Hayao Miyazaki and the Art of Ambivalence | Big Joel

In this video, I look at one of my favorite directors, Hayao Miyazaki. I start with Spirited Away and move through a good number of his movies. I pay careful attention to the way he engages with the feeling of ambivalence. This is an analysis of the moments that created these anime masterpieces.

[Amal]

hayao himself has said that he never makes movies where theres is an explicit antagonist/protagonist because thats not how the world works. So he makes sure that every character has a little bit of both worlds

[XAVIERCUERVO]

Ambivalence =
the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

[ParfaitCup]

I remember watching Spirited Away as a kid, maybe age 7 and never seeing it again until I was an adult. I thought the entire movie was a dream because I could remember only parts and when ever I tried to talk to people about it they didnt know what I was talking about because I didnt have enough information. Then I saw Howl's Moving Castle when I was around 20 and it unlocked all my memories. I recognized the style immediately and found Spirited Away. It was an amazing feeling to watch it again years later


Edit: its so surprising that so many people have experience the same thing as me! Thank you everyone for sharing your stories 😊 they're fun to read!

[whyherrodere]

I have just realised... the one way ride represents how life is a journey that goes as one path- a journey into the unknown. And for the shadowy figures that Chihiro comes across in the film, could symbolise the people whom we pass and see but will most likely never know. Just like in a train ride we see strangers and we are connected through the train itself but there are boundaries in that we dont know who they are as people, only their destination when they get off.

[MalcrowAlogoran]

1:56 "She doesn't even blink" like immediately after, Chihiro legit blinked. I'm sure that was intentional XD

[EpicLinh]

With an East Asian background we have a pretty similar interpretation of spiritual stuff. So the way I understand the train scene in Spirited Away was just that Chihiro is stuck between the spiritual realms with all the spirits and gods and those black figures are the actual people in the physical realm. Spiritual realms and Physical realms co-exist but they can't touch each other. Since she's a girl that travels to the spirit realm, she still has this connection to her physical world so she could see them. Those black figures are just normal people and the neon lights outside the train are actual places in the physical world

[Whimmery]

In Howl's moving castle, I questioned Howl being a coward, cause there is a scene where he is afraid to be summoned to Lady Sulivan so he can basically be drafted to war. The wizards who change into beasts are also a message of how war changes people, and they never return to the original forms again, because war does scar and leave people different than when they first started out, and Howl had seen the effects. When Calcifer is noting that Howl is changing too and getting involved too much, it means he is letting the war affect him in similar ways and changing him whether he is actively picking sides and being fully involved or not. In the english dub there is one solid moment when the bombs are dropping on the houses near where Sofie is that Howl says he isn't running away and has something to fight for, which is Sofie and the family they created. He isn't scared anymore of picking sides because originally he was a coward and saw the war as pointless, but when the war shifted to also involve his family, he decided to mustard courage to pick a side not because of his selfish views or for country/loyalty to Lady Sulivan and King, but for protecting his family even if the war would change him. It is very easy to miss the growth of his character because we focus on Sofie and her being freed from her curse, but the true story is how Sofie grows and reminds/gives back Howl's meaning to humanity and what matters most in life, the bonds we create and what we will do to keep those loved ones safe.

[KuZiMeiChuan]

I liked the video, and I also liked the thoughtful comments that contradicted, critiqued, or built upon the video. Everything is nice here.

[Sean-ohph]

You may find that the audience for these types of videos does not think 8+ minute videos are too long and that, instead, many people here would want your videos and analyses/observations to go on, as long as they retain this high level of quality.

[MsQjoe]

I'm not sure I agree entirely, particularly with the analysis of the train scene -- that it's an experience for the audience, certainly, but I feel it does give a glimpse into Chihiro's changes in contrast to her behaviour in earlier scenes. She has grown more mature, calmer, and she shows a sort of gently fierce determination to go through with her mission. Great video and analysis, I just think it's a smidge more complex than simply ambivalent.

