The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki by Nicolas Rapold

Watch a Hayao Miyazaki film such as My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away and you’ll see why author Nicolas Rapold suggests that “Every Miyazaki movie is a portal to another world.”  Rapold explores the creative influences and cultural references that have shaped both Miyazaki’s work and the world-renowned Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli which he co-founded in 1985.

By way of a roadmap, this book proceeds thematically through assorted influences, sources and contexts for the films Miyazaki has directed, offering multiple levels of detail and meaning, but, one hopes, without demystifying their essential energy and appeal.

Over ten chapters, Rapold looks closely at the key works, environmental issues, spiritual beliefs and periods of political unrest that have inspired Miyazaki. The opening chapter looks at how Miyazaki was informed by themes of loss, uncertainty, and discovery in children’s literature – including Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Burnett’s The Secret Garden, as well as modern stories such as Donnelly’s The Book of Lost Things.

The chapter examines the influences of ancient literature. Homer’s Odyssey, for example, introduced Miyazaki to the teen princess Nausicaä who features in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Miyazaki also based parts of her character on a heroine from an 11th-century Japanese story collection and Rapold notes that Miyazaki often blended Eastern and Western influences. He was deeply intrigued by flight, along with machines and contraptions that offered access to other worlds. The physical, geographical, psychological and spiritual themes in works such as Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels appealed to Miyazaki’s sense of adventure. Some of these elements are reflected in Castle in the Sky and Miyazaki’s reimagining of the mythical Laputa.

Later chapters explore other writers, animators and artists who shaped Miyazaki’s vision and how he wove elements from their works into his films. One chapter focuses on the sites that some of his fantasy landscapes were based on. Rapold also looks at how Miyazaki reflected elements of Japanese culture (“from the spiritual to the culinary”) in films, the personal experiences he included (many from his childhood), and key moments in film history. The final chapter outlines four distinct dimensions of Miyazaki’s films, beginning with “dream logic”.

Dreams are everywhere in Miyazaki’s movies, often barely signalled as a change from normal reality, and other times overshadowed by the machinations of the demons and spirits that also populate these worlds.

Rapold considers how Miyazaki’s world views, including his concern for ecological issues, have impacted his storytelling, how Miyazaki has contributed to Japan’s long history of visual storytelling (alongside artists such as Hokusai), and how “Miyazaki’s career is defined by new beginnings” with his lifelong commitment to personal growth.

Rapold’s careful research and thoughtful analysis invite discussion. Does Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example, have parallels in Miyazaki’s films? Excerpts from interviews with Miyazaki also encourage reflection on his creative processes, passions, and philosophies.

Even readers who haven’t seen all of Miyazaki’s films will find the images throughout the book compelling. They include illustrations and cover art, manga, iconic works of art, film stills, and photos of people such as those who Miyazaki respected, cast as voice actors, or commissioned to compose film scores. There are photos of some of the real-life settings represented in Miyazaki’s films, including Japan’s Sayama Hills on which Totoro’s forest was based. There are several photos of Miyazaki at work.

Although the book is aimed at adult readers, there are elements that younger readers may also enjoy, especially the images from well-known scenes.

I recommend returning to this book both before and after watching a Miyazaki film. It will deepen your understanding of his work, raise questions about the themes addressed, and perhaps lead you to other artists, writers, and filmmakers who share his innovative approach and outlook.

These pages aim to inform and, perhaps like a Miyazaki story, take the reader down unexpected and eccentric byways, but the ultimate goal is always to encourage more watching of the movies and, as Miyazaki would intend, of the world as well.

Reviewer: Anne Kerslake Hendricks

Francis Lincoln