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Post by megamaramon on Mar 17, 2014 10:25:52 GMT -5
It’s the third episode of The Missfits and Melissa steps out for a week and we’re joined up by geek lady extraordinaire, Zoë Gulliksen from Gotham News in her place. This week’s topic of conversation, as you may have guessed, is Studio Ghibli, the works of Hayao Miyazaki, his son Gorō Miyazaki and the other brilliant folks that have brought us these amazing films for over the years. Plus, important questions such as “Can anybody watch Grave of the Fireflies without crying?” (spoilers: the answer is no) are answered and many more that YOU, our awesome listeners, have submitted. Zoë also joins Mara and I in discussing some of our favourite things from the past couple of weeks. Our recommendations include: The Wolf of Wall Street, Cabaret, Planet Comicon (in Kansas City), Black Bird, The Returned and TowerFall. Please make sure you’re subscribing to our new feeds as we’re not just a part of the Talking Comics feed and iTunes subscription anymore. Your support means a lot to us and we can’t wait to see all of you wonderful people on our subscribers feed. The Missfits are: Stephanie Cooke – hellocookieMara Wood – megamaramonMelissa Megan – lissapunchZoë Gulliksen – @bookishbelle The Missfits on Twitter – @the_Missfits AND our email is themissfits@talkingcomicbooks.com
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Post by megamaramon on Mar 17, 2014 10:28:45 GMT -5
So, we were talking briefly on twitter about personhood in Spirited Away. How does Chihiro view the spirits in this movie, how are they portrayed in relation to the humans, does this viewpoint change, etc.
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katyrex
Fearless Defender
Posts: 14
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Post by katyrex on Mar 17, 2014 10:32:54 GMT -5
Sorry about making a million tweets about it! I'm especially thinking about human vs. personhood in a character like Yubaba who looks almost human but also is obviously not at all. I'm wondering if resembling humans says anything at all about personhood-- and in this context by personhood I mean the point at which someone gets credit for having sentience and, if it's not too cheesy to say, whatever the equivalent of a "soul" is.
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Post by megamaramon on Mar 17, 2014 10:38:32 GMT -5
Sorry about making a million tweets about it! I'm especially thinking about human vs. personhood in a character like Yubaba who looks almost human but also is obviously not at all. I'm wondering if resembling humans says anything at all about personhood-- and in this context by personhood I mean the point at which someone gets credit for having sentience and, if it's not too cheesy to say, whatever the equivalent of a "soul" is. It's easy to think of Haku and Lin being treated more like humans than no-face or those random three heads bobbing around Yubaba's place. Throughout the movie, Chihiro immediately connects with Haku and Lin, presumably because they resemble her. It's easy to see the personhood in them because they look like people. Now, the more strange spirits are treated as background characters, no doubt. However, there is still an underlying reverence for them, especially the river spirit bogged down by pollution. Even no-face has some sort of personality that we see as the film progresses. Here's a cool article about Shinto beliefs in the movie: www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htmMight give more insight about this topic. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it looks promising.
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katyrex
Fearless Defender
Posts: 14
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Post by katyrex on Mar 17, 2014 10:55:12 GMT -5
It's easy to think of Haku and Lin being treated more like humans than no-face or those random three heads bobbing around Yubaba's place. Throughout the movie, Chihiro immediately connects with Haku and Lin, presumably because they resemble her. It's easy to see the personhood in them because they look like people. Now, the more strange spirits are treated as background characters, no doubt. However, there is still an underlying reverence for them, especially the river spirit bogged down by pollution. Even no-face has some sort of personality that we see as the film progresses. At the same time, I feel like humanity is a privilege and something to aspire to, which is why her parents lose their human-ness and why characters like Yubaba and Kamajii and the frog men can only resemble humans rather than completely appearing to be humans-- so it's also probably why Haku appears to be more perfect than humans, rather than a caricature of a human?
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Post by megamaramon on Mar 17, 2014 11:02:34 GMT -5
It's easy to think of Haku and Lin being treated more like humans than no-face or those random three heads bobbing around Yubaba's place. Throughout the movie, Chihiro immediately connects with Haku and Lin, presumably because they resemble her. It's easy to see the personhood in them because they look like people. Now, the more strange spirits are treated as background characters, no doubt. However, there is still an underlying reverence for them, especially the river spirit bogged down by pollution. Even no-face has some sort of personality that we see as the film progresses. At the same time, I feel like humanity is a privilege and something to aspire to, which is why her parents lose their human-ness and why characters like Yubaba and Kamajii and the frog men can only resemble humans rather than completely appearing to be humans-- so it's also probably why Haku appears to be more perfect than humans, rather than a caricature of a human? I like that - humanness is something to aspire to be. It definitely brings class issues into the argument and the question "What does it mean to be human?" Going off of what you just said, it can be lost through the actions of the individual. And the part about Haku that you brought up - he's unnaturally beautiful and compassionate.
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Post by CaptainSuperior on Mar 17, 2014 11:06:42 GMT -5
I haven't got to listen yet, but I'm very much looking forward to this podcast. I've been a fan of Miyazaki for over 20 years.
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Post by hellocookie on Mar 17, 2014 12:38:56 GMT -5
I haven't got to listen yet, but I'm very much looking forward to this podcast. I've been a fan of Miyazaki for over 20 years. Gosh, I think it's getting up there for me too... But yeah! Please let us know what you think of the talk. We had a lot of fun doing it.
