At the end of Ponyo and Totoro I was struck by the fact that neither film really had an antagonist. How does he make these tales work when the protagonists never really encounter any problems or adversaries?
Illusions Micheal..illusions...tricks are something that a whore does for money.....or Cocaine
Totoro's antagonist is the children's fear of their mother health. I think you could count Fujimoto as Ponyo's antagonist.
shareThey do set Fujimoto up as the Antagonist but midway through the film he shifts gears and supports Ponyo's bid for humanity. That said, I can buy him as an antagonist if not a particularly strong one. I have a bit more trouble believing that the Children's fear in Totoro serves as an antagonist. Their "fear" is only showcased in that very short scene where Mei is admonished for crying about her mother not coming home sooner. in the other 90% of the movie the kids are manically happy and carefree.
I love these movies and I think Miyazaki's films trounce the Disney films from the same period. I just wonder if they are so good because they don't have to have that scene at the end where the bad guy is defeated/killed.
Illusions Micheal..illusions...tricks are something that a whore does for money.....or Cocaine
No, we don't need a baddie, this isn't Disney. How many baddies are there in real children's lives? None, we hope.
Suzume-san, you are absolutely right. Totoro is a film about enjoying life and what makes it great is the lack of an antagonist.
shareLife itself is the biggest antagonist and protagonist in all stories. But very few movies are able to capture this and present it well.
shareQuite right, luly. I was reading different takes about this movie and came across some nice sentences by Roger Ebert that reminded me of A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" books and the subsequent cartoons. Nice to know Miyazaki wasn't the first, and hopefully won't be the last.: "Notice how calmly and positively the scene has been handled, with the night and the forest treated as a situation, not a threat. The movie requires no villains. I am reminded that ''Winnie the Pooh'' also originally had no evil characters...." (Roger Ebert, http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011223/REV IEWS08/112230301/1023)
The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443
That is really well-put and I agree.
It seems that the Western story archetype is all about wish-fulfillment, imagining yourself as a great hero who overcomes obstacles and conquers the villain to save the world; while Eastern stories tend to be more based in reality, showing the lives of the characters through a series of episodes, with no clear endpoint or tightly controlled story arc. It's more concerned with showing us the little moments of reality that we all encounter.
I would agree, with the caveat that it is one of the things that make it great.
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Interesting idea, heishiro. I think I agree, because from the very beginning we are shown the girls dealing with reactions to the new, the old, the unknown, the large, the dark, and being alone. The girls' parents work to strengthen their children against fear by making what had seemed scary seem fun, by laughter. The girls then achieve this on their own through their encounters with the ash sprites, the three totoros, and the catbus.
To answer the original post, no I don't think Miyazaki's films suffer. Rather that's the reason I seek them out and love them. They're so refreshing, and, in my opinion, closer to real life.
The closest movies to my heart: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=46910443
It's true that Mizazaki's films tend to lack a typical antagonist in the hollywood sense that you can point at one character and say they are the 'bad guy' but he does somehow manage to make it work by making you feel invested in the characters, totoro just made me be a peace by the end and I did not care that it didnt have a traditional structure.
shareThe exceptions to the rule could be Muska in Castle of the Sky, Kushana in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (the film, not the manga) and the Count of Cagliostro in The Castle of Cagliostro (even though it's actually Miyazaki playing around in someone else's World).
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Don't judge this film from a western point of view.
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