A Tapestry of Light and Dark: How a Small Japanese Animation Studio Helped to Change World”
Join us for a very special talk by Professor Susan Napier: “A Tapestry of Light and Dark: How a Small Japanese Animation Studio Helped to Change World”
When: April 4, 2022 @9pm (JPN time)
RSVP to receive Zoom details https://rsvp.tufts.edu/event/06c0e56c-0794-4a8f-ab7b-034ddf79a389/summary
Summary:
This talk discusses the works of Hayao Miyazaki of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, arguably the greatest living animator in the world today and how his films have engaged with the world around us. Miyazaki’s works offer global audiences a rich, compelling and unique vision that stands in important contrast to the animated films of Walt Disney Studios. Disney consistently gives us filmic visions in which good defeats evil, ending with a hopeful, “happily ever after” form of closure. In contrast, Miyazaki’s work and other films from Studio Ghibli present the world as a complex space in which light and dark interweave to create an often shadowier, more ambiguous vision of life. The talk will discuss some of Miyazaki’s most important films, particularly “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke,” and “Spirited Away” in terms of how Miyazaki uses character, narrative and imagery to present a multifaceted aesthetic space that is both appealingly immersive but also challenges us to approach the world in new and significant ways.
More about Prof Napier: https://rsvp.tufts.edu/event/06c0e56c-0794-4a8f-ab7b-034ddf79a389/websitePage:4a9f1ae7-fd5e-40ea-a47b-8748de11f650