Revisiting 30 Years of Ghibli
or, an ongoing interrogation of art as object and viewer as subject
I’m proud of my 30 Years of Ghibli column that went on over at Entropy several years ago. I’m so proud of it, in fact, that with the impending erasure of Entropy, I’ll be reposting the essays here. I mentioned this in a previous post but consider this the introduction and outline for the project.
I mean, I could just repost all these here and probably no one would even know that I wrote these seven years ago, but I’m going to do a bit more than repost.
Starting in February, I’ll be reposting all these old essays on Fridays. The following Friday, I’ll be writing a new essay about the same movie. So you could think of this, a bit, like a movie club. Watch the movie, read my essay from 2014, and then read my new essay.
In some ways, I imagine this will feel like I’m dialoguing with myself about movies, but that’s sort of what this whole newsletter is, yes? I won’t be rewatching all of these movies, for various reasons that have everything to do with me simply not wanting to rewatch some of these, but I’ll most likely rewatch almost all of Miyazaki’s movies. Excepting Porco Rosso and The Wind Rises, probably.
I’ll also be writing about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind this time, which isn’t a Ghibli movie. But I think it’s maybe one of his most important movies. It would make sense for that to be the first essay you read in this new series, since it happened before all these other movies, but I decided I’m also going to reread the 2,000 page manga first. So expect this essay…later.
Here’s their chronological order, which will also be the order I’m releasing them.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl’s Moving Castle
Tales from Earthsea
Ponyo
The Borrower Arrietty
From Up on Poppy Hill
The Wind Rises
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
When Marnie Was There
Expect new essays in conversation with these old ones about:
Castle in the Sky
Grave of the Fireflies
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
Ponyo
From Up on Poppy Hill
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
When Marnie Was There
And, like I said, I’ll be writing about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Possibly I’ll add in another one or I might drop a few of these, if it turns out I don’t really have anything new to say about them.
I’d put a schedule in place now, but I’m always sort of shifting things around and may push things out here and there, but these should go out every Friday, starting on February 4th. There may be a gap of a few weeks here and there, depending on if I want to write about something else that day. But this is how the Fridays for most of the year will look moving forward.
So follow along! The new essays will begin with the assumption that you’ve watched the movie in question.
Now, if you’re asking yourself: But…why?
I love Miyazaki’s work. I’ve loved it from the first time I saw Princess Mononoke. That movie, in particular, is so deep in my blood and bones that I’ve never really gotten out of its shadow. Also, I’ve now watched some of these movies a dozen or more times with my son, which has been interesting.
And, really, a lot of this newsletter is me timemachining through my son to versions of me I was long ago. I rediscover what I have always known through him and I come to understand how I got here, to the person I am today.
And maybe it’s dumb, but Miyazaki has shaped much of who I am. His bleak optimism has always felt genuine and true. It’s felt the way I experience existence. Beauty and horror, cruelty and kindness.
Humanity at its best and worst.
I have no faith in humanity, but I believe in humans. In our capacity for kindness, for community, for change.
And I’m not sure anyone has created art that captures this as well as Miyazaki.
So follow along. Watch Laputa: Castle in the Sky before next Friday. All the Ghibli movies appear to be available for streaming on HBO Max, if you’re the type to subscribe over there. If you don’t have HBO (like me), they’re not difficult to find.
