The Genius World of Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli Films

To make a legacy is to plant a seed, in a garden that you will never get to see. These words were written by Lin Manuel Miranda in one of his most successful Broadway musicals of all time, Hamilton. While the sentiment of this is very true and very relatable to artists of the past and even some of the present where their works were not treated as a legacy up until after the artist left, the case for Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author and manga artist, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio and has been declared to be one of the most accomplished film-makers in the history of animation, is quite different. 

His works are declared and recognized as a living legacy from a living filmmaker. All of his works have captured the hearts of many fans from all over the world, which is very crucial since originally, Miyazaki created his works thinking that they would not become big outside of Japan, but due to the magical and calming yet exciting feel found in each of his works, they became very popular and an example to follow for many animators and fans, not just from Japan but from around the world. One of his most popular films which are celebrating 20 years of success and have been a constant game-changer for how animation is viewed, treated and even admired, and is Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 Film Spirited Away.

Spirited Away became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, and is frequently ranked among the greatest films of the 2000s, and of all time.  The film certainly changed the game with its amazing and magical plot, developed characters and designs, wonderful sceneries and settings and the wholehearted lessons taught as the story progressed. The story holds Chihiro as the protagonist, a young girl whose journey takes her on a path where her character and courage are tested in a magical world different from her own. This is not the only film in which Hayao Miyazaki portrays his heroines as the main characters, but women have always been such a powerful tool for his successful story-making.

A huge majority of his films depicts young women and their search for a certain goal which empowers them and helps those around them to become their true selves and powerful as well. Aside from focusing on magnificent stories which can be quite bittersweet, every single movie leaves one with a lesson to apply to everyday life. Lessons about love, endurance, peace, friendship, among others. Another life lesson that has made Hayao Miyazaki’s films to be very important and unique, especially in our day of age is due to the representation of the environment and the crucial aspect of what it means to have humans protecting nature or humans disrupting nature. Another of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, Princess Mononoke, embodies multiple of the themes mentioned above. Not only is the film named after one of the protagonists of the movie but the story itself focuses on the fight of nature vs. humans and how disregarding the care for our earth and environment can cause catastrophic consequences.

Nausicaa of the Village is another one of Miyazaki’s films to capture the importance of taking care of our planet and portrays the futuristic aftermath and chaos of being careless with the planet God has trusted us with. Other important themes found in Miyazaki’s films have been quite spoken and relevant for many decades, some of these themes being the representation of war and conflict. In The Wind Rises, the story of a young airship craftsman narrates the struggles of those who dreamt of piloting planes and their dreams of building them only for them to be used as murderous weapons for war during WW2. Another very powerful and extremely emotional film that captures the effects of war to a heartbreaking level is The Grave of the Fireflies. The film captures the life and death of two children who struggle to survive in a world that knows nothing except for war, which has been one of the most acclaimed and popular films by Studio Ghibli. While the film can be extremely painful to watch, it teaches the viewer to be aware about the modern and developed world that we see now is stained with the blood of many innocent people who had to suffer for the sake of their country and victims of war and its aftermath.

The film captures the love for the family but also the cruelty that the world is filled with. Hayao Miyazaki’s films are filled with emotional depth, most depict the triumph of good over evil, love over hatred, goodbyes, redemption, lessons and the meaning of life.  However, some films do not have quite a happy ending and that is what gives Studio Ghibli a very bittersweet characteristic. Many other of the studio’s film, however, has a more lighthearted aspect to them but still remain very powerful to emotions. All of the emotions that the films convey are what makes Studio Ghibli universal and loved by so many people, even outside of Japan which had not been expected by Studio Ghibli. The films are also very welcoming to people of all ages, for each film has a strong lesson to teach which can help us become better people in the end. One thing is for certain, of all the people I have met that watched any film by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have been changed and inspired to become better people. After all, each of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films teaches us that through everything, life with its ups and downs is worth experiencing and living through to the end. He said: “Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist."