Veith Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a visually beautiful, extremely engaging movie. The plot is so so crazy, and its perfect Japanaese oddities are what make it so AWESOME, and appealing especially to teenage girls like myself.   It is clear, by the time Hayao Miyazaki made this movie, he had enough respect and artistic liberty to create anything he anted. No longer was he really trying to make an impression by raising awareness to the public of environmental destruction, as in Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa.

And although Miyazaki did make sure there were underlying elements that were a commentary on how Japanese traditions are deteriorating and Japanese children may be becoming lazy under influence of the west, what really makes the film so good is the beautiful spiritual and fantastical aspects. And, of course, there was Chihiro's spunk and strength that allowed for young girls to look up to her. But what I'd really like to discuss is those fantastical things, and I'm just going to go ahead and relate to them on a personal level.

I've been feeling really lonely lately. This always happens around winter, and I've just been feeling like escaping from reality a lot due to certain events. I've been making art, focusing on trying to create things that represent other universes, space oddities, and just funky stuff as a means to feel better. And, cheesy as it is, Spirited Away just inspires me so much. I cannot stress enough how intrigued I am by Japanese culture, how much the aesthetics of all their cute stuff in modern culture, as well as their traditional art, really appeals to me. And all of the characters in Spirited Away are so COOL. They are as beautiful as they are strange. I really look up to Miyazaki and whatever team of artists created the spiritual world and the creatures in Spirited Away. Because when I watch the movie, I really feel like I've been spirited away, in some gorgeous Japanese world where everything is harmonious and okay.

And now on a side/end note, I'm just going to stress how much I like Japan and how much I've learned in this Japanese Anime course. Although I could learn much more about how Japanese society works, I feel I have enough of an understanding to know that Japan is a pretty harmonious place. I've been think a lot about what Professor McCay said about how in Japan individualism isn't really stressed. And that's so cool, duty is so important to them. Japan's got a crazy awesome thing going on, and some really awesome movies come out of there. I LOVE JAPAN! It's been a really awesome calss :)

Veith Nausicaa

Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke are pretty similar in a lot of ways. Since they were both made by Miyazaki they look alike, and have the same theme of man vs. nature.

An interesting thing that I noticed about both movies is the size of the animals that inhabit the forests. In both Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa, the forest animals are HUGE. Insects in reality seem like specks to humans, but in Nausicaa they are 1000 times bigger than the people. I think the exaggerated size of the creatures is intended to be symbolic of their significance, because they are more important in the cycle of nature than humans are. Like we discussed in class, the earth doesn't need humans. So perhaps Miyazaki was making this point clear by having the animals in the films be so much larger/ greater than humans.

Anyway, i'm a tad confused by the overarching messages in each of the movies. I'd say that there is a constant struggle for humans to adapt to nature and, well, tame it. Because there's definitely a human need for nature, it's just so confusing as to how we're really supposed to treat it. I'd like to compare two scenes: the first, from Princess Mononoke where Eboshi gives Akitasha a tour of Iron Town, and second, the scene in Nausicaa where Lord Yupa discovers Nausicaa's lab of non-toxic plants. Each system (Iron Town and Nausicaa's lab, I mean) has a purpose for benefitting humans, and in both scenes someone is being enlightened on how another human or system of humans is utilizing nature for the benefit of mankind. Nausicaa searches for a pant to cure her father, and Eboshi uses the forest to build weapons and run her city. I don't really know what I'm getting at here. I guess I'm saying that these scenes are representative of the different ways that humans use nature, and that humans will never stop having the need to use it, even if that means destroying it. But then again, is the relationship between nature and humans cyclical? Even though natural disasters happen, and we're polluting the air all the time and all that jazz, everything seems to resolve itself enough for us to get by. And as he world goes on, technology advances, and maybe humans won't need nature anymore. Maybe that's why everything happens, because as we established before, nature doesn't need humans, and maybe we just need to leave the earth eventually.

I've confused everyone, haven't I? I don't know what I'm talking about

Veith Ah! My Goddess

Alright, I must say I am getting sick of all the super-technology mecha ridiculousness. That's not to say I didn't enjoy Ah! My Goddess. I really liked it! Woohoo for the power of love! And I loved to see the Japanese spin on Norse deities' costume. I'm just tired of getting overly confused by the outrageous complications that dominate anime movies.

Okay, let me try to remember some of the things I read from the chapter about outrageous women. I must admit I can't currently find my copy of Samurai from Outer Space, but I did read the chapter a while ago. I do say that it helped me better understand the role of women in Japanese culture, and in anime. Firstly: the equality of men to women. In Japan, there has never been anything similar to women suffrage in America. In fact, I recall reading something about famous empresses, and tendency for Japanese people to believe that women of power held some sort of mysticism. So there, that explains the reason the makers behind Ah! My Goddess made the decision for women/ goddesses of mystical power (Urd Skuld and Belldandy) to roam the earth.

