Hayao Miyazaki - Auteur

I will be looking into the life of Hiyao Miyazaki, who is well known in Japan, and through out the world, for being an animator, film director, and manga artist. 

Auteur theory: is said that, a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision, I believe that Hiyao Miyazaki is a strong example of this definition. 


To begin with, let me talk a bit about Hiyaos animation company "Studio Ghibli" which he co-founded alongside Isao Takahata. The studio was founded after the great success of the film "N ausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" written by Hayao himself, so you would expect Miyazaki to have a lot of control over the production of films being released, which is true, as most of the films released by Studio Ghibli were that of Hiyao Miyazaki. Throughout the many films produced by Studio Ghibli, you can definitely see a distinct personality, displaying many recurring themes, that personality being Hiyao Miyazaki.


Hiyao Miyozakis love for hand drawn animation is something that separates Studio Ghiblis particular visual style from other company's, most of the work is said to be hand drawn with 10% or less changed using computer software


One theme often associated with an auteur is anthropomorphism, however Studio Ghibli, unlike other animation companys such as their international distibutor Disney, do not use the technique without good reasons. For example; to emphasize or show the lack of human connection with nature, or also to distance the characters from reality.


Hayao is one of four sons to Katsuji Miyazaki, Katsuji worked in the family business, Miyazaki Airplanes, this business manufactured rudders for A6M Zero fighter planes during World War 2. This influenced Miyazakis animations as he has said he has always had a fascination with aviation, you can see this in many of his films such as,"Porco Rosso", which is an entire movie about a pig flying a plane, because of this fascination he has looked at the many other ways in which to include aviation into his films, such as pure magic, broomsticks and futuristic technology's. He says that flying is said to represent freedom and attaining new heights which gives us an insight into the type of person that he is. Speaking of pigs, Hiyao seems to have an obsession with pigs, it is said that he often draws himself as them, also they are a recurring theme in his animations, he mentions that he finds, the behaviour of pigs to be very similar to that of human behaviour, and also that humans look like them, with our round bellies, he also says that he likes them because of their strengths as well as their weaknesses. There are also three themes that always seems to occur throughout his films, this is neglected, female empowerment and a cautionary environmental message.


Hayao is a strong environmentalist, the film My Neighbour Totoro drew attention to the Sayama forest being something highly influential in creating the film itself, sparking an environmentalist movement to save it. Following the film, the National Trust of Totoro no Furusato was established, and was given a kick start by Hiyao Miyazaki through funding from himself. You can see Hayaos strong concern for the environment in his films, such as in "Nausicaa" where he shows how the environment is neglected by humanity.

Hayaos use of female protagonists is something else that separates his work from others, his reasons being "I find girls more grounded in reality and confident in themselves, It’s quite difficult to make films about boys. That’s because stories about an 8-year-old boy, for example, inevitably become tragic.” Despite this he does use male characters when necessary and not without reason. 


His films are often very Optimistic, he says that he loves making films for children and that they need to see the world as full of hope. I think this relates back to the way that Hiyao sees the environment, and perhaps is the reason that hes still making films. After announcing his retirement several times, he still continues to make films, I believe he does this in the hope that he can inspire and give hope to those in the world to help preserve it, and to see it the way that he does.


For me particularly, I would say that his attention to detail is one of the things that makes his work very recognisable, you can often see the amount of effort put into each shot in which other companys might back away from. It is said that in one of their recent films, the opening scene took over 3 months to create.