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Post by lissapunch on Mar 17, 2014 14:45:56 GMT -5
Ah!! I'm so bummed I missed this one and I must apologize once more to my Missfits buddies for the fiasco last night. I listened as soon as it went up this morning and I must admit it was kind of fun to hear it without my voice. I'm brand new to Studio Ghibli, and anime in general, so I did a bit of homework to prepare for this topic. It was tricky to find some of the films and I'm not done watching them yet. Mara, I think it was you who brought up the age issue first in anime characters, specifically the girls. This helped me understand why I don't find myself as crazy about anime or much of Japanese pop culture as some, the sexualizing (is that a word?) of very young girls always made me uncomfortable and made the female characters unrelateable. One thing that I appreciate about the Studio Ghibli films I've seen so far is that this doesn't seem to be the case. No super tiny school girl uniforms, awkward old man/little girl sexual tension, just little girls or women experiencing real struggles, emotions and having normal sized bodies for their age. Also, as you also pointed out, every girl and boy do not need to have a romantic relationship in films, it's nice that these films don't focus on the females' desperate need for male attention.
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Post by lissapunch on Mar 17, 2014 14:50:55 GMT -5
P.S. I was so disappointed in Wolf of Wall Street. It could have been about 45 mins shorter with half as many 'rich guy banging sexy girl' scenes. It felt like lots of reiteration of the same old money/power Hollywood fantasy, and I adore Leo, but his usual intense performance couldn't save that film for me. The characters felt flat and stereotypical.
I saw American Hustle a few days after Wolf and it was way more satisfying, despite having to see Bale with a terrible comb over and beer gut. It felt more well rounded in story, the charcters were better developed and the it was less predictable.
Just my two cents on that portion!
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Post by CaptainSuperior on Mar 17, 2014 15:32:25 GMT -5
P.S. I was so disappointed in Wolf of Wall Street. It could have been about 45 mins shorter with half as many 'rich guy banging sexy girl' scenes. It felt like lots of reiteration of the same old money/power Hollywood fantasy, and I adore Leo, but his usual intense performance couldn't save that film for me. The characters felt flat and stereotypical. I saw American Hustle a few days after Wolf and it was way more satisfying, despite having to see Bale with a terrible comb over and beer gut. It felt more well rounded in story, the charcters were better developed and the it was less predictable. Just my two cents on that portion! P.S.S You should watche Dallas Buyers Club and Nebraska, they are way better than American Hustle and WoWS, IMO lol.
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Post by lissapunch on Mar 17, 2014 15:38:40 GMT -5
I've seen Nebraska, I liked that one very much. Reminded me a bit too much of my own parents, but that discomfort didn't make it less funny.
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Post by Bob Reyer on Mar 17, 2014 15:39:00 GMT -5
Ah!! I'm so bummed I missed this one and I must apologize once more to my Missfits buddies for the fiasco last night. I listened as soon as it went up this morning and I must admit it was kind of fun to hear it without my voice. I'm brand new to Studio Ghibli, and anime in general, so I did a bit of homework to prepare for this topic. It was tricky to find some of the films and I'm not done watching them yet. Mara, I think it was you who brought up the age issue first in anime characters, specifically the girls. This helped me understand why I don't find myself as crazy about anime or much of Japanese pop culture as some, the sexualizing (is that a word?) of very young girls always made me uncomfortable and made the female characters unrelateable. One thing that I appreciate about the Studio Ghibli films I've seen so far is that this doesn't seem to be the case. No super tiny school girl uniforms, awkward old man/little girl sexual tension, just little girls or women experiencing real struggles, emotions and having normal sized bodies for their age. Also, as you also pointed out, every girl and boy do not need to have a romantic relationship in films, it's nice that these films don't focus on the females' desperate need for male attention. Melissa, You were missed by us all! Now that the plumber has left, I'm off to the Library to borrow some Miyazaki! I hope that the ladies of The Missfits aren't going to start me collecting something else I don't have room for! ps) I loved "American Hustle"; such a layered story, and great performances all around! rrr
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katyrex
Fearless Defender
Posts: 14
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Post by katyrex on Mar 17, 2014 16:37:37 GMT -5
Ah!! I'm so bummed I missed this one and I must apologize once more to my Missfits buddies for the fiasco last night. I listened as soon as it went up this morning and I must admit it was kind of fun to hear it without my voice. I'm brand new to Studio Ghibli, and anime in general, so I did a bit of homework to prepare for this topic. It was tricky to find some of the films and I'm not done watching them yet. Mara, I think it was you who brought up the age issue first in anime characters, specifically the girls. This helped me understand why I don't find myself as crazy about anime or much of Japanese pop culture as some, the sexualizing (is that a word?) of very young girls always made me uncomfortable and made the female characters unrelateable. One thing that I appreciate about the Studio Ghibli films I've seen so far is that this doesn't seem to be the case. No super tiny school girl uniforms, awkward old man/little girl sexual tension, just little girls or women experiencing real struggles, emotions and having normal sized bodies for their age. Also, as you also pointed out, every girl and boy do not need to have a romantic relationship in films, it's nice that these films don't focus on the females' desperate need for male attention. I'm sort of wondering if there's like some sort of cultural thing where we just don't get the leg thing...? Articulate, I know. So I feel like there's this common component in many anime depictions of girls that involve them being like 90% legs. And many times it's sexual, but I think it's also regularly just a non-sexual indication of adorableness, femininity, etc.? I'm definitely not a big enough anime fan to take this hypothesis to a logical conclusion... But I feel like skirts and shorts in anime are just shorter. Like Little Witch Academia-- the scene where she falls from the tower? She's clearly a child, she's not sexualized, but when she's falling her skirt flies up. It seems like that's really common in this medium. Am I misinterpreting?
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tnnsbaw
Fearless Defender
Posts: 10
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Post by tnnsbaw on Mar 17, 2014 20:07:11 GMT -5
I've never actually heard of Studio Ghibli so the 3 of you gave me an education on the podcast this week. I wrote down a lot of the titles and am excited to check it out!
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