Interesting Thoughts from Miyazaki

[Shao Feng-Li]

Having experimented with digital and CG technology on Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki has gone back to basics for Ponyo, which is made up of a stunning 170,000 individual hand-painted frames. He says he has seen none of the landmark digital animations of the past two decades, including Toy Story and Pixar Studio’s recent smash Wall.E, despite being friends with Pixar’s creative director John Lasseter.

***

“I can’t stand modern movies,â€

[Mr. SmartyPants]

With as much respect for his creative talent, I think he is just trying to villainize progressive culture. If he watched modern animated films (especially Pixar) and looked past the art direction into the more thematic elements, I think he would be more appreciate of them; especially with say: Up.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Or Wall-E. Robots aside, it seems very much a theme that he would concoct. His work and Pixar really are kindred in the respect that they tell stories based around themes more complex or differing than simple good versus evil.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I dunno. He seems to be condemning folks who are obsessed and can't live out cellphones and iPods. But he is taking some of the too far by not watching films from Pixar. Just as he puts heart and soul into his films, Pixar does the same. Miyazaki needs to see Up asap.

But maybe I'm just a little biased. As a cashier, I've gotten the "wait a minute" finger from customers. It always causes me to rage XD

[Mr. SmartyPants]

And this is why I prefer Satoshi Kon. Kon seems to be a more... how do you say it... normal person.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Having read much of what Miyazaki has written in terms of non-fiction material, I've been starting to get the impression that he's actually kind of grumpy. Tends to view his own work in a negative light. The fact that he hasn't retired yet, despite many threats to the contrary, is somewhat amazing. He's quite distasteful of corporate culture (of course, who can blame him), as well as being very set in his ways. He and his son often have arguments over creative issues.

Not to slam the man. he's a brilliant creative force, but he is somewhat curmudgeony and set in some traditional values. Appreciate his work, but don't necessarily take everything he says as philosophical gold.

[blkmage]

Right. It's easy to bemoan the lack of authenticity or whatever in modern animation when he's ignoring the counterexample that's staring him right in the face, Pixar.

I do find it ironic that he considers virtual things to be the cause of lack of imagination and experience when, only a few generations ago, things like film and animation were likely to have been vilified in the same way.

[minakichan]

Dear Miyazaki-sensei,

You know that drawing and painting all the frames by hand wastes more resources and is worse for the environment than doing it digitally, right?

[Fish and Chips]

Having experimented with digital and CG technology on Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki has gone back to basics for Ponyo, which is made up of a stunning 170,000 individual hand-painted frames. He says he has seen none of the landmark digital animations of the past two decades, including Toy Story and Pixar Studio’s recent smash Wall.E, despite being friends with Pixar’s creative director John Lasseter.

I stopped thinking right about here.

Consequently, I am more and more inclined to care less and less about what Miyazaki himself thinks, daily.

[Maokun]

I agree with all of you but cut the man some slack. Geniuses have their eccentricities.

And this is why I prefer Satoshi Kon. Kon seems to be a more... how do you say it... normal person.

I take you haven't seen his picture

[Roy Mustang]

Nevermind, its not worth it!


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Blitzkrieg1701]

I'm just amused that the man who invented the Catbus is calling ANYTHING "too weird and eccentric."

[The Banner]

I actually used to be (and still sort of am) in the same stance as he was. I've seen some of Miyazaki's works, and I think it is his strive for the old days when things were magical, the 19th-20th century times of Disney, that I admired in his works.

I'm not a big fan of when movies with potential magical qualities try to also be parodic and modern. Harry Potter: The Philosopher's Stone was an extravagant piece; Goblet of Fire didn't hold up when it started to look more like real-life high school and they even decided to add a parody rock band to play in the movie. Why, series? Why?

