A review by luluwoohoo
Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art by Susan J. Napier
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art by Susan Napier (audiobook narrated by Susan Napier)
☀️☀️☀️⛅
▪️This book serves as a supercut of Hayao Miyazaki's life work, detailing his career from beginning to end with interesting insights into the context of each project as it relates to his life
▪️ Considering one of Miyazaki's films is in my top 3 (Howl's Moving Castle), it's disappointing on my part how few of his movies I've actually watched. Napier describes each film with care and attention to detail that makes me excited to watch them all in due course
▪️The backstory of Miyazaki's life and how it relates to the themes throughout "Miyazakiworld" was the best part of this to read, particularly the influence of his childhood facing the torments of war, an ailing mother and an unpopular hobby that eventually became his life's passion
▪️ Napier doesn't hesitate to show the more negative aspects of Miyazaki, also highlighting the brutally long hours he worked and thereby away from his family, the tensions within Ghibli particularly towards the end of his career, and the critical reviews of his projects throughout
▪️ Overall this verged a little too academic in style for my tastes - though that's indisputably how it is designed to be - but I enjoyed the insights into one of the most fascinating directors alive and I would recommend it for any Ghibli lovers.
"Totoro’s final “magic,” and the reason why its appeal is so profound and universal, is that it allows us to recover what we have forgotten and to luxuriate in innocence, beauty, and joy, if only for a few transitory moments."
"“When it comes to guilt, it’s a consistent theme inside me—my family in Japan, my household, and then Japan in the world, Japan in Asia...this guilt coils around my memories and if I lose that guilt then somehow I have the feeling that I’ll lose the most important thing about myself. I even feel that the guilt is what really supports me.”"
"As I have attempted to show, Miyazakiworld is protean, untrammeled, and extraordinary. If the director wishes to gaze at a calm harbor and imagine gigantic fishlike waves, a falling moon, and a “graveyard of ships” (all of which appear in Ponyo), this is a testament to his greatest strength—the ability to develop anything in his head into full-blown fantasy."
☀️☀️☀️⛅
▪️This book serves as a supercut of Hayao Miyazaki's life work, detailing his career from beginning to end with interesting insights into the context of each project as it relates to his life
▪️ Considering one of Miyazaki's films is in my top 3 (Howl's Moving Castle), it's disappointing on my part how few of his movies I've actually watched. Napier describes each film with care and attention to detail that makes me excited to watch them all in due course
▪️The backstory of Miyazaki's life and how it relates to the themes throughout "Miyazakiworld" was the best part of this to read, particularly the influence of his childhood facing the torments of war, an ailing mother and an unpopular hobby that eventually became his life's passion
▪️ Napier doesn't hesitate to show the more negative aspects of Miyazaki, also highlighting the brutally long hours he worked and thereby away from his family, the tensions within Ghibli particularly towards the end of his career, and the critical reviews of his projects throughout
▪️ Overall this verged a little too academic in style for my tastes - though that's indisputably how it is designed to be - but I enjoyed the insights into one of the most fascinating directors alive and I would recommend it for any Ghibli lovers.
"Totoro’s final “magic,” and the reason why its appeal is so profound and universal, is that it allows us to recover what we have forgotten and to luxuriate in innocence, beauty, and joy, if only for a few transitory moments."
"“When it comes to guilt, it’s a consistent theme inside me—my family in Japan, my household, and then Japan in the world, Japan in Asia...this guilt coils around my memories and if I lose that guilt then somehow I have the feeling that I’ll lose the most important thing about myself. I even feel that the guilt is what really supports me.”"
"As I have attempted to show, Miyazakiworld is protean, untrammeled, and extraordinary. If the director wishes to gaze at a calm harbor and imagine gigantic fishlike waves, a falling moon, and a “graveyard of ships” (all of which appear in Ponyo), this is a testament to his greatest strength—the ability to develop anything in his head into full-blown fantasy."