Thank you for watching! If you like what I'm doing consider supporting this channel on Patreon for more essays on storytelling, art, video games and more: www.patreon.com/TheBookofIve
Well done. It was interesting, when I watched Kiki's Delivery Service with my Mom, she was absolutely convinced the two old ladies (the one who made Kiki the cake and her assistant) would do something bad to Kiki and that they were the antagonists. When she told me I was surprised at first, but then realized she primarily watches western dramas and it makes sense to always be suspecting the antagonist(s) to be hidden within the characters.
Some kindergartners recently watching Kiki thought the same, and there is a change in their scene’s atmosphere - one they may have misinterpreted as a Pixar-Disney hidden villain, coated in calm authority. My mother was at first weirded out by Spirited Away’s structure; because the dangerous characters did not play themselves out to be typical Western villains, she said she didn’t know what to expect from the characters.
Western story telling is just different from Asian story telling. It’s not to say that one is any better or worse. But when Americans see non-western stories the differences become more prominent and that’s why these foreign films are often so confusing to them. But it’s important to see and hear stories from different perspectives because it lends new ideas and ways of looking at the world.
I would also like to point out that, possibly thanks to the nature of Kishōtenketsu, Miyazaki in specific seems to like to play with the concepts of plot and feelings in a way where both are completely interchangable. For example, when abstract concepts become literal, like when Chihiro takes the train to Zeniba's home, very obviously resembling the concept of going back home from work visualized in a way that is both literal to the worldbuilding and to the feelings being conveyed towards the viewer. His ability to disregard the reality he builds in his stories just in the right moment to make you feel the feelings that the fictional world can only go so far with makes his latest movies astonishingly beautiful to me. The boy and the Heron was full of this and I loved it. Also, great video! It was super interesting.
That's a very interesting take, thank you for sharing! I remember something like this in Howl's Moving Castle, when Sophie seemingly switches her age without any explanation. Took me a while to get that this might represent the way she sees herself. Thank you for watching!
Excellent evaluation. I have explained to many people that Boy and Heron isn't really a *story* in the usual sense, with a purpose, beginning middle and end; but more of a reflection of Miyazaki and character development. I *love* how nothing Miyazaki does is "deus ex machina" or something just happens because it CAN. Also, good people do not suddenly, surprise, they're actually bad (or vice versa). They *develop* but good people stay good, they are *reliable* and something you can believe in. Even where there's conflict, as in Nausicaa, the conflict is often portrayed as simply different people trying to solve a problem in different ways and those ways come into conflict. Or in a sentence, the conflict is *resolved* rather than *conquered* .
In the US storytelling in movies has become extremely rigid in the West with a lot of films aligning the story to the Save the Cat structure. This is a bit concerning because it has also resulted in the audience tastes becoming much more limited.
I always love Miyazaki films because they feel so much more true to life without being absolutely depressing (well, not all of them). The Boy and The Heron is one of his best.
Miyazaki is one of my favorite writers of all time! I love how magical everything is but still grounded in life concepts such as life and death.. nature.. I’ve been an avid appreciator of his work for many years!
Great video on 起承転結 kishoutenketsu (起 rouse, wake up, get up -as in "okiru" 承 acquiesce, hear, listen to, be informed, receive -as in "ukeru" 転 revolve, turn around, change -as in "korobu" 結 tie, bind, contract, join, organize, do up hair, fasten -as in "musubu") They played Spirited Away on tv yesterday and youtube sensed my brain itch about what makes it so different ;-)
I have been super curious about the way Japanese and Korean cultures differ when it comes to telling stories, but have not been able to find any explainations or 'guides'. Even when I try to look for... idk 'Common Kdrama structures' there is very little of the actual thought process explained normally. So, I'm happy to have found this video
To me, this is one of the key reasons Ghibli films are the perfect comfort movies. In our regular lives, we almost never experience our struggles as coming from a single, villainous person. In both our lives and in Ghibli movies, the "antagonist" that drives conflict is a force, like fear, or depression, or loss of faith, or conflicting values. THOSE are realistic antagonists. I love a good old-fashioned movie villain, but they always feel kind of cartoonish. In contrast, many Ghibli films feel like a beautiful, idealized look into my OWN life. That's why they make me have hope again in my own life, and see the beauty in the everyday routines of my life. I put on The Secret World of Arrietty, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Spirited Away, or Whisper of the Heart, and I both feel seen as a young woman grappling with making my way in life, AND I see the beautiful "ma" moments of food preparation and soaking in nature, and I feel a renewed sense of the beauty of those things in my own life. That's FAR more valuable to me compared to another fantastical villain/hero story. Most modern hero/villain movies are escapism from my life. Ghibli films make MY life feel more beautiful and special than I think it is. After finishing a Ghibli film, I FEEL like living my own beautiful, simple life again -- not putting on the next fake fantasy.
