Daily Archives: May 15, 2022

Studio Ghibli’s work often has themes about conflicts between man and the natural world. Pick one of the films they produced and explain how this theme is integrated into the story. Which characters represent the natural world? How is the conflict shown? Is it resolved?

A film that I think best represents this question is the movie Life of Pi. The reason why I think this film answers these questions is because throughout the film you can see the conflict between the main protagonist and the animal and throughout the film you see the struggles that both parties involved. In  this case a boy and a wild animal and as time goes on you see the relationship between the boy and the tiger progressively get better opposed to how it was at the beginning. In this case the conflict is the need to survive and to find a way home. As well the way the conflict is resolved is by the end of the film the boy and the tiger form a bond and reflect all the obstacles they had to overcome.  In order to survive that being said  I feel this film is a good representation of how there is conflict between man in this case a boy and natural world in this case a lion and how it’s resolved.

Prompt 1 : Studio Ghibli’s work often has themes about conflicts between man and the natural world. Pick one of the films they produced and explain how this theme is integrated into the story. Which characters represent the natural world? How is the conflict shown? Is it resolved?

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli. Princess Mononoke is set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 CE), but it includes fantasy elements. The story follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. Mononoke represents the connection between the environment and humans, but also demonstrates that there is an imbalance in power between the two. The hidden message of this anime is that all the corruption in nature is caused by the human race. Technology isn’t bad on it’s own, but we can use technology in a way that only benefits ourselves and is destructive for others. And that is why as we get to Princess Mononoke, the film’s curse is a human curse, and it comes from gods being attacked with technology that was created with the intent to destroy. The conflicts in this anime can be described as 3 parts: Man vs nature, Man vs man and finally man vs self. The end of this film portrays the idea of wrestling with internal struggles is something all humans can relate to. Ashitaka had to choose a side between humanity and nature. He have seen all sides, and since he’s approaching the fight from a place of empathy, and a real desire for understanding, he’s able finally to broker peace between them all and chose to take side with San aka princess mononoke.

Prompt 1: Disney and other big studios closed their 2D animation divisions by the late 1990s/early 2000s. Why did they make this decision? Do you believe it was a good one? Can you find/describe examples of 2D animation thriving today?

While Disney is most known for some of their classic 2D animations like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, Disney has not created a 2-D animation since The Princess & The Frog, released in 2009. There are couple of reasons why Disney decided to stop producing 2D animated films:

• 2D animations became an excuse for weaker storytelling
• CGI animation is cheaper and faster than hand drawn animation
• 3D animated films are more profitable

According to some animators, the amount of work that was needed for the hand-drawn 2D animation somehow outweighed the content of the film. With animators throwing all their hard work into the hand-drawn 2D animation, this often led to the actual story of the film being neglected. This was a major reason that Disney took a step away from 2D animation, as there was too much focus on the form of the film rather than telling a memorable story. With the use of CGI, 3D animation makes animation easier so that the filmmakers can focus on all aspects of the film rather than expending all their energy on the animating process. Yet another reason for Disney to switch to 3-D animation.

Disney’s first 3-D animation Toy Story was exceedingly profitable upon release, especially compared to Pocahontas and A Goofy Movie, all of which were released the same year. Disney experimented with 3D animation after this point, alongside Pixar, and found that 3D films are more profitable than the old-fashioned hand-drawn 2D animation. 3D animated films cost less to make, and they make more money at the box office.

There are still lots of 2D animated series and films still thriving today like

• Family Guy (1999– )
• Undone (2019– )
• Rick and Morty (2013– )
• The Simpsons (1989– )
• South Park (1997– )
• Bob’s Burgers (2011– )
• The Owl House (2020– )

Also a lots of 2D anime are very popular nowadays. I think 2D animations are very satisfying and aesthetic till now.