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It's not a Miyazaki film if there isn't allusions to capitalism, destruction of the environment, identity, growth, and change. And we love him for it immensely.

It's easy to think of movies like Spirited Away as nothing more than a kid's movie, but time and again powerful messages are hidden within Miyazaki's work, really making you question why animated media gets so trivialized.

I'm a Ghibli dork, I love it. While Spirited Away isn't even in my top 3 (tbh not even my top 5. I only really like the sprites and No Face...) of their movies, it's still such an important film that touches on a lot of incredible emotions. The fear of change that Chiihiro feels at the beginning is spot on to what a young child who has been uprooted is likely to feel. She's in an unknown place with unknown surroundings, it's not a surprise she freaks out the way she does. The most major aspect of this film is how a child deals with their fears--their fear of being separated from her parents, of growing up, of change, of figuring out who they are. Because identity is massive in this film. I mean, hello, there's a whole ass character named No Face. Yubaba literally steals aspects of their names, and it's Chiihiro's growth that allows her to take back her (and Haku's) identities and reclaim them. She gains confidence and autonomy by doing this. This, I feel, everyone can see in this film. It's pretty heavy handed.

Capitalism is throughout pretty much every Miyazaki film (as far as I've noticed) and this movie has it in abundance. I mean, they work in bathhouse, slaving away to the point they no longer have an identity. She has to beg for work to survive. The physical laborer's are literally hidden well beneath the lavish building they slave over. Also, hello, literal child labor? Even the clothes separate the working class from the elite--Yubaba is always lush and extravagant (while also being very ugly, a staple for Ghibli antagonists). The uniformity Chiihiro has to change into and hide her real clothes. The boiler rooms????? Hello????????? It puts a spot light on western industrialization and how dehumanizing and terrible it is. The mix of both Japanese and distinctly western influences just shows how they feel about the ever-expanding western capitalism influences into Japanese society--spoiling it and rotting it from the inside.

There is so much emphasis on over-consumption in this from the parents literally obsessively eating food they happen upon to No Face spouting their gold everywhere, the literal polluted river. The coal the sprites lug to keep the bathhouse going. The forever-baby indulging in their mom's attention and wealth with no thought to growing up or making an effort to be independent. Yubaba herself. There's so much of it.

Miyazaki is one that no one questions the greatness of, and for good reason. Dude is gifted. We still should've watched Howl's Moving Castle instead (but I know you like anti-capitalism, prof. Howls' has that too!!!!)

This movie definitely had a very strong theme of finding oneself and staying true to yourself. In the beginning we watch Sen and her parents enter the other world, where her parents quickly give way to gluttony losing themselves to the food, inevitably turning into pigs. When they first transform they still have shreds of themselves present via the parents hair and clothing in their pig forms; however, later in the film when Sen goes to the pig pen we become lost as all the pigs look the same. We are led to believe that her parents are among the drove of pigs, but where? If they are there they no longer have their distinguishing features from before, so are they even there? Their selves were lost, and the only one who could potentially save them is their daughter Chihiro (AKA Sen), who managed to hang on to herself completely until she signed a contract with Yubaba. After she signs the contract she forgets her name until she finds a card with her name on it that she brought into the spirit realm with her. As the story progresses she is able to help reveal the truth about Haku's true identity as Kohaku river and help him escape from Yubaba, taker of names and identities.

In conjunction with the preservation of the self, this movie explores the effects of over indulgence and the effects that has on one's self. There are several examples of over indulgence completely changing people within the film, from the transformation of her parents, to the faceless one becoming this spirit eating monster, un-feeling of Sen's emotions. In the beginning it seems that the faceless one is completely enamored with Chihiro, looking to help her at any and every opportunity, but once he gains access to the bath house and indulges in its delights he changes and transforms.

He begins to eat anything and everything, becoming tyrannical in the process, throwing fits for anything that didn't go exactly his way. It takes Sen taking him away from the place of indulgence and exercising the "sickness" out of him. He offers any of the staff as much gold as they desire, but we soon realize that all of it was fake as Yubaba reveals when she is looking for her baby, Boh.

Speaking of Boh I loved his character development. He starts as a spoiled brat that gets anything he wants when he cries for it, but after Zenibaba turns him into a rat? mouse? whatever he was, he finally has to grow and deal with things on his own. It takes him from legimately being incapable of standing, to standing up on his own in defiance of Yubaba when he is standing up for Chihiro. Not only does he gain physical strength, but strength of character, focusing not only on his wants but on others as well by the end of the film. maybe with a little more training and a bit more strength he can finally reach peak "praise the sun" form.

Initial Impressions

I was not expecting much going into this, thank christ lol. This was certainly an experience. There's certainly a lot to appreciate about this steaming dumpster of a film, from the creative blend of genres, styles, and cultural signifiers, to the insanely tight-paced and well-edited action. Unfortunately though, I'm not the biggest fan of films that purely serve as a source of entertainment without anything of substance to offer, so despite there being a lot to enjoy here, it didn't leave a significant impression for me.