[bensturr]

I have a really hard time agreeing with you on this video. You’re point about the films being ambivalent is solid and well supported, but you try to say that the characters aren’t as important as the setting, which is pretty inaccurate. When you say that chihiro is passive and malleable, that doesn’t make sense, because she starts the movie as a nervous girl who just wants to go home, but she ends the film with all this new resourcefulness from solving problems with the river spirit and haku. Not to mention that the only reason no face is in the bathhouse is because of her, she has a central role in the plot and the changing of the setting. In princess mononoke, ashitaka is really angry at first that irontown is tearing down the forest, but by the end, he understands that the people of irontown are just trying to get by and have lives of their own. He also plays a vital role in the plot, which wouldn’t have been possible without him. A passive character is someone who lets things happen to them and is pulled through the plot rather than pushing through the plot. None of miyazakis characters are passive, all of them are strong and active, which is why his characters are so fleshed out

[katien]

I don’t understand how not everyone I know is obsessed with studio ghibli like I am. I can’t believe we’re living in a time with joe hisaishi, hayao Miyazaki, and the crew at studio ghibli!! Truly blessed to experience such masterful work.

[hamstersdailylife]

I’m a Japanese, I come to YouTube to interact with foreigners, and they give me all sorts or racist comments.(e.g, I thought you ate dogs(which is not true)).
But by the way we are all deeply moved by this pure two minutes of no dialogue, I can tell that we are all of one kind.
I know that people here are more appreciative of Japan, but I hope there will be more kindness in the world anywhere I go.
To those who have read this comment, thanks for bearing with my poor English, I wish you all a good day:)

[petertsharp]

"the staff there are fun and cheery, but they're obsessed with gold and it sort of feels like they're tied involuntarily to this place"... That's just working in hospitality 😅

[Zentagon]

Pretty interesting read on Miyazaki's works as films that aim to provide the audience with feelings of ambivalence towards many things that happen and people within them. Keep it up.

[littlepenguinfriend]

This video helped me realize that maybe western movies are more orientated to the audience by delivering the story of a singular character, which is why it is so important to give them thoughts and morals. This helps deliver a personal message to the audience because they can connect to this character. Which is not bad. Whereas Miyazaki's films, seem to to more oriented in delivering the story of a concept, an idea. This is why it has to be so ambivalent in order for us to not focus on one character but rather the entirety of the movie. It goes deeper than helping us get a feel of what's right or wrong, but because it's so vague. it helps us search for the answer to questions that arises throughout the experience of watching a Studio Ghibli movie.

Maybe, idk lol

[Biogrrrl]

I still can't get over the animation of Chihiro's reflection in the glass window. The art is so incredible

[Strife_MusiclO]

The music also does give this feeling of ambivalence, neither sad nor happy, just here fitting the world and giving us ( at least for me :) ) an emotion so strong but that i cant explain. I think this makes a huge part of this feeling too :)

[snowwhistle]

I know you probably don't want to over-saturate yourself with one studio or director or what have you, but I've found an interesting topic for me is the difference between how Miyazaki and Takahata act as directors in films that often times tackle relatively similar subject matter.

Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke are both films that explore the conflict that arises when mankind and the forces of nature clash over their survival and benefits. Grave of the Fireflies and The Wind Rises both tackle the intricacies of war on the people that find themselves swept up in their country's conflicts. Spirited Away and The Tale of Princess Kaguya both follow the interactions of young girls as their lives are suddenly engulfed by the supernatural and decisions not their own.

The difference I've found is that while Miyazaki always leaves a strong element of ambiguity to his films to let the audience absorb and think through the themes themselves, Takahata is a bit more deliberate with his messages. He has a statement in mind when he makes his films and he wants the audience to feel a certain way by the end of it. The best example is of course Grave of the Fireflies, a film which Takahata has stated repeatedly that he created to make the youth of Japan in the 1980s reconnect and reconcile with their parents as he felt the youth had been spoiled and grown inconsiderate of the struggles that had been faced by their parents a mere one generation prior due to the post-war miracle in Japan completely turning the country around after the war.

[hayleerodriguez]

I feel like this is what made chihiro such a special character to me as a child, and more importantly the movie. Because I didn’t see her reaction to anything, I felt as if I took on that role for her and was even more involved in the story. Like it was me experiencing that world