I still don't like modernization, but even though people being surrounded by technology may or may not limit their imagination, Miyakazi probably goes a bit too old-fashioned for most people here. I don't seem to mind him as much. I've grown old before my time.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

At the end of the day, the older methods of media should be preserved and continued, I think, in many cases they hold the same charm if not more of the original works. (Comma spliceeeeees! Whoo!)

For example, the thrust to push Disney back to 2D works. Or pieces like Coraline which return to old styles of stop motion animation. I think these techniques should not be completly replaced but I do think in many instances they can be acceptably enhanced by newer techniques. Do not neglect one for love of the other - a principle that works both ways.

[chibiphonebooth]

Having experimented with digital and CG technology on Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki has gone back to basics for Ponyo, which is made up of a stunning 170,000 individual hand-painted frames. He says he has seen none of the landmark digital animations of the past two decades, including Toy Story and Pixar Studio’s recent smash Wall.E, despite being friends with Pixar’s creative director John Lasseter.

***

“I can’t stand modern movies,” he winces. “The images are too weird and eccentric for me.” He shuns TV and most modern media, reading books or travelling instead. It is no surprise to find that the multimillionaire director’s car, parked outside the Ghibli studio, is an antique Citröen CV, an icon of minimalist, unfussy driving.

Ghibli’s creative engine house is a reflection of its founder’s preoccupation with authenticity and distrust of popular culture. New talent (the studio has just added another 150 animators to its 270 full-time staff) is tested out in a sort of animation boot camp, where the use of cell phones, blogs, iPods and other electronic devices is forbidden.

“Young people are surrounded by virtual things,” he laments. “They lack real experience of life and lose their imaginations. Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and shock and emotions.”

He is known to lecture constantly on the need to find harmony between the human hand, eye and brain, and the ever-expanding computer toolbox. Ponyo, he says, is partly about living without technology. “Most people depend on the internet and cellphones to survive, but what happens when they stop working? I wanted to create a mother and child who wouldn’t be defeated by life without them.”

[SIZE="3"]GOOD!![/SIZE]



I agree with him, actually. I think that what he's doing is pretty wise. I don't mean he should shun out EVERYTHING, but to get back to basics and stick with the old, wonderful type of animation is great. I DO believe we are all surrounded by virtual things. and i agree a LOT with this: "Young people are surrounded by virtual things,” he laments. “They lack real experience of life and lose their imaginations. Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and shock and emotions.”

as an artist, my best work is when i pull from my emotions, not from creating some silly character or writing a silly story. I believe the best art out there is art that is pulled from a well of emotions, and then resonates with the person looking/watching the art.

I've always loved his movies because there's something in them that i can relate to. There's this wide-eyed child like wonder that i feel like a lot of movies now do NOT have. There's this beautiful world of magic and innocence. and I love that about his stuff. I think he's done a wonderful job. and you can call him grumpy or stubborn or whatever, but i think what he's doing is very unique and wise.

[GhostontheNet]

I guess you could say this is an example of hyperreality and its discontents. For those unfamiliar with the concept of hyperreality in semiotics and post-modern philosophy, the term refers to social situations in which the simulcra or simulation of reality overshadows reality itself in importance, and human consciousness is unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. In illustrating this concept, Jean Baudrillard cites a scenario from Lewis Carroll of "a society whose cartographers create a map so detailed that it covers the very things it was designed to represent. When the empire declines, the map fades into the landscape and there is neither the representation nor the real remaining – just the hyperreal." (Wikipedia, "Hyperreality" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality>) Naturally, Wikipedia is itself an excellent example of this principle in action. But then, what indeed is the world we live in if not a place where the cartographer scenario has come to pass? Miyazaki's efforts to show that his life and work are "real" is filled with irony, but completely understandable. Here is the man who has built his own media empire of fantasy, who has constructed a theme park analogous to Disneyland. Disneyland, of course, is of great interest to Baudrilliard, who writes:

The Disneyland imaginary is neither true or false: it is a deterrence machine set up in order to rejuvenate in reverse the fiction of the real. Whence the debility, the infantile degeneration of this imaginary. It's meant to be an infantile world, in order to make us believe that the adults are elsewhere, in the "real" world, and to conceal the fact that real childishness is everywhere, particularly among those adults who go there to act the child in order to foster illusion of their real childishness.