Further Critique

The main source of enjoyment for me throughout this film was just the raw creativity on display. The use of the Heike Monogatari and the references to Django and Yojimbo among other things gave the film a very unique feel, particularly enjoyable for those who get the references (I'm a big Heike fan lol). On the same note, there were several creative uses of symbolism, like the bells, roses, and of course the colors of red and white. Of course, the shot direction and fight choreography were also extremely impressive and fun. Set design and cinematagraphy were also stellar. The production in general for this film was solid. But by far my favorite thing about this film is the dialogue. There were so many lines that had me pointing and laughing hysterically while Karin just sat there completely unamused, very good. Some of my favorites were: "SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT", "This is sukiyaki, not a damn lolipop", and "Keep it in your pants, lily-liver. The tougher man gets the girl", etc. Very good.

As far as actual critique I've got basically nothing aside from the obvious prevalence of tropes. You've got the typical "WOAH THAT CHARACTER IS THAT CHARACTER'S SON WHO'S THAT CHARACTER'S DAD!!????", the "Man with No Name" thing, the badass bitch, etc. Not much to say about that but yeah. Oh also, fucking loovvved Quentin Tarantino's performance in this. You always need at least one random white guy to spice things up a little. One critique I had was the pacing and setup at the beginning were a bit off and it took me a while to figure out what was going on.

Well, that was certainly one of the movies of all time. After scrolling all the way down on the semester syllabus and investigating more into what this film was all about, I was really interested to see what this one had in store for all of us. While it did not disappoint in terms of it being nothing I expected, this film was really goofy and I did not like it. But, I will get more into that in a bit because the summary is more important right now. Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django follows two rival gangs, the Heike and Genji clans, who fight for control of a town named "Yuta" where a mysterious treasure is said to be hidden. A lone gunman, known as "The Gunman," (woah what a crazy unique name) arrives in the town and becomes entangled in the conflict. The film blends elements of traditional westerns with Japanese culture, featuring a mix of samurai swords, gunslinging, and eccentric characters. It's a visually striking and action-packed film that pays tribute to both the western and samurai genres while adding Miike's unique flair for violence and dark humor. I thought it was really interesting and creative to almost combine Japanese culture with Western culture because it’s not something I’ve really ever seen done before, so I guess it was a cool movie to see how directors explores the tastes of worldwide audiences and how they combine to make a product for all audiences.

One thing that I thought was really interesting is how this film feels very heavily rooted in samurai films that Kurosawa made back in the 1900s. Each character having their own title felt very reminiscent of films like Yojimbo and Seven Samurai as they label the characters with their own roles. However, it also embodies many the same labeling as other modern Westerns. For example, while it isn’t a Western, Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs became a pioneer for this style of movie in Western cinema (and I thought it was even funnier that Tarantino himself even starred in the movie, what is he doing there). I liked the style that Miike embodied in this form of storytelling because it was interesting to see how each character played their role from a Japanese perspective versus an American one. These Western-esque labels are not present in Japanese film, so it was interesting to see Miike’s interpretation of it. 

I want to start off by appreciating the double meaning of this title in English. Whether it was intentional or not I'm not entirely sure; however, when Tokue entered Sentaro's life she could have easily been described as a Sweet bean. She was very kind to not only Sentaro, but anyone she interacted with, taking every opportunity to admire and love the world around her. With a sense of sincerity with her character, she had been perfecting her sweet bean paste recipe, offering it to Sentaro and breathing life into his long cold heart. Throughout the majority of the film, Sentaro is subject to a mountain of debt. It's explained that the owner of the Dorayaki shop had paid it off, so now Sentaro owed their family, having to work and manage the stand in recompense. Initially he struggles with the Anko recipe and ends up giving up on it entirely in favor of premade Anko. He maintains himself in this sense of mediocrity, slave to the whims of his debtee and his wife. Filled with sadness and content to glumly push through his daily routine, he gives up on the Anko recipe until Tokue presses for employment.

Tokue's employment marks a shift in Sentaro's daily routine, and pushes him to value his work. When Tokue and Sentaro work to create the improved dorayaki, Sentaro for the first time is able to eat the entirety of a dorayaki, but also smiles at his customer's reactions, taking pride in their work. Similarly, the customers too benefit from Tokue's sweetness through daily conversation as she mans the shop and via her upgrade to the recipe.

