{"id":130157,"date":"2018-10-22T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=130157"},"modified":"2018-10-22T16:18:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T20:18:44","slug":"hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

\u00a9 1997 Studio Ghibli – ND<\/p><\/div>\n

How do you live with a true heart when everything around you is collapsing?
\n<\/em>\u2014Hayao Miyazaki<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I brought a friend with me the first time I saw Princess Mononoke <\/em>in an American movie theater. He had no experience with Miyazaki or with Japanese culture or animation, but he was intrigued to see what promised to be a grand adventure story, especially one that was appearing in the United States under the auspices of Disney. In the middle of watching the movie, however, he started nudging me. \u201cWho\u2019s the good guy?\u201d he hissed irritably. \u201cI can\u2019t tell which is the good guy and which is the bad guy!\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s the whole point!\u201d I whispered back.<\/p>\n

Princ<\/em>ess<\/em> Mononoke<\/em> inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview, putting on film the tight intermixture of frustration, brutality, animistic spirituality, and cautious hope that he had honed in his manga\u00a0Nausica\u00e4 of the Valley of the Wind<\/em>. The film offers a mythic scope, unprecedented depictions of violence and environmental collapse, and a powerful vision of the sublime, all within the director\u2019s first-ever attempt at a jidaigeki<\/em>, or historical film. It also moves further away from the family fare that had made him a treasured household name in Japan.<\/p>\n

In the complicated universe of Princess<\/em> Mononoke<\/em>,\u00a0there is no longer room for villains such as Future Boy\u00a0<\/em>Conan<\/em>\u2019s power-hungry Repka, the greedy Count of The Castle of\u00a0<\/em>Cagliostro<\/em>, or the evil Muska of Laputa: Castle in the Sky<\/em>. Miyazaki instead gives his audiences the ambitious but generous Lady Eboshi and the enigmatic monk Jiko-b\u014d, who insists that we live in a cursed world. Jiko-b\u014d isn\u2019t the only one who thinks this, apparently. In the darkest moments of his tale of humans battling the \u201cwild gods\u201d of the natural world in fourteenth-century Japan, Miyazaki seems to be saying that all the dwellers of this realm, human and nonhuman, are equally cursed. Princess Mononoke <\/em>raises questions Miyazaki had implicitly asked in the Nausica\u00e4 <\/em>manga: Given what humanity has done to the planet, do we have a right to keep on waging war against the nonhuman other? Is there any way that humans and nonhumans can coexist?\u00a0<\/p>\n

These questions struck a deep chord in Japanese audiences, and the movie opened a new chapter in Miyazaki\u2019s influence on Japanese society. Princess Mononoke <\/em>became not simply a hit but a cultural phenomenon. The Japanese media celebrated the more than two thousand eager fans who lined up for the movie\u2019s first screening in Tokyo, then vociferously commemorated the moment when the film surpassed the country\u2019s previous highest earning movie, Steven Spielberg\u2019s E.\u2009T<\/em>.<\/em> Magazine articles and even special issues on the film flooded Japan, tackling everything from the movie\u2019s reworking of traditional history and its varied and impressive group of voice actors to its innovative animation techniques, including Studio Ghibli\u2019s first use of computers and digital painting.<\/p>\n

Miyazaki was interviewed on subjects ranging from environmental degradation to his judgment on whether children should see such a violent movie (on which he reversed himself, initially saying that they should not see it and then insisting that children would make the best audience). His fame among anime fans had been building for many years, and the success of his 1989 film,\u00a0Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service<\/em>,\u00a0opened up a still wider audience, but it is with Princess Mononoke <\/em>that Miyazaki became a celebrity of sorts. This does not mean that he built a flashy house and started dating supermodels. He remained in the unpretentious Tokyo suburb of Tokorozawa and continued to welcome friends and staff members to the rustic cabin his father-in-law had built in the mountains of Nagano prefecture. In an interview after Princess Mononoke<\/em>\u2019s release, he spoke longingly of a desire \u201cjust to go away and live in a cabin in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

This desire for retreat was understandable. As numerous articles and a six-hour documentary on the making of the film make clear, Princess Mono<\/em>noke<\/em> was the most stress-inducing film the director had created. Notably longer and far more expensive than any previous Studio Ghibli film, the work required almost superhuman efforts on the part of Miyazaki and his increasingly weary staff. Given Miyazaki\u2019s obsessive attention to detail, the film\u2019s epic scope, historical setting, and wide cast of characters made the preparation period alone intensely time-consuming, to say nothing of the time that the actual production took. Exhausted by the experience, some of the veterans who had worked on Princess Mononoke <\/em>left the company when the film was finished to be replaced by new animators.<\/p>\n

