I have been watching a couple of animation movies these days. I know I am kinda slow as those films were released like in the 1990s?! But I gotta say Hayao Miyazaki is my new idol now! :D

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿)

Currently 72, the Japanese film director, animator, manga artist, producer and screenwriter film has attained international acclaim as a maker of anime feature films.

Miyazaki's works are characterised by the recurrence of progressive themes, such as environmentalism, pacifism, feminism, and the absence of villians. His films are also frequently concerned with childhood transition and a marked preoccupation with flight.

Miyazaki's narratives are notable for not pitting a hero against an unsympathetic antagonist. In Spirited Away, Miyazaki states "the heroine [is] thrown into a place where the good and bad dwell together. [...] She manages not because she has destroyed the 'evil', but because she has acquired the ability to survive." Even though Miyazaki sometimes feels pessimistic about the world, he prefers to show children a positive world view instead, and rejects simplistic stereotypes of good and evil.

Miyazaki's films often emphasize environmentalism and the Earth's fragility. In an interview with The New Yorker, Miyazaki claimed that much of modern culture is "thin and shallow and fake", and "not entirely jokingly" looked forward to an apocalyptic age in which "wild green grasses" take over. Growing up in the Shōwa period was an unhappy time for him because "nature — the mountains and rivers — was being destroyed in the name of economic progress." Miyazaki is critical of capitalism, globalization, and their impacts on modern life.

Nausicaä, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle feature anti-war themes. In 2003, when Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Miyazaki did not attend the awards show personally. He later explained that it was because he "didn’t want to visit a country that was bombing  Iraq".

Miyazaki has been called a feminist by Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki, in reference to his attitude to female workers. This is evident in the all-female factories of Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke, as well as the matriarchal bath-house of Spirited Away. Many of Miyazaki's films are populated by strong female protagonists that go against gender roles common in Japanese animation and fiction.

(Source: Wikipedia)

The information on his works is so well-written that I can only copy and paste most of it here. Haha. I really like the style and theme of Miyazaki's films. They show that with hope, determination and love, nothing is impossible. The films are also very positive and innocent. I really like Spirited Away especially. I finished the movie in one seating. Minus the ones I watched in cinema, I rarely completed any in one seating. The movie is about a girl who accidentally barged into a world where all kinds of 神明 came to visit to relax (there were many restaurants and bathhouses) with her parents. It was a place where humans were considered as filthy. However, her parents turned into pigs as they stole food from a stall. She must stay as a human being, remember her name and who she was, save her parents and return to their original world. And so her adventure began. With her strong will to fight for her loved ones, she overcame different obstacles... ...

Two thumbs up for the movie! You should all go catch it (Funshion, Youtube, Torrent? LOL)!

Spirited Away

I really hope this man can continue doing his marvelous works and bring more wonderful films to the world! :3