So far, there are ten works directed by Hayao Miyazaki. I like these ten very much. In addition to Takahata's "The Tomb of Fireflies" and "The Fairy Tale of the Years", Kondo Yoshifumi's "Listen to the Ear", and Hiroshi Mibayashi "The Borrowing Villain Arrietty", these are my favorites. I am also relatively indifferent to some works, such as "The Return of the Cat", "The Battle of the Earth and the Sea", "Hearing the Waves", "Heisei Raccoon Battle", etc., maybe they are different.
Taking this opportunity, I want to talk about my experience of "My Neighbor Totoro".
Looking at the works of Ghibli, you will find that "My Neighbor Totoro" is very special in this one. First of all, its plot is very simple, not as epic as "Mononoke Hime"; its rhythm is very slow, not as tense and lively as "Spirited Away"; its emotions are very soft, not as "Nausicaa" or "Tomb of Fireflies" I am overjoyed and sad; of course it has no deep themes, and it doesn't even discuss love, the troubles of youth, courage, growth, etc. In short, it looks very simple.
But is it really that simple? Of course not.
Let's first look at Hayao Miyazaki himself. He once said that he is actually a very pessimistic person. He hates the current world and wants to restore the world to a certain primitive state. There are such shadows in almost all of his works, and we can count them one by one: In "Nausicaa", the giant soldiers created by human advanced technology burned the whole world on "The Seven Days of Fire"; In "City", Laputa, representing the highest civilization of mankind, was finally destroyed; the duel in "Porco Rosso" that ignored money and women; in "Princess Mononoke", the Kirin Forest and Dadara city were destroyed; "Spirited Away" "The background of the story is established during the Great Depression in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s; the tragic war scenes in "Howl's Moving Castle"; the tsunami in "The Mermaid on the Cliff"; The Great Kanto Earthquake. (It doesn't seem to be in "Witch's Delivery Service")
These are the destruction or restoration described by Hayao Miyazaki. But if this is the case, he is not Hayao Miyazaki, but Katsuhiro Otomo (haha). The key is what he did after the destruction: In "Nausicaa", the sea of rot is a forest that purifies and absorbs pollution, and "Nausicaa" is the last pure land of mankind; in "Nausicaa", Xida When leaving Laputa with Baru, the last turtle saw the robot and the bird together; at the end of "Porco Rosso", Brook was kissed by Fior and turned back into a human form; at the end of "Princess Mononoke", Asidaka Staying to rebuild the Kirin Forest and Dadala City, the housekeeper of Ai Bosi said: Let’s start again; At the end of "Spirited Away", Qianxun left with a hair set knitted by Mother Qian Qian; "Hal's In Moving Castle, Sophie and Hal’s feelings are tested in the war; at the end of "The Mermaid on the Cliff", Ponyo becomes human and Sosuke together; and in "The Wind Is Rising", Jiro and Nahoko are Know each other in the disaster of the earthquake.
Yes, someone might have guessed that what Miyazaki wants to show here is: hope! And this hope is stronger in disasters and destruction. In fact, it is not only Ghibli's animation, but also the movies and novels we watch. When a literary and artistic creator creates a certain hostility, a certain pessimism in his works, it is noncommittal. The important thing is to see how he resolves it, resolves hostility, and turns negative to positive. This is the true positive energy.
So what does it have to do with "My Neighbor Totoro"? Okay, now the critical moment has come.
Let me ask you a question, what are we watching when we watch Ghibli's animation? You want me to say, I will say: I see the kind of subtle feelings. The drama "My Neighbor Totoro" is almost completely flooded with such things. Moreover, when it comes to Hayao Miyazaki's "restoration", those "restorations" above are only formal restorations. In this drama, it is the restoration of feelings, which completely restores the most basic human feelings. That kind of feeling, do you mean family affection? Is it love? Is it friendship? It seems to be, and it does not seem to be. It is the most basic kind of affection. Family affection, friendship, and love are all born here. If you have to give this relationship a name, I think it should be: nature is good.
Then you think about the "hope" above, and you will find that those "hopes" are born out of this "good nature". Moreover, it is "people-oriented" and based on the person itself. What he destroys are those cold things that are not "people-oriented", or "nature-oriented", or "harmony between man and nature". And after that, relying on human "various emotions", "courage", "wisdom" and other positive energies to build things are based on the original "goodness of nature".
Therefore, this "goodness of nature", or " "My Neighbor Totoro" is like a seed, that is, the seeds that Big My Neighbor Totoro gave to Xiaoyue and Xiaomei. Although they are inconspicuous and subtle, you plant it and it will grow into a towering tree! Actually this A towering tree has grown, and that is "Ghibli" itself. This is why Ghibli uses My Neighbor Totoro as their symbol and logo.
Even if this is over. I want to say something else.
I have tried Using Freud’s psychoanalysis to explain Chinchillas can also be explained. This is the case. In fact, all of us have some kind of yearning for infants. To put it bluntly, we have the urge to act like a baby, especially It’s a female. It’s a normal psychological defense mechanism, but it’s a lower level. There are other more advanced mechanisms, so I won’t list them here. "It is to give everyone a chance to act like a baby again, so so many people like it, in fact, we have this kind of emotional need in our subconscious. Moreover, I was surprised to find that the development process of Ghibli's works , That is, the process from seed to tree, which is actually the growth process from low to high level in psychology (this is an academic term, without emotional color). It can be seen that their works are really not that simple.
In fact, I occasionally read "Dragon" "Cats" is also very good. Whenever you are upset, you can calm down when you look at it. Ghibli things are like this, with quality and more power. No wonder so many people like it.
By the way, in fact, My favorite work is "Princess Mononoke", because I like Asidaka too much. Let's talk about it later if I have a chance.
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