Our Miyazaki Week
Ghibli Girls, gobagool, and other things we are consuming right now
If you know anything about us, you might know that we are enthusiastic ~patrons~ of the arts. We love to consume things people make and then talk about those things! Sometimes for unnecessarily long periods of time. That’s a big part of the reason we started this newsletter, after all.
We love everything, but especially things that are weird, whimsical, spooky, or beautiful. Bonus points if those things are all working together. That’s probably why, when it rained every day during our time together in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, we went right to the Studio Ghibli section of HBO Max. (We definitely would’ve also gone to the Tim Burton section, had there been one.)
Hayao Miyazaki’s movies, do, indeed, have everything: humor, heart, adventure, mystery, whimsy. Not to mention they are so s o o t h i n g , like napping on a cloud or cuddling a kitten, but with a soundtrack. We each have our own personal history with Miyazaki movies, our own childhood favorites and fears, so it was a true delight getting to realize those feelings again, this time with each other.
Anyway, we watched four Miyazaki movies. We had some thoughts.
Britnee: I love Kiki’s Delivery Service unconditionally. I already wrote a little bit about what this movie means to me in our first newsletter, and I could probably go on about it forever, so I’ll keep my thoughts limited to some I had during our viewing last week (Do you accept this challenge, Brigid?).
Ghibli girls are strong, curious, independent, feminist icons. They can also be split into two categories: Gaspers and Screamers. Kiki is a Gasper. She’s going to be late for a delivery? *Gasp!* Tombo has appeared on-screen? *Gasp!* Money? A very relatable *Gasp!*
Kiki’s black dress/red bow combo is iconic, but this viewing made me realize how much of Kiki’s self-worth is wrapped up in her clothes. She hates her black dress because she thinks it’s ugly and because it emphasizes her “witchiness," or the thing that makes her different from the other girls in town. I feel her frustration. The dress is a physical embodiment of not fitting in, and she has to wear it every day, which is especially tough considering Kiki is clearly someone who loves fashion—she’s always staring at colorful dresses and sparkly shoes in shop windows!
I understand, from an analytical standpoint, why neither her mother nor Osono ever buys her new clothes. Learning to love the dress means learning to love herself for who she is (and this, as Brigid and I so expertly realized halfway into our viewing, is ultimately a movie about self-acceptance!). But for the love of god, can’t somebody just get this girl one more dress? It’s what she wants more than anything! Who cares if witches wear pink? Not me!
Lastly, as a kid, I always strongly identified with Kiki. Now, as a 26-year-old girl in a COVID world, I fear I am actually Jiji. Observe:
Brigid: I don’t think I realized as a child how similar Kiki’s self-doubt is to every 13-year old girl’s. She hates her clothes, she projects her insecurities onto her peers, and she worries she will get too fat if she keeps eating pancakes (you know, how young girls all have internalized body image issues and that’s totally normal and reflected in all media). Truly, Kiki is ~all of us~ and we are all Kiki and we are all witches. Hmu if you want to join my coven.
You are so right to point out that Ghibli girls tend to fall under the umbrellas of Gaspers and Screamers. We’ve actually got one of each in our next movie: My Neighbor Totoro. The story follows two sisters, the older of which, Satsuki, is a solid gasper. The younger sister, Mei, is a full-on, mouth-wide-open Ghibli screamer.
This movie is sentimental to me in the same way Kiki is to you. It is always so full of magic, no matter how many times I watch it. The sounds alone are mesmerizing: the soot sprites clearing out of a room, the flute music coming from the treetops, the raindrops plinking onto Totoro’s umbrella… now that I think about it, I’m not entirely sure that my love of rain didn’t come solely from this movie. And tell me this soundtrack doesn’t quiet every loud thought that’s been rioting around your head. I’m sure the reason I never get tired of watching My Neighbor Totoro over and over again is because the plot feels so secondary to the sensation. It’s the coziest experience I know.
