role can be seen in his clear intentions. Miyazaki completely abandoned the "70s set" that pervaded the original work. So Miyazaki moved the stage to the first half of the 1960s, set in a good era of rapid economic growth. As if everyone was thinking of "going upwards" at that time, he designated The Hit Song of Sakamoto As an Impression Song, replacing the cynical anti-system movement "game" of high school students with a cheerful youth group portrait drama for high school students. They are healthy together, fighting, and in love. The protagonists who have moved to rebirth cannot smell the cynicism of the post-all-communion style.
It is this change in the setting of the stage "from the 70s to the 60s" that best expresses the message that Miyazaki is trying to convey in this game. The imagery that best captures Miyazaki's message is the buildings of the Latin Quarter that appear in the film. As mentioned earlier, the school intends to demolish the Latin Quarter to build a new office building, but a group of students centered on Joonwa Mizunuma oppose the demolition, hoping to join the old building in preserving the school's traditions.
Through this campaign, Hae and Joon became closer, and she proposed to "clean" the Latin Quarter, repaint and renovate. It is hoped that this will show students the charm of the building itself and expand support for the anti-demolition movement.
Refurbishing "old stuff" that has been considered "useless" to get people to "reacquaint" them. This can be said to be done through the "cleaning" of the "motherhood" played by the heroine. It can be said that this is exactly the attitude of Miyazaki in this film. The highly fictional expression of animation has been reshaped and re-presented with the "60s = Latin Quarter". And, in order to support the "men of the movement", women clean and cook. Just like a real "mother".
The warm "neighborhood community" plays a role, and the people who survive with the "scars of war" are half-obligated to "work upwards" in an era of serious life - whether Miyazaki's view of the 60s is "accurate" or not is unknown, but the message contained in the film is extremely clear.
When thinking about the film, the many "political" remarks made by Miyazaki in the months after the earthquake should be a good auxiliary line.
He expressed his support for the then Democratic Party's Naoto Suga regime online and hung banners on the roof of Studio Ghibli's office building with anti-nuclear slogans. Although he carefully avoided "linkage" and always stayed on the personal level, Miyazaki after March 11 explicitly repeatedly expressed the voice of de-nuclear power.
Miyazaki's "de-nuclear" attitude has always been consistent, but because of this, things have become complicated. Because here, Miyazaki calls for the retention of "post-war things" while advocating the abandonment of "post-war things." And, curiously, or ironically, the social context of Japan's nuclear power plants changed a lot before the 1960s and after the 1970s — or what Miyazaki believes was the two "postwar periods."
As we all know, Japan's nuclear power plants are the product of diplomatic strategies, including nuclear strategies, during the post-war Cold War period. At a certain time, after the 1970s, when Kakuei Tanaka's "Island Transformation Program" appeared, the side of nuclear power plants became more prominent as one of the devices that underpinned the so-called "Economy Council"-style local interest-inducing politics.
Nuclear power plants are one of the products of the Cold War power balance that underpinned what Miyazaki said everyone could "move up." Moreover, Miyazaki's "things I want to leave behind"," the "station-front shopping street" of the people's shimichi-machi style, can be said to have been sheltered by Kakuei-style politics of inducement. After the 1970s, there should often be "nuclear power plants" behind the protection of "places".
Of course, for Miyazaki, the Latin Quarter and the station-fronted shopping street (symbolically) were "good post-war," while nuclear power plants were "bad post-war." But if I had to use a vicious metaphor, it was precisely in order to preserve what he considered the Latin Quarter/Station Front Shopping Street (symbolic thing) that the place needed nuclear power plants (interests). This should be the "Kakuei set" created by japan in the 1970s.
This unconscious dependence on the set is, in turn, associated with cultural leftism in the bad sense. In fact, as noted above, Miyazaki's public image is liberal in its sense of self, and although it is linguistically said that it should accept immigrants, it is understandable that he is actually like the European middle class, wearing a pale mask of hypocrisy and not stepping out of the dashing high-end residential areas that culturally exclude immigrants. But what I want to ask here is not the clichéd hypocrisy of the cultural left, but what Miyazaki has introduced to compensate for this deception.