Kiki's Delivery Service and Whisper of the Heart are just essential watches for anyone who does any creative work, imo. They're amazing deconstructions of many anxieties of the creative process (though, to be fair they apply to larger things in life just as well). Also, yes, the food scenes in all the Ghibli films never fail to make me hungry (except maybe the one in Spirited Away :D).
Thank you so much for making this video. I’ve always loved Studio Ghibli and when I was working on my book I must have subconsciously incorporated some of there story telling style. I changed the ending last minute to “add an antagonist”, but after your video I feel at peace leaving the ending as the original 😊
Thank you for this video. I discovered Kishotenketsu earlier this year within my own research, trying to uncover why the stories that impacted me impacted me the way they did so that I may do it for others. I've been in a bit of a creative rut lately, bu your video was a reminder of the power of this story structure and of the power of freedom and play in writing. Thank you for that. :)
Most of Ghibli Movies are based on books: Some of the Novels are western such as Howls Moving castle is based on a book with the same title. Another movie which is very familiar to me as I grew up with the story is Arriety as it is very closely based on a British book called the borrowers. Miyazakis' movies are mostly excellent adaptations of novels. Not that I am devaluing his work by saying so. I think adaptions of Novels to big screen as great and provide a new way of experiencing a story. Thanks you for your very informative video on story structures.I really enjoyed watching this.
That's right, he also adapted his own manga for Nausicaa, if I'm not mistaken. I always wondered how different Miyazaki's Howl is from Diana Jones' books in terms of structure 🤔 Might need to look into it.
Yes Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a manga written by Miyazaki. After I watched and read the novel of howls moving castle it appears to follow the same story beats with some changes for example in the book starts around time the three sister Sophie ,Lettie and Martha. Where as the animation starts when Lettie works at the bakery. In the book Lettie is actually step sister Martha as they changed places. Also the war scenes with the flying contraptions bombing weren't in the book. O think Diana Jones wasn't happy about that addition. Also Howl and sophie doesn't have a romantic relationship in the book. Howl falls in love with Lettie who is a witches apprentice in the place of Martha. @@thebookofive
Thats a theory I have heard said Im not sure if that was confirmed by Miyazaki. Another theory is that this could both Miyazakis passion and guilt of aviation as his family made planes during WWII. @@thebookofive
@@largojunkie Well, he was pretty open about his position, so I think it might have affected the film. I'm not 100% sure, 'cause I can't find a direct quote
I think I understand what you’re trying to say, and I partially agree, but I also kinda have to disagree on some points here…particularly the idea that films like Totoro are stories “without conflict”. Totoro has conflict. A mother being ill and a child having to deal with fear and other emotions in relation to her illness is conflict. Conflict does not equal “antagonist”. You can arguably write a story without an antagonist, although an antagonistic force can take many shapes and doesn’t need to be a character, but you cannot write a story without conflict. Without conflict a story is just a recollection of unrelated events. All of ghibli’s films have conflict, but where disney and hollywood is often based around sensationalism and larger-than-life issues, ghibli’s conflicts tend to be more grounded in the mundane.
