Hayao Miyazaki and the Art of Ambivalence | Big Joel 

hayao himself has said that he never makes movies where theres is an explicit antagonist/protagonist because thats not how the world works. So he makes sure that every character has a little bit of both worlds

Ambivalence = the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

I remember watching Spirited Away as a kid, maybe age 7 and never seeing it again until I was an adult. I thought the entire movie was a dream because I could remember only parts and when ever I tried to talk to people about it they didnt know what I was talking about because I didnt have enough information. Then I saw Howl's Moving Castle when I was around 20 and it unlocked all my memories. I recognized the style immediately and found Spirited Away. It was an amazing feeling to watch it again years later Edit: its so surprising that so many people have experience the same thing as me! Thank you everyone for sharing your stories 😊 they're fun to read!

I have just realised... the one way ride represents how life is a journey that goes as one path- a journey into the unknown. And for the shadowy figures that Chihiro comes across in the film, could symbolise the people whom we pass and see but will most likely never know. Just like in a train ride we see strangers and we are connected through the train itself but there are boundaries in that we dont know who they are as people, only their destination when they get off.

1:56 "She doesn't even blink" like immediately after, Chihiro legit blinked. I'm sure that was intentional XD

In Howl's moving castle, I questioned Howl being a coward, cause there is a scene where he is afraid to be summoned to Lady Sulivan so he can basically be drafted to war. The wizards who change into beasts are also a message of how war changes people, and they never return to the original forms again, because war does scar and leave people different than when they first started out, and Howl had seen the effects. When Calcifer is noting that Howl is changing too and getting involved too much, it means he is letting the war affect him in similar ways and changing him whether he is actively picking sides and being fully involved or not. In the english dub there is one solid moment when the bombs are dropping on the houses near where Sofie is that Howl says he isn't running away and has something to fight for, which is Sofie and the family they created. He isn't scared anymore of picking sides because originally he was a coward and saw the war as pointless, but when the war shifted to also involve his family, he decided to mustard courage to pick a side not because of his selfish views or for country/loyalty to Lady Sulivan and King, but for protecting his family even if the war would change him. It is very easy to miss the growth of his character because we focus on Sofie and her being freed from her curse, but the true story is how Sofie grows and reminds/gives back Howl's meaning to humanity and what matters most in life, the bonds we create and what we will do to keep those loved ones safe.

With an East Asian background we have a pretty similar interpretation of spiritual stuff. So the way I understand the train scene in Spirited Away was just that Chihiro is stuck between the spiritual realms with all the spirits and gods and those black figures are the actual people in the physical realm. Spiritual realms and Physical realms co-exist but they can't touch each other. Since she's a girl that travels to the spirit realm, she still has this connection to her physical world so she could see them. Those black figures are just normal people and the neon lights outside the train are actual places in the physical world

I have a really hard time agreeing with you on this video. You’re point about the films being ambivalent is solid and well supported, but you try to say that the characters aren’t as important as the setting, which is pretty inaccurate. When you say that chihiro is passive and malleable, that doesn’t make sense, because she starts the movie as a nervous girl who just wants to go home, but she ends the film with all this new resourcefulness from solving problems with the river spirit and haku. Not to mention that the only reason no face is in the bathhouse is because of her, she has a central role in the plot and the changing of the setting. In princess mononoke, ashitaka is really angry at first that irontown is tearing down the forest, but by the end, he understands that the people of irontown are just trying to get by and have lives of their own. He also plays a vital role in the plot, which wouldn’t have been possible without him. A passive character is someone who lets things happen to them and is pulled through the plot rather than pushing through the plot. None of miyazakis characters are passive, all of them are strong and active, which is why his characters are so fleshed out

I liked the video, and I also liked the thoughtful comments that contradicted, critiqued, or built upon the video. Everything is nice here.

