After a long wait since it was announced in 2016 that Hayao Miyazaki was preparing his farewell film, Spanish viewers were finally able to see “The Boy and the Heron” this fall. Its original Japanese title, How Do You Live?, is that of a 1937 novel that greatly influenced the creator of such important animated films as My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. But Genzaburō Yoshino’s book has little to do with this latest Miyazaki film, even though the child protagonist finds it in his room in the house he moved into after his mother’s death. The classic that all Japanese children read in the mid-20th century tells of the life of a boy who learns about the true meaning of bravery, the injustices of the world or the essence of his own being. All themes that constantly run through the Studio Ghibli universe founded by Miyazaki. Next, let’s look at some of the themes from his filmography that can help us in the difficult art of living:
The magic lies hidden in the everyday. Sometimes it happens by chance or synchronization, as is the case with the teenage protagonist of Whispers of the Heart. Shizuku discovers that the same books she chooses in the library were previously read by someone named Seiji Amasawa, which will have consequences for her life. How many significant coincidences do we miss because we don’t pay enough attention to what is happening to us?
Your power lies outside your comfort zone. Ghibli characters find their true dimension when they leave the familiar world and venture into the unknown. In the case of The Boy and the Heron, the ruthlessness of the protagonist, who decides to enter a cursed family building, will allow him to mourn the death of his mother and make peace with his stepmother.
We need nature for our emotional balance. Eco-anxiety is based on the separation of humans from the natural home that gives them life. Many people seek healing by returning to the countryside, like the father of Satsuki, one of the girls from “My Neighbor Totoro,” to whom her father confesses, “Trees and people used to be good friends. “I saw this tree and that’s why I decided to buy the house.”
Every person sets their own limits. Before reality sets us a limit, we often decide in our heads what we can and cannot achieve. The breadth of one’s own life horizon is therefore determined by beliefs. There’s a moment where Chihiro asks the dragon Haku about the limits and he replies, “There are three limits: the sky, the imagination and yourself.”
The small contains the largest. Miyazaki’s films are characterized by their attention to detail. We follow the walk of a cat through a residential area or the flight of a speck of dust. William Blake summed it up in a famous poem: “To see the world in a grain of sand and the sky in a wild flower, embrace infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.” We can only experience the wonders of life when we open our senses to the seemingly insignificant.
We carry our history with us. Spirited Away reminds us: “Nothing that happens is forgotten. Even if you don’t remember it.” Everything counts and has its value. We are the product of everything we have done, seen and felt, although much of it is found in the deep waters of the unconscious.
“Reality is for people who lack imagination.” The phrase comes from Miyazaki himself, who dedicated his life to creating extraordinary worlds in which he could take a break from the prose of the world. When we are burdened by bad news or aggressiveness around us, imagination inspires us and can even reveal unknown aspects of our personality. Psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, author of The Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales, explained that every fantastic tale is “a magical mirror that reflects aspects of our inner world and the stages necessary to move from immaturity to complete maturity.”
Watching films by this great storyteller will help us embark on the journey to relieve worldly tensions while enhancing our imagination and self-knowledge.
“That’s how children think”
– This is the title of a compilation of articles by Miyazaki that includes reflections like this: “Children have the same problems as adults. [Algunos padres] They had children to do what they should have done, and they are only happy when the children learn.”
— In Japan, the pressure to earn a place in society leads to them competing in school and not being able to enjoy their childhood. “We should give children back the energy that once gave them the strength to deal with small adversities,” he writes. A strength that you can only imagine and that adults also need.
Francesc Miralles is an author and journalist who is an expert in psychology.
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