In the play, Hinata, Jun, and Mizunuma confess the necessity of the existence of the Latin District to the school operator. Touched by their enthusiasm, the company's president, demanded the construction of a new clubhouse on the basis of a promise that the Latin Quarter should continue to exist. Of course, as the original character of the movie version, the "tolerant" toro boss was named "Chairman Tokumaru". Its prototype is obviously the late Tokuma Yasukuni. Tokuma is the operator of tokuma Shoten, the parent body of Studio Ghibli in the 1980s, and is known for his bold wrists and deep popularity. In order to preserve the "post-war thing", the tolerance of "parents" is expected to exist. In a sense, this may be a logical circuit that Miyazaki has refined from his personal history.
On the one hand, Miyazaki completely repudiated the Kakuei-style system, that is, the Degeneration of Japanese society after the 1970s (its symbol is the public image of the "nuclear power plant" after the 1970s).
But on the other hand, he explicitly appealed to the necessity of Kakuei's set. For he called for the preservation of obsolete things by changing the meaning, that is, the Latin Quarter = "post-war" thing. That is to say, the preservation of the Latin Quarter/Station front shopping street style depends on the dependence on the "parent" thing, and on the dependence on the women who support these things with "cleaning"—using the Kakuei set, the 70s style of things to practice themselves--we can think of his idea as such.
In this film, Miyazaki may have unconsciously revived his own negated 70s/Kakuei set to some extent.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to condemn Miyazaki's shallow understanding of postwar history. Proceeding from a delusional view of society and history based on narrow presuppositions, Miyazaki shined as a fantasy writer, and can even be said to be a writer who successfully created a series of rich images. The purpose of this book is to analyze this national creator from a different perspective than in the past by making accusations of this unconscious presupposition.
In addition, what we should pay attention to here is Miyazaki's sensibility towards gender things, which is expressed in this "deep belief" and "unconsciousness". As mentioned earlier, when Miyazaki adapted this film, he completely rewrote the image of the teenager who performed the opponent's play. Similarly, Miyazaki's additional retention of the "correct post-war" of "Latin Quarter = pre-60s" in this film is probably achieved by introducing a tolerant "patriarch" image that is referenced from his own history. In addition, this film version of "The Hillside of Yu Meiren Blooming" is based on the affirmation of the late father by the heroine and her opponents.
I am afraid that Miyazaki believes that what should be depicted now in the medium of animation, which is highly fictional, exists here. In real-world postwar history, Miyazaki's "good post-war" (before the 1960s) collusion with right masculinity—innocence of juvenileity and tolerant paternality—did not materialize. No, rather, this collusion did materialize, but the result was a "bad post-war" (after the 1970s) that Miyazaki hated. "The Hillside of Yu Beauty Blooming" plays a role as a fantasy pseudo-history that subverts reality (post-war history). What drives this pseudohistory is nothing more than the fantasy male figure that Miyazaki gradually discovered in the collusion of innocent juvenileism and tolerant paternalism.
Towards the ocean of motherhood
So here, we will start from the perspective of the character arrangement in the original work, to explore Miyazaki's sexual imagination in the movie "The Mountain where Yu Meiren Blooms". The heroine of the original manga, Hai, can be said to be a genre that follows the heroine of the 70s girl comics. Pure, but somewhat sharp, naïve, but also sensitive to the psychological subtleties of those around him – and how did Miyazaki adapt the sea in the original?
Here, Miyazaki notices the "blood" of female society flowing from the sea. The "Yu Meiren Slope" in the title is the ramp where the boarding dormitory (Yu MeirenZhuang) run by Hai's grandmother Hua is located.
The Yumiriszhuang in the original work is just a very ordinary boarding house, while the one in the movie version is obviously made by Miyazaki as a "woman's garden". Intern doctors, painters, and other boarders are all replaced by women, including Hokuto (Kitami Hokuto), who appeared in the original work as the youth that Kai envisioned at the beginning of the story, and in the movie version, she is portrayed as a woman (Hokuto Miki) and becomes Kokai's good girlfriend (姉貴分).
The depiction of the sea in the film version emphasizes her side as a "young general" who runs the "Garden of Women" from the beginning. She had to get up early to enter the kitchen before the nanny came in and out to make breakfast for everyone. He is meticulous in running the family and reports everything to the hostess grandmother - the film version of Yu Meirenzhuang is a community of only women with flowers as the hostess, and Xiao Hai is the second person, serving as the next successor as a young general.
