Culture Hayao Miyazaki named the Hollywood films that he hates the most - Old man has shit opinion

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/hayao-miyazaki-hates-hollywood-films/

Hayao Miyazaki is undoubtedly among the greatest living artists today, known for his seminal masterpieces such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away among many others. His contributions to the art of animation have inspired artists from various domains, including live-action filmmakers who have praised Miyazaki’s understanding of movement.

Although the ageing auteur had announced his retirement to the world, Miyazaki decided to make one final addition to his illustrious filmography before bidding farewell to the world of cinema. He is currently making an adaptation of his favourite childhood novel – How Do You Live? by Yoshino Genzaburo – and he has dedicated the upcoming project to his grandson.
Over the years, Miyazaki’s political stance about America’s involvement in global conflicts as well as the country’s contribution towards the globalisation of American culture has been unwavering. “Anti-jeans, Anti-bourbon, Anti-burgers, Anti-fried chicken, Anti-cola, Anti-American coffee, Anti-New York, Anti-West Coast,” Miyazaki once said while describing his beliefs.

According to excerpts from multiple interviews, Miyazaki’s dislike for all things American also extends to the realm of cinema. Despite the fact that the Japanese auteur had named John Ford as one of his chief visual influences and even named his 1946 film My Darling Clementine among his personal favourites, he doesn’t feel the same way about other popular American films.

“Americans shoot things and they blow up and the like, so as you’d expect, they make movies like that,” Miyazaki stated. “If someone is the enemy, it’s okay to kill endless numbers of them. Lord of the Rings is like that. If it’s the enemy, there’s killing without separation between civilians and soldiers. That falls within collateral damage.”

Miyazaki compared the visual politics of large-scale Hollywood productions such as the Lord of the Rings to the country’s international policies. Attacking America’s actions in Afghanistan, Miyazaki claimed that such projects are a dangerous addition to public discourse because they diminish the value of human life by weaponising the audience through cinematic violence.
Miyazaki continued: “How many people are being killed in attacks in Afghanistan? The Lord of the Rings is a movie that has no problem doing that [not separating civilians from enemies, apparently]. If you read the original work, you’ll understand, but in reality, the ones who were being killed are Asians and Africans. Those who don’t know that, yet say they love fantasy are idiots.”

Throughout his body work, Miyazaki has conducted continuous conversations about antiwar pacifism – an ethical belief that has been deeply influenced by his own experiences. Miyazaki has often explored the paradoxes of pacifism in a world that embraces violence through his art which is why these cinematic spectacles fail to amuse him.

When his magnum opus Spirited Away became the first anime to win Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars, Miyazaki refused to attend the ceremony because he did not want to support America’s actions in the Iraq war. Even though his producer asked him not to speak about the issue, he later came clean and revealed that his producer had felt the same way.

Miyazaki was also very critical of Steven Spielberg’s iconic film series Indiana Jones. Addressing many of the issues caused by capitalism in post-colonial nations, Miyazaki admonished those who failed to recognise the political and racial allegories embedded within the subtexts of supposedly innocent and purely entertaining action films.

“Even in the Indiana Jones movies, there is a white guy who, ‘bang,’ shoots people, right? Japanese people who go along and enjoy with that are unbelievably embarrassing,” he explained. “You are the ones that, ‘bang,’ get shot. Watching [those movies] without any self-awareness is unbelievable. There’s no pride, no historical perspective. You don’t know how you are viewed by a country like America.”

 

[Catch The Rainbow]

The French Connection is the only film I can think of that doesn't end with a complete victory for the protagonist, and that's going way back.

I like Chinese cartoons because the main characters aren't usually driven to be morally good. I like the kind of realism that comes with flawed characters. Miyazaki is a little over rated but in my eyes studio Ghibli can do no wrong.

No country for old men has the protagonist lose.

 

[Manul Otocolobus]

I'd say his morality is lacking (more so) 'cause he focuses heavily on witchcraft, devils, etc. And he makes those concepts attractive to children.

Eh, this is sort of a "western, Christian" take on his works. It really isn't fair to apply that to the works of someone who lives in a majority non-Christian country.

 

[SiccDicc]

The audacity of this imperialist. I remember reading him denying Japanese war crimes like the creator of Ghost in the Shell did, it seemed to be his generation's thing. His hypocrisy knows no bounds.

 

[biozeminadae1]

I always struggle to come to a conclusion on if this retard or GRRMs take on LotR is more retarded. I'd say Miyazakis is probably more dumb. LotR isn't even American either, it's written by a Britbong and the films were made by a Kiwi. Also his movies are shit, I was forced to watch Ponyo and Spirited Away and I wanted to blow my brains out. If you want a good anti-war anime film watch Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade which also has better animation than any of the Ghibli films despite having like 1/10th of the budget.

