He doesn’t even have an interest in the 21st century, referring to himself as a man of the 20th century. He doesn’t have a love or interest in the way technology changes. Before computers and phones and the mechanisation and digitisation of life. This is a time that I think Miyazaki is most comfortable with. The story takes place in the fifties, which is the same time period that Miyazaki was a child, probably similar in age to Satsuki. By the way, how creepy is Catbus? I mean, it’s kind of a scary thing, yeah? Creepy as it is to me, it’s a loving creature willing to help the girls when they need it. It’s no accident, I think, that Mei, the youngest child, is the one to discover Totoro and it’s not a surprise that none of the adults in the community can even see him or the Catbus running across the landscape. This is something he’ll return to in subsequent films, but I think it’s stated best here. Magic belongs to their world and belongs to them. It’s about the wonder and magic of being a child and exploring a world unimaginably larger and more complex than your brain can handle.įor Miyazaki, childhood holds a special place and children are special creatures in the world. Not just the childhood of Mei and Satsuki, but the childhood of everyone. There are on conflicts, no good guys and bad guys, no running gags. The film, in certain eyes, is about nothing, in the way that Seinfeld was often about nothing. In many ways it’s the most perfect of children films, and in other ways it’s sort of a wonder that it was and remains so popular. Seita’s conflict is easily identified and Sheeta and Pazu have very obvious antagonists that live on the surface of the conflict. Both have very clear conflicts, with one being quite external and the other being more internal. Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a very classic adventure story and Grave of the Fireflies is a very serious and somber look at life during the last day of WWII. This makes it a very different kind of animated experience. Or rather, the film isn’t built around conflict. That’s actually not the easiest question to answer, and it makes this an even more interesting film than you probably remember it being. He’s one of the biggest characters in animation history.īut if he’s only on screen so briefly, what makes up the rest of the film? What is My Neighbor Totoro about? He doesn’t even show up till we’re a third of the way into the film and he only appears onscreen for maybe ten minutes of the entire film.ĭespite that, he’s bigger than Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse in Japan. Totoro is everywhere and he endures, but what’s maybe most surprising about Totoro’s popularity is how briefly he’s even in the film. Even long after Miyazaki stops making films and Studio Ghibli is just a memory, kids will still know the Totoro theme and will buy stuffed Totoros. Yes, that big furry fellow to the left is one of the most enduring and iconic images in animation and we see him at the beginning of every Ghibli film. Totoro, the character and image, has become so recognisable and huge that it became the mascot for the entire studio.
Totoro is also, perhaps, the most famous Studio Ghibli film, or at least the most recognisable. The only real similarity is that it’s a story about children. It’s actually remarkably different than either one.
My Neighbor Totoro is distinct from the previous two Studio Ghibli films. I’ll also be discussing these with the assumption that they’ve been seen by you. I’ll also only be discussing the Japanese audio version of the films, though that doesn’t mean the dubs are bad or not worth seeing. This does, however, mean I won’t be discussing Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which was made before the founding of the studio. If you’re looking for the discussions of the previous weeks: Because this is one of my favorite films studios and Miyazaki is one of my favorite artists, who’s made some of my favorite films, I’ve decided to go through the history of Studio Ghibli one film at a time. 2015 is the 30th anniversary of the founding of Studio Ghibli and, according to Hayao Miyazaki, it may also be one of its final years as a studio.