Greed i find is one of the most compelling themes resonating throughout his films, It's very prevalent in Princess Mononoke with the whole deforestation going on. The film really shows how overstepping our boundaries as humans can really harm the ecosystem and cause a negative outcome. I find Porco Rosso to be a symbol for greed himself, being a bounty hunter and everything.

Anyways what other main themes do you personally see in most of his films?

It's clearly a theme in Spirited Away, Laputa, and Mononoke (though the deforestation in Mononoke isn't so much about greed as it is about power and survival, I'd say), but Porco Rosso? Never got that sense at all. Marco is a flawed character, definitely, but if anything I'd Miyazaki kind of glorifies his individualistic lifestyle, insofar as he refuses to participate in the Fascist system. I wouldn't say Marco is particularly greedy; he just does his own thing and earns enough money to get by. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but doesn't he live in a freaking tent?

I think Miyazaki is more concerned with institutionalized greed, or greed on a societal level, than he is with greed on a personal level. In most of his little moralizing scenes, greed is something that seems to take over an entire group of people in a sort of frenzy, rather than something that makes individuals bad. The scene in Laputa where the soldiers plunder the city, the scene in Spirited Away where the bathhouse workers become obsessed with appeasing No Face, etc.

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Originally posted by Orphic Okapi


I think Miyazaki is more concerned with institutionalized greed, or greed on a societal level, than he is with greed on a personal level. In most of his little moralizing scenes, greed is something that seems to take over an entire group of people in a sort of frenzy, rather than something that makes individuals bad. The scene in Laputa where the soldiers plunder the city, the scene in Spirited Away where the bathhouse workers become obsessed with appeasing No Face, etc.

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Not a Miyazaki film but a Ghibli nonetheless, there's very strong themes running through "Only Yesterday" as well. They're highlighted more in absence than in presence, especially as Toshio relates to Taeko all about the small rural farmers and how they have suffered in recent decades. He doesn't specifically spell out why but the viewer can draw fairly clear conclusions. Another presentation of societal greed.

Pom Poko of course has a strong theme - man's headlong rush to create a better world for himself (new houses and living spaces for the population) while not pausing to consider the impact on the world around them. How much 'better' is what he creates when he destroys so much to achieve it? Its an environmental message that Miyazaki passes on in a lot of his films as well although he sometimes slips into simple nostalgia without messagising it (is that a word?).

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Hahaha...

"messagising"

Don't think so, Saddles, but I got the point...



Submit it to OED with an explanation and it may end up in the next new edition and you'd have coined a new word in the English language... (like we need more, lol)

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Orphic and Saddles both make good points - these themes appear in Ghibli films in general, and are more about groups than individuals. I wonder if this is meant as a criticism of Japanese society, where typically the group is considered more important than the individual, as these themes in the films show the danger of this type of mentality. That's just speculation, of course.

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