Toshio Suzuki, who produced Princess Mononoke<\/em>, recalls a moment when Miyazaki finally \u201cexploded\u201d after being asked to do too many things in too short a time. The director was \u201ccorrecting the storyboards, checking the originals, aligning the music to the story, and presiding over the \u2018after recordings\u2019\u2009\u201d\u2014vocals added after the initial animation is complete. He was also giving interviews on television and to newspapers and magazines, all while being involved with the marketing and with introducing the film to audiences as it was rolled out over Japan. As Suzuki puts it, Miyazaki had \u201cgiven his body and soul\u201d to the movie and was beyond exhaustion. Suzuki remembers being with the director the night before the movie\u2019s premiere in the provincial city of Kochi. Miyazaki lay in bed and with a felt pen drew a sketch of his own face. Handing the paper to Suzuki, he said curtly, \u201cHere, you put this on and go out and pretend to be me at the movie tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0Princess Mononoke<\/em>\u2019s aftermath would mark the beginning of the director\u2019s retreat from extensive public-relations responsibilities.<\/p>\n

The all-out marketing campaign that surrounded the movie marked a first: the studio marketed it as a Ghibli film rather than a Miyazaki film. This change was more than symbolic, attesting to the ascendance of Suzuki as Ghibli\u2019s main producer in the widening realm of Miyazakiworld. Involved with Miyazaki and Isao Takahata since his days as an editor at Animage<\/em>, he was widely credited with successfully marketing Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service<\/em>. But Princess Mononoke<\/em>\u2019s record-breaking box-office performance was deemed Suzuki\u2019s most spectacular success to date, launching him firmly into a highly visible position in the animation industry. Viewed as the pragmatist who enables Miyazaki to express his idealistic vision, Suzuki became an increasingly dominant force at Ghibli. Indeed, the documentary on the making of Princess Mononoke <\/em>sometimes appears to be allotting almost as much face time to the producer as to the man who actually directed the film.<\/p>\n

New faces were also coming in from overseas. In 1997, Ghibli\u2019s parent company, Tokuma Shoten, announced a deal with Disney to distribute its products worldwide. Suzuki had arranged the agreement, and it was a huge achievement for him and for Ghibli. The deal expanded Ghibli\u2019s influence globally in one stroke and achieved an enormous public-relations coup at home. More than a thousand reporters attended the press conference announcing the deal. As Suzuki disarmingly explained, \u201cThe announcement that [Princess Mononoke<\/em>] would be opening across America was important only in that it helped us capture market share at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Princess Mononoke<\/em>, despite an elegant English-language script written by the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, and an impressive roster of American and English voice actors, did not perform particularly well in the United States. While the film critic Janet Maslin of the New York Times <\/em>praised the film\u2019s \u201cexotically beautiful action\u201d and Miyazaki\u2019s construction of \u201can elaborate moral universe,\u201d she also felt compelled to mention its occasionally \u201cknotty\u201d plot and sometimes \u201cgruesome\u201d imagery. A Japanese journalist wondered later, \u201cHow could [Americans who were] used to stories about good versus evil, full of musical numbers and comical sidekicks, and always with a happy ending, be expected to appreciate the appeal of Studio Ghibli\u2019s offerings?\u201d<\/p>\n

Miyazaki\u2019s feelings about the new arrangement with Disney are cloudy. Beyond a rather vague speech at the press conference, I can find no public pronouncement by him on the subject. Over the years, neither he nor Suzuki had had much good to say about Disney, so it seems likely that the arrangement was a purely practical one for the benefit of both parties. But Miyazaki and Suzuki could at least be satisfied that they had broken new ground for quality Japanese animation. Furthermore, the Oscar later awarded to Miyazaki\u2019s 2001 film,\u00a0Spirited<\/em> Away<\/em>,\u00a0would show that American audiences could indeed appreciate something beyond \u201chappily ever after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although groundbreaking in many ways, Princess Mononoke <\/em>did not come out of nowhere. By the early nineties, Miyazaki had completed his first adult-oriented feature film,\u00a0P<\/em>or<\/em>c<\/em>o<\/em> R<\/em>osso<\/em>, and was finally finishing the Nausica\u00e4<\/em> manga. Always searching for new inspirations, he became intrigued by the idea of doing something with the H\u014d<\/em>j\u014d<\/em>ki<\/em>, a classic work from the thirteenth century. A brief, beautifully written reflection on the world and the transience of life, the H\u014dj\u014dki <\/em>is still part of the curriculum in most Japanese schools.<\/p>\n