The heroine of the sea is indeed "strong" in this sense, and this "strong" reminds people of the "motherly" thing. For example, as the eldest daughter of 3 siblings, Hai takes care of the younger generations in the same way as a "mother". But this "motherhood" seems to be paradoxical to the image of "mother" that has appeared frequently in Miyazaki's works in the past.
For example, lana in "Future Boy Conan" and Theta in "Castle in the Sky" and other heroines are indeed the embodiment of "motherhood". But this "motherhood" always points to the innocent teenage protagonists. "Motherhood" is both the "protected motherhood" that justifies the teenagers to take risks, and the "forgiveness" of the "forgiveness" that unconditionally guarantees the value of romanticism—they are "ideal mothers (for men)", and they are sometimes weak and sometimes strong in order to guarantee the romanticism (masculinity) of teenagers.
Of course, the sea is also in this maternal lineage. But her role doesn't stop there. In this game, Hai's body also undertakes the training of inheriting the guardians of the "Women's Garden" - that is, she also intends to become a "mother in the eyes of women". The "strongness" of the sea is different from the strength of the mother (who is also the wife) to the boy, the mother guards the boy, sometimes helps him, sometimes gives him the meaning of adventure (let him save her). The "strongness" given by the sea refers to the "strength" of the comrades who lead the center in a world that belongs only to women, connecting these comrades in equal relations.
From this perspective, the film version of "The Hillside where Yu Meiren Blooms" can also be interpreted as the growth story of the heroine who retains the girlish sensibility. As mentioned earlier, every morning when the sea wakes up, it raises the signal flag towards the sea. This means that in the bottom of Hai's heart, he did not accept his father's death. And it was the raising of this signal flag that brought an encounter with Jun to the sea. In the process of establishing a relationship with Joon, Hae confirms the significance of their respective father's death. Here, the "red doubt" of whether the two were half-brothers was raised, and although it was later resolved, in the process, Hae learned of his father's death and its background (the price paid for post-war development and peace = the sacrifice of the Korean War), and gave it meaning.
In this way, in the process of getting The Man, Hae went through the formalities of accepting his father's death. In order to meet the man she chooses, as the parent of Yu Meirenzhuang to establish her own strength, she needs to sublimate her memory of her father.
In the middle of the movie, at the farewell party of Beidou, where Yu Meirenzhuang "graduated", Toshiwa Mizunuma is invited to come. In this scene, the women of Yu Meirenzhuang observe Junhe Mizunuma, especially the former, as if they are "valuing". This is probably the sight of the "choosing son-in-law" of the future mistress (sea) partner.
The play tells the story of hai's father's early death, plus he is also the family's "son-in-law" (by the way, Hai's mother is often absent from home for professional reasons, and this setting is also disclosed). In addition, in the original work, Hai's maternal grandfather (Hana's husband) opposed hai's parents to marry, and was driven out of the house by Hana to live separately. The film version sorts out this setting, saying that he has passed away.
That is to say, this "Yu Meiren Zhuang" is always inherited by women from generation to generation, and men are always summoned by the outside world, and then end the reproductive process to leave the existence. In this sense, Sosuke's family is very similar to Yu Meirenzhuang, and the story world of "Goldfish On the Cliff" and the world of "The Blooming Hillside of Yu Meiren" are connected by the keyword "sea".
I am afraid that Hai will eventually become the next owner of Yu Meirenzhuang, Gleiman Marlene. Moreover, I am afraid that Joon will become a sailor like his father. In addition, I am afraid that like Hai's father, he will not return to land.
【Notes】
*1 Hayao Miyazaki"Why Shoujo Manga Now? - The Aim of This Movie" (Studio Ghibli Bunshun Bunko ed., Ghibli's Textbook 9: Listening To It" (Bunshun Ghibli Bunko, 2015))
*2 http://bb.goo.ne.jp/special/gb/0807/meeting.html (currently not viewable)
*3 Mamoru Oshii, "Foreword: Hayao Miyazaki: Manga Movies" (Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Storyboard 2, Animage Bunko, 1984)
*4 Same
*5 Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (Written by Hayao Miyazaki, written by Haruya Yamazaki, Tokyo Movie Shinsha, 1979)
*6 Laputa, Castle in the Sky (written by Hayao Miyazaki, Tokuma Shoten, 1986)
*7 Hayao Miyazaki Keiko Niwa, "Screenplay from Cocricozaka" (Kadokawa Shoten, 2011)