First, the connotation of the story
Let's analyze the basic connotation of the story first. This film uses a lot of metaphor symbols, one of which is the moving castle. What does it mean to move the castle?
As we know, in western literary works, castles usually refer to an autistic mind. For example, Edward Scissorhands or Duke Dracula, a vampire, stayed alone in the castle all the year round, expecting to be rescued. In those films, the castle is a symbol of the protagonist's autistic mind. So, what does the mobile castle mean? My understanding is that moving the castle refers to Hall's wandering heart. The mobile castle was moved by the fire demon Cassifa, whose magic came from Hall's heart. Therefore, the mobile castle is actually Hall's spiritual illusion. At the beginning of the film, a castle walks slowly on the plain. The metal castle supported by four claws looks like a colorful heart, and the chimney and roof are as dense as cardiovascular. The castle stopped in front of Sophie and made a high decibel friction noise. The castle trembled violently. It was Hall's heart shaking-he finally waited for his sweetheart.
The mobile castle is a magical doppelganger created by the fire demon Cassifa, and the inner room is actually Hall's home in Port Haven. Sophie just entered the castle and saw a square door knob on the lintel. There were four colors on the four sides of the door knob, blue facing up, and outside the door was Port Haven. Red is facing up, and outside the door is the seat of the palace; Green is up, outside the door is the way to move the castle, black is up, and outside the door is the battlefield filled with smoke. Later, Hall moved his family to Qiping Town, and changed one exit to his new home in Qiping Town, and the other exit to his secret garden. That is to say, in Hall's house, as long as you turn the door button, there can be any four spaces outside the door. It's like a person sitting at home, fantasizing that he will enter all kinds of virtual spaces at any time and experience all kinds of events: he was born in his hometown, wandered in vanity fair, rebelled against evil forces in the dark, built a new nest with his lover, stopped in a pure and beautiful garden of the soul, and fantasized about having a powerful fortress to compete with the secular ... This post-modern collage method is similar to A Chinese Odyssey.
The two protagonists in this film are full of human factors, far exceeding any role in previous cartoons. Sophie is a quiet and kind little girl. She fell in love with Hall at first sight, but she thinks she is not beautiful and dare not expect the charming Hall to love herself. She was turned into an old woman by a witch in the wilderness, and then she came to Hall's mobile castle to clean the room for Hall. She thinks that as long as she is an old woman, she won't be embarrassed to do anything for Hall, so she would rather be an old woman. This is her heart knot, and her old state is actually a reflection of her inner depression and inferiority. Hall, the hero, is a powerful magician. He is kind-hearted, handsome in appearance, loves dressing up and is a little timid, but when his lover is present, he will be very brave. Hall didn't want to serve the warlike palace, evaded the king's call-up, and often sabotaged the war, so he was a lonely anti-war person. This halo was specially added by Miyazaki Hayao, but it was not in the original work.
In the original, Hal is just a magician who takes the king's reward to deal with the witch in the wilderness. There is no war scene in the original. Miyazaki Hayao deliberately developed an anti-war theme, rewriting Hall's teacher, Mrs. Sariman, into a belligerent and autocratic villain, making the film almost an anti-war film. Considering that Miyazaki Hayao himself has always been anti-war, it seems that Hal is the spokesman of Miyazaki Hayao.
Miyazaki Hayao claimed: "This is an animation I tried to create for the elderly." It's better to say, "This is an animation I created for myself, an old man in his sixties." I believe that this is Miyazaki Hayao's soul poem which has been brewing for a long time, and it has been flowing in Miyazaki Hayao's heart for a long time.
Second, Hall
Who is Hall? He is the most beautiful character in Miyazaki Hayao's works, and he is an idealist who cannot be tolerated by the world.
Hall's first appearance was in a quiet street. Sophie met two soldiers molesting her in the street. Hall suddenly appeared, and with a little finger, she was relieved. The wild witch's men chased them, and Hall took Sophie into the air. The two men stepped on the rhythm of the dance music and walked slowly, stepping on the bustling scene of the world. Sophie landed on the balcony with Hall like a dream. With a wave of his hand, Hall flew down and disappeared. This is a fantastic appearance. Hall, with blond hair, soft eyes, blurred eyes and gentle manner, is a hero to save the United States, gentle and kind, mysterious and romantic, and satisfies all the fantasies of girls about Prince Charming.