Having built close ties to this notoriously hyperreal media empire, Miyazaki disavows these ties by stating that contemporary cinema in general, and Pixar's films in particular, are too technological to be real/authentic. Rather, to show in an article that is presenting a simulated representation of him that he is living a completely real and authentic life, he is presented as doing the following. 1. He drives in an artificially constructed antique vehicle with an equally artificially constructed sign-value of "minimalist, unfussy driving." This distinguishes him from those who drive artificially constructed contemporary vehicles with an equally artificially constructed sign-value of 'flashy, glamorous driving.' 2. He only consumes media through an analog, rather than digital medium. Of course, these days books are written, edited, and published through digital means, so the illusion of escape through the analog medium is itself a creation of the digital medium. And, as has often been noted, books are a simulated representation of reality, not reality itself. 3. He frequently travels away from the artificiality of Japanese culture to immerse in the sights, sounds, signs, and representations of other regions. Of course, the fact that most of these regions are probably reachable by airport and the interconnected tourist industry probably means he will find himself in just as much of a hyperreal environment as when he started.

How then, do Miyazaki's films take on the characteristic of the real and authentic? Apparently, first and foremost, by isolating his animators from electronic culture in a secluded "boot camp" away from mainstream Japanese society. Naturally, mainstream society is often quite alarmed by those who withdraw to such seclusion, because it signals their isolation from reality. Nevertheless, the animators feel very powerful experiences of "pain and shock and emotions" in boot camp, so their grasp of reality is very good. Still, it must be emphasized that cultists and fringe groups who have similar experiences under similar conditions do not have a good grasp of reality, so why Miyazaki has the magic touch, and they don't, nobody really knows. 'Technology stifles the imagination,' says Miyazaki, citing the many films he has not seen over the past few decades, because their images are too "weird and eccentric." That such 'weirdness' and 'eccentricity' could signal a high level of imagination is a thought lost to the talented director, who himself has been ascribed the cultural sign-value of "weird and eccentric." That the "real" Hayao Miyazaki considers himself to be no such thing is of no great importance, because the public image constructed by representations of him in the media has overshadowed the man himself. Sorry Miyazaki, the matrix has you.

[Nate]

[Ingemar]

Kids, you don't need to go to college to get a thoroughly postmodern education. Just hit up GhostontheNet for his opinions on, well, anything.

As for Miyazaki, I've learned no to begrudge anyone for whatever tastes they have.

[Maokun]

After reading GhostontheNet's dissertation, I'll dare to answer the rethoric question of "where does Miyasaki gets his magic from, if not from the (delusion of) the real?": It comes from being in the road, not for attaining the goal, following a figure of speech. By believing that there's actually something different, unique and untainted in the activities he favours, he actively instill those mundane (and unequivocally "unreal" in the sense that GotN explained, though probably the best word is "virtual") inclinations of the same magic he then proceeds to extract from them. C.S. Lewis would explain that his pretension dressed the delusion with reality, which is perhaps the best definition I can find for "magic".

In other words, he finds inspiration and fantasy precisely in the activities he already fancies, in the same ways that other artists credit their success or creativity in their unique lifestyles. Thus, his opinion may be perfectly valid for himself but one would do better in finding one's own path than in blindingly following his example.

