The works of Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki have made him one of the most celebrated animators of all time. Since co-founding Studio Ghibli in 1985, Miyazaki has gone on to achieve worldwide recognition and adoration which rivals that of Walt Disney. In 2003, Miyazaki’s Spirited Away became the first hand-drawn animation to win an Oscar – an achievement that has only ever been repeated by Miyazaki himself, when in 2024 his film The Boy and the Heron won Best Animated Feature. What sets Studio Ghibli apart against other animation giants, the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks, is not just Miyazaki’s master story-telling, but also his ability to use fantastical narratives as a means of interrogating real-world concerns. This article shall delve into Miyazaki’s most prominent works, looking at the films which will continue to have a positive and lasting impact on children and adults for generations to come.
Princess Mononoke
When a demonic spirit wreaks a fatal curse on the prince of the Emishi tribe, Ashitaka embarks on a journey to discover a cure for his affliction, finding himself caught up in the midst of a war between humankind and the Gods of the Forest. Set in 14th century feudal Japan, the characters of Princess Mononoke inhabit a world where human technological advancement is forcing Earth to the brink of destruction. Historically situated during the dawn of Japan’s Iron Age, the film introduces us to Lady Eboshi, a woman whose thirst for iron ore has founded a supportive community of workers comprised of society’s most neglected citizens.
Yet, whilst the matriarch may have created a refuge for the ill, the old, and the disabled, her fixation with mineral extraction is having a devastating impact on the surrounding land. Amidst breath-taking animation, the film depicts an all-too-familiar story of avaricious extractivism leaving the planet in a state of desolation and ruin. As smoke billows over the canopy of a burning forest, its deities (embodied in animal forms) attempt to protect the land amongst the charred remains of once flourishing flora. At its core, Princess Mononoke confronts audiences with the unsettling realities of environmental destruction at the hands of humanity, tactfully exploring the extents that some will go to save the places they call home.
The Boy and the Heron
Based on the 1937 best-selling novel by Genzaburo Yoshino, Studio Ghibli’s most recent work, The Boy and the Heron, follows the life of Mahito, a young boy who moves to the countryside after his mother is tragically killed in a hospital fire during World War II. Upon arriving at the sukiya-zukuri-style home, Mahito’s quiet rural life is abruptly interrupted when an anthropomorphic heron promises to reunite him with his dead mother. Naïvely following the bird into a derelict tower, Mahito is transported to a fantastical realm on the threshold between life and death, a space populated by mystical creatures and non-human entities. From floating egg-like spirits to meat-eating humanoid canaries, The Boy and the Heron evokes all the imaginative elements of a classic children’s movie, whilst also grappling with challenging subjects such as experiencing loss, coping with grief, and navigating life’s unrelenting precarity.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Many of Miyazaki’s films feature strong anti-war sentiments. Be it in Grave of the Fireflies or The Wind Rises, highlighting the horrors of warfare through animation seems to be a crucial part of Studio Ghibli’s cinematic agenda. One of company’s titles that deals with this subject in a subtler, more child-friendly way, is Howl’s Moving Castle. When a young girl is transformed into an old woman by a conniving witch, Sophie seeks the help of a wizard to return to her former self, embarking on an epic adventure centred around the wizard’s mechanical, wandering fortress.
Whilst warfare certainly isn’t the film’s central concern, Miyazaki nonetheless manages to deftly explore its complexity, pivoting violence as a direct product of cruel human pursuits for power. In scenes where fighter jets fly over cities and towns, dropping bombs in their wake, the film highlights how those most impacted by global conflict are innocent civilians. At a time where ongoing colonial atrocities persist throughout many areas of the world, Howl’s Moving Castle’s subtle anti-war rhetoric remains just as timely now as it did upon its release in 2005.
Written by Harvey Eaton