Also, did we spend the whole movie debating which characters represented our dogs? Of course we did, and it’s worth mentioning that my dog, Cosmo, is Totoro and your dog, Audrey, is the mini Totoro.
Britnee: I agree, Totoro is pure serotonin. I saw it for the first time just a couple of months ago, which seems strange considering that it taps into the same part of my brain as Kiki (read: my happy place). I guess it really just comes down to the fact that I had Kiki on VHS as a kid, and you had Totoro. Look at us, two halves of a whole before we even met!
What I love about Totoro specifically is the way it leans into childhood whimsy and wonderment. As you pointed out, plot-wise, there’s not a whole lot going on, but Mei and Satsuki’s world is so big you hardly even notice. A kid’s imagination is a beautiful thing, maybe even the most beautiful thing, and Totoro captures the feeling perfectly. It legitimately makes me want to go outside and play.
By the way, yes. You are correct. Cosmo is our snoozy, silly Totoro, and Audrey is the Mini Totoro:
But now I want to talk about Spirited Away. This is the movie I was most nervous to watch because I have vivid memories of hating it as a kid. Specifically, being terrified of the scene where the parents turn into pigs, and petrified of the spider-like spirit that eats people. Perhaps I should’ve guessed what scared me then would wind up being the parts of the story I found most compelling the second time around. The scary things are always the most misunderstood (:
Can you imagine wandering into a strange place, seeing extravagant displays of food, and then just… pulling up a chair and digging in? No! You can’t, because that’s an ignorant and insane thing to do. Which is just humans for you, I guess. Anyway, the parents absolutely deserved to become pigs. No offense intended towards pigs. I’d much rather hang out with spirit pigs than with those idiot parents.
My child brain was definitely justified in being scared of the No Face spirit. That scene where he is huge and spidery and he chases Chihiro through the hallway is chilling! But it’s only because greed has driven him mad. And greed, as we know all too well, is the real enemy. I am a fan of second chances, so I thought it was very cool of Chihiro to let him accompany her to the witch sister’s house. Chihiro is definitely one of the best Ghibli girls, even if she is a Screamer.
The real star of the movie, though, is the mouse baby. I’m not talking about the big-ass baby version, before he gets transformed into a mouse—I’m talking about the mouse version, specifically. Just look at him bouncing up there!
Brigid: Spirited Away is pretty terrifying. I remember having very vivid and specific nightmares as a kid that took place in the Spirited Away world. I think I was most afraid of Kamajī the Boiler Man. He does turn out to be a very kind, grandfatherly figure to Chihiro, but he is so scary-looking, I was always amazed that Chihiro was brave enough to approach him. Also, I just looked up this name and it translates literally to “Boiler Geezer,” which is delightful. Chihiro meeting the Boiler Geezer is one of her many scenes that impressed me when I first watched as a kid, and still does upon rewatching.
One of the things we discussed while watching was how we love the way Ghibli girls wear their hearts on their sleeves, Chihiro possibly most of all. This character was such an inspiration to me growing up because she does not for one second pretend she is not terrified or that she is older or tougher than she is. She screams and trembles and cries through nearly every (early) scene, yet she never fails to do what is needed or right. Chihiro was the first to teach me that bravery does not mean being unafraid, but acting in spite of it. And yes, Britnee, I can see you as Chihiro. Your disgust with the parents pigging out is proof enough.
I don’t want to dwell on this too long since we still have a lot of ground to cover, but it is shocking to me that you took time to mention the big ol’ baby, and not total dreamboat Haku! The goodbye scene between Chihiro and Haku is among the most heartbreaking in cinema history and, honestly, the fact the Chihiro manages to leave without looking back is her most impressive feat of all.
Speaking of dreamboat love interests and girls who wear their hearts on their sleeves, last but not least we have Princess Mononoke! Princess Mononoke is the first movie on our list that features a male protagonist, but even then, it is only in screen time. The heart and soul (and title) of the movie are still grounded in the female lead, the wolf princess, also known as San. If you read our first newsletter, you know that I had aspirations to be San when I grew up. No luck yet, but I’m still young.