Hall's second appearance was after Sophie became an old woman. Sophie was cooking on the fire at that time. When Hall came in, he saw a stranger coming to the house and asked, "Excuse me, who are you?" Sophie smiled and said, "I'm Sophie's mother-in-law, the new cleaner in the castle." Without asking much, Hall grabbed Sophie's spatula. "Please bring me two pieces of bacon and six eggs." Sophie handed the eggs and bacon to Hall, who cooked quietly, knocked the eggs into the pan one by one, and then threw the eggshells into the stove. The oil pan sizzled, the flames leaped happily, and Hall cooked a hearty breakfast. Later, the two of them sat down to eat with their little apprentice Maruk, just like a family. To my surprise, Hall's second appearance turned out to be doing housework. He can cook like most single men! As a great magician, Hall is undoubtedly a good man.
Hall has another advantage. He speaks politely. He often uses polite expressions such as "please" and "trouble you" when he speaks, and his manners are polite. In the palace, in the face of his nemesis, Mrs. Sariman, Hall knew that there would be a fierce battle next, but he still bent down to salute Mrs. Sariman and said, "The teacher's spirit is good and gratifying. I came as promised. " Take your time.
There is only one exception. One day, Sophie accidentally moved the bathroom shelf, messing up the magic, and Hall's hair never changed back to beautiful golden color. He stumbled downstairs around a bath towel and lost his temper with Sophie: "Sophie! Did you move the shelf in the bathroom? Look, the hair has turned into this strange color! " He cried in despair, and slumped down on the chair. "It's a great shame to be hopeless ... If it's not beautiful, what's the point of living ..." He fell dead on the stove, with green mucus bubbling from his body. The room was full of gloom, dark elves danced in succession, the beams twisted and trembled, and the green mucus flowed all over the floor. Sophie had to carry Hall upstairs. The play is slightly comic, revealing Hall's childish side.
Hall is lazy, depressed and unhygienic. When Sophie first entered the castle, she saw the castle was messy, the beams were covered with dust and spiders and reptiles were everywhere. As we know, the castle is Hall's mental illusion, and the mess in the castle shows that Hall's will is very depressed. However, although Hall is depressed, he still insists on going to the battlefield every day. He is a staunch anti-war person and is bent on preventing the war from destroying the town.
At the beginning of the film, in Sophie's hat shop, the girls talked about Hall in succession: "I heard that the girl named Martha in Namcho had her heart taken away by Hal, which was terrible!" Legend has it that Hall is a demon, and everyone turns pale at the mention of the tiger. This is just like some chivalrous men in Jin Yong's works, such as Xiao Feng, Golden Snake Husband and Huang Yaoshi. Although they are all indomitable figures, they are regarded as the great devil by "noble family and decent people". In the eyes of the world, maverick people are eccentric, while maverick and extremely capable people are almost a disaster. Even Lady Sariman, the royal magician, thinks Hal is very dangerous. But as a person who gets along with Hall day and night, Sophie is convinced that Hall is not a bad person, but why does everyone make Hall so terrible?
At the end of the film, the suspense was finally uncovered. The castle broke up and Sophie fell to the bottom. In desperation, she found that the ring that Hal gave her was moving, and the light of the ring pointed to the door of the castle. She opened the door of the castle, walked through a long tunnel and entered a room. There is a table in the room, covered with paper full of words, which is Hall's handwriting. When she walked out of the house, she found Hal's secret garden outside. Meteors in the sky crossed the road, hitting the grass and falling into the water, making a tinkling sound. A thin little boy came from afar, and that was Hall in his childhood. Sophie was stunned. The little boy stood in the middle of the grass, and a meteor fell in the sky, falling into his hand and sparking brightly. The little boy smiled and held the meteor and murmured, as if he were making a wish. Then he looked up and swallowed it. Sophie saw all this from a distance and could hardly believe it-that was the so-called contract, the so-called transaction. That's actually just a wish of the child! The boy frowned and bent down, holding his chest, and then he held out a burning heart. The flame was burning, and the boy stood quietly in the middle of the lawn with his burning heart in his hand. This is the most classic scene in the whole film. In an instant, Sophie understood everything.
