Some more things to think about, to follow on from Weeks 8-9!!
1. In this paper we have considered Herge's The Blue Lotus as an example of orientalism, that is, the way the 'East' is constructed in western discourse. Miyazaki lived for a spell in Italy and almost half of his feature-length films - Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Laptua: Castle in the Sky (1986), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992) and Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - are set in Europe. Yet Miyazaki's Europe is a kind of imaginative reconstruction with fantasy elements that defamiliarises actual European settings and culture while remaining somehow remain indelibly Japanese. See the article I gave out by Dani Cavallaro (2006), pages 167-70.
Did you note any effects of such - what could be termed - 'Occidentalism' in Howl's Moving Castle? How might Europe function imaginatively for a Japanese audience? How do you think it works for a western audience? (Whew! That's my longest question yet :)
2. According to Cavallaro how successful was Howl commercially and critically?
3. What 3 major differences does Cavallaro identify between the book (a European fantasy novel by Wynne Jones) of the same name?
4. What does Cavallaro tell us about the technical aspects of Howl's production in terms of the animation technique and special effects?
Nice to see some smiles after this screening ＼（＾ ＾）／
What did you like (or not like, if that's the case) about Howl?
-Q1- Hi guys… did you enjoyed the anime? I did… actually I did. There were no comics, animations, or games in my life – it wasn’t because of my parents. I just wasn’t interested in those staffs. But I love Disney films ^^ Anyway I found it very European - you know? : flowers, castle, landscape, rivers, clouds and so on. I don’t think it’s a picture of the real Europe at that time though – think they dreamed Europe like this. That’s why Cavallaro (2006) stated that there is 'Occidentalism' in Howl's Moving Castle in terms of the broader setting of the film. Oooops~ Alan’s gonna answer this part, right? Go on bro…
-For Q2- How successful?? Very, very, very successful! According to Cavallaro (2006), Howl’d received numorous awards including the Osella Award for the Moving Castle,’ which was shown at 450 cinemas to more than 1.1 million viewers in Japan. It’d earned $14.6 million from Japan, $18 million from Korea (for around 3 million viewers in a record), $42.1 from France and more than $100 million from England.
"Howl was the only non-English language movie released in 2004 to make more than $100 million in that year" (Cavallaro , 2006, p. 158).
Hi, Yuna. I'm not interested in comics, animations,and games same as you but tend to see some famous and popular animations like Howl's moving castle.I don't know I can mention about Q1 because Alan wants to answer for it.^^;
I don't have enough information or knowledge about Miyazaki but I think he represents his yearning for Europe in his animations but nevertheless he seems to adhere to the superiority of Japan. An example of this is that there is the conversion of white men into the Oriental characters,especially like Japanese, in his works. In the past, Japan accepted Western civilization early and attempted extending their land to the continent. Meanwhile,from my point of view, they might dream to be like the European powers such as British and Spain etc. And imperialism that was formed at that time could be still alive. When looking into the background of Howl's moving castle, not only the landscape but also the clothes that the characters put on look like the typical European style. I think Occidentalism can be found in that point.
I do think it works for a western audience. Because the film concurrently visualizes actual elements of 19 th century culture and society(supplied reading)
Occidentalism can be defined as a mixture of oriental and western culture ?? (i try to do this)
In this movie, the Miyazaki's throught was Sophie working in a hat shop. Unlike with others, she cannot go out and lookup for chance. But she was on a ungly spell.
I do think it works for a western audience. Because the film concurrently visualizes actual elements of 19 th century culture and society(supplied reading)
Occidentalism can be defined as a mixture of oriental and western culture ?? (i try to do this)
In this movie, the Miyazaki's throught was Sophie working in a hat shop. Unlike with others, she cannot go out and lookup for chance. But she was on a ungly spell.
Q.3 According to Cavallaro, the first difference is the wizard’s reputation as a heart-eater, which form a distance gives him the dubious credentials of a standard fairy-tale ogre but on close inspection amounts to philandering which does not result from choice but from Howl’s subjection to a mighty spell.
Secondly in the movie the Witch of the Waste is not depicted as an unredeemable fiend but it actually returned to human form, and her frailty. Miyazaki also departs from Jones’s depiction of the witch in terms of visual representation. While Jones’s text describes her as “carefully beautiful” and tastefully garbed, the film portrays her as an obese crone done up in matronly glamour wear.
Thirdly, in the film, Sophie isn’t depicted as an entirely ancient-looking woman as a result of the witch’s curse. In fact, she’s never within the main body of the cinematic narrative, uniformly and incontrovertibly presented as either young or old.
I think it works for Western audience as well. As Yuna said, the story background is full of Western features. However, I reckon it’s a real picture of Europe. It’s not only Miyazaki’s imagination; the background style may be based on a Western small town.
Although all the characters are drawn as Western people, if you know more about Japanese anime, you will find out the appearance of the characters are still drawn like Asians.
