Spirited Away 4
Books: Spirited Away
By Jonathan Clements. The BFI Film Classics list has had a number of ups and downs in its lifespan. I remember the original releases in 1992, which attracted real heavy-hitters like Salman Rushdie writing about The Wizard of Oz, and then a series of seemingly random and often contradictory directives, as it bounced from the […]
Books: Miyazaki’s Morals
By Raz Greenberg. Eric Reinders’ The Moral Narratives of Hayao Miyazaki often feels uncomfortably detached from the director’s position in the world of anime. Instead, it places these works in another context, one with which religious scholar Reinders is more at home. Devoting a chapter to each of Miyazaki’s films, from Nausicaa to The Wind Rises, Reinders examines their […]
Books: Japanese Mythology in Film
By Jasper Sharp. It’s often reported how first-time visitors to Japan find themselves dumbfounded by the cacophony of new colours, sounds and symbols that greet them. What does the jumble of neon-lit hieroglyphs on that building mean? Why is that woman wearing traditional kimono on the metro? Why are there stone statues with little red […]
Books: Miyazaki’s Animism Abroad
By Andrew Osmond. Miyazaki’s Animism Abroad is an academic study by Eriko Ogihara-Schuck, subtitled The Reception of Japanese Religious Themes by American and German Audiences. It’s a very niche book, mainly for readers with specific interests in anime’s treatment of religion and spirituality: how anime is translated/adapted when it travels to other cultures; and how […]