The Boy and the Heron & Growing up
7th of january 2024
I grew up with most of Hayao Miyazaki's movies. To be precise, from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to Howl's Moving Castle. The movies were always very special to me. They have a certain magic, that gave me feelings i only ever had when watching these movies. I don't know what the magic is and i can't describe the feeling either. Actually i don't want to know these things, but if i wanted to know, it would only become harder for me over time. This is because the magic does not affect me like it did in my childhood. But if i don't watch the movies again, i might forget the feeling.
Feelings, especially nice ones, never came easy to me, even back then. So i don't want to forget such strong, beautiful feelings. I am not ready to let them go. But i fear that each time i watch one of the movies, the effect of the magic lessens. This makes watching the movies at least a somewhat stressfull.
The last time i watched the movies was *checks calender* seven years ago. I want to watch them again, even more so after the new movie, but, like i said, i fear it too. I will probably watch them over the next few weeks and i will enjoy them, but i won't feel the magic as strongly as the last time.
grown up
The Castle of Cagliostro, Ponyo and The Wind Rises are the movies i didn't watch growing up and they don't make me feel like the others do. Nonetheless i like all three movies.
Cagliostro is a cool movie, but it is part of a preexisting series and it does not feel like other miyazaki movies.
For Ponyo i was simply too old, or not child enough. I presume, unless you are in touch with your inner child, you won't get too much out of Ponyo. At least nothing you could not get from other Miyazaki movies. The movie's main characters are two children in kindergarten age. For me that is too young to connect with them, the same way i would connect with an elementary-aged or older person. The movie is not for me and i think i accepted that even before i watched it for the first time.
The Wind Rises is way more complicated for me to talk about. I really don't understand the movie. It seems to be against Miyazaki's previous views. And i can't deal with that. Really, it sounds silly, but this sours the movie for me. Did i missunderstand the other works or did Miyazaki change over the years? Is this the only reason why it doesn't make me feel like the other movies? I truly don't know.
I think i am unable to discover the magic in movies, i didn't watch as a child, even if the movie would have the exact same magic. Essentially, this is growing up, i guess. Maybe it was growing up that made me unable to feel those things or it was somethings that came at the same time as growing up. Whaterever it is, i don't want it.
the boy and the heron
So the new Miyazaki movie. I finally watched it. My expectations were not high. This sounds like a bad thing, but it seemed realistic and in the end it was. What i think about the movie is not really important and i haven't seen it enough times to have a good opinion. What is important, is that i didn't feel the magic.
Still, here are some of my thoughts. What i knew about the movie beforehand: the title, it is at least in some way an adoptation of a book, there is a heron and a boy. That's it.
The movie starts with a siren in Tokyo during the second World War. It's grim. But the film shifts its tone, as it changes the setting to rural Japan. Over 20 minutes in, it introduces the first fantastical element; the heron can speak. This made me think the movie will only have some fantastical elements, like Totoro or Kiki. I was wrong. The movie then changes the setting again, 50 minutes in, to the film's fantastical world. That shocked me.
Miyazaki has prevously handled fantastical elements like this:
- set in a fantastical world or change to it early on
- have only some fantastical elements, which are inspired by japanese folk lore
Miyazaki makes the stories as the films are made. This can have amazing effects. It can help create atmosphere, make the plot flow and can provide attention to small things. But there can be a sideeffect to this, from which even the movies, i love, partially suffer from. The pacing, especially the delivering of knowledge can be rough. It can make things feel abrupt and it most often occurs near the end of the movies. This sideeffect howerver is not a big problem in the other movies, because the rules of the settings don't change, so there is the whole runtime to explore the world. And there are only few rules important to the movies. Everything else is just world building.
The Boy and the Heron sufferes fom the sideeffect, because it takes 40% of its runtime to even show anything of the fantastical world. In my opinion this is an insane decision. For me it feels like the movie struggles for the rest of the runtime to explain what the deal of this world is. In Spirited Away for example, the world itself does not need to be explained. How, why and other questions about the world are not important questions in Spirited Away. For The Boy and the Heron however, these questions are integral, because in the end the protagonist has to decide if he wants to rule/control/create(?) this fantastical world.
Look, i don't understand the movie, but i feel like i was not given the chance to. Though, i understood at least one point the movie made. Even in a world, that is plagued by all forms of evil, there are things worth living for. I however doubt that is the only meaning in the movie.
I can't believe i think this about a Miyazaki movie, but the movie is kinda flawed.
finding something new
I might never find the certain magic of Miyazaki's movies again, but over the years i have found two other things, related to Miyazaki, that mean a lot to me.
I have re-discovered Nausicaä. Meaning, i have read the manga. I don't know if i am stupid or if it is just the best work. Yes that sentance is finished. I love it, even though it does not make me feel the same way the movies do, but it might mean more to grown-up me, than all of the movies combined. It has definitely influenced me, probably even more than i think. However i have only read it once, so i kinda fear it might not be as good as i remember it. If you have not read it and you are even a little bit interested in the anime pleasepleaseplease read it. You can find it online, either to buy or you know...
When Marnie Was There is amazing and has it's own kind of magic to it... sapphic magic. I watched it again, just now, before rewriting this section. Watching it destroyed me, in a good way. I might write more about it some time, but for now i just want to say, it's a beautiful movie.
There are many other things i found that mean so much to me. Things i never would have been interested in, when i was still a child.
Maybe one day, i don't find a new thing, but a nice feeling.