Hayao Miyazaki: Film Analysis

Hayao Miyazaki is considered as one of the greatest animated filmmaker of his time. Studio Ghibli’s works are a breakthrough in modern animation, bringing both reality and fantasy together in a whole other level and give the audience something that they can keep with them long after they have seen the films. It’s more than a moral to the story, and more than a lesson that we must learn from the protagonist’s adventure(s). Miyazaki’s movies are not black and white, but actually rather more blended, his films are more ‘gray’, if we have to put it into words.
And more importantly is that, unlike Disney with their ‘happy ever after’ that is always the result of a romance (or with a romance subplot like in their film Frozen), Miyazaki manages give a more realistic, broader and natural happy ending to his films, and a more accurate representation of the female genre. …show more content…
Among the 13 most renowned Ghibli’s films directed by Miyazaki, 9 of them have a female protagonist.
His female characters are crucial elements to the success of his films, even when they are not the protagonists. Even his villain ladies have redeeming qualities and that is why is films hit the audience to a more emotional level. His women and female characters are complex, and not conformed to the gender bias we find in western films, and thus they manage to maintain gender neutrality so anyone, girls or boys, or really anyone can identify with them and enjoy the film.
Princess Mononoke (1997) is the perfect example (among others) of the essence of a Miyazaki film.
Princess Mononoke blurs the line between good and evil, destroys the idea that people are either good or evil. Princess Mononoke shows the true selfish nature of humans, without necessarily antagonizing them all, and tells us a story of human versus nature, rather than good versus evil, and this through strong, interesting and complex female