Miyazaki & Teng Fanvid Duology
I've posted both of these vids separately, but today I watched them both back to back, and it made me really want to post them in one place. Though I made them a year and a half apart, for two totally unrelated events, in my mind they are one continuous project. On their own, each explores a specific and important thematic element of Miyazaki's body of work, but together they capture what is perhaps the most interesting aspect of his films, to me - the tension between his conflicting and interrelated fascinations with both environmentalism and technological progress.
When I first heard Watershed, I felt immediately that it would be the perfect song to examine the environmentalist message in Miyazaki's films. I was particularly taken with the first-person perspective of the song which beautifully gives voice to nature itself as it is depicted in Miyazaki's films - this magnificent, ancient force, both benevolent and destructive, and far more vast than the scope of human existence. This choice of fandom/music pairing was even more affirmed when Vienna Teng actually commented on my vid, saying she loved the parallels I'd drawn between her lyrics and Miyazaki's work - I geeked out pretty hard about this!
Watershed - AO3 Link - Premiered at @vidukon 2024
I will unsettle the land beneath you, send my waters ashore, creep into your bed, find you in every corner
Sometime later, I received a request to make a Castle in the Sky vid to Landsailor for Fandom Trumps Hate. While I'd heard the song before in the context of other vids, I had never considered the intended meaning of the lyrics outside how vidders had recontextualized them. When I listened more closely and realized the song was both an ode to and warning about the innovations that allow humans to live in comfort, shrouded in metaphorical language, I knew this would make the perfect compliment to my existing vid, and asked permission to use the song for a multifandom project.
Landsailor - AO3 Link - Made for @fandomtrumpshate 2025
Headless and faceless, tireless and seamless, behind these walls
The result is what I consider two of my most ambitious, thematically rich multifandom vids to date. I'm very proud of them for how far outside my typical comfort zone they fall, being two of only a handful of vids I've made that focus on a theme that is not character- or relationship-driven, showcasing instead something bigger than the individuals these stories are about. While I think these vids stand perfectly well on their own, I also think they are stronger when put in conversation with each other, so here they are in one post!