The H\u014dj\u014dki <\/em>is not an obvious candidate for a movie, animated or otherwise. Written by Kamo no Ch\u014dmei, a former courtier who had grown disillusioned by the ways of the world and became a Buddhist monk, the work appeared in 1223, at a time when military takeovers, famine, pestilence, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods rocked the capital and claimed thousands of lives. The H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em> chronicles these disasters from a safe distance, through the viewpoint of a thoughtful, poetic man who sees in the apocalyptic events around him a reason for retreat and reflection.<\/p>\n

Miyazaki\u2019s interest in the H\u014dj\u014dki <\/em>was stimulated by a book called H\u014dj\u014dkiden<\/em>, by a favorite novelist of his, Yoshie Hotta. But beyond such influences, Miyazaki\u2019s own frame of mind played a part in sending the director\u2019s art in grimmer directions than the largely upbeat family-oriented works of the seventies and eighties. As evidenced by both Porco<\/em> Rosso<\/em> and Nausica\u00e4<\/em>, he had grown increasingly disillusioned with authoritarian ideologies, and his growing anxieties about the vulnerability of the natural environment were reflected in Nausica\u00e4<\/em>\u2019s apocalyptic themes.<\/p>\n

Miyazaki admired the great live-action film director Akira Kurosawa, whose jidaigeki<\/em>\u2014period films featuring samurai\u2014had hugely influenced postwar Japanese cinema. But Miyazaki wanted to do much more than create a piece of historical entertainment. Building on Hotta\u2019s view of H\u014dj\u014dki <\/em>as a critique of the militarism and false ideologies of Kamo no Ch\u014dmei\u2019s period, he hoped to create a work that would comment on Japan\u2019s emptiness and confusion in the postbubble era. A country that had worshiped materialism and success seemed now to be floundering in a spiritual vacuum, reflected in the increasing use among contemporary Japanese of the word kyomu<\/em>: emptiness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u00a9 1997 Studio Ghibli – ND<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two major incidents in 1995 had traumatized Japan. The first was the Kobe earthquake in February, which killed between four thousand and six thousand people and was the worst earthquake to hit the country since the Great Kant\u014d earthquake of 1923. For a modern industrialized nation, the scale of destruction was truly shocking. It seemed as if nature itself were seeking vengeance on human civilization. The earthquake was followed a month later by the Aum Shinrikyo incident, when members of an apocalyptic religious cult released sarin gas in a busy station in the Tokyo subway system, killing twelve people and injuring thousands more. These two terrifying episodes underlined the increasing sense of vulnerability felt by the Japanese, on both a psychological and an environmental level.<\/p>\n

As a dweller in perilous times, Kamo no Ch\u014dmei would have been all too familiar with experiences like the horror of the Kobe earthquake and with the apocalyptic despair that inspired the Aum Shinrikyo incident. While Miyazaki ultimately abandoned the idea of filming the H\u014dj\u014dki<\/em>, he continued to consider a medieval period piece treating natural and technological catastrophe and the question of how to live in a complicated and terrible world. Unlike Ch\u014dmei or Kurosawa, Miyazaki wanted to give equal agency to human, natural, and supernatural forces.<\/p>\n

At its most fundamental level the movie asks: Can we live ethically in a cursed world? And if so, how? Princess Mononoke <\/em>offers two related possible solutions. The first is simply to \u201cLive!\u201d (Ikiro!<\/em>), the catchphrase emblazoned on the movie posters and uttered by the movie\u2019s protagonist, Ashitaka, to the desperate wolf princess San as she struggles to deal with her fear and resentment of humanity. In context, it tells us we cannot give up, no matter what, a message that Miyazaki felt imperative in the emotionally apathetic landscape of nineties Japan. The second is \u201cto see with eyes unclouded\u201d\u2014a challenge, as the movie presents both bloodthirsty beast attacks and relentless human industrialization, and asks us to observe all sides with clarity and objectivity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Susan Napier is the Goldthwaite Professor of Rhetoric and Japanese Studies at Tufts University.<\/em><\/p>\n

