Studio Ghibali films always have a special place in childhood of people who grew up seeing them. Was it stopping on a rain day on a rain day (My neighbor Totaro1988), climbing over the clouds on the broom to give fresh baked goods (Distribution service of kiki1989), or looking at pigs outside a bathroom (spirited Away2001) – These are images that stay with you for a long time after the darkness of the screen.
Totoro sat at the ticket booth of Ghibali Museum in Mitaka, Japan. Photo Credit: Rudra Sudarshan
The animation studio, which recently turned 40, is in the headlines. Recently, studio Ghibli’s popularity has skyrocketed and, like most animated styles, it has progressed in mainstream media – people have flonated their goods, available in stores and available in most Indian metro pavements. Ghibali films are also regularly displayed in these cities. Recently, AI can now mimic the style with uncertain accuracy. With irony-it takes many years to bring every studio ghibali film to life, with each frame manufactured by hand, and that Hayo Miazaki himself is anti-ai-anty-it is lost that they get lost on users as they upload their photos for a ghibali-style render.
Behind longevity
But what about this studio Ghibali’s compositions that catch public imagination? Is it an animated world that are simple and simple; Heroes that are easy for sympathy; Extensive depiction of mountains, mechanical palaces, and green forests; Or do the infallible expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, and despair dig into the expressive faces of their characters?
There is no black and white in the world of Ghibali – the villain has its own reasons and always redeemnable. It may be that this feeling of apathy, the feeling of acquaintance, the memories of childhood are deeply stored in the holiday of your brain, and the feelings that they provoke. All this contributes to the universal appeal of the studio Ghibali.
Studio Ghibali is not a man sitting next to the character from the film spirited Away
Photo Credit: AFP
Of course, one can take a more diagnostic approach and characterize the recent burst in popularity and interest to the aesthetics churned by the algorithms. In any way, there is something about the studio ghibali that sticks to your brain like a particularly stubborn spright. Perhaps this is because misleading simple narratives are deep themes that provide intensive philosophical food for thought.
Miyajaki and modernization
Miazaki’s disdain for technology and modernization is clear in his films. He is famously stated that “modern life is so thin and shallow and fake – I look forward when developers become insolvency, Japan becomes poor and takes wild grass”. Although this vision cannot reflect reality, she weaves this imagination in her films, especially in her films. Princess Mononok, Hawa Valley Navy, And My neighbor TotaroWhere the forests are ignorant and grasslands spread endlessly.
Oscar winner Japanese animator Hayo Miyajaki | Photo Credit: AFP
Princess mononok The center on environmentalism, portrays it in a way that forces the viewer to face the imperative of industrialization. It may not be as much as it may not, it should be – and finding a middle ground becomes the only viable solution. Meanwhile, Nurcika converts a world into a toxic barren land, as she discovers for a solution.
Both san (Princess mononok) And Navy resides in the world scared of war. While San, Wolf Princess, fights her beloved house to protect more forests from harvesting and industrialization, Navsika takes a more peaceful approach. In howl’s Moving CastleThe themes of pacifism are more obvious, set against the constant echo of war that rotates throughout the film. Despite the hatred of Hawl’s war, the magician is forced to become a tool of destruction even at the cost of losing his humanity. Sophie’s image, hero, stands in a meadow of flowers, while the war throws light on the opposite of the ugliness of war and the delicate beauty of nature.
Strong, fearless women
Most of Ghibali’s films include women heroes – whether they are children like Satsuki and Mei (My neighbor Totaro), Kiki (Distribution service of kiki), And chihiro (spirited AwayYoung women such as Nausika and San; Or even Sophie (howl’s Moving Castle), Who does age and then returns to the youth.
Chihiro spirited Away
Unlike Disney’s princesses, they have their own knights in the shining armor, which are facing the head of the world. They all perform flexibility, courage and an uncontrolled hope. No matter how difficult the task is or how much the future tarnishes, they either find a silver layer or make themselves. Young heroes exclusively show knowledge beyond their years, yet contradicts their innocence and wide -eyed surprises. It is not that there is a lack of male hero in Ghibali, but they essentially decrease in comparison.
Attraction from life
Miazaki, like many artists, often takes inspiration from real -life experiences. For example, he traveled to France to study European architecture and aesthetics. howl’s Moving CastleHe sent his animators to see the vet to see how to give medicines to a dog, which he then translated into an animating in a dragon. spirited Away,
Many Miazaki films have a recurring subject of chronic disease. In the wind risesWe meet Nako, who suffers from tuberculosis. In My neighbor TotaroSatsuki and Mei’s mother are admitted to the hospital, while the sisters detect the forest of Totro. This reflects Miazaki’s childhood experience, when her mother was hospitalized due to spinal tuberculosis.
My neighbor Totaro
Despite the principles about the inherent symbolism in my films, Miazaki’s trend is clear: “I have no more patience to calculate more intellectually. It has to be done over time. Nobody knows everything. Nobody knows everything. Nobody knows that, I do not even know what you are doing. Outside.
Unlike rumors of his impending retirement Boy and heronMiazaki, now 84, shows no sign of slowing down. Since his films are ready by hand, it is understandable that it takes many years to complete. If you can continue directing films on Clint Eastwood 95, what is Miyajaki stopping?
Writers and journalists are located in Mumbai.
Published – June 28, 2025 12:29 pm IST
