The Chronological Miyazaki - Introduction
There are very few filmmakers out there that I regard as a visionary. Which isn't to say there are very few good filmmakers out there. On the contrary, there are plenty of excellent movies that come out every year. I'm simply saying there aren't many movies out there that I would go to see on the weight alone of its director, writer, etc.
One exception to this is Hayao Miyazaki. I was first exposed to this director when I was probably five or six years old. My older brother and I were channel surfing when we came upon a rather peculiar cartoon that was on HBO. It was a bright, imaginitive movie featuring a cute heroine living in a world inhabited by toxic jungles and giant insects. A darker, more mature underlying theme that was presented intrigued me, and the violence and action I found to be surprisingly graphic for a mere cartoon. This felt like a far cry from He-Man!
My brother told me the movie was called "Warriors of the Wind," and we caught it on television a few more times over the next couple of years. But as time went on, the movie vanished from the airwaves, but the memories of its peculiar inhabitants and dark themes remained in the back of my mind. About ten years had passed when I discovered and fell in love with Japanese anime. As I was exposed more and more to the anime style, the puzzle pieces of that strange "Warriors of the Wind" suddenly fell into place.
Some asking around and a little bit of searching revealed to me the true origins of this movie, and the man behind it. What I discovered about the works of Hayao Miyazaki exceeded my wildest dreams. His talent and artistry are one to behold and even as my infatuation with anime began to fade with age, my admiration for the works of Miyazaki never waned. Instead, close to 20 years after that childhood exposure to what I would eventually learn was "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," my fascination with the works of this phenomenal director are greater than ever.
I now not only want to see his great works, I also want to see his minor pieces and his origins. At the beginning of this entry, I alluded to Miyazaki as being a visionary. How exactly did he achieve such a mastering of his art?
And that's the purpose of the Chronological Miyazaki. I aim to watch the works of this director in the order of their creation. It would be too ambitious to watch the volumes of work on TV shows he did in the 60s and 70s as an in-between or key animator, so instead I focus on the works where he maintained a large responsibility for their creation.
All told, it should come to more than 42 hours of television shows, movies, commercials and music videos. I don't have a specific timetable to watch everything, but I hope to accomplish my goal within a few months of time.
I'll write brief reviews along the way, giving my impressions of Miyazaki's evolution as a master filmmaker. I expect to learn more about one of my favorite directors, and have some fun doing it. I hope you do too.
One exception to this is Hayao Miyazaki. I was first exposed to this director when I was probably five or six years old. My older brother and I were channel surfing when we came upon a rather peculiar cartoon that was on HBO. It was a bright, imaginitive movie featuring a cute heroine living in a world inhabited by toxic jungles and giant insects. A darker, more mature underlying theme that was presented intrigued me, and the violence and action I found to be surprisingly graphic for a mere cartoon. This felt like a far cry from He-Man!
My brother told me the movie was called "Warriors of the Wind," and we caught it on television a few more times over the next couple of years. But as time went on, the movie vanished from the airwaves, but the memories of its peculiar inhabitants and dark themes remained in the back of my mind. About ten years had passed when I discovered and fell in love with Japanese anime. As I was exposed more and more to the anime style, the puzzle pieces of that strange "Warriors of the Wind" suddenly fell into place.
Some asking around and a little bit of searching revealed to me the true origins of this movie, and the man behind it. What I discovered about the works of Hayao Miyazaki exceeded my wildest dreams. His talent and artistry are one to behold and even as my infatuation with anime began to fade with age, my admiration for the works of Miyazaki never waned. Instead, close to 20 years after that childhood exposure to what I would eventually learn was "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," my fascination with the works of this phenomenal director are greater than ever.
I now not only want to see his great works, I also want to see his minor pieces and his origins. At the beginning of this entry, I alluded to Miyazaki as being a visionary. How exactly did he achieve such a mastering of his art?
And that's the purpose of the Chronological Miyazaki. I aim to watch the works of this director in the order of their creation. It would be too ambitious to watch the volumes of work on TV shows he did in the 60s and 70s as an in-between or key animator, so instead I focus on the works where he maintained a large responsibility for their creation.
All told, it should come to more than 42 hours of television shows, movies, commercials and music videos. I don't have a specific timetable to watch everything, but I hope to accomplish my goal within a few months of time.
I'll write brief reviews along the way, giving my impressions of Miyazaki's evolution as a master filmmaker. I expect to learn more about one of my favorite directors, and have some fun doing it. I hope you do too.