I’m a Japanese, I come to RU-vid to interact with foreigners, and they give me all sorts or racist comments.(e.g, I thought you ate dogs(which is not true)). But by the way we are all deeply moved by this pure two minutes of no dialogue, I can tell that we are all of one kind. I know that people here are more appreciative of Japan, but I hope there will be more kindness in the world anywhere I go. To those who have read this comment, thanks for bearing with my poor English, I wish you all a good day:)

You may find that the audience for these types of videos does not think 8+ minute videos are too long and that, instead, many people here would want your videos and analyses/observations to go on, as long as they retain this high level of quality.

I'm not sure I agree entirely, particularly with the analysis of the train scene -- that it's an experience for the audience, certainly, but I feel it does give a glimpse into Chihiro's changes in contrast to her behaviour in earlier scenes. She has grown more mature, calmer, and she shows a sort of gently fierce determination to go through with her mission. Great video and analysis, I just think it's a smidge more complex than simply ambivalent.

I don’t understand how not everyone I know is obsessed with studio ghibli like I am. I can’t believe we’re living in a time with joe hisaishi, hayao Miyazaki, and the crew at studio ghibli!! Truly blessed to experience such masterful work.

"the staff there are fun and cheery, but they're obsessed with gold and it sort of feels like they're tied involuntarily to this place"... That's just working in hospitality 😅

Do not forget that even in throw away lines, "The Lady Eboshi goes around buying the contract of every brothel girl she can find."... "Milady had a kind heart, that's all.", show different sides of characters. My example here, although I had no clue what a brothel was when I was younger, makes you realise she's not bad as she saves women from whore houses and gives them a nice life in her village - one where they don't even mind doing hard labour as it is shown to be far better than most places.

This video helped me realize that maybe western movies are more orientated to the audience by delivering the story of a singular character, which is why it is so important to give them thoughts and morals. This helps deliver a personal message to the audience because they can connect to this character. Which is not bad. Whereas Miyazaki's films, seem to to more oriented in delivering the story of a concept, an idea. This is why it has to be so ambivalent in order for us to not focus on one character but rather the entirety of the movie. It goes deeper than helping us get a feel of what's right or wrong, but because it's so vague. it helps us search for the answer to questions that arises throughout the experience of watching a Studio Ghibli movie. Maybe, idk lol

Great video but I think in some way you misunderstood these films. They’re painted with such a subtle touch compared to Western films. For instance, Ashitaka does have thoughts on what he sees but instead of telling us this with dialogue or pointed “camera” movements Miyazaki uses silence, sounds and expressions. I think “see with eyes unclouded” means, “don’t prejudge”, not “don’t form an opinion”. What you find out she means in the end is this: Ashitaka takes the journey out of self interest, he killed the demon out the self interest of his clan. So he is sent out to observe the faults of self-interest. And he learns that both side have a righteous claim to the land, but they are both “wrong” because they are thinking only of their welfare. Ashitaka killed the demon, but maybe if he had acted in compassion he could have solved the conflict without killing and being cursed. After all the Deer God was able to prevent the old boar from turning into a demon later, because as we see when it is “killed” it never acts in self interest. Selflessness leads to life and healing, selfishness to mutually assured destruction. So the film ends with Ashitaka and San risking their lives to give the Deer God it’s head, Ashitaka own selfish quest long forgotten. The Deer God is presumably destroyed but because both sides are learning to put aside their causes the land is able to start recovering and the curse is lifted from Ashitaka.

Pretty interesting read on Miyazaki's works as films that aim to provide the audience with feelings of ambivalence towards many things that happen and people within them. Keep it up.

I know you probably don't want to over-saturate yourself with one studio or director or what have you, but I've found an interesting topic for me is the difference between how Miyazaki and Takahata act as directors in films that often times tackle relatively similar subject matter. Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke are both films that explore the conflict that arises when mankind and the forces of nature clash over their survival and benefits. Grave of the Fireflies and The Wind Rises both tackle the intricacies of war on the people that find themselves swept up in their country's conflicts. Spirited Away and The Tale of Princess Kaguya both follow the interactions of young girls as their lives are suddenly engulfed by the supernatural and decisions not their own. The difference I've found is that while Miyazaki always leaves a strong element of ambiguity to his films to let the audience absorb and think through the themes themselves, Takahata is a bit more deliberate with his messages. He has a statement in mind when he makes his films and he wants the audience to feel a certain way by the end of it. The best example is of course Grave of the Fireflies, a film which Takahata has stated repeatedly that he created to make the youth of Japan in the 1980s reconnect and reconcile with their parents as he felt the youth had been spoiled and grown inconsiderate of the struggles that had been faced by their parents a mere one generation prior due to the post-war miracle in Japan completely turning the country around after the war.