[Fish and Chips]

I guess you could say this is an example of hyperreality and its discontents. For those unfamiliar with the concept of hyperreality in semiotics and post-modern philosophy, the term refers to social situations in which the simulcra or simulation of reality overshadows reality itself in importance, and human consciousness is unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. In illustrating this concept, Jean Baudrillard cites a scenario from Lewis Carroll of "a society whose cartographers create a map so detailed that it covers the very things it was designed to represent. When the empire declines, the map fades into the landscape and there is neither the representation nor the real remaining –]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality[/URL]>) Naturally, Wikipedia is itself an excellent example of this principle in action. But then, what indeed is the world we live in if not a place where the cartographer scenario has come to pass? Miyazaki's efforts to show that his life and work are "real" is filled with irony, but completely understandable. Here is the man who has built his own media empire of fantasy, who has constructed a theme park analogous to Disneyland. Disneyland, of course, is of great interest to Baudrilliard, who writes:

Having built close ties to this notoriously hyperreal media empire, Miyazaki disavows these ties by stating that contemporary cinema in general, and Pixar's films in particular, are too technological to be real/authentic. Rather, to show in an article that is presenting a simulated representation of him that he is living a completely real and authentic life, he is presented as doing the following. 1. He drives in an artificially constructed antique vehicle with an equally artificially constructed sign-value of "minimalist, unfussy driving." This distinguishes him from those who drive artificially constructed contemporary vehicles with an equally artificially constructed sign-value of 'flashy, glamorous driving.' 2. He only consumes media through an analog, rather than digital medium. Of course, these days books are written, edited, and published through digital means, so the illusion of escape through the analog medium is itself a creation of the digital medium. And, as has often been noted, books are a simulated representation of reality, not reality itself. 3. He frequently travels away from the artificiality of Japanese culture to immerse in the sights, sounds, signs, and representations of other regions. Of course, the fact that most of these regions are probably reachable by airport and the interconnected tourist industry probably means he will find himself in just as much of a hyperreal environment as when he started.

How then, do Miyazaki's films take on the characteristic of the real and authentic? Apparently, first and foremost, by isolating his animators from electronic culture in a secluded "boot camp" away from mainstream Japanese society. Naturally, mainstream society is often quite alarmed by those who withdraw to such seclusion, because it signals their isolation from reality. Nevertheless, the animators feel very powerful experiences of "pain and shock and emotions" in boot camp, so their grasp of reality is very good. Still, it must be emphasized that cultists and fringe groups who have similar experiences under similar conditions do not have a good grasp of reality, so why Miyazaki has the magic touch, and they don't, nobody really knows. 'Technology stifles the imagination,' says Miyazaki, citing the many films he has not seen over the past few decades, because their images are too "weird and eccentric." That such 'weirdness' and 'eccentricity' could signal a high level of imagination is a thought lost to the talented director, who himself has been ascribed the cultural sign-value of "weird and eccentric." That the "real" Hayao Miyazaki considers himself to be no such thing is of no great importance, because the public image constructed by representations of him in the media has overshadowed the man himself. Sorry Miyazaki, the matrix has you.

[Bobtheduck]

The man has some beautiful works, but they also tend to be ABSURDLY, MIND NUMBINGLY preachy... Like, more than your average Billy Graham movie... I respect his work, but I certainly won't show respect for his opinion when he won't even watch work made by a friend. If my friends refused to watch or read or play something I made, particularly if they were interested in the general medium my work was in, I'd start to doubt their friendship.

This sort of reminds me of how I felt upon learning Miyamoto never owned an NES, Gameboy, SNES, N64, or gameboy advanced... It just corrupts my view of someone who has offered a lot to a field I have an interest in.

[LadyRushia]

Guys, let's cut the poking fun of other's people's posts and opinions please. It doesn't do much to add to the conversation.

I also love Miyazaki's films, but I'm not as bothered by his preachiness (then again, I haven't seen any of his movies in a long time). I think just the fact that some of them take place in worlds with rather extreme conditions that they just lend themselves to the issues and themes packing more of punch. However, I don't really like this elitist attitude he seems to have in this article. I think any artist in any medium should be aware of other people's work in that same medium even if they don't want to use the same techniques.

