Tales from Earthsea Hurts... 

Cry about it

one of the things I low-key love about this essay is the way it takes one step and then pivots into being about something smaller, closer, and more personal, in the vein of how the movie itself is described as structured.

There is a video of a premiere of this movie, where we see Hayao leaving the theatre during after like 5 minutes, smoking so hard he probably gave the cameraman cancer, returned in 20 minutes just to be polite, and left again without finishing it. He explains his feelings in that video, and I kinda get him, but he was still extremely rough, especially saying that Goro should stop making movies, considering his next movie is my second favourite out of all Ghibli's works.

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Goro’s work since I was introduced to it through Ronja the Robber’s Daughter and 10 years with Hayao Miyazaki, and always thought people were being overly harsh on him. Tales from Earthsea is definitely not a masterpiece, but the time you too to examine it and reveal its underlying ideas really helps disproves the notion it’s just a bad film with nothing to say.

Finally someone actually looks deeper into this movie then just saying 'it's not like the books, so it's bad'

I'm glad to see someone else advocating for this film. I honestly think this is a pretty good film made with heart and good intentions, that sadly suffers from a weak final confrontation with the antagonist. It definitely gets unfairly maligned in relation to other Studio Ghibli films.

I've never heard about this film until I came across your video, will definitely be giving it a watch. Thank you for the incredible essay, keep it up!

Honestly I agree, and have agreed for a while - I remember reading an interview about what Hayao said about his son's animation endeavors and how he seemed so callous and cruel about it - any kind of compliment was backhanded, or followed with a 'but-'. I can't imagine saying anything like that about my siblings work, let alone my own child who I want to see succeed in the world. Hearing what he said, all I could hear was a bitter, jealous old man who was scared that his time was coming to an end and he couldn't tolerate even the idea of being replaced with a successor of any kind, especially his own son, who would likely be given the social acceptance of 'carrying on' the Miyazaki Magic that the world has fallen in love with. It was like he couldn't stand the idea of anyone but HAYAO being the one Miyazaki, so he's fine saying things that generally discourage and dissuade his son from pursuing his art. I find that just awful as a human being, especially as an artist.

This was one of the most beautiful video essays I’ve ever seen.

This was really thoughtful. I wasn't a fan of Tales from Earthsea when I saw it, and I even got some vauge aspirations of making an analysis comparing it to some of Hayo Miazaki's earlier works. I never got around to it and, tbh i think my plan for it eould have been a bit mean spirited if I had, especially after watching this. I really appreciate the way you connected with Goro Miazaki through examining the main character and his father. It kind of mirrors how you talk later about Terru connecting with Erik, as a falible person with unfairly big shoes to fill that he probably never even asked for. It shows a lot of compassion towards Goro that others (including me) didn't consider when first watching this movie, I really admire that. I dont think Tales of Earthsea is going to become one lf my favorite Ghibli movies, but you've reminded me that there's plenty of deep and powerful stuff to be found in all kinds of art if you let yourself to engage with it. I think if I do watch it again I will see it with fresher eyes and a deeper appreciation for it. Its kinda late as I ramble with this I hope it's coherent lol. Fantastic work here :]

ive seen this movie when I was small and now ive finally found it again, and after watching it again im really happy someone else felt it like I did

i started watching this video with a tonne of skepticism as a huge fan of the books, but damn. ya got me.

Annnnd now I'm crying 😭😭

I saw your video in my feed, I've never seen the movie so I went to watch it before opening yours. It's a beautiful movie and you really helped me understand the smaller themes I didn't notice. Thanks for putting me on this great movie!

Excellent essay! It was especially thought-provoking in lieu of The Boy and the Heron, which itself felt in part like Hayao's testimony to his fraught relationships with Goro, the Ghibli staff, and his own talent.

Excellent work man. I hope you keep making videos

I loved this film actually.

I thought it's a good movie. I haven't read Le Guin's books, although they're on my radar, but as a standalone I think the movie did a fine job. And Teru's song is beautiful.

02:50 to 03:03 That's some emotion in the way you said that

Tales From Earthsea The Video Game Ghibili 2006 to be based on the movie of the same name that was never released in the past, on PSP/PS2/Gamecube/Wii/PC platforms

Miyazaki was obviously cruel to his own son in his assessment of Goro's movie, and by the way it seems, even neglectful too. There may certainly be parallels in the relationship between the father and son in the movie, and the Miyazaki father and son. However, to speculate that Goro wanted to kill his father and had intrusive thoughts about it, and whatnot, is purely you're own personal conjecture, and that's not even me saying that you're wrong (even though I think it's unlikely). You could be right, but that doesn't change the fact that it's conjecture. All the same, I've gotta give you points in your ability to see past the sensationalistic "this movie wasn't the same as the book it was based on (The Farthest Shore) therefore bad". And actually providing some more substance on how the movie stands as its own piece of media apart from the books. As someone who's read the books, I can tell you that it is less morally nuanced than the books. It's less morally nuanced than most Studio Ghibli films. But it's not a bad movie. It stands well on its own. Hayao being a bastard about his son's work is again, cruel. And I must say, the people who glaze Miyazaki like he created these masterpiece films all by himself really bug me because it's more than likely that it could be a fluke that some of the films he worked on were good. For me, Hayao is a mixed bag. His movies and most of the values and lessons they teach are great, but the man behind the movies is a little more... Dubious.

Goro and Hayao actually have a far more in-depth history. See, Hayao actually tried to teach Goro how to be an animator/director for the better part of 15 years between the 80's and 90's, but Goro has this independence streak where he's basically of the mindset of "I'll prove myself to all the naysayers and forge my own path without any help!" which has of course led to further conflict as both Miyazaki's are very stubborn people. Hayao is actually a giant caretaker in Ghibli, he personally trained staff and even made meals with his wife for them during crunch time so they wouldn't have to pay for food, but Goro doesn't really gel with that type of teaching style, he's wants to be more independent and learn on his own. Though, with that outta the way, yeah the movie's pretty meh. Ursula was the child of 2 archeologists and was planning on being one herself, so she had a great fondness for cultural evolution and moral grayness (As can also be seen by works like Omelas and Left Hand of Darkness), she wasn't fond of simplicity, her main focus was how cultural ideas/systems develop and the varying degrees of morality that exist within those cultural constructs. Also, Arren is a completely original character, as the story is actually about the chronicles of Ged/Sparrowhawk throughout his life and the various cultures he (And later Tenar) interacts with.

You need to smoke a little weed to really enjoy these films the fantasy setting and art style is outstanding in my opinion and things are not always appreciated until much later after there out