Saturday, March 12, 2005
Miyazaki Themes
Near the end of the year I was living in Japan, one of the television stations started showing one of Miyazaki's movies each weekend. (Relevant post here. Gee, my life was more interesting back then.) Now, I'm gradually watching them all again, but with English subtitles this time. Turns out, I got most of the plots right even without understanding half the words. Go me!
Last night I watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds, and later, as I was trying to fall asleep, came up with a list of commonly repeated themes throughout almost all of Miyazaki's movies.
Near the end of the year I was living in Japan, one of the television stations started showing one of Miyazaki's movies each weekend. (Relevant post here. Gee, my life was more interesting back then.) Now, I'm gradually watching them all again, but with English subtitles this time. Turns out, I got most of the plots right even without understanding half the words. Go me!
Last night I watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds, and later, as I was trying to fall asleep, came up with a list of commonly repeated themes throughout almost all of Miyazaki's movies.
- A young, fearless, innocent heroine who does the amazing
- A young, mostly innocent, helpful, slightly clueless male sidekick
- A (usually) good-looking but despicable, self-centered enemy
- Comic relief goons
- Wise but ugly old hags
- Airplanes
- Flight
- Clouds
- Air pirates
- Environmentalism
- Magic mixed with technology