Hey, thanks for watching! Yeah, I should've been a bit more precise with the wording. When I talked about "stories without conflict" I was referring to the external conflict that is largely used as a foundation of the narrative in the western storytelling. > You cannot write a story without conflict I highly recommend Ursula Le Guin's essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (I think there's an audio version of it somewhere on RU-vid) if you want an alternative perspective. >Antagonistic force doesn't need to be a character I'd kinda disagree. In my opinion a character in a story isn't necessarily "a sentient being", but anything that has a significant thematic agency. But that's just how I approach these things. And I just want to add that my intention with the video wasn't to convert everyone to the "one right way of storytelling", but rather start a conversation and let people examine established things that we usually take as a given. So, if you vibe with some parts of the video - great, if you disagree with the others that's great as well.
Thank you. I think you've perfectly explained why I was always repelled by Miyazaki's work. His stories appeal to females and feminized men, who can't deal with the fact that conflict is a part of life. They're all style and no substance.
I really love that in Ghibli movies the "bad" guys are not pure evil, they have just different perspectives and different goals than the main character, and we can even sympathise with some of them, especially after they turn out to not be that horrible in the end after all :)
And suddenly I realise where my game 'villains' root from. I've been Ghibli-brained XD I haven't had a solid evil person yet, they've got reasons for doing what they're doing even if they're going about it in a risky way.
@@Nertsypandaanimations most who do it are buy some backstory or something artificial and unnatural. Ghibli films organically develop characters in a way rarely seen in western movies
You're right, an antagonist doesn't have to be a person. But I would disagree, that the fear is the antagonist in Totoro. It's introduced towards the end of the story, it does not act (the way an antagonist would) and besides, it doesn't really have any goals nor is it an obstacle for the girls' desire to see their mom come home. Not saying that a feeling of fear can't serve as an antagonist, but in this case it lacks a lot of important features, so as to be considered a character
@@thebookofive Due to your last line "...in this case it lacks a lot of important features, so as to be considered a character" I think you're still associating the idea of the antagonist to the figure of the character. The antagonist doesn't have to take the form of a character or to have any sort of active will. There are such things as antagonist forces, like for example, weather conditions. The wind can be the sole antagonistic force in a particular narrative, and a very powerful one at that. However it isn't active, it doesn't want anything, it just is. What I would argue is that Asian cinematography is much more contemplative and non-linear. Instead of having one single "pin-pointable" conflict, they have several periods of tension that are constantly being resolved and brought up again, like a song. I truly think conflict and resolution is an essential dicothomy in storytelling, otherwise you would just have a statement: "The boy walks the dog"; "The monster is slain", etc.
Not having the antagonist be a person is a good thing. In western culture people are deemed good or evil simply because of their looks, with CERTAIN looks conscripted as one or the other. For example: skin color; body build; gender; wealth, lack of wealth, eye and hair color and texture. If those become your determining factor for judging, then you will make false evaluations. See the new movie “Saltburn.” The ENTIRE MOVIE is based on looks and the false perception of reality they can be misleading . . .with devastating outcomes.
I suspect Totoro’s “antagonist?” is the discomforts of adapting to the family’s new living situation, at least it birthes a lot of the conflicts that Totoro and other characters exacerbate or ameliorate over the course of the story, but it is important to note that both their fear and sense of wonder, their alienation and elation come from adapting to their new life. Miyazaki has draws on the Daoist “things are mixed” idea for many stories, and this is also seen in Nausicaa: humans don’t live in an entirely pure or entirely corrupt world - they cannot survive in such extremes.
Wow, this really put into words what I admire about studio Ghibli films but wasn’t able to place before. As a writer I struggle so much with the idea of conflict and antagonists because I don’t like writing violence, but I didn’t realize how I was only thinking in the typical western storytelling structure. I feel very inspired to create something of my own now!! Awesome video man :D
Thank you for watching, good luck with your stories! Yeah, it does open up a lot of possibilities. As an interesting sidenote that didn't fit into the script, because Kishōtenketsu is a sort of "low-level" structure, you can use it to not only plan the whole story, but also individual acts or scenes. Also, I really recommend watching Whisper of the Heart to you
Howl's Moving Castle is an interesting view point because it was adapted from a western book, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, where the witch of the waste was treated soooo very differently. Just some info for anyone interested. Both the book and movie are masterpieces.
I'm a big fan of Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu as a structure, ever since I learned about it from "Manga in Theory and Practise" by Hirohiko Araki. It's such a versatile structure, and especially great if you want to write something that has a slow or 'slice of life' feel to it. I've never analysed Gibli movies through this lense, seeing it applied there makes me appreciate the structure even more.
