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https://nerdist.com/article/hayao-miyazaki-new-studio-ghibli-movie/
A new spell is about to be cast. In news reported by The New York Times, Hayao Miyazaki will be creating a brand new Studio Ghibli movie. The last new Studio Ghibli movie, according to the publication. And one we are all excited to see take shape.
The article offers us a glimpse at the film, saying:
Neither Miyazaki nor Suzuki will share much about the forthcoming film, beyond the fact that it is based on a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino. The story concerns a 15-year-old boy in Tokyo, small for his age and fond of mischief, whose father has recently died. In the English translation by Bruno Navasky, published in October, the boy gazes out at the city and is overwhelmed: “The watching self, the self being watched, and furthermore the self becoming conscious of all this, the self observing itself by itself, from afar, all those various selves overlapped in his heart, and suddenly he began to feel dizzy.”
The actual content of the film could be anything — Suzuki has described it as “fantasy on a grand scale” — since Miyazaki doesn’t so much borrow stories as liberate them from their origins. (In the pseudobiographical “The Wind Rises,” he gives the real-life Jiro Horikoshi a fictional wife dying of tuberculosis.) All Suzuki will share is that he recognizes himself in one of the characters, who is not human.
Miyazaki’s works deal with many themes, popular among them coming-of-age narratives and discussions of nature vs. man. Fantasy always serves to heighten the aspects of reality that we can all understand. And, of course, incredibly intricate animation that soothes and moves us ties it all together. If this film will offer us something even grander than before, then it will truly astound.
Though the 1937 novel goes unnamed in the article, it appears Miyazaki will adapt How Do You Live? While this news appears to have released in some capacity at previous times, this feels like a formalization of intent. The book has long influenced Miyazaki, who cites it as his favorite childhood read.
The new Miyazaki movie, tentatively titled, How Do You Live, has also set its release date. It will arrive in Japan on July 14, 2023. In the US, the movie will be titled “The Boy and the Heron” and will arrive “later this year,” per its North American distributor GKids.
The movie released a poster in December 2022, but recently revealed that there would be no other images or trailers released to tease fans. We’ll be going into Miyazaki’s How Do You Live without any more information.
But will this truly be Miyazaki’s last film? Of course, Miyazaki has famously announced retirement before, only to return. Well, only time will tell. Miyazaki’s producer and partner Suzuki has only this insight, which the article shares. “In the West, we always need to know how things end. At Ghibli, the last scene is often a mystery.”
We look forward to this next great adventure.
Originally published on November 23, 2021.
The post Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Last’ New Studio Ghibli Movie Sets Release Date, Won’t Get a Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.
A new spell is about to be cast. In news reported by The New York Times, Hayao Miyazaki will be creating a brand new Studio Ghibli movie. The last new Studio Ghibli movie, according to the publication. And one we are all excited to see take shape.
The article offers us a glimpse at the film, saying:
Neither Miyazaki nor Suzuki will share much about the forthcoming film, beyond the fact that it is based on a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino. The story concerns a 15-year-old boy in Tokyo, small for his age and fond of mischief, whose father has recently died. In the English translation by Bruno Navasky, published in October, the boy gazes out at the city and is overwhelmed: “The watching self, the self being watched, and furthermore the self becoming conscious of all this, the self observing itself by itself, from afar, all those various selves overlapped in his heart, and suddenly he began to feel dizzy.”
The actual content of the film could be anything — Suzuki has described it as “fantasy on a grand scale” — since Miyazaki doesn’t so much borrow stories as liberate them from their origins. (In the pseudobiographical “The Wind Rises,” he gives the real-life Jiro Horikoshi a fictional wife dying of tuberculosis.) All Suzuki will share is that he recognizes himself in one of the characters, who is not human.
Miyazaki’s works deal with many themes, popular among them coming-of-age narratives and discussions of nature vs. man. Fantasy always serves to heighten the aspects of reality that we can all understand. And, of course, incredibly intricate animation that soothes and moves us ties it all together. If this film will offer us something even grander than before, then it will truly astound.
Though the 1937 novel goes unnamed in the article, it appears Miyazaki will adapt How Do You Live? While this news appears to have released in some capacity at previous times, this feels like a formalization of intent. The book has long influenced Miyazaki, who cites it as his favorite childhood read.
The new Miyazaki movie, tentatively titled, How Do You Live, has also set its release date. It will arrive in Japan on July 14, 2023. In the US, the movie will be titled “The Boy and the Heron” and will arrive “later this year,” per its North American distributor GKids.
The movie released a poster in December 2022, but recently revealed that there would be no other images or trailers released to tease fans. We’ll be going into Miyazaki’s How Do You Live without any more information.
But will this truly be Miyazaki’s last film? Of course, Miyazaki has famously announced retirement before, only to return. Well, only time will tell. Miyazaki’s producer and partner Suzuki has only this insight, which the article shares. “In the West, we always need to know how things end. At Ghibli, the last scene is often a mystery.”
We look forward to this next great adventure.
Originally published on November 23, 2021.
The post Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Last’ New Studio Ghibli Movie Sets Release Date, Won’t Get a Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.