I do agree with Alan and Edmond about the ‘occidentalism’ but it’s a bit weak to say it as ‘it works for western audiences’ cause it’s more than that… more than just an influence you know. SungHee told me that Miyazaki admires Western world / culture / people. So I think he constructed the west in his works. That’s why all his works give a strong feeling of the west with a hint of Asian flavor.
Cavallaro (2006) states that ‘Howl brings into play and ingeniously maximizes virtually all of the major animation techniques already deployed to stupendous effect in previous Ghibli productions’ ( p.165). Howl’s animation techniques are familiar to those of other Miyazaki’s works such as Totoro, Laputa, Kiki and Spirited Away.
In Totoro, ‘It frequently uses elongation in the passing position between two key frames in order to invest the action with a smoothly realistic pattern of motion’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165).
In Laputa, Cavallaro (2006) expresses that ‘It offers a deftly handled alternation of slow-paced sequences and headlong dives, poised elegance and hyperdynamism, as well as audacious camera angles and depth-of-field effects intended to propose daring juxtapositions of depth and height’ (p.165).
'Howl makes masterful use of walks as a means of individualizing its characters at the levels of age, status, and mood, manipulating weight and flexibility to evoke shifts and fluctuations in both individual and relational modalities of motion’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165). This is the animation techniques of both Kiki and Spirited Away.
In respect to special effects, Cavallaro (2006) deems that ‘ Like both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Howl uses a number of computerized tools and techniques ,including digital composition and layering ,3D rendering, morphing, particles systems ,texture mapping, digital painting, ray tracing and computer-generated atmospheric effects (p.165).
Apart from that, the film also represents the ‘primary example of Studio Ghibli’s spellbinding integration of traditional animation and CGI: all of its backgrounds were, initially, hand-drown and hand-printed, while its characters were hand-drown and only subsequently scanned digitally, instead of being actually generated in the computer’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165).
Sunghee, Takuya Kimura is one of my favourite idols as well. Yet, he is not the one who represents the voice of Howl in the English version of the movie, is he? As a second language learner,I think you had better watch the movie in English version rather than Japanese one.
If I were a cinematic critic, I would say the movie is only worth 80 scores as it doesn’t refer to Howl’s final battle with his antagonists. It just depicts that Howl is half-dead after that. I am curious in how Howl wins the battle.
20 comments:
Some more things to think about, to follow on from Weeks 8-9!!
1. In this paper we have considered Herge's The Blue Lotus as an example of orientalism, that is, the way the 'East' is constructed in western discourse. Miyazaki lived for a spell in Italy and almost half of his feature-length films - Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Laptua: Castle in the Sky (1986), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992) and Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - are set in Europe. Yet Miyazaki's Europe is a kind of imaginative reconstruction with fantasy elements that defamiliarises actual European settings and culture while remaining somehow remain indelibly Japanese. See the article I gave out by Dani Cavallaro (2006), pages 167-70.
Did you note any effects of such - what could be termed - 'Occidentalism' in Howl's Moving Castle? How might Europe function imaginatively for a Japanese audience? How do you think it works for a western audience? (Whew! That's my longest question yet :)
2. According to Cavallaro how successful was Howl commercially and critically?
3. What 3 major differences does Cavallaro identify between the book (a European fantasy novel by Wynne Jones) of the same name?
4. What does Cavallaro tell us about the technical aspects of Howl's production in terms of the animation technique and special effects?
Nice to see some smiles after this screening ＼（＾ ＾）／
What did you like (or not like, if that's the case) about Howl?
Push
Alan will take looooonest Q1 !!
Now, I'm a bit of a code master, but what does that mean, Alan?
Testing, testing, one two three...?
I guess he's trying to tell us not to answer Q1 before him ^^
I'll take other one then...
Look forward to it...
-Q1-
Hi guys… did you enjoyed the anime?
I did… actually I did. There were no comics, animations, or games in my life – it wasn’t because of my parents. I just wasn’t interested in those staffs. But I love Disney films ^^
Anyway I found it very European - you know? : flowers, castle, landscape, rivers, clouds and so on. I don’t think it’s a picture of the real Europe at that time though – think they dreamed Europe like this. That’s why Cavallaro (2006) stated that there is 'Occidentalism' in Howl's Moving Castle in terms of the broader setting of the film.
Oooops~ Alan’s gonna answer this part, right? Go on bro…
-For Q2-
How successful?? Very, very, very successful!
According to Cavallaro (2006), Howl’d received numorous awards including the Osella Award for the Moving Castle,’ which was shown at 450 cinemas to more than 1.1 million viewers in Japan. It’d earned $14.6 million from Japan, $18 million from Korea (for around 3 million viewers in a record), $42.1 from France and more than $100 million from England.
"Howl was the only non-English language movie released in 2004 to make more than $100 million in that year" (Cavallaro , 2006, p. 158).
Hi, Yuna. I'm not interested in comics, animations,and games same as you but tend to see some famous and popular animations like Howl's moving castle.I don't know I can mention about Q1 because Alan wants to answer for it.^^;
I don't have enough information or knowledge about Miyazaki but I think he represents his yearning for Europe in his animations but nevertheless he seems to adhere to the superiority of Japan. An example of this is that there is the conversion of white men into the Oriental characters,especially like Japanese, in his works.
