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• 1 media/nazi-party-hero-H.jpeg 2017-10-31T10:06:52-07:00 The Spectre of War 4 How the war machine drives the flying machine image_header 2017-10-31T10:16:49-07:00 The bulk of the movie takes place in the years leading to World War II as the Nazi party begins to strangle Germany and the surrounding European states. Japan has remained impoverished as a result of many things, particularly the Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese wars. As a result, while other surrounding nations have capitalized on technological and industrial advances, Japan remains relegated to traditional forms in architecture and engineering as well as culture. As a result, Jiro’s ingenuity is called upon in its entirety to help Japan bridge the gap between wood and cloth planes and the rest of Europe’s metal-clad fighters. Jiro laments that his passion to design beautiful airplanes, which could literally raise Japan and its people into the wind stream of global progress, must be tarnished by war. Jiro also recognizes, however, that it is this state of war that allows him the opportunity to build such things given that Japan’s economy would otherwise prohibit his opportunity to pursue his passion. This is the theme that makes Miyazaki’s film such an important gift at the current moment as the black and fiery clouds of war drift closer to the surface of current geopolitical tensions. As the word war floats in the air and taints the lives of the globe’s citizens, Miyazaki’s film becomes a prudent rumination on the ability of war to cover and choke everything in its vicinity like coal the dust on a West Virginian miner.