FILM

TRAVELING THROUGH REALITY

the late works of Hayao Miyazaki

By Audrey Brown

The Romance of the Zero

The early works of Hayao Miyazaki have gained in popularity in the West since Spirited Away won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003. Even prior to his success in the West, Miyazaki’s films were known for the unique way he depicts freedom and kindness. In 2013, Miyazaki said he was going to retire and that he would make his final feature-length film, The Wind Rises. It turned out to be an unusual film in Miyazaki’s career. The world is not magical, but realistic and every day, and strangely it is takes place during World War Two, not exactly Japan’s finest moment.

Unsurprisingly, it was controversial upon its initial release in the West, and especially in East Asian countries who were victims of Japanese aggression, and this is especially true considering the film’s sympathetic portrayal of Japan’s military-industrial complex.

The Strange Allure of the Military Industrial Complex

In an interview with Asahi Shimbun, Miyazaki said, "Including myself, a generation of Japanese men who grew up during a certain period have very complex feelings about World War II, and the Zero symbolizes our collective psyche, Japan went to war out of foolish arrogance, caused trouble throughout the entire East Asia, and ultimately brought destruction upon itself... but for all this humiliating history, the Zero represented one of the few things that we Japanese could be proud of.”

Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane, the plane model featured in the film designed by the main character, Jiro Horikoshi, is the model Japan used in Pearl Harbor and countless other assaults. From this perspective, it looks like much of the controversy and criticism of the film is justified, but we also must view this film for what it is and understand the psychological complexity that Miyazaki is trying to represent.

On the one hand, The Wind Rises has a nostalgic feel that might resonate with an older artist ready to retire. Miyazaki’s father, Katsuji Miyazaki, was a Japanese aeronautical engineer who owned a company called Miyazaki Airplane that manufactured airplane parts. It’s not certain if this film is a reflection on the life of his father, but it’s hard to escape that there was clearly something about his father’s life and business that Miyazaki wanted to address near the end of his.

What does a young man want to say, or an old?

On the other hand, Miyazaki has actively spoken against the imperialist past of Japanese history, even to the extent of being labeled as a “traitor” by Japan’s right-wing politicians. It is also unusual for him to use a male protagonist, as most of his films feature strong female characters. So, in a way Miyazaki’s “last film” is in many ways a bizarre statement, a strange deviation from all that he has come to stand for.

One of the most controversial moments in the film is no doubt the appearance of the warplane that took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and in kamikaze missions. By choosing such a specific model of airplane, Miyazaki left himself open to being criticized by left-leaning critics overseas, and South Korean and Chinese critics who certainly have older family members who remember the terror of the Zeros. In an interview with a South Korean reporter, Miyazaki tried to explain his romanticization for Horikoshi: "He was someone who resisted demands from the military," Miyakazi said in the interview, "I wonder if he should be liable for anything just because he lived in that period."

An honest judgement on Horikoshi’s achievements are difficult. He held a powerful position as an engineer, an artist, and an inventor that could greatly impact the outcome of the war, and it is unreasonable to entirely excuse him from his own ignorance. However, it is also wrong to divorce oneself from the situation in which people lived at a given time and judge them as if they were living in our time.

History is elusive, but the great earthquake of 1923 tells us something

However, Miyazaki’s attempt at a morally questionable romanticization of this man’s life is something we can pass judgement on. Besides Horikoshi’s career, the movie focuses on his romantic relationship with Nahoko Satomi, a girl Horikoshi saved during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Without that historical background, the story could be easily mistaken as just a love story, and the fact that it takes place in World War II could fade away. Is this really something Miyazaki is trying to promote? Since he has publicly spoken against Japanese politicians who have attempt to sanitize the country’s wartime conduct, this is a strange turn.

Fran Krause, a professor of character animation at California Institute of the Arts, makes a sharp point when she says, “The main worry is that people will make a judgment about the film before they see it. There is a lot of subtlety to Miyazaki’s work, and this film in particular will require a lot of benefit of the doubt that people these days don’t often have.” Miyazaki is among the few Japanese film who changed the definition of animation movies in the 90s. His films dig something deeper, and are not meant to be only for kids. So, it is not unreasonable to think that he would think long and hard about dealing with such a troubled time in Japan’s history.

After the production of The Wind Rises, Miyazaki went into retirement and stayed true to his word for three years. In 2016, he announced the production of another film, How Do You Live? The plot and description of the film marks a clear return to the fantastic stories he’s famous for. According to his long-time producer Toshio Suzuki, Miyazaki came out of retirement for his grandson. Suzuki stated on a NHK television show that Miyazaki said, “I’m making it for my grandson so he might say something like, Grandpa passed into the next world, but he left this work.”

Parents and Children and Beyond

But Miyazaki’s son Goro said something otherwise. In an interview about Miyazaki’s dissatisfaction with his retirement, he said that Miyazaki is just “feelings aimless and looking to create something”. To me it seems like he didn’t want to leave his last work in the midst of a controversial debate. There is no doubt that his intentions in The Wind Rises were to promote antiwar pacifism, but along the way it’s clear that he romanticized Japan’s wartime crimes.

I guess we will never really, but whatever the case a desire to make a final statement is clear. Both these “last films” are about nostalgia (Miyazaki for his father, and Miyazaki anticipating his grandson’s feelings) and trying to come to terms with the world as he understands it. The Wind Rises does that on a personal level using World War Two as a background. Miyazaki used to say, “my life is my message”, Films to him are for the sole purpose of carrying out an embodiment of message. It might be commercial cinema, but it’s definitely not commercial products to him. So being criticized of propagating militaristic ideas, combined with various other reasons, it’s clear that he had to come back to give us some more.

©Audrey Brown and the CCA Arts Review