Princess Mononoke is also the first Ghibli movie that brings us solidly into PG-13 territory, which is to say there is a lot of violence - Britnee, I think your jaw actually dropped when the first man’s arms were sliced clean off with little fanfare. Similar to other Ghibli movies, Princess Mononoke explores the relationship between humanity and the earth, though this time in much darker terms. The war raging between the humans looking to colonize the forest and the animals and spirits within it is front and center for the whole movie. As the humans destroy the animals’ home, the gods of the forest are infected with a disease/physical manifestation of rage that consumes and transforms them from guardians of the earth to demons of hate. As you can see, everything humans touch turns bad. Also, mankind’s contributions to climate change are significant and will turn all of earth’s creatures into rage demons. PSA.
While I still love this movie dearly, finding out that Princess Mononoke is voiced by Claire Danes took a little of the magic out of it for me (same with realizing that Mei and Satsuki are played by the Fanning sisters). Don’t get me wrong, I am a Claire Danes enthusiast (My So Called Life, anyone?), but knowing these movies that were once so fantastical to me have ties to regular American actors brings them further into the real world than I am comfortable with. I want to believe these stories exist far outside of our realm so that they can remain an escape. So if you know of any other popular actors featured in these movies, you can go ahead and keep that info to yourself.
Britnee: There was something deeply unsettling about seeing a Miyazaki character get unceremoniously decapitated. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, though, when it comes to the tragedies that occur in Princess Mononoke. Remember what I said up there, in the Spirited Away section, about how greed is always the real enemy? That definitely applies here, too. And it’s extra painful because the subject matter is deforestation and climate change, which doesn’t just hit close to home—it is home. The difference is that our forests don’t have badass wolf gods to protect everything that lives there. We are all doomed! (: (:
This was my first time seeing Princess Mononoke. I liked it a lot, but I usually watch Miyazaki movies to be transported to a place where nothing bad can happen. This is not one of those movies. There were certainly still soothing elements—the music, the forest pans, the main character Ashitaka’s voice (which, by the way, belongs to Billy Crudup. Sorry, Brigid. The people need to know. Especially considering Billy C would go on to dump his girlfriend for his co-star Claire Danes! Could the set of Princess Mononoke in 1996 be where they met and fell in love?). That being said, I don’t know if I’ll rewatch it any time soon. I might, however, look up a youtube compilation of every time Ashitaka speaks to play when I’m having trouble sleeping. It’s very meditative!
Brigid: Interesting that what ruins the magic for me is knowing who the actors are and what ruins it for you is too much conflict. I wonder what that says about us. Also, appalling that you just openly defied my one simple request. We’ll talk about this later.
Anyway, thank you, Mr. Miyazaki for the art! It is beautiful.
Here’s some other stuff we can’t stop talking about:
(How) Very Good Content, According to Brigid:
Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (full name Evelyn Rose Strange Wyld, isn’t that an unbelievable name?). This intricate, haunting novel is set in Scotland and follows the lives of 3 different women who exist in different centuries but are linked by a shared place and the violence they endure at the hands of men. This was recommended to me by my dad, who said that he’d started it because, as a father to six girls, he felt he should (so to anyone who has ever implied my standards for men are too high: take it back) and thought I might like it. The book is so full of dread and the characters so slightly unhinged and the setting so still and bewitching, there is a constant anxiety at what could be coming next. When I’m not reading it, I’m thinking about it.
SURF by BLACKSTARKIDS. As said by Britnee’s boyfriend, Eddie, when I played this album for the third time in one night during their visit, “Is this your new thing right now?” and as said by me in response, “Yes!” This album singlehandedly pulled me out of a Funk™ when I first discovered it and is now my go-to mood booster. As The Line of Best Fit describes the group, picture “the technicolor joy of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets the cultural grit of Boyz n the Hood.” The trio is so vibrant and nostalgic and even though they’ve only been around since 2019, they’ve already put out a ton of content that I plan to vibe to all summer long.