The music also does give this feeling of ambivalence, neither sad nor happy, just here fitting the world and giving us ( at least for me :) ) an emotion so strong but that i cant explain. I think this makes a huge part of this feeling too :)

I wouldn't say Miyazaki's movies are ambivalent, on the contrary, he has a very strong point of view about the world, about what matters and what actions are considered bad or good. Maybe if you contrast them with western animated movies (specially american movies) you could say that they are more explicit with wich character is evil and wich one is the hero, because evil is portrayed with a certain aesthetic that makes you dislike them, but that doesn't mean Miyazaki's characters are ambiguos. Miyazaki writes characters that act more human, that have little gestures, he focuses on details, in moments of thoughts, on them falling apart and crying but staying strong anyway. He portrays magic and fantasy in worlds of gods of nature, portraying how greedy hearts can destroy lives while honest ones, loving ones can heal the wounds of gods, can bring the forest back to life, can brake spells, can safe people who don't believe can be safe. In princess mononoke, the antagonist is shown to be a caring person, but stills get to be shade by her greedy way of looking at the world. She literally kills the forest when she tries to own a god and ends up ruining everything. In spirited away, yubaba could be loving and have a simple life like her sister, but instead, she choses to slave people, steal their names and have a lot of gold and luxury, ruining people's lives and hiding her baby from a world she choses to be scared of. At the same time he chooses to focus on protagonists that make unselfish decisions. I believe you are mistaking ambivalence with details, with storytelling that don't need to be obvious, with messages and opinions that don't need to be explicitly said outloud by a character. Your theory works only by contrasting it with western animation, but it doesn't stand by itself if we are trying to understand Miyazaki's screenwriting style.

I still can't get over the animation of Chihiro's reflection in the glass window. The art is so incredible

Spirited Away feels so real that it's scarier than most horror movies(possibly all I've seen)

Anything from Studio Ghibly is art.

I feel like this is what made chihiro such a special character to me as a child, and more importantly the movie. Because I didn’t see her reaction to anything, I felt as if I took on that role for her and was even more involved in the story. Like it was me experiencing that world

Great video. As a writer and storyteller, I found it very interesting and I think I'd like to try this approach in my stories now. As an idealistic, American Christian, I tend to approach my stories with black and white characters- a villian who is clearly a villain from the start and a hero who (though flawed) is obviously made to be the hero. But there's something so beautiful about Miyazaki's ambivalence. I just couldn't put it into words until I watched this. Thank-you. :)

Your video made me cry. That's exactly the thing I was trying to pinpoint in what I love in Miyazaki works. Thank you !

I used to think about the train ride scene when I rode the train to work early in the morning. Thanks for making this.

is ambivalence the right word for that feeling? Good points though.. Miyazaki is a master, focuses on the story holistically instead of on the character's individual reactions. Also really good points about how he "gets rid of the middle man". As a storyteller myself this helps me to know.

The scene at Lady Eboshi's place is probably my favorite scene out of all of Miyazaki's work. I didn't appreciate it as a kid, but now that I'm a bit more mature, it really strikes a chord with me. It is the true turning point of Eboshi's characterization in the film from evil to ambivalent.

Its fascinating to see how many people really are out there who think like me. It's a complex world where everything is to be understood, everything has a side to it that needs to be discovered. There's no time to loose, every minute of the day is a second we don't have to waste, it's all now. Thinking, daydreaming, is there any difference? Why is it that "daydreaming", being absent from time to time is portrayed as something unwanted, something to be cured, to be looked after. I love to watch essays like yours where i can feel some sense of normality, like i am not strange when i analyse every little detail of my life, how there's contrasts in things everywhere, how body language tells me more about the people then what they actually talk about. How every particle of our lives is worth investigating, every stone deserves to be turned, because that is what the world is for, at the moment. At least for us.

