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Last year, famous YouTube channel "Nando v Movie"
Assembled an army of extraordinary essayists
And launched a project of epic proportions
"One Marvelous Scene"
And I wasn't invited...
I mean this channel was dinky last year
But also, until Shang-Chi is released
What am I supposed to talk about...
Wong?
But then, up from the depth, he calls
YouTube channel Cult Popture has a project even larger in store
Each month, an alliance of YouTubers will come together
And talk about a director
We call it, the Director Project
It is then, the perfect director for this channel appears
A wise old man, with his cigarette
And his immortal words
"Anime is a mistake!"
Roll the title!
Ok, Miyazaki never actually said that
What he said was
"Almost all Japanese animation is produced"
"With hardly any basis taken from observing real people"
"It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans"
"If you don’t spend time watching real people"
"You can’t do this"
Well, do what exactly?
Have you noticed that Miyazaki films often feel... alive?
In traditional cinema
Characters are usually heightened versions of real people
Exaggerated, larger than life, dramatic
This is especially the case in anime
Where characters are often so dramatically written
They look bonkers to people outside of the fandom
But not Miyazaki characters
Despite often living in larger than life worlds
His characters almost always feel realistic like no others
So, what is the secret?
Well, let me walk you through one of his best works
Princess Mononoke
And find out
First, a quick recap
Princess Mononoke tells the story of Ashitaka
The last prince of the Emishi tribe of Japan
After protecting his village from a cursed animal god
Ashitaka finds the curse has latched onto him
In hope of finding the source of the curse and lifting it
The prince journeys west
Only to find a thriving settlement named Irontown
Led by Lady Eboshi
The people of Irontown use its advanced technology
To start a war with the forest gods
Cutting down trees to gain more land and more iron
The first thing that jumps out to me is, of course
The beautifully detailed animation
Talk about every frame a painting
But it's more than painting, the details also exist in motion
And this is where Miyazaki's people-watching habit begins to shine
In this scene, Ashitaka rescues two townsmen
While taking a rest
The prince collects some water for them
Look at how he first washes his bowl
Before collecting the water
Or in this scene, where Ashitaka is traveling West with his elk
He first feeds the elk before eating what's left in his hand
Neither of these details is necessary
Since they don't advance the plot
But what they do is making Ashitaka feel grounded
Like, he has a habit for everything
And not every habit he has is in service of the story
That's the thing that makes Miyazaki's style different
In the Hollywood style of screenwriting
Everything has to push the story forward
If a character is a photographer
He'll be seen taking a lot of photos
And every time he does
Something will happen
This is especially the case in animation
Because any unnecessary movements not only slows down the film
But eats into the budget
Yet, here we have Ashitaka
Whose princely status bears little to no impact on the story
Who walks in a very specific but consistent way for some reason
Seriously, he walks with his chest up and arms stiff
And no one else walks like this in the film
All these details mean Ashitaka feels like a real human being
With stories, personality, and habits
He doesn't feel like he exists solely for this film
Because of all these details
He becomes so realistic
I often find myself unable to identify as him
He feels alive, fully fleshed out
Instead of just an audience surrogate
And as a result
Watching Princess Mononoke feels more like I'm... people watching
Huh
Yes, undoubtedly, these small gestures and details
Came straight from Miyazaki's observation on real people
Details as small as a single grain of rice sticking to chopsticks
By watching real people in real life, instead of actors
Or even worse, other anime
Miyazaki managed to draw his characters as close to real people as possible
But the use of these small gestures It's just the beginning
I got this question a lot
"Where can I watch the movies you are talking about?"
Well, actually, most movies I talked about, including Studio Ghibli films
Are available on Netflix
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Let me introduce you to Lady Eboshi
Leader of Irontown
From the previous story recap
It sounds like she's your run of the mill industrialist villain
Doesn't it?
What if I tell you, she doesn't have a choice?
Under the guidance of Lady Eboshi
Irontown not only possesses advanced technology
But living conditions are also much better than the rest of Japan
Outside of the town, villages are often being raided by Samurai
Food is scarce
"This gruel tastes like hot water"
Noticed how the man has to spit out the impurities
Yet another small detail
Whereas inside Irontown, people are happy
Food is plentiful
Women can escape being slaves
And find stable employment as ironworkers
"When she finds girls sold as slaves"
"Eboshi buys their freedom"
And even the literal lepers of society
Can still be part of the settlement
Contribute to society and live a decent life
"Is life hard here?"