[minakichan]

When people talk about kids these days and how their cell phones and their PlayStations and their Interwebs and their running water and their 3D animation make life so shallow and contrived and "back in my day when we walked 50 miles in the snow to school barefoot and naked," they forget that every single generation before them has said the exact same thing. Modern progressive technologies are not going to change the fundamental essence of mankind and turn everyone into brainless cyborgs any more than cars, toasters, telegraphs, kerosene lamps, the printing press, compasses, bricks, and the wheel did.

Hand-drawing images and animating them? Back in my day we dripped rocks in animal blood and smeared it on cave walls. Kids these days don't appreciate work and imagination and will never understand the beauty of true art.

[GhostontheNet]

After reading GhostontheNet's dissertation, I'll dare to answer the rethoric question of "where does Miyasaki gets his magic from, if not from the (delusion of) the real?": It comes from being in the road, not for attaining the goal, following a figure of speech. By believing that there's actually something different, unique and untainted in the activities he favours, he actively instill those mundane (and unequivocally "unreal" in the sense that GotN explained, though probably the best word is "virtual") inclinations of the same magic he then proceeds to extract from them. C.S. Lewis would explain that his pretension dressed the delusion with reality, which is perhaps the best definition I can find for "magic".

In other words, he finds inspiration and fantasy precisely in the activities he already fancies, in the same ways that other artists credit their success or creativity in their unique lifestyles. Thus, his opinion may be perfectly valid for himself but one would do better in finding one's own path than in blindingly following his example.

I'd prefer it if you had put "where does Miyasaki gets [sic] his magic from, if not from the (delusion of) the real?" in single quotes, since I am being paraphrased rather than quoted. My comments about Miyazaki's boot camp were more directly aimed at discussion of his efforts to function in a media culture than at the clear genius of his films. By "magic," I euphemistically referred to something unexplainable, namely, how his films could be real because of conditions often noted for their unreality. In other words, there's a screw loose in his logic, and his premises do not prove what he hopes to prove. Don't get me wrong, Miyazaki's ingenious directorial vision as a contemporary auteur is undeniable. But in no way can he be said to be free of the media culture he repudiates.

"Unreality" can be both fun and dangerous insofar as it creates an illusion or fantasy with little or no direct relation to reality. "Hyperreality" however, is hazier territory insofar as it creates a state of affairs in which it is difficult, if not impossible to distinguish between reality and fantasy, and this state of affairs is symptomatic of media culture. Take the "reality TV" show Big Brother, for example. Under the parameters of the contest, the house guests must simply live together in a relatively ordinary house, only with the knowledge that their every move is being watched by the ubiquitous cameras, and they will be judged by millions of people based on what they are shown. This element of judgment is reinforced and encouraged by the parameters of the contest, which demand that housemates are evicted at regular intervals. Hence, the house guests themselves become performing actors in their day to day lives, and the dividing line between their performance as actors and their lives as individuals becomes so blurred as to be indistinguishable. In the cutting room, the footage is given slick, fast cuts to condense time spent in the mundane into a glossy consumer product. Hence, the life of the consumer itself becomes a consumer product marketed to the consumer. Naturally, the producers have no great concern for relational ambiguity, much preferring the entertainment value of the images captured. The end result is that for many viewers, the images of "reality TV" are more real than their day to day lives. This is an example of hyperreality, which can be distinguished from examples of unreality (i.e. Goths who go out on Friday night dressed as vampires and fairies to dance to dark and ethereal music). Since "hyperreality" is an established term in the realms of philosophy and semiotics for this particular state of affairs, it would be best to stick to it.

[blkmage]

they forget that every single generation before them has said the exact same thing

This. THIS. A thousand times, this.

It isn't even constrained to technology. Since art is under discussion, all we have to do is take a look at the history of art and music.