That was a very insightful video. What you just stated is one of many factors that make Hayao Miyazaki stand out. Other factors include slow scenes to sink in emotions and thoughts, many universal themes and artistry. Thanks for teaching me about Ambivalence.

1:55 "...she doesn't even blink." *Chihiro blinks*

Miyazaki’s ability to make quiet slow paced scenes, where we just sit and calm down with the character, its what I love most about his movies. Not a lot of film makers take the time to create the calm atmosphere where action doesn’t need to be happening

Personally I always took Chihiro's expression in the train scene as one of determination. It's her growing as a character. Where she was flaky, hesitant, and unable to do anything on her own in the beginning, she's grown, taken the lead, and is now helping someone she cares about. She stares straight forward without tiring because she's determined to go to Yubaba's sister and right the wrongs of the past. I guess it could be ambivalent in that she does not care about the beauty around her through her determination, but I personally feel that there is a specific emotion and purpose to this scene. Interesting analysis though.

I always attributed it to him engaging the audience as someone with integrity that didn't need hand fed answers or opinions, and indeed, that doing so would devalue the work and ask less of the audience and thus engage them less. When one asks deep, unanswerable question in art that have no answer, it is sometimes best to just give the audience a lense and let them judge and wonder for themselves. In that sense the best thing one could do is instill the audience with mystery, wonder, and a sense of grandness that lets one feel just how much a part of life they are.

Miyazaki films are stunning! They’re better than Disney and Pixar (though both are very good studios) in my opinion

“Dust slaves,” how dare you. They are SOOT SPRITES.

You made me love Spirited Away even more, and it's one of my favorite movies.

I've been trying to put what that thing is about Miyazaki films that I love so much into words for forever and you've finally helped me see and understand what it is. I've always described it as a 'quiet'. He allows the audience to breathe and think in these dialogue-less moments that set the tone for his films. And it's something western films and TV are lacking. Like they don't trust the audience's intelligence so they have to fill all spaces with action or dialog. Thanks for your video.

Beautiful, you enunciated thoughts I didn't know I had.

I love how, in a way, it lets us have a childlike view on the world. Children interact with the world often not fully understanding why things are the way they are, and even though many things are completely new to them, they often just observe things instead of actively reacting to them. They might even have a slightly wrong interpretation of it in their minds because they don't know how everything works beyond what they see and are told - many people share certain views they obtained as a child that they held onto for years, and it's usually quite funny (e.g.: "I thought swallowing watermelon seeds would make them grow in my stomach", "I thought actors who died in movies died in real life", etc). But children don't really know how they should react to new things in the world if they don't have an adult's reaction as reference (which is why many parents are advised not to freak out when a child falls or gets slightly hurt, since children often freak out more as a reaction to the parents' worry and not their pain). Children just observe, not fully understanding how everything works, just taking things in. And that's how we interact with these worlds that are new to us, as well.

She's growing up; becoming more courageous. It's part of the movie's theme, facing things head on.

That's what really touches my heart about Miyazaki films. Besides from the beautiful breath taking animation, there was somthing else, a quality of the story telling that calmly causes you to reflect on life. Thank you for putting it into words and making this video.

I learned so much from this video. I watched Spirited Away just the other day and I love the feelings it evokes in me. I want to learn to make movies like this.

This might be your best video. It's not a video where I learn much or think differently about something I've known, it's simply a video where I get to hear a guy talk about the beauty in films that I love. The feelings that we both feel when we see these things. How wonderful!

