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Kaikuri
Susuwatari
Registration Date: 01.10.09
Location:
Posts: 2 |
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 01.10.2009, 12:23 PM |
  
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BobbyOne
Kodama
Registration Date: 01.05.09
Location:
Posts: 35 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Kaikuri
Hello, as a new member to Ghibli Tavern I don't know the procedure for this but I wish to get your opinions upon a question I have formulated for my A-Level Media Case Study on World Cinema. Any answers are greatly appreciated =]
"How do Eastern animated films apply beliefs of their culture as well as their directors own beliefs, in comparison to Western animated films"
For this question I am focusing on Studio Ghibli in terms of Eastern, using Pom Poko, The Cat Returns and My Neighbour Totoro as examples, each with a different director.
Criticism of my question is also greatly welcomed as I don't know if I have worded it correctly.
Thank you in advance.
I guess in Totoro there is a quite a large emphasis on the importance of family. Although this is the case in most cultures and is probably shown in western animated films, i would imagine this is quite a good point for a similarity in the two. The lengths that the family goes to in which to stay near their mother (moving house, we know that its at least a train and a bus ride from Kusakabes university work) and the girls' focus on wanting to be with the mother promotes this idea.
The friendliness of strangers could be another talking point. Having not seen Pom Poko i cannot talk about that, but both in Cat Returns and Totoro there is generally a trust in strangers and that they are always happy to help someone in need (Baron & co in Cat, Totoro in Totoro, wider community in Totoro). I cant immediately think of any example of western animation where this is the case but i am certain there is a lot less trust in unfamiliar faces (at least compared to Ghibli films where i cant think of any cases).
Anyway thats all i can think of in the two minutes i thought about it.
Would be interesting to hear your initial impressions, i am guessing you have some as you decided to write an essay about it.
Bobby
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| 01.11.2009, 09:51 PM |
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dballred
Ohmu
Registration Date: 04.24.06
Location: Oklahoma City - Seattle - Tokyo
Posts: 406 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Kaikuri
Hello, as a new member to Ghibli Tavern I don't know the procedure for this but I wish to get your opinions upon a question I have formulated for my A-Level Media Case Study on World Cinema. Any answers are greatly appreciated =]
"How do Eastern animated films apply beliefs of their culture as well as their directors own beliefs, in comparison to Western animated films"
For this question I am focusing on Studio Ghibli in terms of Eastern, using Pom Poko, The Cat Returns and My Neighbour Totoro as examples, each with a different director.
Criticism of my question is also greatly welcomed as I don't know if I have worded it correctly.
Thank you in advance.
I think you can apply a simple question here: how would these stories been done if they had been done in the west?
Toward that end, I would rule out, on one hand, the Cat Returns as a valid candidate for contrast, as it has a theme and story line that could have been done identically in the west--with different settings, of course. While it might not do as a contrasting work, it would be excellent to show similarities.
My Neighbor Totoro, on another hand, would be a similar challenge for similar reasons--though the trappings if not the theme are Japanese. There are non-traditional concepts that aren't handled as they would have been handled in the Japan of fifty plus years ago. As unfair as it might seem to be, the neighbors and satsuki's schoolmates wouldn't have been so quick to accept a family that did not include a mother. The fact that she was in a sanitorium would have made no difference.
Pon Poko, on yet another hand (we must be dealing with a spider here), is a good target for contrast. The story does not progress nor end as western stories go. Nature does battle with man--and nature loses. However, the ending does not show the loss as a disaster but as something inevitable. The Tanuki need to adjust and the humans need to be aware of the consequences. From a western perspective, the ending does not provide closure.
As for a Miyazaki work that could show a contrast with western thought, you would be better served examining one of Miyazaki's other works, such as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. The former film fits into the mold of a Japanese fairy tale (Mukashi Banashi) and the latter, like Pon Poko, deals with the encroachment of man into nature.
Mukashi Banashi are nearly always morality plays whereby wicked behavior is punished and good behavior rewarded.
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| 01.12.2009, 04:32 AM |
 
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Dark Totoro
Ohmu
Registration Date: 10.09.08
Location: Ayr, Scotland
Posts: 321 |
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This is of a short answer but.. I think that the movies reflect the situations of humans living with animals, reason being is, alot of the Ghibli movies tend to focus on the fact that us humans are increasing the capacity of humans habitats thus diminishing wildlife's habitats.
I also think that the directors like the idea of a peaceful co-existence between man and nature.
You don't really see this happening in western movies.
That's what I think anyway. 
__________________
It's like I was frozen in a cryogenic tube 
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| 01.12.2009, 06:25 AM |
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Kaikuri
Susuwatari
Registration Date: 01.10.09
Location:
Posts: 2 |
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Thank you for your replies so far they have been very useful, follow your responce I have decided to change my question and remove the comparison with Western culture. Also I have decided to replace The Cat Returns with Spirited Away, for my textual analysis.
I am also looking at the use of Japanese folk symbols within the films, specifically Spirited Away of which I have a academic journal which looks at the film.
If you could continue to give your opinions they are still very appreciated.
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| 01.12.2009, 06:49 AM |
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dballred
Ohmu
Registration Date: 04.24.06
Location: Oklahoma City - Seattle - Tokyo
Posts: 406 |
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quote:
Originally posted by Kaikuri
Thank you for your replies so far they have been very useful, follow your responce I have decided to change my question and remove the comparison with Western culture. Also I have decided to replace The Cat Returns with Spirited Away, for my textual analysis.
I am also looking at the use of Japanese folk symbols within the films, specifically Spirited Away of which I have a academic journal which looks at the film.
If you could continue to give your opinions they are still very appreciated.
I think you can get a lot out of Spirited Away. Don't take too much from western analyses, as there are many wrong interpretatations--including the English version's producer's as stated at the beginning of the Disney DVD. He missed the very meaning of the film. As best you can, find translations of interviews with Miyazaki and other Japanese closely connected with the project that come from legitimate sources. There are bogus "interviews" widely circulated that are actually fabrications. There were a lot of research studies published on the film, but few have been translated from Japanese.
1. The focus on the importance of names in the film should be explored as an Eastern concept. There can be a wedge to gain a bit of insight as to why suicide is a socially-aceptable form of restoring honor.
2. Many of the creatures shown in Spirited Away have a Japanese flavor, but they are mostly products of Miyazaki's imagination. "No Face," for example, has nothing at all to do with the oft-repeated myth about "Noh Face and Noh masks." Miyazaki recently revealed that No Face in the story was originally intended to be much more heavily rendered. It would have made the film nearly four hours long and what remains of him is only a shell.
3. Read a few Mukashi Banashi--there are several translations available in print and on the internet.
4. Pon Poko is heavily based on Japanese folklore. Just about all of the characters in the parade are well known. The folklore concerning transformation of Foxes and Tanuki and placing a leaf on the head is also widespread folklore. As supplemental material, watch Youkai Daisensou (Hobgoblin Wars) and Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro. Promotional materials for the latter film actually tied the Youkai in Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro to the locality in Japan where they were made popular.
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| 01.13.2009, 03:09 AM |
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