"Yes, but it's better than in the towns"
By cutting down trees, Eboshi improved the lives of many
But here's the kicker: she can't stop
Being so rich, the town is frequently attacked by other factions
More resources are needed to defend against the constant raiding
To keep the town thriving
The town needs more iron to sell
And there are always more slaves needing to be rescued
Eboshi's ultimate goal is to take over the country
Sounds evil, but
It really is the fastest way to stop the war between settlements
And if something has to be sacrificed
It's better the trees die than the humans
This is the complexity of Miyazaki's characters
Rarely are any of his characters purely good or evil
Ashitaka, the hero of the story
Desires humans and the forest to live in peace
"Can't humans and the forest live in peace?"
Yet, he has no plan on how to achieve that
All he knows is he wants the fighting to stop
The forest gods not only want humanity dead
Some of them want to eat humans
"Go away"
"We eat man"
"We eat him"
"let us eat human"
When we first see Irontown
It isn't some industrial monstrosity dystopia
It's ambiguously placed in nature
Similarly, the tranquil forest has this uneasiness to it
With bones scattered in the lake
Even Kodama, the little forest spirits
Are both cute and unsettling at the same time
Miyazaki went to great lengths to ensure nothing is simple
You can't just look at a character and tell good from evil
Quote: "The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it"
"[...] I think it is rotten"
"This idea that whenever something evil happens"
"Someone particular can be blamed and punished for it"
"In life and in politics, is hopeless"
This is why Miyazaki's characters almost never fall into a single stereotype
When we instinctively see the world in black and white
Miyazaki seeks good in evil
And vice versa
Gordon Ramsay, for example
Is he a charitable man?
Or is he an abusive employer?
What if I tell you he had an anger issue because of his childhood trauma?
Does that excuse his behavior?
It's hard to tell which character is good or bad in Miyazaki films
Because that is the intention
Look away from the screen for a second
And look at a real person in the street
Can you tell if they are good or evil?
That is what a real person looks like
Unfiltered by media
But maybe the greatest strength Miyazaki has
Is his ability to write humanity as a whole
Here's a sentence you may have heard of
"The Amazon isn't 'burning'"
"It's being burned"
I have to say, watching Princess Mononoke in 2020 is a wild ride
Because it wasn't until the last couple of years that I realized
How grounded this film really is
Having seen photos of red sky caused by forest fires
First in Australia
And later in the US
The imagery in Princess Mononoke becomes hauntingly real
Indeed, the Amazon Rainforest fire isn't a natural wildfire
It is constantly being burned and deforested
To create more farmlands
And this has been going on for decades
As much as Miyazaki pays attention to real people
He also pays close attention to real life
And bases his works on real-life issues
Because of that
His description of nature's revenge feels almost prophetic
Humanity's quest to conquer nature
Is very much an escalating war
As we damage nature to extract our resources
The severity of natural disasters has also increased
In the film, Lady Eboshi decapitates the god of nature, Shishigami
Instead of dying, however
Shishigami chases after its head
Draining life from everything it touches
Nature's vengeance against humanity
It works without intent, without mercy, beyond reasons and imaginations
In real life, the situation is very much the same
Storms are getting stronger
Highest temperature breaks record yearly
Polar ice caps are melting
Animals and plants are going extinct at an unprecedented rate
This is the ultimate meaning of "watching people"
Miyazaki pays close attention to humanity as a whole
Over his long career
The majority of his feature films have some sort of allusion
To real-world issues, human issues
From environmentalism
To war
To nuclear destruction
All of which focuses on humanity's place in the world
They raise important questions
Questions like, can human and nature truly co-exist?
Ashitaka returns the head to Shishigami
Nature is at peace again
But the world will not heal without being permanently scarred
As more and more of our daily lives resemble a Miyazaki film
More than ever, we must take a hard look at these questions
Despite being a grumpy old man
Making movies with serious grounded subjects
Somehow, all of his films still ends on a positive note
"I have many friends who create anime"
"I don't like it"
"They flaunt despair"
"They're shallow and display no compassion for fellow humans"
"And take an extremely mechanical view of life. You follow?"
Behind those glasses
Is a pair of eyes who watches people intently
With love and passion for others
It's infectious and alive
It tugs on your heartstring
Look beyond Miyazaki for a moment
And think of the films that are the most alive
The ones that are filled with emotions
The ones that give you the feel
What do they have in common?
I'd say, compassion
To write the most realistic characters
Miyazaki has to love his characters
And to do that
First
Miyazaki learns to love...
People
Hi everyone
This video is part of a collaborative project between many video essayists
If you are itching for more Miyazaki
There is a playlist in the description for your enjoyment
Or just search "Director Project" on YouTube for more
Last month's director was Spielberg
And more videos will be added each month
So, give it a watch
I'll see you this Christmas
For the final video of 2020