I would not describe the relationship between Ashitaka and the conflicted factions as "just watch". I think anybody who does is missing something. When Ashitaka stops the fight between San and Eboshi, he declares them both to be sick (with hate). You'll notice, every time he feels hatred, a human emotion that he cannot escape, he wants to enact violence, and his curse acts accordingly. The outcome is almost always violent death. Miyazaki did include a scene wherein he harnesses his conviction though, when bending back Eboshi's grunts sword to break up the fight I just mentioned. When Ashitaka meets Eboshi for the first time. He is tempted to draw is sword. He wants to see with eyes unclouded, but understands well that he wants to kill Eboshi. When he mentions that it would not stay his hand or cure him, it is an acknowledgement of his hatred for her, but also an acknowledgement that hatred, revenge, and violence, will never bring peace. Eboshi is destroying the forest, paying no heed to the gods and world that has existed for countless years before the town came. Ashitaka comes from the forest and has a close relationship with it. He is well aware of this and the audience can be too, if they pay attention. Contrast how clearly possessed Eboshi can seem with greed to San, whom he also declares sick. He feels for San, who is possessed with anger. Of course, there is a difference. He does not ever wish to hurt San, but he is compelled on his journey to see the world for what it is, as his elder said. Ashitaka in a way has sides of his own. Early on, it is not unreasonable to think that Ashitaka would do away with the ironworks if he could. And he would not be wrong to do so. The ironworks are not an ambivalent town, just as the forest is not ambivalent in it's feelings towards the ironworks. They are at war. By the end of the movie. Ashitaka has experienced inner growth in huge but subtle ways. If he did not, he would still be cursed and destined to die. Eboshi has realized how foolish she was. Her town was necessarily something that deprived others of life. As two sided as it may be, it is undeniable that Eboshi is the cause of the pain that was felt by the forest, and Eboshi who was able to end it. As an audience, how can we not sympathize with the forest, how can we not be sickened by the callousness that is given to nature, who is ultimately the giver of life. Her decision to rebuild the town as one that lives in conjunction with nature is symbolic of her own growth. Every character in this movie grows. Anyway, that's just off the top of my head. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie and I know I do not entirely understand all that Miyazaki wants to express with it. I do however want to say that the characters are all very human. I worry that this video discredits some of the enormous efforts put into their relationships with each other.

The _Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind_ manga, which I have been obsessing over for about a month, actually takes this ambivalence and makes it a central theme of the story in a really interesting way. Nausicaa's world, like the world of Princess Mononoke, is one full of opposing sides constantly in conflict, none of which has the moral high ground, but unlike Ashitaka, Nausicaa isn't an outsider; she's deeply, personally involved in every single conflict. In some ways, she fills the role that the audience fills in a movie like Spirited Away by actively questioning the opposing sides of each conflict, but on the other hand, that tendency to question is just treated as something Nausicaa does because _that's who she is._ She's on a quest to find the truth, and that involves a lot of attempting to reconcile many dissonant emotions and ideas. Critically, particularly as the story nears its end and shit really starts hitting the fan, we're never expected to _agree_ with Nausicaa-- she's still the undisputed hero of the story and she wants to do the right thing, but she makes her decisions within the story because that's what she would decide to do given her goals at that point, not because Miyazaki wants us to think she's doing the right thing. Indeed, by that point Nausicaa the character very much wants for the whole ordeal to just be over already, makes decisions that are in accordance with that goal, and it's an open question by the end if what she ends up doing is actually the right thing. Basically, Nausicaa is a very active character, basically everything she does is because she wants to because of her opinions about the world, but she's presented as a passive part of that world, moving in accordance with her nature just like everyone else, while a deep exploration of morality, transhumanism, and environmental ethics is set up around her for the reader to unpack as they follow her along. We're along for the ride-- here's a problem, and here's how Nausicaa decides to fix it. What do you think, reader? What I'm saying is Nausicaa is really good and everyone should read it.

It's impossible to commend Miyazaki since he absolutely dosn't care about how North America views animation. I'm pretty sure he has no idea how it's feels to live in a culture where animation is treated like a genre.