I don't think Jin-Roh is anti-war - there is no war for one thing, the Axis won WW2...
Cerberus Panzer Korps is about putting down marxist and other terrorist scum.

 

[Titos]

I don't think Jin-Roh is anti-war - there is no war for one thing, the Axis won WW2...
Cerberus Panzer Korps is about putting down marxist and other terrorist scum.

Maybe anti-war is bad phrasing. But it's pretty clearly anti-killing people over grudges and writing off everyone on the other side as worthy of death.

 

[thx1138]

Mamoru Oshii and Katsuhiro Otomo would like a word.

Also, dude's going to be devastated if he ever hears of a little known western arthouse flick called Blade Runner and its worthy sequel Blade Runner 2049.

 

[TurdFondler]

The audacity of this imperialist. I remember reading him denying Japanese war crimes like the creator of Ghost in the Shell did, it seemed to be his generation's thing. His hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Glory to Nippon, land of the rising sun. They wouldn't have been war crimes if they had won.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I don't know which opinion is worse, LotR should have have the ideals Miyazaki simps for but appearantly fighting for those ideals is a one step too many (and there's the usual totally racist way of equating orcs with non-whites). While Indiana Jones is lazy muh colonialism despite Indie having a reason why he needs to reach the treasures before everyone else.

 

[Titos]

Looking up a little more about him, apparently Miyazaki said that Charlie Hebdo was to blame for their staff getting massacred because they published a drawing of muhammad. As if the faggot wasn't detestable enough already.

 

[Johnny Salami]

This is why I only watch anime made by right wing nut job Konaka

 

[RX-78]

Turns out the Japanese have their own boomers, and the senile fuckers are the reason so many young people work themselves to death due to their old man bosses thinking they're still in the 60's~80's boom economy.

Edit: @Johnny Salami Tamers really is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[eDove]

Eh, this is sort of a "western, Christian" take on his works. It really isn't fair to apply that to the works of someone who lives in a majority non-Christian country.

Oh, I agree. What I was saying is that if you want to criticize his moral compass, it makes more sense to bring that up than to say he draws little girls in whore houses.

 

[cypocryphy]

The French Connection is the only film I can think of that doesn't end with a complete victory for the protagonist, and that's going way back.

In Arlington Road the villain flat out wins. There are lots of horror movies with unhappy endings too.

 

[SiccDicc]

Looking up a little more about him, apparently Miyazaki said that Charlie Hebdo was to blame for their staff getting massacred because they published a drawing of muhammad. As if the faggot wasn't detestable enough already.

Oh shit, I actually forgot about that. This spineless cunt.

 

[Titos]

Oh shit, I actually forgot about that. This spineless cunt.

We can only hope he gets the Zdzisław Beksiński death. Except that's too nice since Beksinski was on all accounts a good person who everyone described as very nice. Also his paintings were better than anything Miyazaki has produced. Which is funny since both grew up in a warzone, but Beksinski became a nice person who found humor in all of it and didn't take his paintings seriously while Miyazaki became a bitter cunt .

 

[updoot farmer]

Also I love that the headline is just a translation of a very standard headline used by russian yellow/media press.

 

[Slimy Time]

The same guy who spent the last 20 years shitting on otakus got into animation because he literally fell in love with some animated character in the 50s. The same guy who calls Indiana Jones a movie where "a white guy shoots people" makes movies where white girls somehow beat up hordes of armed men with a stick. This guy's a senile idiot.

Neglectful father as well iirc. Son tried living up to his father's legacy as a legendary Japanese animated filmmaker, made his own animated film, father walked out when he premiered it.

 

[Stab You in the Back]

And I regrettably haven't read LotR or watched the movies, so I can't confirm or refute whether the movies operate in the way he says or if that's consistent with the books. But the idea that they're really killing Asians and Africans is ridiculous on its face (even putting aside Tolkien's dislike of allegory) and sounds like the kind of thing he lifted from other Americans and leveraged as part of a general tirade against their media.

Part of Sauron's army consisted of the Easterlings.

Easterlings are described as "a people diverse in height and skin tone. Their skin was either sallow (a pale yellow) or olive, their eyes were dark (dark brown and black), and their straight hair was black."

Maybe they're supposed to resemble asians. Or maybe they're supposed to resemble italians. Who fucking knows.

In any case, the heroes in LotR never attacked Orc or Easterling civilians*, and were never in Orc or Easterling lands. All the battles in LotR were defensive.


*for the most part. Faramir may have killed some noncombatants while he was patrolling the road, but I would hardly refer to them as "civilians."

 

[MoffAlbert]

I always thought this guy was far up his own ass, and now I have definitive proof! It should have been Osamu Tezuka or Satoshi Kon that got Miyazaki's legacy.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Hayao Miyazaki is a much grumpy, opinionated version of Joe Biden without the personality of a Joe Biden.

Still love Porco Rosso, though.