storytelling – Speculative fiction and art from Thea Dee

How do Miyazaki films capture the essence of humanity?

Hayao Miyazaki is the creator of some of my earliest experiences with Japanese manga and anime. I believe Totoro was the first anime I ever saw, back when I was going to college in the Bay Area. I met a girl at a bus stop and we started talking about the stories we loved. Next thing I knew, I was at her apartment and she was translating Totoro on the fly while we watched it. Sayaka, I will forever be grateful for your introduction to the joys of Japanese art and its beautiful language. (Edit: I just realized I told this story a few posts ago, but what can I say? It’s a key moment in my life.)

This video (below) is 17 minutes of beautiful art and wisdom from a master at storytelling. The narrator of the film also makes some insightful comments. “Sentiment is what seeps from the pores of a Miyazaki film.”

Miyazaki creates settings that evoke feelings. The landscapes are not static or flat. Often, they are in valleys or mountains. The weather interacts with the characters and their moods. As a writer and artist, I want to learn to use this effect in my own work.

Each scene focuses on portraying the emotion of that moment. We don’t need to watch the rest of the film to understand the emotions being felt by the characters in that moment. Their feelings are evident in their postures, their expressions, the colors and surroundings. How would it be for me to craft the scenes of my fiction this way?

The environment and circumstances of Miyazaki films make it clear that the world does not exist to cater to the comfort or desire of the humans in it.

Brutality and savagery co-exist with compassion and tenderness. The two do not cancel each other out, but they create the realm of contrast and tension within which we live.

His stories do not talk about fate so much as will. The characters adapt to their surroundings and find ways to rise above the things that would cripple or try to destroy them. Characters begin with things they desire, but often find that it is something else entirely that they need.

One leaves a Miyazaki film with the subconscious idea, “I can overcome the challenges of my life” and “I want to be that person who faces brutality with courage and kindness.” How beautiful is art that equips the viewer for the pains of life on earth!

What do you usually take away from his films? Leave a comment below!

Extras

Thanks to speculative fiction author Laura VanArendonk Baugh for bringing this video to my attention!

Want more Hayao Miyazaki? Check these out:

Headspace

Doctor Who fans arrive for the Season 8 premiere in the theater, inspiring thoughts of fandom and shared headspace

I stood outside the theater on a Monday night. The crowds of the weekend were only faded after-images, filled in by my memory and imagination. As the twilight dimmed people trickled in, a middle-aged couple here, a family there, occasional small groups of teens. These few, these happy few.

This Monday night’s movie-goers were a special crowd. My homeys. Except geeks like us don’t say “homeys”. My tribe. My fellow travelers. Time travelers, to be specific. It was the premier of Doctor Who, Season 8, and Peter Capaldi was about to take the screen and occupy the TARDIS. Every Whovian was beautiful in my eyes, and I felt an instant kinship with each one that passed by, oblivious to my allegiance because I hadn’t worn my Whovian apparel. I was invisible.

Later, I could relate when the 12th Doctor said, “You can’t see me, can you? You look at me and you can’t see me.”

Heh.

Movie, or Mind Melding?

What happens when we immerse ourselves in a TV series? Week after week (or day after day for the Netflix bingers) we share headspace. People occupy our heads like Capaldi occupied the TARDIS. These people evoke emotions in us. Sometimes we like them, sometimes we hate them, sometimes they make us laugh, sometimes cry.

It’s the same when we read a book series. Or a comic book series. People take up residence inside us. We think it’s the story characters that we love, but have you ever considered what’s really happening? Is it really Doctor Who that we love? Or is it Russell T. Davies? Steven Moffat? Was it really Sherlock Holmes that everybody loved, or was it Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Or in modern times, again Steven Moffat! Is it the crew of the Serenity, the cast of Buffy, the sympathetic aspiring villain Dr. Horrible — or is Joss Whedon whose heart we enjoy?

If you have ever been the fan of an author who wrote more than one series that you enjoyed, you may have made this connection. “I’ll read anything he writes. Doesn’t matter what genre. His work is amazing.”

Lois McMaster Bujold, author extraordinaire and fellow reader, mentions briefly in this review of The Rivers of London the very concept I sat down to write about here. She says,

There exists a quality of a book that I do not have a name for; it is approached by terms like “mode” and “voice” and “the writer’s world-view”, but isn’t quite any of these. I short-hand it as, “What kind of head-space am I going to be stuck in now?” And is it one I that will enjoy being stuck in? We seek out, I think, any favorite writer’s other books, even if they are varied, in the hopes of entering that agreeable head-space again.