From <\/em>Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art<\/a>,<\/em> by Susan Napier, published by Yale University Press in September 2018. Reproduced by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1186],"tags":[6320,12659,2691,9102,39210,39202,1831,16066,79,39199,11803,39200,39204,39201,39211,39205,39203,504,6154,39198,39209,39206,18453,3340,6319,39212,39213,39196,39208,39197,39207],"class_list":["post-130157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-film","tag-academy-awards","tag-ambiguity","tag-animation","tag-anime","tag-aum-shinrikyo","tag-conan","tag-disney","tag-environmentalism","tag-film","tag-hayao-miyazaki","tag-janet-maslin","tag-japanese-animation","tag-japanese-culture","tag-jidaigeki","tag-kikis-delivery-service","tag-kobe-earthquake","tag-lady-eboshi","tag-literature","tag-manga","tag-miyazaki","tag-miyazakiworld","tag-natural-disaster","tag-nausicaa","tag-neil-gaiman","tag-oscars","tag-postbubble-japan","tag-postwar-japan","tag-princess-mononoke","tag-spirited-away","tag-studio-ghibli","tag-wolf-princess"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds by Susan Napier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 22, 2018 \u2013 \u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Napier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Napier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Susan Napier\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc682f4470d2473a64ace9fe6d2d45b3\"},\"headline\":\"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\"},\"wordCount\":2229,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Academy Awards\",\"Ambiguity\",\"animation\",\"anime\",\"Aum Shinrikyo\",\"Conan\",\"Disney\",\"environmentalism\",\"film\",\"Hayao Miyazaki\",\"Janet Maslin\",\"Japanese animation\",\"Japanese culture\",\"jidaigeki\",\"Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service\",\"Kobe earthquake\",\"Lady Eboshi\",\"literature\",\"manga\",\"Miyazaki\",\"Miyazakiworld\",\"natural disaster\",\"Nausicaa\",\"Neil Gaiman\",\"Oscars\",\"postbubble Japan\",\"postwar Japan\",\"Princess Mononoke\",\"Spirited Away\",\"Studio Ghibli\",\"wolf princess\"],\"articleSection\":[\"On Film\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\",\"name\":\"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"\u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc682f4470d2473a64ace9fe6d2d45b3\",\"name\":\"Susan Napier\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68762393db2ce7e950243f44e9d614f9ca88489d0b0d5c3493c0aa9e58b4e043?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68762393db2ce7e950243f44e9d614f9ca88489d0b0d5c3493c0aa9e58b4e043?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Susan Napier\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/snapier\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds","description":"\u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds by Susan Napier","og_description":"October 22, 2018 \u2013 \u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Susan Napier","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Susan Napier","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/"},"author":{"name":"Susan Napier","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc682f4470d2473a64ace9fe6d2d45b3"},"headline":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds","datePublished":"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/"},"wordCount":2229,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg","keywords":["Academy Awards","Ambiguity","animation","anime","Aum Shinrikyo","Conan","Disney","environmentalism","film","Hayao Miyazaki","Janet Maslin","Japanese animation","Japanese culture","jidaigeki","Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service","Kobe earthquake","Lady Eboshi","literature","manga","Miyazaki","Miyazakiworld","natural disaster","Nausicaa","Neil Gaiman","Oscars","postbubble Japan","postwar Japan","Princess Mononoke","Spirited Away","Studio Ghibli","wolf princess"],"articleSection":["On Film"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/","name":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-22T17:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-22T20:18:44+00:00","description":"\u2018Princess Mononoke\u2019 inaugurated a new chapter in Miyazakiworld. Ambitious and angry, it expressed the director\u2019s increasingly complex worldview.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/mononoke_1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2018\/10\/22\/hayao-miyazakis-cursed-worlds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Cursed Worlds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc682f4470d2473a64ace9fe6d2d45b3","name":"Susan Napier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68762393db2ce7e950243f44e9d614f9ca88489d0b0d5c3493c0aa9e58b4e043?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68762393db2ce7e950243f44e9d614f9ca88489d0b0d5c3493c0aa9e58b4e043?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Susan Napier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/snapier\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130157"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130246,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130157\/revisions\/130246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}