I wish this video was a whole hour long, with you just talking about it It’d be a nice In depth critique

howl is very clear about his feelings towards the war and the soldiers.

i have always love character driven stories, but miyazaki movies were always kind of an exception that i could never really place as to why i loved them, but i think you worded it perfectly. thanks for sharing!

disney touches the heart, ghibli touches the soul ❥

I haven't come across videos like this before until recently, the explanation and kind of philosophy on Miyazaki's films is so much more in depth than you can imagine, I've seen these movies through out my life and it's so.. fascinating how my view changes with every time I watch one of his films. The focus I draw in each watching changes, it could go from admiring the character's transformation to watching how Miyazaki portrays the earth and environment, how I get older and begin to understand the depth of society references in his films. Every film lets me take something from it, every time I watch it, the portrayal of equality, of us as people, the environment and in general the world. The beauty of Miyazaki's films is that it will never out grow our current age/evolution in time, we will always be people with feeling and emotions and I just want to thank you for making this video so in depth of how truly beautiful and considerate the whole put-together of the films is.. I just. ughh. it's just so fulfilling.

What a wonderful video! I love miyazaki's films, and looking at them through this new lense allows for a more reflective and thoughtful experience. Definitely gonna keep this in mind when watching his new film :)

This was beautiful. Thank you for taking such an in-depth look at the way Miyazaki allows the audience to experience firsthand the emotional complexities of the worlds he creates. I've always loved the understated train scene in Spirited Away and I think you've expressed its genius wonderfully.

Why are you underrated?

Movies like Spirited Away are SUCH different experiences depending on your age. I saw them very concretely as a little kid - what I saw was what I perceived - very surface level. Because of this, the movies seemed happy for the most part. By now, I can see the symbolism - NOTHING in these movies is necessarily concrete. It makes them sadder, but there are still happy moments; as a whole though you can see the realism engraved into the surface level optimism and childlike wonder. This big difference in your watching experience depending on age is a symbol for losing innocence; seeing the world as it is. These movies seemed so pure and innocent once but now I really see what was meant to be seen and I love them more for it but it makes them sadder all the same.

Lmfaooo I love when she shouts HEY GRANNY at the end too yubaba and yubaba is like “granny? 😳”

Great analysis! Thank you!

I usually don't comment, however, this video really struck me. Thank you so much for making this and clarifying the thoughts on why I've been enjoying Miyazaki's films so much since I (actually rather recently) discovered them. They are such a far toss from the "traditional" western film, using not only deep cultural significance but also an ambivalent attitude that I have never before experienced in an animated film. I'm not just going to repeat everything that was said in this video, but I truly appreciate what you had to say, and the insight you brought through selected movies and clips. Thank you!

"She doesn't even blink" - immediately blinks

Thank you so much for this video. I just watched one more time spirited away, but this time i cried so much during the train scene. You lighted me about why this scene is so touchy and beautiful at the meantime. thank you for going so far on miyazaki's work

"She doesn't even blink" Chihiro: *Blinks* Me: 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

I love these moments in anime. You just take in the ambiance and for me, the illustration and the emotion. Hayao Miyazaki is one the greatest

I like this perspective! I know that some surface-level similarities have been drawn between Spirited Away and the 2014 American miniseries Over the Garden Wall, but I feel like this topic gets at the heart of some of the same feelings that make OTGW feel unique and strange and enchanting. Pixar's character-driven storytelling rule that you quote is a good one for their kind of films like you say, but I wonder if Miyazaki maybe didn't choose to focus on characters in order to shift focus towards environment. Like, there's a give-and-take, and sometimes an extraordinary environment could clash with a willful character in terms what takes the lion's share of the audience's sympathies and attention. IDK. Love your videos as always--I know this one's older but it's my first time watching it oh well.

This was legitimately awesome. I love your analysis.

Great vid, tho I had to laugh at "The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki's last work". I swear this man is allergic to retirement.

This is a brilliant observation and video essay. God bless you.

Maybe you've got problem with your English translations. In Howl's Moving Castle, Howl doesn't participate in the war because he dislikes murder. He sees WAR as a useless, inhumane thing. You would know that what I'm talking about when you replay the part where he's presenting a garden gift to Sophie and a battleship suddenly appeared.

that train scene is also my favourite since i first saw that movie when i was younger, and i didnt know why. it was just so calming and mysterious, and i loved it.

