Those familiar with Miyazaki are not surprised. When he was young, Hayao Miyazaki was a leftist, believed in communism, and loved red China and the Soviet Union. He once participated in the 1960 anti-Japanese and American security struggle demonstrations. After the war, he adhered to democracy and anti-warism, which became his lifelong political stance. Hayao Miyazaki's two close friends, and the closest partners with whom he founded Studio Ghibli (animation production agency), are both communists or pro-communists - Yasuo Tokuma, Studio Ghibli Its president is a Japanese communist; another founder, Isao Takahata, chatted with Hayao Miyazaki about democracy, World War II, and watching Soviet cartoons in the labor union in the 1960s.
Anti-war ideas have always been running through the cartoons produced by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The most typical ones are Hayao Miyazaki's final work "The Wind Rises" in 2013 and Takahata Isao's "Grave of the Fireflies" in 1988.
Different from Hayao Miyazaki's other earlier works, which are full of magical and ethereal imagination, but similar to "Grave of the Fireflies", "The Wind Rises" tells the war in a beautiful style and almost plain film language. Time-wandering love and shadowed dreams. The love story in "The Wind Rises" comes from the work of the same name by the Japanese novelist Hori Tatsuo, but the protagonist is based on the Japanese Zero fighter designer Jiro Horikita. Horikoshi Jiro has been obsessed with the dream of "making a beautiful plane" since he was a child. Although it is an era of wars, his heart is only to let Japan's aircraft manufacturing technology catch up with Germany, which represents the world's top level. However, after he exhausted ten years of hard work and let the Zero fighter fly lightly in the sky, none of the planes was able to return successfully - all the pilots died in battle, and the plane became a burial. Although for Erlang, "the plane is not a prop of war, nor a commodity to be sold, but a beautiful dream", but in the war years, "the plane can only be a beautiful but cursed dream".
Before that, war and ruins had appeared frequently in Hayao Miyazaki's works - "Princess Mononoke", "Nausicaa", "Howl's Moving Castle". In "Red Pig", anti-war activists even become the protagonists of the film. "Porcupine" is based on the pilots, writers San Tegscheperi and Roldo Dahl who participated in the anti-Nazi combat during World War II, and created a disheartened and willing pig face because of witnessing the death of all his comrades. middle-aged pilot image. The image of "Porcupine" can also be regarded as a metaphor for himself - "I am a red molecule until I die." (Miyazaki Hayao)
Japanese animation emphasizes "worldview", and there is a strong "text to express the truth" "consciousness. Japan's top animation works are mostly obscure in thinking, full of reflection and criticism of human nature and society. Compared with several other animation masters, such as Jin Jin, Oshii Mori, Otomo Keyang, etc., whether it is the style of painting or the world view, Hayao Miyazaki is easier to be accepted, because Hayao Miyazaki has always emphasized, "Animation is for children, not adults. done".
Even so, in the fantastic fantasy of the little witch flying around on a broom and Ponyo stepping on the waves, the chinchilla holding an umbrella and the little girl standing under the street lamps in the rainy night, and the four seasons of flowers in the valley are blooming in clusters. In the fresh style of painting, and in the majestic and ethereal music played by Joe Hisaishi, there is still a serious reflection of Hayao Miyazaki. "Princess Mononoke" is a profound exploration of the relationship between humans and nature. This is also what Studio Ghibli is interested in. Although Hayao Miyazaki himself denies that he is an environmentalist, the relationship between man and nature itself is not enough to be summed up by the word "environmental protection", and his interest in this is not necessary. Doubtful. Another animated film "Various Tanuki" produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata also used a joyful and sad way to question the rationality of the human community's invasion of the natural society. In "Spirited Away", the dirty river god also implies that the pollution of human life has made nature unbearable.
Spirited Away is regarded as Hayao Miyazaki's most ambitious work, not only because of its grandiose fantasy, but also because of its power of reflection. There are all kinds of terrifying laws in this strange magical world, gluttonous may turn into an irrational pig, and if you sign a contract with Mrs. Tang, you will forget your name (lose yourself), and emptiness and loneliness make the faceless monster a foodie Human monsters, who are too eager to succeed and lose themselves (white dragon who forgot his name)... In other words, "original sin" or "karma" will make people become monsters they can't recognize, and only when they Only when they are freed from "sin" and "karma" can they be restored to their bodies and become themselves. For Chihiro, it's a little girl's journey of growth; for Bailong, Faceless, and even her parents, it's a journey from being lost and returning to herself.
Although speaking, Hayao Miyazaki looks like a serious grandfather who loves to preach, but he is actually a very gentle person. We look at his protagonist settings, which are basically beautiful girls and teenagers. Miyazaki endowed them with the best qualities: kindness, bravery, perseverance, and gave them pure friendship (or love) to pursue and accomplish a difficult task together. In the process, they overcome immaturity and become powerful. Spirited Away got Bai Long's help, and at the same time, she also treated the terrible-looking Faceless Monster and the River God with sincerity and kindness, and tried her best to help Bai Long find her lost memories. When she was on her way, she was no longer the little girl who was flustered and sobbing alone. In "Princess Mononoke", Ashitaka and Shan risked their lives to rescue each other, so they became friends and defended the forest together; in "Howl's Moving Castle", Howl and Sophie, who fell in love, fought together, even if they lost The heart turned into a strange bird, and Howl also guarded Sophie's side.
Although most of the time it ends in peace and happiness, Miyazaki movies aren't always happy Hollywood movies. In "The Wind Rises", you can fight as hard as you can, but life still has its weaknesses. The Zero Fighter entrusted the design ideal of Jiro Horikoshi, but it could not escape the fate of being destroyed, because the fighter plane was linked to the fate of the Japanese nation, and when some people chose an unjust war for it, the nation was also doomed. to be destroyed once.
Paul Valery said: "When the wind blows, you have to work hard to survive." It is true that the world is not pure, but we must also work hard to live.
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