Ask John: Are Miyazaki’s Movies Heading in the Wrong Direction?

Question:
After reading Hayao Miyazaki’s latest interview I can see being appreciative of a view of art as being free of commercial influences, but with pretty much the exception of everyone who is not Miyazaki, anime is fundamentally commercial art. While I certainly don’t approve of claims that anime is only commercial and not art, I also can’t support Miyazaki’s claim that he’s the only one making real, artistic anime. Call me a supporter of the underdog, but I’ve always thought Miyazaki’s films, while excellent, were overrated. Now, like other powerful directors like Tomino, Miyazaki seems to have lost it by getting too full of him own image. Mononoke was regarded as outstanding. Sen to Chihiro less so. Howl’s was a disappointment. If Hayao doesn’t strike back with a critically acclaimed movie soon, he may lose his relevance quickly.

Answer:
Ironically I suspect that it is exactly Miyazaki’s desire to make personal films that is doing the most harm to his movies. I thought that Mononoke was a breathtaking film, yet it still had minor flaws. Spirited Away was amazing to look at, but lacked fully effective characterization for Chihiro and suffered with disjointed narrative. Howl suffered even further from that trend. Sophie’s first meeting with Howl ranks among the best sequences of animation Miyazaki has ever produced. The entire film is amazing to look at. But Howl’s Moving Castle doesn’t feel like a single evolving story, in part because its characterizations aren’t established well enough, and in part because the story feels like a series of consecutive events rather than like a narrative in which events naturally occur. While I respect, appreciate, and enjoy Hayao Miyazaki’s recent films, none of them are as powerful or emotionally moving as earlier classics like Nausicaa, Laputa, Totoro and Kiki.

I mean no offense when I say that I suspect that age and status is making Miyazaki more obstinate. Despite his claimed desire to create authentic art untethered to commercial restraints, he’s spent most of his career making films for viewers. It seems as though recently he’s earned the right and ability to make more personal films, which is resulting in beautiful looking but opaque films. In his recent interview, Miyazaki points out the visual impact of the train sequence in Spirited Away and the falling stars in Howl’s Moving Castle. These references may be representative of Miyazaki’s increasing focus on satisfying his own wishes for his films, instead of concentrating foremost on creating a fulfilling and satisfying experience for viewers. The fact that Miyazaki made repeated public statements that his target audience for Spirited Away was ten year old Japanese girls, and his relatively recent statements that Ghibli movies are primarily made for native Japanese viewers affirms that he hasn’t entirely lost sight of his target audience. But I have the feeling that increasingly lately the target audience of his films is as much himself as it is his audience.

I’ve watched Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle several times each. I’ve purchased nearly all of the Studio Ghibli movies on imported Japanese and domestic DVD. I own a fairly large collection of Studio Ghibli memorabilia. I’ve enjoyed Miyazaki’s recent films, but I can’t deny that they lack some of the dramatic narrative impact and some of the warmth and soul of his earlier films. Ironically I think this may be because the director is increasingly concentrating on excluding commercialism from his movies. Making movies that satisfy his own tastes and desires results in technically highly artistic films, but also films that make perfect sense to the director, but leave the viewer slightly lost and confused. I don’t think that Hayao Miyazaki will ever loose his relevance to the international film community or among viewers. Even when flawed, films like Howl’s Moving Castle are still stunning accomplishments and wondrous cinematic experiences. Each films that Miyazaki has directed has had impressive and memorable visual impact. In recent films consider the marvelous natural scenery and the giant god of the forest’s movements. Spirited Away had its phenomenally ornate bath house and its menagerie of patrons. Howl’s Moving Castle featured the castle itself, and Sophie’s amazingly rendered thriving home town. I do have doubts, though, about whether or not Miyazaki will again create a film that has the empathetic impact of his earlier works. I suspect that the man’s personality and perspective have evolved since the time he made films like Nausicaa and Laputa, and I have a feeling that he’s no longer inclined to make films precisely in the way that he did ten or twenty years ago. Regardless of his future production, Hayao Miyazaki’s existing body of work guarantees his place in film history. And even his most insubstantial or unsatisfying films are still more creative, interesting, and beautiful than most of the world’s cinema. I think that Hayao Miyazaki has reached a point in his career at which he is concentrating more on creating art than creating commercial film. I respect that goal, but the problem with that principle is that it results in movies that are somewhat more meaningful for the director than for the audience.