We should remember that Gorky wrote a dan the man Ke. In order to lead the forest of out of the dark, Danke took out his burning heart and lit the way for the people. Danke is a hero with strong salvation feelings, and he is the most famous character in Gorky's works. As long as you hold the burning heart in your hand, I believe that all people who know Danke will think of Danke. Like Dan Ke, the little boy Hall holds his heart in his hand, but he is not only trying to save the world, but also trying to save himself. He doesn't want to be loyal to the kingdom, and he doesn't want to persecute the people by war. He wants to strive for a free and peaceful environment. Therefore, he entrusted his heart to the meteor, making the meteor a fire demon, and relying on the power of the fire demon to create a powerful mobile castle. Since then, he has been hiding in the castle all day, avoiding the king's call-up and going out at any time to stop the spread of the war. In fact, Hall's wish is just that of an ordinary child, but this simple wish is actually very dangerous in the adult world accustomed to slavery and autocracy. When Hall dug out his young heart, Sophie understood everything from afar. The underground suddenly cracked, and the powerful time and space wanted to suck Sophie back. Sophie couldn't help but shout, "Hall, Cassifa, it's Sophie, wait for me! I will definitely come to you! Wait for me in the future-"She knows that he will face a long-term lonely situation, and she wants to give him a love agreement. Hall looked back in surprise and saw a girl sink into the ground and disappeared. On the day when he gave his heart to the fire devil, he felt the call of love, so he waited for Sophie and his sweetheart. Until one day, he found a Sophie's mother-in-law who claimed to be a cleaning woman in the castle, and he knew it was his lover. The first thing he did was grab her spatula and cook her a big breakfast.
In the meteor-filled garden, the little boy Hall holds a burning heart fire, towards the distant. This scene is so touching and so sad. Sophie walked back in the time tunnel, crying as she walked. It was just a child's simple wish, but it became the whole price of being a man. Hall has since been regarded as a thorn in the side of the world. He exiled himself and drove the castle across countless mountains and seas to find his lover. Now, his lover has finally arrived. Sophie walked out of the tunnel and saw Hall as a big bird, quietly waiting for her in the valley. She stepped forward, brushed aside his unkempt feathers, kissed his bloodstained face and said:
"Hall, I'm sorry, you waited for me here, but I didn't come until now."
This is the most touching confession. She realized that he had been waiting for her. He suffered so much and fought alone for so long, but she never shared it for him. She felt guilty.
Then, Sophie lifted the contract between Hall and Cassifa and stuffed her heart back into Hall's heart. Hall took back his heart, and Caspar survived. They recreated a beautiful garden castle. What dominates this garden castle is no longer Hall's lonely, angry and rebellious heart, but the love between Hall and Sophie. Although the happy ending is too old-fashioned, it makes sense. Come to think of it carefully, maybe only love can save the idealist who is not allowed by the world, and maybe only love can let the man who is immersed in the heroic dream go home.
This is the story of Hall. I like this story. Every idealist has a Hall in his heart. Some people have found love, some people haven't, and maybe they won't get it for life. Those who can't get love are likely to become demons like wild witches; Or some people will, like dan the man Ke, fall to the ground and die quietly in the indifference of the world, unknown.
Third, dialogue
Sophie went back to Hall's childhood and witnessed Hall catching a meteor and taking out his heart. This scene was added by Miyazaki Hayao, but it didn't exist in the original. Most of the wonderful scenes in the film were written by Miyazaki Hayao. This is a wonderful script, and some profound and touching dialogues are thought-provoking.