[Maokun]

I'd prefer it if you had put "where does Miyasaki gets [sic] his magic from, if not from the (delusion of) the real?" in single quotes, since I am being paraphrased rather than quoted. My comments about Miyazaki's boot camp were more directly aimed at discussion of his efforts to function in a media culture than at the clear genius of his films. By "magic," I euphemistically referred to something unexplainable, namely, how his films could be real because of conditions often noted for their unreality. In other words, there's a screw loose in his logic, and his premises do not prove what he hopes to prove. Don't get me wrong, Miyazaki's ingenious directorial vision as a contemporary auteur is undeniable. But in no way can he be said to be free of the media culture he repudiates.

"Unreality" can be both fun and dangerous insofar as it creates an illusion or fantasy with little or no direct relation to reality. "Hyperreality" however, is hazier territory insofar as it creates a state of affairs in which it is difficult, if not impossible to distinguish between reality and fantasy, and this state of affairs is symptomatic of media culture. Take the "reality TV" show Big Brother, for example. Under the parameters of the contest, the house guests must simply live together in a relatively ordinary house, only with the knowledge that their every move is being watched by the ubiquitous cameras, and they will be judged by millions of people based on what they are shown. This element of judgment is reinforced and encouraged by the parameters of the contest, which demand that housemates are evicted at regular intervals. Hence, the house guests themselves become performing actors in their day to day lives, and the dividing line between their performance as actors and their lives as individuals becomes so blurred as to be indistinguishable. In the cutting room, the footage is given slick, fast cuts to condense time spent in the mundane into a glossy consumer product. Hence, the life of the consumer itself becomes a consumer product marketed to the consumer. Naturally, the producers have no great concern for relational ambiguity, much preferring the entertainment value of the images captured. The end result is that for many viewers, the images of "reality TV" are more real than their day to day lives. This is an example of hyperreality, which can be distinguished from examples of unreality (i.e. Goths who go out on Friday night dressed as vampires and fairies to dance to dark and ethereal music). Since "hyperreality" is an established term in the realms of philosophy and semiotics for this particular state of affairs, it would be best to stick to it.

I am a bit baffled that you seem to have taken my previous post as a counterpoint or a contest to yours, whereas I was only attempting to expand one of your arguments and speculate on the underlying logic of the issue. All the time I was fully agreeing with you. Also, I apologize for my meager grasp on the english language, which I am not native to.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Maybe if you people didn't post such huge TL;DR posts, YOU'D UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER A LITTLE BETTER.

[LadyRushia]

Guys, let's cut the poking fun of other's people's posts and opinions please. It doesn't do much to add to the conversation.

I'm a little upset that I have to quote myself. When I say something like this, I mean it. Cut it out, or this thread will be locked. If anyone here doesn't like the way anyone else posts, keep it to yourself, rant about it on your blog--I don't care. Just don't take it out on them here.

[pikmintaro]

Hmmm while I like some of Miyazaki's movies I am starting to lose a bit of respect for him, especially after reading all that.
He's complaining about all of the iPod's and Cell Phones and stuff and how people would get around if those stopped working but what about him? What does he do if his Car breaks down or if his equipment malfunctions? starting to sound like he's a bit of a hypocrite.

[Roy Mustang]

Hmmm while I like some of Miyazaki's movies I am starting to lose a bit of respect for him, especially after reading all that.
He's complaining about all of the iPod's and Cell Phones and stuff and how people would get around if those stopped working but what about him? What does he do if his Car breaks down or if his equipment malfunctions? starting to sound like he's a bit of a hypocrite.

Not really sure if he has a car or not. But he does love loves aviation and I believe that he does have an airplane.

There is a few and I mean few of his movies that I do like he has done and I respect his work as a whole, but I don't really have a lot of respect for him as a person.

Mostly felt more of a lost of respect for him after I read the Los Angeles Times newspaper story about why he didn't come to the Oscars. He showed a very bad generalize about other people in the world.

I just feel that he has too much double standards and why I can't really get into a lot of his movies.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]