Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator and filmmaker who co-founded Studio Ghibli and is someone who has greatly influenced me as a person and activist. His films explore the themes of feminism, fascism, environmentalism, history, and culture. His storytelling makes his characters feel organic and lifelike as each character has their personality, habits, and mannerisms that make them unique, as no two characters feel alike. Miyazaki is also able to capture the beauty of raw human emotion, which adds to the realism of the characters that he creates in each film. As someone who rewatches his animations constantly, his films never cease to amaze me.
Miyazaki uses his films to explore harsh topics like fascism and war while promoting his own anti-war and environmentalist views. In his films, there are countless parallels between real-world events and the events taking place in his films. For example, Grave of the Fireflies is directly referencing Japan during World War II; it follows the story of two children surviving Japan during the nuclear war. While it is one of the more depressing films Miyazaki made, other films like Howl’s Moving Castle and Pocco Rosso deal with the heavy themes of fascism; both these films have main characters that are reluctant to fight, eventually rejecting their military positions.
Studio Ghibli films are used as a platform to challenge both male and female gender stereotypes. Miyazaki believes in a strong female lead as he is a feminist himself. How he presents women, challenges how women are viewed in society today, especially in places like Japan where it is more male-dominant and sexist. The films create a space where women are not sexualized and are important to the story and surrounding characters. As a woman myself, seeing how Miyazaki presents female leads is refreshing and inspiring; in modern movies, the female leads tend to take a backseat or are seen as lesser compared to the male leads, however, Miyazaki doesn’t do that. His female leads are strong-willed and in some cases, the men are seen as less important compared to the women. Visually, the female characters are not sexualized or glamorous. The emphasis is on their actions and self-identity rather than their looks.
Hayao Miyazaki’s ability to challenge gender stereotypes and simultaneously call out our modern world’s problems is an inspiration to me. As an activist, Miyazaki is easily able to call out the fascism and war that exists on our earth; unlike with other films, Miyazaki doesn’t “dance around” the subject and instead makes it the main conflict in most of his films. As a woman, I often look to Miyazakis’ films to gain inspiration from his female leads. They challenge the stereotypical portrayal of women, and even for men, Miyazaki breaks the barrier of how men and women are traditionally. portrayed. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most inspirational people to me; he challenges stereotypes and addresses real-world problems while, at the same time, creating hauntingly beautiful animations that are both iconic and breathtaking.