"she doesn't even blink" and then she immediately blinks

Beautiful... I feel the openness to the characters is what makes them better characters. That actually evolve through their circumstances, spiritually. It can seem that they are more passive or empty, but really, they are being undone, purified and stripped to a deeper essence.

"she doesn't even blink" *she blinks*

I'm obsessed with your videos on hayao's movies. There perfect and explain things about them that I always felt like a knee but could never put into words.

Good video! ^^ LIKE :)

I liked the comment you made about the bathhouse workers in Spirited Away, and how they seem somewhat tied to the place almost involuntarily. I remember reading in the concept art book for this film the designers implied that the workers of the bathhouse (except i think the boiler man) are implied to be other animals/humans cursed by Yubaba (or at least thats how they were conceptualizing the designs). The older girl who works at the bathhouse was given a longer body to resemble like a weasel/ferret, and the lower workers all look like a weird in between between frogs and people. Idk what the obsession with gold could represent tho

You are a very observant person & instead of just analyzing Miyazaki's films, you have for the most part only described Japanese culture through the eyes of an animator. Your observations are "simply" a reaction of a westerner to Japanese culture. What you call ambivalence is the passive nature of a people animated by a culture & history that is, as an individual, out of their control. While the Japanese have complex, conflicting & in-depth emotions & intellectual curiosity, they, for the most part, keep these to themselves & hidden. Add that to the group (rather than individual) mind-set & the common cultural shared understanding of the "meaning of life", and you have the basis for what you call "ambivalence". For you this is a "discovery". For the Japanese, this needs no pointing-out or explanation. This is normal life in Japan and all it's inhabitants intrinsically understand & can easily identify with the emotions, history & thoughts behind the film without intellectualizing them. Most of the scenes are thinly disguised memories of reactions by the populace to the bombing & homeland invasion & occupation of WWII. Can you imagine the same having happened to your society here in the states? To be occupied by a truly "alien" people, the loss of the guidance & control taken for granted before given to them by the godlike emperor and to be set alone adrift in the mysteries of life without the tradition of individuality as we have here in the states. All this creates a sense of ambivalence, which is really just a fundamental belief in fatalism that doesn't have the guidance of the sense of individual control, but rather a lost soul as a cog in the larger machine that they are too small as individuals to see in it's entirety. This is the essential sadness that exists in ALL Japanese films & animations before the phoenix-like emergence of a "new" Japan in the '80s & '90s. Since their recession in the early 2000s, that theme has begun to emerge once again as a society, for example, that is no longer interested in sex or marriage (etc). A "one-way ticket to the unknown"... says it all.

Am I the only person who wants longer videos? Great video!

Seeing these scenes with english dub hurts my ears.

I've always felt ambivalence is something to celebrate. Deep down, almost everything has its ambivalence, and it's only out of our desire for clear right and wrongs that we make our distinctions. Wisdom lies in ambivalence though and I feel celebrating it like this can make that lack of certainty seem less scary and more beautiful; less something we can be afraid of than open to

eeww! that English dub.

Really nice video, well narrated and so insightfully points out such a common overarching theme in H. Miyazaki's films. Your video adds another layer to the stories that we watched as children and never really realized this fact. Listening to your narration as an adult about these movies again, really gave them much more meaning. Thank you

I watched this a month ago for a film class. Thanks for analyzing it and I love your work!

For some reason this made me cry. I think maybe just because these movies truly mean so much to me and watching this now, I know that they deeply affected my view of the world. I pride myself in my ability to not judge people as good or evil and to recognize the "ambivalence" of every person. I think that these movies helped me achieve that and helped my compassion and empathy skyrocket. I think that ambivalent characters and situations represent the real world so much better than the western "good vs evil" view. I think that being able to understand each side is incredibly important and I really believe that these movies helped me learn how to consider every side of a situation

What I've loved about these movies is that there are no villains, just people doing what they think they need to do. It's so very different than anything else I have seen.

I always cry with these movies but they also make me happy. And that´s beautiful.

