I watched When Marnie Was There (2014) during the lockdown. The pandemic eased life for many people like me who went back and forth from work to home and had little space to do anything in between. While my peers were busy finishing Netflix series, I discovered the world of Ghibli movies. I’m a 90s kid, but I only learned about Studio Ghibli in 2020. I do credit Netflix for this soul-stirring addition to my life. 

Ghibli movies have long been associated with invoking varied degrees of emotion. People like me who watch it now love the nostalgia it invokes. Let’s face it, we aren’t going back to those carefree times when we were free from real-life constraints. When you could actually get Spirited Away (2001) or build Castle in the Sky (1986). As a 29-year-old living with her parents, I envied the courage shown by Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and wished I watched that movie as a teenager. 

Women and Timelessness

It’s the timelessness that matters when it comes to movies that stay with us. You watch any of Ghibli’s movies, and everything resonates with you. No matter your age. The last movie I watched while I was job hunting last year was The Wind Rises (2013). The key monologue of the movie still stays with me, as my WhatsApp status – “The Wind Rises. We must try to live.” I guess it’s the living I’m doing right now, moving two cities in two years!

Another reason why I wish I had watched Ghibli movies before was the role women play in them. Almost all of Ghibli’s movies are headlined by women. Young girls break barriers quite subtly while discovering their strengths, identity, and more in the process. From Kiki to Suzuki in Whisper of the Heart (1995), Taeko in Only Yesterday (1991), and Anna in When Marnie Was There. All of these characters come of age, find their purpose, and, in turn, are able to live life with a changed perspective. And none of these characters need a man, or anyone else, to grow into the individuals they eventually become. 

Realism and Nature

It’s not just the characters but the environment and the immersive realism of Ghibli movies that sets them apart from Disney movies or other animated productions. Founder and animator Hayao Miyazaki gets himself involved in the animation process, which, get this, is not computer-generated or CGI-made. It’s all hand-drawn frames! Tedious work involving the best animators and great research. The documentary Never Ending Man shows Miyazaki drawing a caterpillar after putting a real one under the microscope to see its details. Look at any of the frames in Miyazaki’s movies. It’s all so live, real, as if taken then and there and put on your screens. 

That explains the element of nature and the enigma these movies possess. They are soul-soothing and show nature in abundance. Like Korean dramas entice viewers to explore South Korea, Studio Ghibli does the same for Japan. The characters are not separate from nature; in fact, nature plays a role in the action and the path these characters take. I’m reminded of the haunting yet stunningly beautiful landscape in When Marnie Was There when Anna first discovers the mansion across the salt marsh and later when she meets Marnie. The marsh, coupled with the wetlands and the silo, play a key role in the narration, adding to the mystery of Marnie and Anna’s obsession with finding out about the mansion, which seems eerily familiar to her. 

Romance that Resonates

Perhaps, watching these movies early on in my life could have led me away from the romanticization of love. Unlike live-action movies or Disney movies, romance is subdued, liberating, and progressive in Ghibli movies. It’s not all that there is in the lives of its characters. Love, to them, is an addition to their lives, and their romantic partners are a part of the equation between two human beings. It’s an important part but not the ‘be all and end all’ of their lives. 

In Miyazaki’s words, it’s about the two characters mutually inspiring each other to live rather than the same old “die for each other” trope that’s used in so many movies. I loved the romance portrayed between Jiro and Nahoko in The Wind Rises. It wasn’t all-encompassing but rather an interrelated romance where one derived strength from the other. Their lives did not have a fairytale ending. Yet, you would give anything to see the purity and the innocence in their relationship (I watched the movie after a scene of the two of them together found its way on social media). 

Self-love reigns supreme in Ghibli movies and leads the characters to explore romantic pursuits, though that does not find a prime positioning in the movies. That might have been one of the refreshing aspects of Miyazaki’s works that attract millennials. An entire generation fed on toxic ideas of co-dependency that’s called ‘love’ finds resonation in these self-empowering Ghibli characters! 

If you are yet to explore the world of Studio Ghibli movies, I urge you to do so without wasting any time. No matter where you are in the world, the Ghibli world will resonate with you. And we have another to look forward to this year. If all goes well, How Do You Live might find its way to the theatres this July. Based on the celebrated 1939 book of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino, this is a much-awaited Ghibli movie that marks the return of Miyazaki a decade after he announced his retirement in 2013.

Article Courtesy of Neha Jha

Feature Image from ‘When Marnie Was There’ (2014) via Studio Ghibli