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Hayao Japanese Film Director and Manga Artist Essay

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Hayao Miyazaki
“I want to create films through which children can see and experience something new. I want to make that one unforgettable film in everyone’s childhood, something they can enjoy for at least thirty years.” (Fujimoto)
TIME names Hayao Miyazaki “the world’s most revered director of animated features” (Corliss). The New York Times says “Miyazaki is regarded as one of the greatest creators of animated films, and his work certainly stands as some of the best the genre has to offer”, and names him “the world’s greatest living animated-filmmaker” (“Hayao Miyazaki – Biography”; Scott). Axiom Magazine describes Miyazaki as a “living legend” (Miller). With over fifty years of animation experience, Miyazaki has worked hard to achieve …show more content…

Chihiro undergoes a lot of character development in the movie, and by the end she is far more independent and confident than she was at the beginning (Spirited Away).
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind also introduced another one of Miyazaki’s recurring themes: harmony and disharmony with nature. In the film, a large portion of the environment has been destroyed, and the forest left over is toxic to humans. Throughout the movie, Nausicaä fights to find peace with the creatures in the forest and stop the people from destroying the environment even further (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind). Another good example of this theme is Princess Mononoke, which is a film that helped Miyazaki gain international recognition. It also features a young girl, San, as one of the main characters. The plot of the movie focuses on a conflict between the humans and the animals of the forest, and San is fighting to keep workers from an industrial facility from destroying the forest and killing its animals to make iron (Fujimoto; Princess Mononoke).
Spirited Away, along with that strong female lead and good character development, involves this harmony with nature theme. As is probably evident in the title, Spirited Away takes place in the spirit world. It not only shows respect and harmony for traditional, spiritual beliefs, but it also displays a connection between reality and the spirit world.

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