So am I on the right track if I suggest that in the Western story structure, the main conflicts tend to be external while in the Eastern story structure they're internal? Like in Totoro, the main conflict isn't that the mother is in the hospital, the main conflict is that both sisters are sad about it. At the end of the film they both see their mother, who IS still in the hospital, but now they see that she's fine and they return home happy. Their minds are now at ease and thus the conflict has been solved, even if the situation hasn't actually changed that much. When the main conflict is internal, it's more meaningful and the audience can often get more meaning out of it than if the conflict is external. Plot driven story can be full of external conflicts that get solved without teaching the audience much at all about life, unlike when the conflict is internal. Solving internal problems can actually teach the audience meaningful life lessons unlike when the story is more focused on the external plot. Take highly regarded series like Berserk for example. (Off topic, I know.) Having caught up with the manga this past year, I think it's safe to say that Berserk is a revenge story. I doubt I'm too far off if I state that. The MC Guts wants to get revenge on the main enemy who did a bad thing in the past. However I'd argue that, at least where the story is at this point, the main conflict ISN'T the fact that the revenge hasn't happened yet. The world has clearly moved on from the unjust tragedy that the bad guy committed. Although I'm sure we will get to the physical revenge eventually happening, the main conflict is actually internal, not the external revenge. The main conflict of Berserk is the fact that our protagonist IS on a *revenge* *journey* and how it affects him and how he eventually concludes it. Whether it's by succeeding in the revenge but getting completely ruined by the vengeful and destructive path he chose, OR if he's able to let go of the hatred and find peace, thus also solving the conflict. This makes the story of Berserk way deeper than if the main issue was simply: "I have to kill the enemy cause that will solve all my problems." Plot like that would be far too predictable and restricting for the author. Internal conflict leaves more options for the author, which can make it more fun for the audience as well.
Yeah, I think you can definitely look at it that way. In general stories built on Kishotenketsu are much more introspective. But also there's a whole slice of life genre where the main thing is lack of any sort of overarching conflict (although I'm not a huge expert on that particular genre).
9:38 They did the same with KiKi’s Delivery Service by giving JiJi that cat 🐈⬛ more lines, including one where it’s implied that KiKi regained her ability to talk with him, whereas in the original she doesn’t.
This was done but upon Miyazaki’s request, they removed it in future versions of the film. Unless the director is unable too, Ghibli’s contract with Disney states they can’t release the dub until the director has approved it & its changes.
The editing on this video is superb! I’ve heard people talk about Hayao and his material before, but I’ve never really heard anyone mention Kishotenketsu and how it’s connected. Great work!
Super beneficial video. Thanks for making it. I'm currently working on the last chunk of my first novel and have found myself trying to force resolution or character change where it doesn't really fit. Your analysis helped me to realize that my story isn't missing as much as I thought it was.
I think this is part of the reason Ghibli movies are so beloved, they are warm and comforting. There's not some "big bad" to overcome and then everything is fixed, its more grounded and realistic that way.
It's telling that Ghibli's adaption of Howl's Moving Castle tweaked the story to make the foolishness of warfare the "big bad" and not personify a character as the villain. Even the most directly villainous character, The Witch of the Waste, ends up with a sympathetic end. While in the original book, she was a more cliche and evil antagonist.@@thebookofive
I think it's important, when talking about story structures, that conflict isn't confused with antagonists. A story needs conflict, not necessarily an embodied antagonist, and Western theory often frames it this way when the structure's most simplified (exposition, rising action, climax/conflict, falling action, denouement, and...). With that in mind, the Western structure neatly overlays kishotenketsu with one vital omission: resolution. You're exactly right; this is precisely why Spirited Away's ending is changed in translation. Japanese storytelling isn't afraid of ambiguous endings, whereas Western storytelling is often consumed by HEAs and/or an ultimate sense of catharsis. Ironically, this is partly why so much of Western modern horror is open-ended. Personally, what I feel sets Ghibli and Miyazaki apart, even from a lot of Japanese creators, is a focus on characterizing the world, where even supposedly mundane characters or tasks reveal facets of the world (consider how Disney changing the simple act of Kiki being served coffee by her landlady to hot cocoa reflects on Kiki's story). This concurs with the slice-of-life genre in Japan, but such execution is still finding its feet in film to this day. Other examples include Tezuka's "Metropolis," Watanabe's "Cowboy Bebop," Kon's anything 😄; and, I think Gainax's worldbuilding in "FLCL" vs. that of "Evangelion" demonstrates the point beautifully.