Headspace.

When a single author creates a character, or a cast of characters, or a story world that we return to again and again, we’ve found someone whose headspace we enjoy inhabiting. Occupying, and yet opening ourselves to. Melding with.

The publishing world is changing. The world of entertainment is shifting. The best part of this transformation: the opportunity to find authors whose headspace we want to share. Authors whose voices might never have made it past the editors and publishing committees whose eyes were always on the bottom line, always looking for the voices with the widest possible audience.

Now those unique voices are set free and accessible to all.

I’m not saying it’s easy. There are a lot of stories to sort through. Which is why we readers need to get smart about finding what we’re looking for. Search for what we love. Find authors who love the same shows we do. Read their samples. And when we hit gold, when we find the ones we love to immerse ourselves in, hang on for dear life and don’t let go! Buy every book they put out. Support every Kickstarter they launch, even if it’s just with five bucks because it’s all we have. Talk to them on social media and leave reviews telling them how much we love their work.

Because they need encouragement. Because shared headspace is a sacred and precious gift, made possible by another amazing gift — the gift of words and the human imagination.

Readers and authors, unite.

Let’s love each other. Honor each other. Celebrate each other.

Live long, and prosper.
May the Force be with you.
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Geronimo! Allons-y!
Excelsior!

It is a good time to be a fan. Our new favorite story is just around the next bend.

two powerful lessons from the transformers movie

never pass up a chance to learn something from other creative projects!

i was deeply touched by the recent Transformers movie.

>to listen to a very cool Transformers theme by Mute Math,
see this YouTube video (it will open in a separate window —
start it up,
then come back here to read
with the theme in the background… heh-heh) <

although the cartoon has pretty much faded into my childhood memories, i can find in the corners of my consciousness a fondness for Optimus Prime and his metal compatriots. two quotes stand out in my mind:

Optimus Prime’s deep voice ordering, “autobots, roll out!”
and
Starscream (appropriately) screaming, “retreat! retreat!”

lesson #1: the sky is no longer the limit

i was walking through an electronics store when i first saw the movie trailer. it stopped me in my tracks.

i caught my breath.
tears came to my eyes.
it was a spiritual experience.

not because i love Transformers so much. i don’t really care about them. it was because of the possibilities that opened up before my inner eyes when i saw those images.

someone had brought a cheesy animated cartoon to life in a way that made them look utterly, completely REAL.

ANYTHING is possible now.

lesson #2: the secret to entertaining a wider audience

the second time i watched Transformers, i realized what a clever thing they’d done with the presentation of the story.

they had three major interlocking, overlapping plotlines, and each appealed to a different segment of movie-goers:

the war story, with the brave soldiers
the teen romance story, with the geeky boy and hot chick
the hackers story, with sci-fi robots and the unlikely alliance between hackers and the government

isn’t that brilliant?
macho guys watch the movie and like the soldiers and big robots.
chicks watch the movie and love the romance.
teens watch the movie and relate to the main characters.
etc.

there’s the “cool car” element, the awkward family moments, the hilarious “sector seven” idiot agents mocking all things MiB/X-files/secret government agencies. the Spanish-speaking soldier spoke to the cultural divides in America. even a silly little Taco Bell dog for pet lovers.

in some ways, the handling and timing of all these elements muddied the story, but their inclusion touched a wider audience.

want your story to have wider appeal? choose your main viewpoint characters and main plotlines with thought towards major demographics.

just make sure you still love the story you’re telling. if you’re bored or not into some of your characters, it will probably show. create characters you care about, just stretch yourself and create ones outside your own usual characteristics (age, occupation, personality).

i love this about a lot of Japanese manga, too. they have so many characters, you gotta relate to someone in them!

your turn

so what did you notice in this movie? any lessons learned?

even if you weren’t watching it to learn anything,
think about what you really liked.
why did it appeal to you?
think about parts that bugged you.
how did they miss the mark?

comments, please!

bonus: my fav quotes

“it’s like a super-advanced robot… it’s definitely Japanese.”

“he’s not a rodent, he’s a chihuahua.”

ironhide: “the parents are very irritating. can I take them out?”
optimus: “you know we don’t harm humans.”

re: the Nokia phone turned decepticon:
“the itty bitty energizer bunny from hell…”

fellow prisoner: “what’d they get you for?”
sam: “i bought a car. it turned out to be an alien robot. who knew?”

ahhh… classic!