The Wind Rises: Miyazaki’s Flights of Fancy

This article was created by film teacher Mark Ramey, and appeared in issue 56 of Media Magazine, in April of 2016.

The article focuses on the work of Studio Ghibli, and Miyazaki Hayao's contemporary auter style. It mainly discusses his acclaimed final piece The Wind Rises, and the transition of the studio from niche to mainstream;

"Spirited Away (2002)... became the first anime to win an Oscar for Best Animation at the 2003 Academy Awards." 

The article goes on to talk in extensive detail about the allegorical undertone of The Wind Rises, Miyazaki's self-proclaimed final film. Novelist Andrew Osmond described the film as;

"Miyazaki's most atypical cartoon, yet it might be his most personal self-representation, a portrait of the artist as a myopic dreamer." 

The Wind Rises, contextually, links heavily with the Pearl Harbour attacks of 1941, the main character designing the "iconic Mitsubishi Zero Fighter" - introducing us to the binary opposition of innocence vs. corruption. 

The article maintains that Miyazaki uses the theme of environmentalism, which is recurrent among Studio Ghibli films; 



This is demonstrated in the trailer for Spirited Away, which resonates with a sense of pacifism