With Tokue's integration into the shop and Sentaro's life, we are reminded as to why Sentaro is in this metaphorical prison in the first place, when the shop owner's wife returns to complain about Tokue and how she likely has leprosy. The shop owner's wife, (we will name her tsuma from here on) tells Sentaro that he has to fire Tokue, fearful of the stigmata surrounding leprosy, born primarily out of fear and a lack of awareness as to what it is and the treatments against it (while it is bacterial, anyone who has been using antibiotics to fight it (the recommended solution offered by the WHO starting in 1985), is no longer contagious after 3 days). In this act, Tsuma is taking the new found spark in Sentaro's life and asking him to kill all relations with it. She could have tried to help conceal Tokue's identity, or recognized that her shop was multiplicatively more popular due to Tokue's influence and fought on her behalf, but she let her fear and lack of awareness lead her to trying to re-secure the cage Sentaro found himself in.

(realizing im hitting the word count)

Compared to the other films that we have viewed in this class, Sweet Bean is one that I found to be melancholy yet relaxing, reminding me quite a lot of Tokyo Story earlier on in the semester. Similarly to Tokyo Story, Sweet Bean is a grounded emotional drama between a small cast of characters that ends in tragedy with a somber yet slightly hopeful message at the end. However, for me, I found Sweet Bean to be a tighter experience compared to Tokyo Story overall. There feels like there is less down time compared to something like Tokyo Story where there are many static shots of the background and the compositions of nature, and while Sweet Bean does have these kinds of shots as well, they feel less frequent and are placed when needed.

I also enjoyed the aesthetic of Sweet Bean greatly, as the main character of the film, Sentaro, is running a dorayaki stand in Tokyo, creating this nice atmosphere of beautiful nature shots mixed with cooking, a combination that I find particularly appealing. I was also surprised by the emotional heart of this movie, Tokue, a woman in her mid seventies who wants to help out in the stand but Sentaro initially declines this request. Tokue eventually wins Sentaro over however and shows him how to properly make bean paste for his dorayaki. The scenes with these two cooking together is delightful and makes for a very heartwarming experience. Their dynamic is the best element of the film by far and makes rewatching the film more viable and enjoyable for the audience.

When watching Pulse, I kept asking myself what the message or idea was behind this movie, and it did a great job at addressing that throughout; however, there are occasional mixed signals. The message behind Pulse that the director had for the audience is that the internet is removing us from genuine human interactions. By doing so its causing everyone to be lonely and effectively become isolated in their own worlds, leading to the eventual death of their connections to humanity.

The movie establishes this idea from the very beginning when Ryosuke connects to the internet. He initially connects only to see others who are connected to the internet feeling alone. Their heads are down, and eventually, even one looks up to see the new soul who joined the system. All are connected, and all are alone. Every time we see ryosuke connect to the internet, he is met with this same sight, of individuals devoid of human connection. During the film, we even see the characters briefly talk about the effects of the internet and how, despite connecting people, the connections it makes are superficial and aren't meaningful like those found in reality.

As internet access is spreading more and more people are being labeled as missing. More are being subject to the isolation brought about by the internet and being ripped from genuine human connection. At the garden, it slowly creeps through, grabbing one person after another under the guise of being a ghost. One by one, people go to interact with a person lost to the "ghost" only for they themselves to discover the remains of their loved ones and become lost themselves. When they search for their loved ones, what they find in their search is the internet. They, too, become exposed, becoming lost to its pull.

When watching Pulse, I kept asking myself what the message or idea was behind this movie, and it did a great job at addressing that throughout; however, there are occasional mixed signals. The message behind Pulse that the director had for the audience is that the internet is removing us from genuine human interactions. By doing so its causing everyone to be lonely and effectively become isolated in their own worlds, leading to the eventual death of their connections to humanity.

The movie establishes this idea from the very beginning when Ryosuke connects to the internet. He initially connects only to see others who are connected to the internet feeling alone. Their heads are down, and eventually, even one looks up to see the new soul who joined the system. All are connected, and all are alone. Every time we see ryosuke connect to the internet, he is met with this same sight, of individuals devoid of human connection. During the film, we even see the characters briefly talk about the effects of the internet and how, despite connecting people, the connections it makes are superficial and aren't meaningful like those found in reality.

As internet access is spreading more and more people are being labeled as missing. More are being subject to the isolation brought about by the internet and being ripped from genuine human connection. At the garden, it slowly creeps through, grabbing one person after another under the guise of being a ghost. One by one, people go to interact with a person lost to the "ghost" only for they themselves to discover the remains of their loved ones and become lost themselves. When they search for their loved ones, what they find in their search is the internet. They, too, become exposed, becoming lost to its pull.

When watching Pulse, I kept asking myself what the message or idea was behind this movie, and it did a great job at addressing that throughout; however, there are occasional mixed signals. The message behind Pulse that the director had for the audience is that the internet is removing us from genuine human interactions. By doing so its causing everyone to be lonely and effectively become isolated in their own worlds, leading to the eventual death of their connections to humanity.

