40 Celebrities We Need To Keep Safe From 2016

TOKYO, JAPAN – JANUARY 28: (CHINA OUT, SOUTH KOREA OUT) Film director Hayao Miyazaki speaks during a press conference after the Hansen’s Disease symposium on January 28, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

21. Hayao Miyazaki

The first time I saw Spirited Away, I was terrified. It was like no animated movie I’d seen before, containing humans transformed into pigs and a mute spirit that feasts on greed. But it stayed with me, a spell that never broke. When I returned to it years later, I not only learned to appreciate the horror, but I also discovered the beauty: the tender romance between Chihiro and Haku; the message of bravery and kindness; the melancholy scene of a nearly empty train speeding through the night.

With American animation stifled by straitlaced conservatism, the films of Hayao Miyazaki feel revelatory. Though still aimed at children, they refuse to condescend, bearing closer resemblance to traditional fairy tales than the sanitized versions popularized by Disney. The primarily hand-drawn animation is surreal and wild, designed less for aesthetic appeal than emotional resonance; no other director more vividly captures the sensation of being in a dream or nightmare, the ordinary and fantastic inseparable. The stories often deal with complex issues, such as war or the destruction of nature, and the characters rarely fit into black-and-white moral categories. Women aren’t reduced to princesses or witches.

Miyazaki retired from feature-length filmmaking in 2013, leaving the animation world a tad less exciting. Some promising artists have emerged recently, such as Song of the Sea’s Tomm Moore, but Miyazaki came first, and his voice will never be truly replaced. Through movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, he opened my eyes to the power of animated storytelling, the way it can explore the outermost reaches of the universe and the innermost reaches of the human mind. I want to hold onto that wonder for as long as possible.

-Amy

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