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Snowflake Challenge: Day Six
Jan. 11th, 2014 08:24 amIn your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
So, I had to think about this a lot, but Hayao Miyazaki's work has meant a lot for me. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away (2001) isn't really my favorite of his films, but it's the one that's maybe gotten to me the most. One of the things that I love about Miyazaki's films is the way that he writes good and evil. (There's a really lovely comic about this here by saphhiresky1410.)
I don't really believe in that depiction of a clear-cut good vs. evil conflict that's so prevalent. It's just... not how I experience the world, not how I see the world. I would get so frustrated when I was younger and trying to fix conflicts because I could see both sides, and I get so frustrated today when I see people just... not getting things. (Like, say, starting a sentence with "I'm not racist, but..." and somehow missing the part where they're being racist and that racism is harmful.)
I haven't seen Spirited Away in a long time (it's not my favourite) but there's this scene after she's taken the train away, where the two beings who've caused the most harm are just sitting in a kitchen and they've been taken out of a situation that was toxic for them or they've had this terribleness stripped away and they're not harming anyone any more. They're different than how they were before, and that is sort of the most amazing fairy tale I have ever seen. It's a scene that's left an impression upon me, that speaks to something sort of fundamental in me.
I love that solution to conflict, that no one dies, that no one is basically condemned for the evil they've committed. I think that's great, because it is a better solution to conflict than the one that so often gets modeled where there's an opponent who has to be defeated, who's seen more as a caricature than a person. It's better writing, I think, when characters are fully fleshed out, and it's a really lovely story, that people's behaviours can change and people can be changed.
Spirited Away wasn't this earth-shattering film for me. It changed my life in the same way that a lot of the media I consume does - by making it just a little bit better.
So, I had to think about this a lot, but Hayao Miyazaki's work has meant a lot for me. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away (2001) isn't really my favorite of his films, but it's the one that's maybe gotten to me the most. One of the things that I love about Miyazaki's films is the way that he writes good and evil. (There's a really lovely comic about this here by saphhiresky1410.)
I don't really believe in that depiction of a clear-cut good vs. evil conflict that's so prevalent. It's just... not how I experience the world, not how I see the world. I would get so frustrated when I was younger and trying to fix conflicts because I could see both sides, and I get so frustrated today when I see people just... not getting things. (Like, say, starting a sentence with "I'm not racist, but..." and somehow missing the part where they're being racist and that racism is harmful.)
I haven't seen Spirited Away in a long time (it's not my favourite) but there's this scene after she's taken the train away, where the two beings who've caused the most harm are just sitting in a kitchen and they've been taken out of a situation that was toxic for them or they've had this terribleness stripped away and they're not harming anyone any more. They're different than how they were before, and that is sort of the most amazing fairy tale I have ever seen. It's a scene that's left an impression upon me, that speaks to something sort of fundamental in me.
I love that solution to conflict, that no one dies, that no one is basically condemned for the evil they've committed. I think that's great, because it is a better solution to conflict than the one that so often gets modeled where there's an opponent who has to be defeated, who's seen more as a caricature than a person. It's better writing, I think, when characters are fully fleshed out, and it's a really lovely story, that people's behaviours can change and people can be changed.
Spirited Away wasn't this earth-shattering film for me. It changed my life in the same way that a lot of the media I consume does - by making it just a little bit better.
