"Carefully depicting characters and their everyday life, and giving them a reality that is different from live action films, are the keys to creating a film that appeals to the hearts of the audience." This is the philosophy that Studio Ghibli’s founders Isao Takahata, and Hayao Miyazaki built their illustrious studio on and have maintained since their founding in 1945. This commitment to bringing life and magic to the familiar has been made clear with their prolific filmography. Over their seventy years in the industry, the studio has remained steadfast in their refusal to bend to industry trends and have made it the core of the identity that is Ghibli. This has further developed into an aesthetic which is holly Ghibli with even a number of imitators ranging from homage to blatant ripoffs over their long life.
Western Dissonance:
Animation is a vast medium with the potential to convey feelings and expressions outside the bounds of reality. Unfortunately here in the United States, there has been a trend of looking down on the medium as a whole. The Oscars, for example, have gained some notoriety in their nominees for the best-animated feature. The most noteworthy and recent nomination of The Boss Baby may have been the only thing judges watched. This general attitude has created a trend towards light-hearted fair targeting children and little variety outside of that.
“Voter #5: I only watch the ones that my kid wants to see, so I didn’t see [The] Boxtrolls but I saw Big Hero 6 and I saw [How to Train Your] Dragon [2]. We both connected to Big Hero 6 — I just found it to be more satisfying. The biggest snub for me was Chris Miller and Phil Lord not getting in for [The] Lego [Movie]. When a movie is that successful and culturally hits all the right chords and does that kind of box-office — for that movie not to be in over these two obscure freakin’ Chinese fuckin’ things that nobody ever freakin’ saw [an apparent reference to the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, as well as the Irish film Song of the Sea]? That is my biggest bitch. Most people didn’t even know what they were! How does that happen? That, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.”(Cartoonbrew)
That's not to say it isn’t a medium that has flourished over the decades or that there hasn’t been exceptional material which has broken the mold either. Action series like Batman: The Animated Series would often delve into psyches of the deranged inhabitants of the overbearingly oppressive city of Gotham. Adult-oriented humor has also often been a tool used to acknowledge older audiences, whether it be a dirty joke meant to fly over the head of younger viewers or entire shows which revolve around fouled mouthed, controversial humor and gruesome imagery like in early South Park. Still, these are the exceptions and not the rule, while also still lacking in variety in subject matter with less conventional concepts relegated into the background for an emphasis on bombastic comedies or action series.
If there is one thing animation in Japan has, it is variety. The industry caters to a wide range of niches be it pleasant or unsavory. Topics like cooking, sports, action, adventure, fashion, acting, and even meta-stories about the industry itself are all subjects at the forefront of the flood of new shows and films coming out every year. This is a medium that has been flooded with new content and it is not a type of media made with low turnaround time in mind, not to mention, the substantial investment needed to maintain a studio of skilled laborers. The investment is also dragged down by the niche and very spread out audiences that animation studios are targeting with all the genres and subjects they tackle. It leads to its form of trend-chasing to keep themselves afloat, which has been further exacerbated by the fans who inevitably work there.
Having the occupation of an animator is rarely a comfortable one. The people at the bottom are routinely exploited with disturbingly low pay comparable to a part-time convenience store clerk and has strict deadlines. It is tragically not uncommon in creative industries, which incite such passion in its consumers and future workforce. That passion is readily apparent in the identity of individual animators which sometimes shine through in their work. Unlike a vast majority of cartoons, which value fluidity and consistency, there's room for more stylistic flair at least in some more ambitious anime. The downside is that fans of the medium are very self-referential as references are often the foundation of hobbyist communities, which can influence their work by distancing it from reality.
“Anime was a mistake” is a commonly bandied around phrase by online communities, which has been falsely misattributed to Studio Ghibli's most acclaimed director, Hayao Miyazaki. The phrase originated from a mistranslated interview with Miyazaki about his latest film The Wind Rises. In said interview, Miyazaki lambasts the current state of animation in Japan as something that is dominated by self-interested fans who are “humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.” It’s a harsh claim, but an understandable one for someone who so firmly believes in the need to properly experience and observe life to accurately emulate it in one's art. Fans of animation more commonly enter the field by emulating the animated works which inspired them, which had the potential to lessen their work when they ignore the firm foundations that made those works so relatable in the first place.
These foundations can be felt in many of Ghibli’s films. There is a clear emphasis on environmentalism, personal growth, and Miyazaki’s penchant for airplanes. Ghibli’s differences from the rest of the Japanese animation industry are stark. The company has long held higher standards than most of the industry from their advocacy for workers rights and stricter guidelines when it comes to a director's vision. They share this firm adherence to fluidity and consistency with western animation most notably being Disney’s older 2D works, which is likely why their works resonate with similar audiences. So much so that Disney even began distributing Ghibli’s works globally in 1997, but not without some strict guidelines. Ghibli drew a line in the sand with a strict no-edits policy, which was a common issue foreign media often faced when brought over to the States in the 90s. But they also sternly denied Disney merchandising rights or even much creative control. That's one aspect that differentiates these animation giants and even Ghibli from the rest of the Japanese market, and that's strict adherence to a creator’s vision and avoidance of diluting that vision with excess monetization.
This vision can commonly be attributed to Hayao Miyazaki as the most prolific and go-to director for many of the companies works. Unfortunately, this has left the studio in a tight spot. Ghibli has permanently sustained itself for much of its life with nothing but feature films, and without Miyazaki, their films tend towards underperformance. The studio downsized itself in 2014 with the announcement of Miyazaki’s retirement, not an uncommon event for the man as he already ended said retirement in 2017. But the future for the studio is shaky and in need of new visionaries with experiences which can resonate with audiences across the globe if they want to stay in the business of animated movies. But even if they don’t, they’ll likely always be looked at fondly with the timeless tales they’ve spun inviting new audiences into the wonders of animation every day.
Spirit in Animation
By: Levitt Lin