"Beautiful. A masterful design." This sentence explains your video. Its perfectly cut, perfectly explained. I really enjoyed watching this, and I'm sure i'll check out your other videos! Thank you for this!

Hey Joel, I watch and love many of your videos but I gotta say, this is one of the best ones I saw. Enjoyed it very much, thank you for all your hard work and beautiful insight about the nicer things in life

I think these film are a lot like the memories of a child.

I can't never accurately pin point exactly why I love Miyazaki's films but you just took the thoughts right out of my brain. Thank you for this.

The beginning of this video made me watch spirited away. Absolutely amazing movie. The ending almost made me cry

This was a beautiful video. There was a word I was looking for to describe what I felt when watching Miyazaki films, and "nostalgic" or "melancholic" weren't the words. Ambivalence is surely the word. Again, this video was wonderful, and I'm so happy you mentioned The Wind Rises too. I don't see many who talk about it! It's my favorite film and one I can actually rewatch over and over again (I'm not one to rewatch films). Thank you so much for this, and the last line in your script was something that I loved hearing. Thank you!

Thank you Joel for completely summing up my interpretation of the world in one word.

I think that feeling of unanswered questions in the scenes, coupled with a childlike imagination, allows us to digress into filling that info with our imagination. Just like childhood, and it’s so satisfying to do it effortlessly.

since i watched my first mayazaki film - spirited away - 10years ago, ive been at a loss for words on how to explain my attraction and amazement of miyazaki's films until you broke it down clearly in this video. thank you. *tears*

I think there’s a lot more ambivalence in howl’s moving castle than you’re giving credit personally. I always watched it and wondered what made Sophie so insecure and why there was so much imagery of scary men revolving around her or why she didn’t want to go out with her coworkers. I always liked this ambivalence because I thought it implied she had some sort of trauma before the film began but I liked how we don’t know what they is exactly, only subtly hinted at. Same with the ambivalence of what exactly was eating Howl up and making him more and more into a crow. Obviously it’s from using certain magic but there seemed so much more to it and it implied mental health issues possibly and depression or maybe hush his humanity being stripe by being pressured to be a cog in the machine within a war he did believe in. Lovely video tho I really liked it!

I think I am most fascinated by your idea of "getting rid of the middle man." Indeed, in stories where the protagonist has more explicit, concrete thoughts on the world and the events that take place, their interpretation that is conveyed to the audience colors the audience's interpretation a bit, leading us to conclusions, either consciously or unconsciously, that we may not have arrived at independently. By removing that in-story judgment, we as the audience are free to examine the morality and meaning on display in a purer form, removing a slight barrier between the audience and the message. This of course also opens up the greater possibility of multiple interpretations of the work, some of which the creator may not have intended, so if, as a creator, one intends to unambiguously convey a very specific emotion or meaning, a passive protagonist of this sort is likely not the way to go about making your work. Although, granted, there are other ways to explicitly convey meaning, so in the hands of a master (like Miyazaki) you can make a passive protagonist, while still conveying specific ideas and worldviews, while maintaining the benefit of flexibility, relative ambiguity, thematic closeness that such a protagonist provides. All in all, this was an excellent video, and I thank you for making it!

I think the feeling of ambivalence with a little unease has to do with a very colourful, inviting, fun style and animating, with very deep, real, dark undertones in what's actually happening. It's certainly an art of subtlety as well in my opinion.

Great explanation! I remember after watching Spirited Away, a friend claimed that it wasn't an emotionally powerful film because it didn't make him cry out loud. I think that just shows what a masterful film it is: any movie can give you a tragedy that makes you want to sob, but the weird hopeful-wistful-nostalgic feeling I get from Spirited Away is far more unique and powerful. I think another aspect of it is that Western movies often have a clear moral and can't resist making their inherent message obvious. Miyazaki might have his own agenda and recurring themes in his films, but it never feels like they are forced on the viewer; unlike a lot of other filmmakers, he doesn't tell the viewer what to think, only hints and hopes we agree with his message. I came out of The Wind Rises feeling like I had had a conversation with the director, if I could only figure out what the topic was.