In the past, Japan accepted Western civilization early and attempted extending their land to the continent. Meanwhile,from my point of view, they might dream to be like the European powers such as British and Spain etc. And imperialism that was formed at that time could be still alive. When looking into the background of Howl's moving castle, not only the landscape but also the clothes that the characters put on look like the typical European style. I think Occidentalism can be found in that point.
Personally, I like Howl's voice the most in the movie because one of my favorite Japanese actors, Takuya Kimura, recorded his voice for Howl! >.<
Paul :Push means reseved for me :P
I do think it works for a western audience. Because the film concurrently visualizes actual elements of 19 th century culture and society(supplied reading)
Occidentalism can be defined as
a mixture of oriental and western culture ?? (i try to do this)
In this movie, the Miyazaki's throught was Sophie working in a hat shop. Unlike with others, she cannot go out and lookup for chance. But she was on a ungly spell.
Paul :Push means reseved for me :P
I do think it works for a western audience. Because the film concurrently visualizes actual elements of 19 th century culture and society(supplied reading)
Occidentalism can be defined as
a mixture of oriental and western culture ?? (i try to do this)
In this movie, the Miyazaki's throught was Sophie working in a hat shop. Unlike with others, she cannot go out and lookup for chance. But she was on a ungly spell.
Q.3
According to Cavallaro, the first difference is the wizard’s reputation as a heart-eater, which form a distance gives him the dubious credentials of a standard fairy-tale ogre but on close inspection amounts to philandering which does not result from choice but from Howl’s subjection to a mighty spell.
Secondly in the movie the Witch of the Waste is not depicted as an unredeemable fiend but it actually returned to human form, and her frailty. Miyazaki also departs from Jones’s depiction of the witch in terms of visual representation. While Jones’s text describes her as “carefully beautiful” and tastefully garbed, the film portrays her as an obese crone done up in matronly glamour wear.
Thirdly, in the film, Sophie isn’t depicted as an entirely ancient-looking woman as a result of the witch’s curse. In fact, she’s never within the main body of the cinematic narrative, uniformly and incontrovertibly presented as either young or old.
Q.1
I think it works for Western audience as well. As Yuna said, the story background is full of Western features. However, I reckon it’s a real picture of Europe. It’s not only Miyazaki’s imagination; the background style may be based on a Western small town.
Although all the characters are drawn as Western people, if you know more about Japanese anime, you will find out the appearance of the characters are still drawn like Asians.
I do agree with Alan and Edmond about the ‘occidentalism’ but it’s a bit weak to say it as ‘it works for western audiences’ cause it’s more than that… more than just an influence you know. SungHee told me that Miyazaki admires Western world / culture / people. So I think he constructed the west in his works. That’s why all his works give a strong feeling of the west with a hint of Asian flavor.
I tried to post the comment, but it is not successful on last time. How do you define "Asian Flavour".
For example do you think Asian flavour like the background, decoration of the movie ?
Nobody anwered question 4, let me answer it then.
Cavallaro (2006) states that ‘Howl brings into play and ingeniously maximizes virtually all of the major animation techniques already deployed to stupendous effect in previous Ghibli productions’ ( p.165). Howl’s animation techniques are familiar to those of other Miyazaki’s works such as Totoro, Laputa, Kiki and Spirited Away.
In Totoro, ‘It frequently uses elongation in the passing position between two key frames in order to invest the action with a smoothly realistic pattern of motion’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165).
In Laputa, Cavallaro (2006) expresses that ‘It offers a deftly handled alternation of slow-paced sequences and headlong dives, poised elegance and hyperdynamism, as well as audacious camera angles and depth-of-field effects intended to propose daring juxtapositions of depth and height’ (p.165).
'Howl makes masterful use of walks as a means of individualizing its characters at the levels of age, status, and mood, manipulating weight and flexibility to evoke shifts and fluctuations in both individual and relational modalities of motion’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165). This is the animation techniques of both Kiki and Spirited Away.
In respect to special effects, Cavallaro (2006) deems that ‘ Like both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Howl uses a number of computerized tools and techniques ,including digital composition and layering ,3D rendering, morphing, particles systems ,texture mapping, digital painting, ray tracing and computer-generated atmospheric effects (p.165).
Apart from that, the film also represents the ‘primary example of Studio Ghibli’s spellbinding integration of traditional animation and CGI: all of its backgrounds were, initially, hand-drown and hand-printed, while its characters were hand-drown and only subsequently scanned digitally, instead of being actually generated in the computer’ (Cavallaro, 2006, p.165).
Do u have any other comments on it?
Sunghee, Takuya Kimura is one of my favourite idols as well. Yet, he is not the one who represents the voice of Howl in the English version of the movie, is he? As a second language learner,I think you had better watch the movie in English version rather than Japanese one.
If I were a cinematic critic, I would say the movie is only worth 80 scores as it doesn’t refer to Howl’s final battle with his antagonists. It just depicts that Howl is half-dead after that. I am curious in how Howl wins the battle.
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