About 9:26, actually the second time Chihiro walks with her parents through the entrance to the spirit world she acts the same way: clinching to her mother. I was a little confused about that because I saw a personal growth within her throughout the film, but it just proves what you said about character development.
Yeah, which makes the added lines in the English version make even less sense. My perspective is that the English version treats Chihiro clinching her mother's arm as a sign of "character weakness", while the original sees it as "being a normal child".
I have no idea why you have so little views on this. The quality of the video is very high and i can see your effort! I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!
this was really interesting and eye-opening! i like to write in my free time, and I recently showed a work of mine to a friend in installments. they were into it, but they kept making guesses to who the red herring is or who the antagonist was, and it made me realize that a lot of western readers do tend to follow a specific formula (subconsciously or not) when we read. always looking for the villain and always anticipating a heroic battle and a victory afterwards. it's fun to divert from those expectations :)
You managed to put into words my feelings on traditional western storytelling. I have always felt a strange disconnect from the ways so many people in the US tell their stories, and wondered if there was any other way to do so. The idea that a story NEEDS an antagonist, and central conflict, and character flaws, and rising tension, esc. It all felt so restrictive to me and created an expectation that these elements need to be in a story in order for the story to work at all. I can't tell you how many writing advise channels follow this formula. It feels pretentious to me and almost never helps when it comes to actually writing stories. Thank you for this video. I look forward to seeing more from you.
Thank you for watching! I totally see what you mean and I've been seeing the same writing tips and formulas rehashed thousands of times over the years by many RU-vid channels and writing gurus. This in part was my motivation for this exact video and I want to take a really close look at the mainstream hero's journey type of story structure that many writing experts try to sell as the "one and only way to write good stories". Although I'll be shifting gears a bit for the next one
@eliamorris I've been feeling the same way. A lot of author-advice on youtube feels formulaic and restrictive, and ignores outliers or non-western styles that gained popularity at one point or another. I was trying to explain the significance of The Tale of Genji, since my most recent work has a lot of influence from it, and i just wasn't doing a good job putting it into words.
Even before I'd seen my first anime movie, I've always felt like I liked the first quarter of many movies the most; the part where there's just world building and the characters affiliating with each others before the conflict. Until the climax part, I've usually lost the interest in many movies, even to some of my all time favorite movies. And I think it's exactly the black-and-white perception and the need to address "the good guy" and "the bad guy" and how that makes the storyline very predictable. I like the explorative, more cooperative and optimistic way of storytelling, where we get explanations to the characters' evils (and hero tendencies) rather than making it an unrealistic caricature of human interactions.
YES! So many late Disney movies do this, after 15/20 min of very immersive worldbuilding, you feel like they stop working on the material and just let the structure work for them, it’s so frustrating!
@@josrodsedre5142 exactly. If I can guess most of the plot final, or the effort of making it unpredictable still follows the same over-used plotline just with some superficial changes, I feel so frustrated to have been spending time watching it 😆
Yeah I always thought that stories don’t have to have a conflict. Otherwise you wouldn’t have slice of life stories that just tell the mundane everyday events of the human experience. And sometimes it’s boring but not to people who find enjoyment in them and their simplistic nature.
Thank you for this surprisingly informative video. It's actually helping me better understand why some stories feel different from others and why Ghibli has such a special place in between. In fact, I'm currently writing one of my first full-length stories and have often faced the problem of feeling like my characters don't fulfill the stereotypes that fit Western standards. I racked my brains for a long time about what I could do to make the story more "attractive" to the audience. But it just never fitted in with the idea I was pursuing. In the meantime, I've reached the point where I want to tell the story exactly the way I intended to from the beginning, without the typical Western narrative styles you outlined in your video. Your video even encourages me in this decision, because this kind of storytelling just doesn't fit the story I want to tell. I am glad that the video was suggested to me. Great work!