One of my favorite things to do is go to Black ass movies, with a Black ass audience in the theater. Everyone with separate lives and experiences that all relate to “Blackness” in its various forms. Growing up, I had an interesting relationship with Blackness. I experienced a huge amount of colorism growing up, and it became hard to appreciate my complexion until I reached college. My Blackness was always associated with something negative, something that needed to be diminished in order to be accepted as beautiful. I would appreciate the communal culture, but I rarely saw myself in a position of appreciation throughout various forms of media.
When folks question what it means to be Black, there’s a “jokey, but serious” merit-based system that decides your “level” of Blackness. It’s honored by the actions in relation to culture, language, reaction to danger, and many more things that put us in contrast to what the world assumes us to be. In the same place where our merit-based system exists, whiteness has consistently tried to dissect it for their understanding. So when I think about dark skin women depicted in media, we’re usually upheld to a certain view of Blackness upheld by colorism/white supremacy. We’re seen as aggressors (Pam, Martin), needed to be sacrificed in order for people to learn valuable lessons (Candy, Pose), or even the scapegoat (Annalise Keating, How to Get Away with Murder). So when I saw that Lisa’s friends loved her, looked out for her, and even when they felt like she was making bad mistakes they did not leave her to die. It was relieving.
What is the Epitome of Blackness?
Dark skin women were written as helpless or overly aggressive; depicted to be void of redemption. When Black people are in horror films, we pray for them. Though we know their fate was already written, we close our eyes and hope. When I saw Lisa in The Blackening making stereotypical “horror movie” mistakes, I found myself shouting for her preservation. “Dark skin baby girl, turn back!” “My sister in melanated blessings, please! No! I beg!” I wanted her to feel the comfort of forgiveness. The kind of grace only offered to white people when they make a detrimental mistake.
The most beautiful parts in The Blackening were the moments of grace. It never made sense to me when Black folks were the first to die in horror movies, because we’ve been conditioned to be the most aware. Conditioned to be the most prepared to fight against anything prepared to kill us. The Blackening knows the secret: we root for everybody Black. But it also begs the question what our “Blackness” is being compared to? What are the ranges and limitations society puts on our identity to define us and make us tangible?
In the story, Lisa recently rekindled with her ex, Nnamdi (another dark skin character who was also staying in the cabin with them). All of the homies thought that he was toxic for her, considering that he cheated, and it’s insinuated that this is not the first time their relationship was called into question. Dark skin women are often depicted as independent people who don’t need to be cared for and cherished because they have all the tools necessary to sustain themselves. Instead, Lisa was given the “friendship side eye.” Lisa was still offered love, support and was not left behind when their lives were in danger. Lisa was considered to be an integral part of the team who understood the mission, and she did everything in her power to secure her, and her friends’ survival.
Rooting for Everybody Black
When we allow dark skin women to have faults but still protect them and treat their falls with grace, we’re able to appreciate them in their “well roundedness.” We can see their rage as human and their faults as an integral part of a story, instead of something that needs to be discarded. My favorite parts in The Blackening were the moments when Lisa did not adhere to stereotypical forms of Blackness, because dark skin women are expected to perform this even more due to their complexion. Our “dark skinned-ness” now paired with microaggressions when we can’t name the things white people understand about our basic culture. The Blackening understood that when Black folks talk about Blackness and our relationship to it, it ain’t white folks business.
We understand that white supremacy always affected the way society interprets Blackness. Without proper cultural analysis, plenty of our sayings and reactions get appropriated and utilized out of context. The Blackening showcased the horrors of looking at Blackness through the “merit-based” white supremacist lens while trying to maintain each other. How white supremacy affects Black folks differently depending on complexion, sexuality and stereotypes is embedded in each of the character decisions throughout the film. It’s showcased in who we see leaving the house to look for a way out, versus who stays. We see it in whose life is at risk and who gets special attention when they’re hurt. Our intersectional struggles have their own cultural context; historical maintenance is a communal effort not a burden. The Blackening dissects the diaspora not by ignoring colorism, homophobia and sexism, but by allowing these intersectional realities to influence how they survive.
White Supremacy, The True Enemy
I’m not much of a scary movie girl, but when the danger switch comes on, I’m rooting for everybody Black. Regardless of if they adhere to the scary movie stereotypes, I am praying for their survival and low therapy bills when they escape. I appreciated The Blackening and its representation of Blackness in various forms, from the cringey to the frightening. Black characters, especially dark skin characters, are often depicted with a sort of aggression that’s supposed to allude that they could survive anything. Black people are used as a sacrifice to set the tone. “This strong person did not survive, and they had the most gruesome death so we know what is possible.” Black folks know that when you’re trying to survive, whether it is a workplace, academia or even a cabin in the woods, community is the only thing that keeps us afloat. Our best method of survival revolves around preservation. The biggest risk is when we don’t realize that we’re upholding white supremacy, and it affects how we preserve one another. When someone upholds it to the point where it affects the perception of our existence, I won’t lie, I don’t even know what to do at that point.
The Blackening created Black characters that are allowed to be messy and still make them rootable. The villain remains what we always knew to be true, those who uphold white supremacy as a marker for Blackness. Being Black as fuck is subjective and upholding merit-based Blackness can create dangerous systems that push each other away. What do we rate our Blackness in relation to? The truth is that we’ve seen these characters, or we’ve seen ourselves in them. I enjoyed seeing a bunch of Black folks across the diaspora with separate experiences but understanding the underlying layers of what’s being presented for them.
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The post ‘The Blackening’: When Things Get Spooky, We Ride Together appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.