For example, in the palace, Mrs. Sariman said to Sophie:
"He (Hall) is my last introductory disciple. The child is talented and talented, and I am secretly glad to finally find someone who can inherit my status. Unexpectedly, the child's heart was taken away by the devil and left me, becoming a person who only used magic for his own benefit. The child is very dangerous. He has no heart, but he has too much power. If this continues, Hall will become like a witch in the wilderness. This wild witch used to be a brilliant magician, but she made a deal with the devil, and for a long time, both her body and mind were swallowed up. Now our kingdom can no longer tolerate these heretical wizards fooling around. If Hall is willing to come here to serve the kingdom, he will break up with the devil. I will teach you the way. If you don't come, I will abolish his magic, just like that woman. "
The beginning of this remark is a bit mysterious. Mrs. Sariman asserted that Hall's heart was taken away by the devil. Hall had no heart, but he had great power and was a very dangerous person. Mrs. Sariman made clear her position. What she meant was that wizards should be loyal to the kingdom. As the saying goes, "If you learn martial arts, the goods will be sold to the emperor's family." If a wizard doesn't want to be dominated by the ruler, he is a dangerous person. She threatened that if Hall didn't report to the palace, she would abolish the magic of Hall, just like the magic of the witch in the wilderness. This is a bit murderous.
Although Sophie still doesn't know what's going on between Hall and Vulcan Cassirer, out of her understanding and love for Hall, she angrily stood up and refuted:
"I finally know why Hall doesn't want to come here. This is a strange place, inviting people to come over but letting the old people climb a flight of stairs first and then take them to a strange room. Isn't this bullying? You said that Hall's heart was swallowed up. He is really a wayward and timid person, and he doesn't know what is going on in his head, but at least he is frank and honest, and he wants to live his own life. Hall won't come here, and he won't be the devil. He will definitely find a way to solve the problem with the devil himself. I believe he will! "
It is common in history to invite people over but let them climb a flight of stairs first. For example, in old China, when courtiers saw the emperor, they had to climb a flight of stairs first, and they had to kneel three times and knock nine times to bow down. This is actually a common phenomenon that people oppress people in hierarchical society. But all this seems extremely unreasonable to Sophie. She understood Hall's mind. He didn't want to blend into the hierarchical society, be suppressed, or suppress others. He didn't want to come to the palace because he wanted to protect freedom and dignity, but the autocratic ruler thought he was "very dangerous". Sophie can't help but defend Hall loudly: "At least he is frank and honest, and he wants to live his own life." Hit the floor.
This wonderful debate reveals the root of the conflict between the pros and cons of the film, that is, the irreconcilable contradiction between absolutism and liberalism. In the eyes of absolutists, a capable person is unwilling to integrate into society, wandering around all day, and often doing things that violate policies, which is like giving his heart to the devil, which is very terrible. In the eyes of liberals, they have the right to control their own lives, and they are fighting for moral ideals. In order to realize the moral ideal, they would rather pay the price, even if they shed blood and sacrifice, they must never act as a humble member of the hierarchical society.
Speaking of which, we have to analyze the fire demon Cassifa in detail. What does the fire demon Cassifa mean? We know that his predecessor was a dying meteor, and the meteor, in the eyes of ordinary people, is the object of wish. Hall gave his heart to the meteor, which is equivalent to entrusting his heart to his wish. In other words, the fire demon Cassifa is actually the dream fire in Hall's heart.
So, what is Hall's dream? According to Mrs. Sariman in the film, "the child's heart was taken away by the devil and he became a person who only used magic for his own benefit." That is to say, after Hall took out his heart, the first thing he did was to fight for freedom. He doesn't want to obey the king's palace or be pushed around. He left Mrs. Sariman, and he wanted to build his own castle with the fire of his dream, so as to realize the desire of freedom and peace. Hall's dream is freedom and peace.
In the film, Cassifa is called "the devil", not only by Mrs. Sariman, but also by Sophie, and even Cassifa claims to be: "I am a devil!" This is very interesting. Cassifa is a friend of Hall and Sophie. He is the dream fire in Hall's heart, but in the eyes of the world, he is a demon because he "devours people's body and mind". It makes sense to think about it carefully. Idealism is a double-edged sword. A child stubbornly pursues his dream with a willful mind. If he refuses to make any compromise to reality all the time, he will become a madman sooner or later. The so-called growth is the process of constantly compromising reality; The so-called maturity is the transformation from idealism to empiricism. There is no absolute freedom in the world, just as there is no permanent tyranny in the world. A person immersed in a state of freedom for too long will eventually be depressed and decadent, or act recklessly, and both body and mind will be swallowed up. Miyazaki Hayao has a unique view in this respect. It seems that he is not only an animator who stays in the studio all day and daydreams, but also a thinker.