My Cousin Vinny, specifically Marisa Tomei’s performance as Mona Lisa. I know I am super late to the party on this one, but did you guys know this movie is hilarious? I did not. I didn’t even know what it was about and don’t know what made me put it on, but boy am I glad I did. The leaky faucet scene?? How could you not fall in love with Mona Lisa? This clip is hands down the hottest foreplay I have ever seen onscreen and they don’t even have to touch each other. I refuse to watch any sex scene again that doesn’t rely solely on the woman’s razor sharp wit and ability to outsmart anyone who dares test her.
Rozalina Burkova’s Art Shop. In 2019, I wrote about a Caicos music video for The Wild Honey Pie that was animated by Rozalina Burkova and ever since then, I open up her shop about once a week and think about buying everything. I love all of her work and want to dedicate an entire gallery wall to it. Cait, if you’re reading this, I think you would also like it, but if you buy anything you have to get me something too because I recommended it.
The Catherine the Great episodes of the Queens Podcast. A podcast that does deep dives on women from history, specifically queens and other royalty. They dedicated four episodes just to Catherine the Great that I would highly recommend for a long car ride. Did you know Catherine the Great simply convinced her husband’s military to work for her instead and took Russia from him? That’s badass.
(How) Very Good Content, According to Britnee:
Season 1 of Letterkenny. A comedy about the occupants of the town Letterkenny, centering around a group of hicks, hockey players, and goths. The lead is the writer and creator of the show, which is almost always a hint that it’s going to be good. Full of dry humor, local lingo, and a deadpan acting style coated in everybody’s thick Canadian accents (I recommend watching with subtitles), this show is like nothing else I’ve seen. You’re either going to love it or hate it.
Season 3 of The Sopranos. My god, what a perfect show! I’m not sure what I could say about it here that hasn't already been said. I can’t wait to see Carmella take some more agency in future seasons (it thrilled me when she used her mob powers to get Meadow a letter of recommendation. That’s the Carm I wanna see). I am also obsessed with the fashion and would love to do a deep-dive into it in a future newsletter. Christopher and Adriana are my style icons. Oh, and I say gobagool every chance I get now.
My friend Alex (hi Alex!) recently introduced me to the band Babe Rainbow. When I saw their band photo on his monitor, I assumed it had been taken 50 years ago, but nope! The Babes came out with an album this year, in fact. Their aesthetic is just that good. Anyway, their 2019 album Today is so nice. It’s got really excellent 60s psychedelic surf-rock vibes, and not in a just-leave-it-on-in-the-background kind of way (though these guys do love to jam). The songs all have genuinely interesting arrangements, so I hear something new every time I listen. Which, by the way, is about to be all the time, since this is the perfect warm-weather album.
I am also reading The Bass Rock, as per your recommendation, Brigid. I won’t bother going into detail, since you already did, but what I will say is that I absolutely love it so far! I’ve also got quite a few things on my TBR pile, since earlier this week I had some sangria, lost all restraint, and went into Books Are Magic, my local bookstore. I walked out with Milk Fed by Melissa Broder and The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen, both of which I’ve been itching to read for a while. I’ve already got four other books stacked on my desk right now.
Kat Schneider’s Daily Comic on Patreon. For just 5 dollars a month, you get a daily illustration with relatable content delivered right to your inbox, plus access to her entire archive of drawings. I love her style, of course, and I especially love how she uses her art to be transparent about the creative process. Namely, that it ain’t easy! I highly recommend subscribing.
That’s all for now! What are you consuming these days? Let us know in the comments.
Can you do another post on Howl’s Moving Castle because what the heck was going on there
If I were a Ghibli girl I’d probably be a screamer.