This page is referenced by:

• 1 media/IMG_7864.JPG 2026-03-22T17:31:19-07:00 A Non-Hollywood and Non-Human Perspective 34 Hayao Miyazaki image_header 2026-04-14T12:41:52-07:00

  Animation as a medium offers new possibilities: it can break the barriers of technical abilities, depict magic and otherworldly environments without the limitations of CGI, and offer the perspectives of non-human entities.
  Because Ghibli movies accompanied me throughout my childhood, and their depictions of nature always fascinated me, I couldn’t imagine creating this cinematic guide without them. The colours, the music, the strong characters and the profound link to nature all create a unique identity to Hayao Miyazaki’s movies. Though animated movies are often associated with a very young audience, the metaphorical and philosophical depth of these films can truly appeal to any type of viewer, parents and children alike. However, it is interesting to explore how these movies help to create a new kind of spectator from a young age, and how they personally affected our view of the Anthropocene.

  
  Non-anthropomorphism
  Hayao Miyazaki’s characters are all memorable thanks to their innovative and creative forms.
  While animated animals and beings are often given human traits to help the audience empathize and identify, Miyazaki refuses such a hierarchical anthropomorphism and instead decides to trust his viewers’ capacity for compassion (Patzner 155).
  
  Hollywoodian animated films such as The Lorax or WALL-E adopt the idea that to reconsider the damages caused to the natural world, a centralization of humans is needed. Hence, they are placed above animals and earthly creatures, as the representation of their identity cannot induce change, but needs to be reevaluated in an anthropocentric way (Patzner 156).
  
  In Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind, the Ohmu is a frightening, almost grotesque creature, but the viewer develops an affection towards it nevertheless, proving the efficiency of the refusal for anthropomorphism.This joins Arne Naess’ idea of deep ecology, which ascribes to the worth of all living organism regardless of whether they benefit the livelihood of human beings (Patzner 157).
  
  
  
  
  Complexity and Ambiguity
  
  
  Ghibli movies are clearly environmentally oriented, but they are not definitive about the Earth’s hopeful destiny.
  They offer questioning about whether humans deserve to continue to live on the very land they mistreated. At the end of Castle in the Sky, after humans tried to exploit Laputa for its resources throughout the movie, the castle flies away amongst the clouds (Patzner 166). This has been described as an “unsettling” view: do humans deserve to coexist with the natural world while their intentions towards it are always impure? Should our access to it be completely cut off?
  This pessimistic ambivalence can be understood as the “mono no aware” philosophy, which refers to the cognizance of the passage of time, and the gentle grief of the impermanence of everything on Earth. The melancholic endings can be interpreted as unhopeful about the environment’s future, as all is victim of time and eventually comes to an end (Patzner 167).
  In contrast, Hollywood animated films are always grounded in the idea that there is still time, that humans deserve a second chance to fix things. But how can these fixed endings create an active viewer? If there is always time, action is not needed as of yet, but if the end is uncertain, the viewer can gain consciousness.
  
  Ghibli vs Miramax
  It is interesting to explore the different translations of Miyazaki’s movies that allow broader access to such philosophies, but that can also redirect the viewer’s understanding depending on the version.
  Princess Mononoke is a film about humans’ relationships with nature, but the meaning of certain scenes can be altered by the subtitles’ choice. One striking example appears in one of the first images of the forest.

  Ghibli’s subtitles, one unspoken sentence:
  ‘In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests where from ages long past dwelt the spirits of the gods’.
  
  Miramax’s voiceover:
  ‘Back then, man and beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed. Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts who owed their allegiance to the great forest spirit. For those were the days of gods, and of demons.’

  (Nicholson 137) Hollywood’s Miramax subtitles here overexplain the situation, details are added, and man’s presence is centralized both through its mentioning in the natural environment, and through the additional voice-over.
  While Ghibli subtitles kept the focus on the forest’s history and trusted the viewer to understand the situation on their own, Miramax’s version adds a form of assistance, following the Hollywoodian tradition of keeping a simple, grounded and anthropocentric narrative.
  
  Ghibli movies trust their viewer, no matter the age, to actively feel and think about what is presented to them. Everything is not handed to them; their understanding of the movie is not already traced. The ambiguity and new perspectives create an active viewer, one who considers all of the environmental elements, not only human-related ones.
  By being introduced to non-human and ambivalent characters and situations, an active viewer is born: Hayao Miyazaki’s work serves as a guide to de-anthropomorphize the Anthropocene epoch, creating alternative perspectives and intellectual interpretations for a new and active viewer.