The movie establishes this idea from the very beginning when Ryosuke connects to the internet. He initially connects only to see others who are connected to the internet feeling alone. Their heads are down, and eventually, even one looks up to see the new soul who joined the system. All are connected, and all are alone. Every time we see ryosuke connect to the internet, he is met with this same sight, of individuals devoid of human connection. During the film, we even see the characters briefly talk about the effects of the internet and how, despite connecting people, the connections it makes are superficial and aren't meaningful like those found in reality.

As internet access is spreading more and more people are being labeled as missing. More are being subject to the isolation brought about by the internet and being ripped from genuine human connection. At the garden, it slowly creeps through, grabbing one person after another under the guise of being a ghost. One by one, people go to interact with a person lost to the "ghost" only for they themselves to discover the remains of their loved ones and become lost themselves. When they search for their loved ones, what they find in their search is the internet. They, too, become exposed, becoming lost to its pull.

This was one of the films I was most excited to watch when we first started this class. I am a big fan of horror and this is a classic in the genre. However, after watching the film I actually would classify it more as a thriller because of how it really isn’t scary but it is more on the mystery of what is going on and who the actual killer is. Obviously in the end the killer is Sadako, who is so well known now. I think why the film was different than what I expected was because of the American film where they just added more scares and made it a lot less about the suspicion of what’s going on. The one thing that I will always give credit to a film for doing is that of holding back and what I mean by that is the final reveal of Sadako at the end of the film. When she is revealed we do get what is a legendary scene and rightfully so but also of what she looks like and with the only thing that we see of her face being that of her eye when she kills our main  character’s husband. The one thing that I can also say about the film is that of the feminist approach to the film where as I wrote in my essay that in a lot of horror films the final person in the film will be the girl or the final girl as she triumphs over evil however in this case it’s actually not just that but also the killer. They showed multiple women throughout the film who had a lot of power. Not just Sadako but also her mother who predicted the volcano erupting. These women were all banished by the media and their own caretakers. When women were put in power they were seen as monsters or witches. When Sadako kills yeah that was a bad thing to do but the whole mob mentality they had against her mother was totally uncalled for they just wanted to not see someone like her have this sort of power over them. And the film also doesn’t have a good ending. It literally ends with our main character killing her dad to make sure her son survives. It’s a sad but good ending in my opinion because it wasn’t as simple as trying to get the bones of Sadako’s body and all that. The film holds its place in horror history and Japanese film history and I can’t wait to see more films like it and just more of J-Horror in general as I’ve heard its a crazy time and I’m all here for it.

Grade: A

Ringu is the first film we have viewed in this class that has had a sizable horror element present. Honestly, going into the film, I was expecting way more horror just from what I know about it from pop culture references. However, Ringu presented itself as way more of a mystery and psychological horror film than I had initially anticipated. Rather than have the characters cower in fear from the VHS that they watched that caused them to become cursed, the characters work towards understanding the cause of the phenomenon, the people involved, and how the curse itself is able to function.

On a basic level, the curse functions as a post-mortem revenge system created from the rage and hatred of the young girl pictured in all the promotional material for the film Sadako. Sadako’s mother, Shizuko, she had supernatural ESP abilities allowing her to predict the near future among other things. I found the primary scene with Shizuko being one of the most interesting scenes of Ringu. It begins with Shizuko being brought by a doctor looking to make himself famous by discovering her, and Shizuko displays her supernatural abilities in front of representatives of the medical community. However, as a commentary on human nature, the doctors shun Shizuko’s abilities because of their closed-mindedness and inability to accept what is different from them. Ringu tackling such a relatable problem for many people caused me to see the film in a more modern light and it has something to say about today’s world as well.

When I heard we were going to be watching another crime film for this class, I imagined it would be in a similar vein to Hana bi, which was a grounded and emotional drama about the downward spiral of crime. However, if Swallowtail Butterfly did anything for me then it subverted these expectations hard as it does have moments of strong emotion as well as intense action, over the top characters, and a gruesome depiction of a gritty underworld. Whereas a film such as Hana bi had most of the crime elements come from the yakuza and Nishi’s actions throughout the film, every group we follow in Swallowtail Butterfly is neck deep in some kind of underworld money making scheme or fighting other gangs to maintain their territory.

What stuck out to me when I first saw Swallowtail Butterfly was the number of different ethnicities in Yen Town, as the characters go from speaking Japanese to English to Mandarin to Cantonese, showcasing how in this future Yen Town is a melting pot of all kinds of different cultures. Yen Town has its own distinct atmosphere to it because of all of the languages and type of people within it, and also due to the amount of time we spend exploring it. The main cast of characters open their own music club, make record deals, walk down streets with drug addicted civilians, and encounter the mob. All of the scenes add to the gritty feeling of Yen Town making the city itself a character in the film, matching in implementation and atmosphere to Night City in Cyberpunk or futuristic Los Angeles in Bladerunner 1982.