One of the things I like about Ghibli is that they can just take an idea, and make it a lot better. In the original book, Howls Moving Castle was that type of story that took an evil witch making a problem, then at the end they die and it’s happily ever after. Ghibli changed it up a bit, and the idea of the witch living with them just stuck. I like both pieces of media anyway. I loved this video essay, I hope to see you become popular!
Great job pointing out the differences! There is a certain beauty in Miyazaki theme. It gets you thinking about life. His characters make choices and there aren’t just black and white options. It’s more realistic in a way.
It is so good to see new generation of Miyazaki’s work, we can always learn more and have yet new perspectives, we didn’t even see. Thank you for this video! Keep writing pleaseeee!
I’m glad RU-vid recommended me this one, it was a great video, I’m sure it will get a ton more views and I’m excited to see what you have next! Keep it up 😊
There's a line in the epilogue of your video (which I found very thought-provoking and well-done, gj) where you say "in recent times in the writing community we have been overpowered by the whole idea that there is one right way to tell stories...or no one will enjoy your work." My perception as an amateur writer sort of dabbling with starting things that may someday be 'published' is, it's usually not a fear about people *enjoying* your work, it's about people *buying* it. That "content culture" that has kinda warped a lot of art fields, where just making something for fun seems wasteful or improper. I can't count the number of times I've shown someone something I wrote and they say "You should become a writer!" There's a pressure, even obsession, with monetizing it, and to effectively do so, you have to follow the 'algorithm.'
RU-vid kept pushing this video to me and I’m so glad I finally watched it! I’ll keep an eye out for your next videos! I just watched Princess Mononoke with my father (him watching it for the first time) and while I think he liked it he was definitely bewildered by the structure. I’m so happy I now have the words to try and explain to him the difference in the structure of stories he’s used to vs ghibli films.
For me at least, it all boils down to what helps the story-telling. I love Ghibli films, they're definitely impressive on their visuals as much as the writing.
Agree. 3 act structures and Rising Action-Climax-Resolution are overdone. They're predictable and boring. It's why I'm not interested in reading most novels. You can basically predict the whole turn of events just by knowing which section of the book you're reading... With a Miyazaki work, especially the most recent one, there was no way for me to understand where I was in the story or what would happen next. A completely different kind of experience. My Indian friends complained to me that Hollywood movies were all the same, action-based. Good Indian movies should be story and character-based. Different regions have their own traditions for storytelling. They'd tell me Bengali stories were the best, story-driven with a haunting social message or powerful themes... Check out Tagore and Satyajit Ray. Scripturally speaking, all the Hebrew stories of the Old Testament of the Bible follow a parallel story structure common in ancient Hebrew story-telling. Often 4 parts. The first two parts posit or explore a theme leading up to its central message in the MIDDLE of the work, and then the next two part brilliantly parallel the first two reflecting, adjusting, or responding to the themes of the first two parts. When it's done well, there's nothing like it.
"finding the solution to the problem is much more important than defeating someone." thats a very good way of putting it. i wonder how many western stories would benefit from this idea
This actually reminds me of a lot of the stories by Alexander Dumas. For Antagonists, take 3 musketeers: Cardinal Richelieu is the biggest source of antagonism behind the scenes, but his role is much more like Yubaba. The 4 main characters aren't the Cardinals main concern, so when they foil his plans, he just let's them go. Actually, he even promotes the main character! I haven't seen all the million different film and TV adaptations, but im pretty sure most of them treat Richelieu as the mustache twirling bad guy. (Though, Milady might be a more conventional antagonist)
Overcoming yourself vs. Overcoming an adversary. Something I must master to truly bring out me story… thanks for the insight. I’ve loved Ghibli films since forever but have never related it to western films before.
I fell in love with Miyazaki's films partially because My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service had no villains. They're simply stories. I'm a writer in California, and my latest book has a lot of similarities with Studio Ghibli's films. I used to be worried about Western readers needing certain elements to keep them entertained. This video gave me hope that that is not necessarily true.