Although Miyazaki Hayao is firmly anti-war, he doesn't seem keen on being a hero. In the second half of the film, there is a scene in which Hall and Sophie's new home are attacked by gunfire. Hall is determined to defend his home. He says to Sophie, "Sophie, you stay here, and Kasifa will protect you, and I will guard it outside." Sophie hurried forward, "and so on! Hall, you can't go, stay here! " Hall said sadly, "The next air raid is coming, and Cassirer can't stop it." Sophie suggested, "run away and don't fight them!" " Hall calmly and firmly replied, "Why? I have escaped enough in these years, and I finally have someone who has to be guarded, and that is you. " After that, he flew out and threw himself into the battlefield filled with smoke without hesitation.
A responsible man, after meeting his lover, has doubled his courage and bravely shouldered the burden of protecting his family at the time of war, which is really touching. However, is it the right way to protect your lover by fighting alone? How can one person's strength stop a huge legion? In the final analysis, Hall is a stubborn idealist, who thinks that a good man should be killed in battle and should not run away from the battlefield. But Sophie doesn't think so. When Sophie saw that Hall was attacked in the air and cried out in pain, she was so frightened that she immediately asked Cassifa to move and call Hall back. She said:
"As long as we stay here, I'm afraid Hall won't come back. It's better to be a coward. "
Sophie means that she doesn't want Hall to be a hero. She just wants everyone to be safe. They might as well escape to a safe place. She doesn't want Hall to pester the enemy. She prefers Hall to be a coward. Sophie's words won my heart. A man with such a temper as Hall is mostly a scholar and artist in his life. How can he turn the tide? Once the killing machine is started, it is either killing people or being killed. Is the self-sacrifice of small people worth geometry? The wise way is to choose to run away like Sophie. I agree with Sophie very much, although I prefer Hall.
The above two dialogues are the essence of the film's thought. These two plays show that Miyazaki Hayao has a profound understanding of idealism.
Fourth, the situation
As the most meaningful character in Miyazaki Hayao's works, Hall has many shapes. When he first appeared, Hall wore a colorful long coat, long emerald earrings, blond shawls and blurred blue eyes, like a dream prince in a fairy tale. Later, the coat became light, and the hairstyle became straight, still very beautiful. After Hall's hair changed back to black, his image became simple. He didn't even wear a beautiful long coat, but only wore a white shirt, which was a bit homely. Don't underestimate this change, which means that under the influence of Sophie, Hall gradually got rid of narcissism and weakness and became mature.
Many scenes in the film left a deep impression. In one scene, Hall sleeps quietly on the bed, wearing a white shirt, his eyes closed, and the bed is covered with all kinds of strange toys, which are golden and dreamy. This scene is like a pure white prince sleeping in a bright dream of a child, which reminds people of Klimt's oil paintings.
In another scene, Hall lost his temper and summoned the dark elves. He was pale and fell on the stove, like a seriously ill child, and the melancholy green mucus flowed all over the floor. The surrounding shadows are dim, the light is dim, and the beam furniture in the house is twisted and uneasy. The picture is very tense, the color is heavy and gloomy, and the style is somewhat similar to Monk's print "Uneasy".
Here is the production of this film. There is a leap in the production of this film. Although the characters are still hand-drawn, some sets, props and lights use computer 3D technology for the first time. Because the characters are still drawn by hand, the overall light and simple style of the film can be continued, but the picture often has the charm of oil painting or printmaking. This is really an amazing breakthrough. In the film, wood, wooden doors, wooden columns, Shi Zhuan, walls, toys and other materials are delicate, realistic and shiny; Light permeates naturally like real light, and even the dust in the light is clearly visible. Such a picture cannot but remind people of the works of Venetian School or Dutch School. This effect is amazing.
