‖ My Neighbor Totoro
"Miyazaki" is a gentle symbol in everyone's heart.
Why is Miyazaki's work able to transcend age and immerse viewers in the time and space he created?
"To create an animation is to create a virtual world that comforts the souls of those who have lost their courage and wrestle with the cruel reality," he said. ”
Both adults and children will be deeply moved by the hidden power. His work allows people of all ages to better understand human beings.
On April 16, 1988, "My Neighbor Totoro" was released in Japan. At that time, no one thought that audiences would enjoy watching "a country story of two children and a monster", so "My Neighbor Totoro" was released with "Grave of the Fireflies", which was a "literary IP" at the time and had a wide audience base.
Although the box office results were average when it was released, relying on stamina, the image of Totoro was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and at that time he did not understand Ghibli, who made money from the surrounding area, and only authorized the manufacturer to make Totoro into a puppet two years later to win a large profit. Totoro later became the mascot of Studio Ghibli, appearing in the opening credits of every Ghibli movie.
Among Miyazaki's many films, "My Neighbor Totoro" is a well-deserved movie that belongs to "children". The totoro in the film is invisible to ordinary people, and only a child with an innocent mind can capture it.
The whole film can be said to have no ups and downs of the plot, from beginning to end is a flat unfolding, but in the dull but people feel warmth everywhere, this is because the details of the film are detailed, real and there is no lack of superb imagination, the real scenes in the plot and the unreal world are intertwined, making us feel interesting.
Due to her mother's illness, Satsuki and Xiaomei, who followed their father to the countryside, met Totoro by chance in the forest, with a round body and soft long hair, willing to accompany children to explore and play in the forest. Totoro comes and goes in the movie, and you don't know where to find it, but it always shows up for the kids when they need it most. Whether it was a sudden heavy rain, two children trapped at the bus station, or Xiaomei lost in the forest to see her mother, Totoro came to them in time to solve the difficulties in their lives.
In the last part of the film, Xiaomi worries about her mother and holds the corn to send it to her mother, but as a result, she is lost. The anxious Jinyue wore his feet and finally found Totoro and asked for Totoro's help. Totoro summons his "Totoro Bus" and carries the crescent moon through the woods, fields, and power lines. We suddenly discovered that only creatures with a pure mind could see the totoro. When the "Totoro Bus" put Azuki and Xiaomi standing on the treetops and looking at the smiling mother, the sisters were relieved, and Azuki and Xiaomi did not stand directly to their mother's side, but brought the corn held by Xiaomi, which was engraved with "For Mom". Mom seemed to see the sisters smiling in the treetops. Another scene where the real and the unreal are intertwined.
The simplicity and beauty of "My Neighbor Totoro" touched many audiences, but over time, many people gradually found that this "My Neighbor Totoro" was not as simple as they thought at the beginning, and the deep meaning contained in it was no less than any of Miyazaki's works. Some people say that the movie comes from an incident in the 60s of Showa where a sister was abused and killed, Totoro is actually the messenger of the underworld, the two sisters have died in the middle of the story, and the subsequent plot is the father imagining what it would be like if the two sisters were alive. A more conclusive metaphor is Miyazaki's only revelation of real time in this film, June 23, 1960. That day was the height of Japan's anti-Japan-U.S. security treaty, with 6.2 million people across the country taking to the streets. In this always sunny image, it is the only day of heavy rain pouring, which is also a metaphor for the tense political environment at that time.
Miyazaki's films do often use animation to express his political views, and anti-war and longing for peace and freedom are the most common themes in his animations, so it is understandable that audiences will have some thematic deep interpretations of this "My Neighbor Totoro". But we have to admit that what makes "My Neighbor Totoro" forever remain in the hearts of children and children is not these so-called deep meanings, but the eternal yearning for beauty and innocence that Miyazaki shows in the movie.