Thank you for this well thought out and researched explanation of the differences in culture and writing styles I have been watching anime all my life and I am 50 years old but now I have a greater understanding of the storylines. I will probably rewatch all my favorites with a different understanding ❤❤❤
With the western structure there’s ALWAYS the “them” versus “us.” Pretty much the same structure as the culture itself. In that it creates CONFLICTS OF: racism, rich versus poor (poverty vs filthy wealth), humanity versus money and power, and the materialists versus nature. I’d often wondered why watching Miyazaki films were so relaxing and liberating. As I wander through Netflix, HBO, et al, the overwhelming selection of dystopian films leaves me thirsty…and depressed. It’s as though the selections are PROGRAMMING people for CONFLICT. And sadly there’s LOTS of that in America. I much prefer Mitazaki’s way. . . the Japanese way.
I talked about this in the other comment section, but I can't recommend Ursula Le Guin's "the carrier bag theory of fiction" essay, especially if you find the modern mainstream storytelling practices rather limiting.
You are correct, however he is credited as a writer on all of his films. Although, in this context "write" refers more to the act of constructing a story, rather than the act of physical writing/typing, so I can see how it can be misinterpreted. Thank you for watching!
I just watched The Boy and the Heron and I have always wanted to try to be more familiar with Miyazaki’s work as well as Ghibli’s library. This video was incredibly well made and made me more curious about their story telling. Keep up the good work!
I haven't seen Scavengers Reign yet (but it's on my list for sure). Depending on what you're asking (the whole season structure or the structure of each episode) I'd say it is possible to use that, but tv shows usually build their episodes around a five-act-structure (sometimes with a teaser and a tag at the beginning and end).
To be simplistic isn’t the plot difference simply because Asian culture is pluralistic and western is individualistic going on about me me me????? Because of the enlightenment which was more like the big darken ment ????? When religion was thrown out Japan still has its own religion. And values and was not affected by the darkenment
14:12 OMG YES. I study 'animation and storytelling' at an art school. The Hero's Journey and Freitag's triangle are the basis and the *only* basis of everything we learn. I was forcing my own story to follow suite, but now I might try a different approach
Oh this is why my family hated ponyo when they watched it with me when I was little. They told me for years that it was so bad it killed their brain cells but when I watched it as an adult I loved it and found it fun and cute
Freytag's plot pyramid is just too boiled down to be of use to an actual writer. Yes, the other story structures mentioned are more specific - but that's what makes them superior. My personal favorite is Vogler's 12 steps, which is just a drill down on Campbell's monomyth. All writing advice are ultimate "guidelines," because the writer is going to bring something unique to the world (hopefully).
Nice video. I felt The Boy and the Heron was a plot similiar to the trajectory and meaning of The Wind Rises. After all, these films have a narrataive arc that's particularly Buddhist, wherein the theme of meaning as overcoming of suffering plays a large part. In Boy and the Heron another Buddhist concept overtakes wherein the Grand-Grant-Uncle lives in this fabricated created world aspiring to create a world without suffering immorality and ugliness, but the error is that this is to live by idealism, which is not to live in reality. Idealisms are like stacked stones that will always come crashing down in the face of reality. Mahito becomes wiser than his Great-Grand-Uncle because he chooses to live in a world not of idealism but as it is. That's how he learns to live. At the end of The Wind Rises, after his wife dies, Giro is to "To Live" and his story onwards is thereby similar to meaning of Mahito's in The Boy and the Heron. The plane that young Giro flies in at the very beginning of the film also looks like a blue heron.
Studio giblhi is my favorite animation studio you can see that their work is made with passion and love and not just for money its the only studio that i love all the movies i mean studio giblhi only make masterpieces no one of their movies is bad
Cool. If you had concluded that Western story structure is worse you would have been falling into the protagonist-antagonist dichotomy again. Well done!
Western story telling is just different from Asian story telling. It’s not to say that one is any better or worse. But when Americans see non-western stories the differences become more prominent and that’s why these foreign films are often so confusing to them. But it’s important to see and hear stories from different perspectives because it lends new ideas and ways of looking at the world.