In this ambitious cartoon, Miyazaki Hayao gave up his best large-scale war scene. Those who are familiar with Miyazaki Hayao should remember that Miyazaki Hayao is very good at the scene operation of large-scale air combat, but there is no commendable air combat scene in this film. However, Hall became a big gray bird, and his posture of flying in the night sky filled with smoke left a deep impression on people.
Guns rumbled in the night sky, flying boats were blown to pieces, and the sky became a sea of fire. Hall spread his wings and flew in, his eyes were wide open and his huge wings were flat, as powerful as a giant eagle; He swept across the smoke-filled night sky, sharp and swift as a petrel across a cloudy sea.
It should not be accidental that Hall's flying model looks like a giant eagle in close range and a petrel in distant view. Eagle and Haiyan are both famous birds in Gorky's works. "Let the storm come more violently!" We all remember this famous saying. Song of Haiyan and Song of Eagle are Gorky's most famous essays, which were once praised as "proletarian revolutionary romanticism". Considering that the scene of Hall holding a heart fire is very similar to Gorky's dan the man Ke, I have reason to speculate that Miyazaki Hayao was inspired by Gorky when he conceived it. Obviously, the role of Hall combines the characteristics of Danke, Giant Eagle and Haiyan. However, Miyazaki Hayao had no intention of romanticism. While portraying Hall, an anti-war hero, he also reflected on idealism. He not only highlighted Hall's fighting spirit, but also emphasized his independent and free spirit, love ideal and pastoral ideal, which, in the eyes of proletarian revolutionaries fifty years ago, belonged to "decadent petty-bourgeois sentiment" and should be criticized. Miyazaki Hayao's style is very different from Gorky's. What he wants is the aestheticism of the situation. He wants to turn his strong feelings of salvation into sad and aesthetical lyric poetry. This is his artistic concept.
There are several scenes with strange atmosphere and mysterious beauty. In the first scene, Hall returns from the battlefield, drops his wings, falls into a chair, and talks to the fire demon Cassifa. The light in the room was dim and Hall was exhausted. He said darkly, "This war is very fierce. From the sea in the south to the border in the north, it is all a sea of fire." Cassifa cried, "I hate gunpowder fire!" There is no word polite in those guys' dictionaries! " In fact, Cassifa is Hall's inner fire, and Hall speaks to the stove, which is essentially talking to his own heart. In the dark room, lonely and tired Hall told his heart to the flame, which left a deep impression on people.
A more peculiar scene is a dream. When Hall came back from the battlefield for the second time, Sophie heard voices and woke up from a dream. Then she changed back to the appearance of a girl. In fact, she is dreaming, and people are most relaxed in their sleep, so Sophie in her sleep forgets her inferiority complex and becomes a girl again. She was shocked and hurt when she saw the feather stained with blood. She went upstairs with a candle and came to Hall's room. She opened the door and saw two passages filled with colorful toys in the room, leading to unknown distant places. Walking through a toy aisle, she saw a big bird shivering at the end and exclaimed, "Hall, isn't it Hall?" Is it sad? Are you hurt? " The big bird shivered and said in a low voice, "Don't come over-"Sophie said, "Never mind, let me help you, let me help you break the spell, ok?" The big bird suddenly looked up, revealing a skull face, and said, "You can't even undo the spell on yourself. Can you help me?" Sophie shouted, "that's different, because I love you!" " The skeleton sighed, "It's too late." Say, "wings to leave, grey feathers are flying, the situation is bleak, Sophie suddenly grew old, just stand. Hall, a seemingly powerful magician, is actually just a child hiding in a toy bush and stubbornly dreaming heroic dreams. He is lonely, hurt and autistic for many years. Although Sophie had sensed the loneliness and pain of Hall, she couldn't get rid of her inferiority complex and dared not approach her sweetheart. She felt anxious and didn't know what to do. This dream is full of gothic blurred atmosphere, and the artistic conception is deeply sad and unforgettable.
