Airplanes and Environmentalism: Miyazaki’s Inspiration and Passion

Studio Ghibli’s sources of success: failure and destruction.

Fascination with flight has been the centerpiece of every Studio Ghibli film since its debut piece, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. What they also share is contrary motifs of industrialism, steam-power, and environmentalism, which somehow are able to co-exist peacefully. Mired in destruction and war, Hayao Miyazaki’s films allow for the possibility of rebirth by reconnecting with nature and love.

Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky and Castle of Cagliostro show the process of nature healing and a restoration of harmony. Those movies, much like his first, have distant pasts riddled with war and horrible massacres, and a present peace that depends on the protagonists to uphold. Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle are later works which prioritize nature and conflict-resolution helped solidify these Ghibli protagonist character traits.

The Miyazaki Family and Hayao’s Dreams

Growing up in war-torn areas post World War II, Hayao Miyazaki saw first-hand the destruction that fighter planes and bombs caused on Japan’s environment. His father worked for the family business, Miyazaki Airplane, so Miyazaki was surrounded by tools of war from a young age. The plane rutters that the business specialized in inspired Miyazaki’s creativity. Yet, this creativity was forever affected by the lack of resolution in Miyazaki’s own family’s problems. Despite contributing to the war via fighter planes, his father was opposed to fighting in it for the sake of his family.

Perhaps this left an impression on him to later make WWII era protagonists like those in Porco Rosso and When the Wind Rises respectively desert the fascist Italian Air Force or have a pacifist design fighter planes. Helen McCarthy’s 1999 book Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation states that Miyazaki first started drawing seriously in middle school, but focused exclusively on machines. According to the book, he had no confidence in his ability to draw people, but was inspired by manga artists like Osamu Tezuka. McCarthy states that Miyazaki eventually decided that he did not want to simply copy others’ styles and methods, but to make his own way.

Evolution of Miyazaki Environmentalist Ideals

He realized that the only way for him to truly succeed was to not follow trends, but to set his own. Instead of people-pleasing, Miyazaki was quoted by McCarthy to say that he strove to make his audience feel better after seeing his works. After he and his wife Akemi Oota had two sons, he found he wanted to make movies that his children could enjoy too. Often cited as having a disdain for the “otaku” lifestyle, Miyazaki films idealize the nature.

Part of the secret to Studio Ghibli films’ true-to-life feel is how the animators look to the real world for art references and inspiration. Slowing down to smell the flowers is not just a phrase, but a staple in Miyazaki films. He’s infamous for being a workaholic and absent father, but depicting idyll gardens and family community in his movies. Ideals are what people want to be, regardless of reality. Miyazaki desperately wants to share that hope for environmental rebirth and family reconciliation are possible even in a technology-obsessed, aging, and polluted world.