V. Conclusion
There is something wrong with the end of the film. When Mrs. Sariman saw Hall and others turn the corner, she immediately decided to call a truce, which was really puzzling. Why did she decide to stop fighting? The film did not explain why. It is estimated that in order to ensure the box office, the producers imposed a bright tail. This is a flaw in the film.
However, the film as a whole is still shining. This film embeds spiritual metaphor into a simple story frame like a fairy tale; It is refreshing to integrate the modern ideas of love, freedom and peace into the poetic style of aesthetic lyricism. This film has a modern aesthetic feeling and is an art of the new century, which is different from any previous film. I think this is a landmark work.
In the past half century, several generations of avant-garde filmmakers have deliberately pursued formal aestheticism, including Tarkovsky, Bergman, Ferini, antonioni, An Zhe Ropsky and other movie master. Many of their works have beautiful images, slow pace, obscure plots and extremely limited audiences. In fact, movies that are not necessarily profound must be obscure, such as Hall's Moving Castle, which is very interesting, and its ideological and aesthetic level is no less than any poetic movie. Therefore, formal aesthetics is not the only way to the art palace. Popular themes and simple plots, together with reasonable artists, can still reach the high realm of art.. Academics are obsessed with formal aesthetics and blindly advocate pure image theory, which is purely a manifestation of arrogance and isolation from the audience.
So, what is the secret of success?
The first is to create characters. Hall and Sophie have rich personality characteristics, but in previous poetic films, such as "The Soul of Venice" and "The Mirror", the characters were just a prop and a symbol in a beautiful long shot. Such films can usually only be lyrical, and it is difficult to carry profound thoughts. Take Miyazaki Hayao's past works, such as "City in the Sky". The two protagonists are simple and lovely, and their personalities are too thin to contain profound humanistic connotations. Therefore, City in the Sky is only a critical work, which is far less profound than Hall's Moving Castle.
Secondly, we should inject modern ideas into the film, instead of advocating the struggle idea or sacrifice spirit of the old times. In the last century, forty years of war and fifty years of cold war caused great pain to the whole world, and artists rose up to create and tried to seek salvation for the world with religious piety. Nowadays, people's life is becoming more and more stable, the trend has changed, and freedom, independence, equality and peace have gradually become the mainstream concepts of modern people. An era has an art of an era. Anyone who goes backwards to promote old ideas is fried cold rice, that is, picking up people's teeth and wisdom, and that is pedantic and conservative.
Above all, we must understand that although times are changing, some things will not change. For example, Tang poetry and Song poetry will never be out of date. Aesthetic lyricism is an immortal trend. The yearning for love and beauty is always rooted in everyone's heart. Miyazaki Hayao painstakingly shaped the beautiful Hall and carefully arranged the situation in order to practice his aesthetic ideas. He believes that cartoons can also practice artistic ideals, and so it is. Animation is a combination of painting art and film art, and animation can achieve visual aestheticism more conveniently than live-action movies. In a beautiful situation, the music is sad and low, and the plot quietly shows the heart of an idealist who is unacceptable to the world. It is the most touching moment when the tender heart finally reveals its simple and beautiful faith. That kind of moving beauty is completely different from the tragic beauty that reflects the strong inner worries of adults. After watching Miyazaki Hayao's animation, we know that there is a kind of pure beauty besides tragic beauty.
We might as well compare Miyazaki Hayao with his peers. The vast majority of Hollywood cartoons only seek entertainment, and the pictures are exaggerated and blurred, which is not very interesting. Even Miyazaki Hayao's colleague Gao Tianxun, whose masterpiece Goodbye, Firefly is tragic and painful, bitter and bitter, and has nothing to do with pure poetry. However, in Miyazaki Hayao's films, poetic and childlike good wishes run through almost every work, including Red Pig with middle-aged people as the protagonist. It can be said that Miyazaki Hayao has established his own aesthetic system, and he is a real master. Someone once said that Miyazaki Hayao was "Jin Yong of Japan" and "Shakespeare of animation", but now it seems that these titles are inappropriate. Miyazaki Hayao is Miyazaki Hayao, an epoch-making figure who opened up a new world in the field of art. I sincerely hope that his next work will continue to surprise and move us.