And i remember reading something about mother figures, and how they are not often present in anime movies. They tend to hamper the spirit of young, beautiful, imtelligent, powerful young girls like Belldandy. In American cinema, mother figures are predominantly nurturing and sweet. But Japanese mothers have the connotation of being the ultimate controllers of family matters, always making sure their children adhere to rigid education systems and helping out the family, etc. That is why there could not be a mother to Belledandy and Skuld; she would have overpowered their greatest qualities too much.

Back to the equality of Japanese men and women thing. In Japan, it is not as much of a problem if a couple are equal in strength. Though American women have certainly moved forward with their rights and dominance in the worl force, a typical American couple still has the connotation of consisting of a cheerleader-type plus a football player-type. This isn't so in Japan, since males and females have shared a lot of equality in Japanese history. Samurai from Outer Space brings up Keichi and Belldandy's relationship. The beauty of it is their mutual respect for each other, and Keichi does not care that Belldandy is so powerful and taller than him and yadda yadda. They are simply perfect for each other! :)

Keiichi and Belldandy <3

Veith Princess Mononoke

PRINCESS MONONOKE IS AN AWESOME MOVIE! It is visually stunning, and I especially liked the adorable nature of Ashitaka's pet Yakul, as well as those little kodama tree spirits. 

Since it is a movie having to do very much with humans and their interactions with nature, I was reminded of my high school Environmental Science class. In that class we had a discussion on two essays written by environmental experts, one which states that, no matter what, no matter how serious global warming gets, or how may natural and human-induced disasters occur in hte world, the world always adapts. No disasters ruin the world, and we are eternally in a cycle of destructing, fixing, and improving the world. The other essay very much attacked humans for ignorance of how to treatt he world, and the world will be destructed sooner than it should because of our mistreatment.

We were told to choose a side, and I really had trouble deciding then, but now I think I agree with the guy who says we’re destructing the world too fast. We humans forget that we are too a part of nature. The importance of nature is shown in Princess Mononoke by the fact that animals are beautiful, mystical, humongous, godly creatures that run a lush forest.

But then again, Iron Town’s conflict with nature makes the point that perhaps humans cannot live in a world without destructing nature a little, and treating animals poorly. Conflict between man and nature has gone on since the dawn of time, and no one seems to be backing down, even though America has “gone green” or whatever. Each year we knock out a huge number of trees.

Princess Mononoke is symbolic of human conflict with the natural world, especially in the sense that it won’t ever stop. In the battle between the humans and the forest, no one really wins. Here I am going to quote Wikipedia, because I like the way they put it: “There can be no clear victory, and the hope is that the relationship between humans and nature can be cyclical.” I guess we won’t know if this relationship is cyclical, or if humans are destroying the world too quickly, until the world ends.

Veith Grave of the Fireflies

I like to use the term depressingly uplifting to describe a lot of things, for example, Arcade Fire's music. As artsy and lame as it is, the term suits Grave of the Fireflies well. The horrors of war, specifically the undeserved death of a small child, are what this movie (film/ movie? I'm still unsure of the difference.) is all about. Which is depressing. But, the compassion between child siblings for each other during such harsh times is what makes Grave of the Fireflies so special. Setsuko and Saita are just too damn cute.

The extremity of child starvation and survival in such a brutal situation as the aftermath of a bombing shows Japan’s grievance over World War II. In fact, there is a term for this. I can’t remember what exactly it is called and the article in which I read about it is now missing from Blackboard, but it’s something like this: Japan feels so victimized and misunderstood, especially in terms of warfare. Its islands being isolated and ridden with monsoons and tsunamis, it is completely different from anywhere else. Through films like Grave of the Fireflies and The Harp of Burma, profound and beautiful times of terror, like young sibling survival and grave-making for a innumerable Japanese war casualties, this feeling of victimization and misunderstanding is depicted.

This type of spirituality, this beautiful sorrowful feeling that Japan has, is so irrelevant to everyone else. It should not be ignored. From what I gather, Japanese people are polite. They work hard and seem to live by a code of ethics completely absent from America. As a country, they certainly are misunderstood, (and definitely weird) but Japan seems so exquisite to me! Just look at the beauty of Setsuko and Seita’s care for each other. They are perfect children. And just consider how lovely it is that one single man committed his life to rightfully bury Japanese soldiers in Burma. It sucks that we had to have conflict with Japan in World War II. Now, I think it’s important to recognize the elegance in Japanese culture, which can be better understood through their wartime films. 

Veith Harp of Burma

http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC111011-0000173/Japan-to-offer-free-flights-to-10,000-tourists-next-year

Veith Ghost in the Shell

It seems like Japanese anime films are often based around a philosophical obsession with souls, the sense of self, the meaning of life, and how the internet affects these things. At least, that's the implication I got from Perfect Blue, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell. Each of these films relate to one another because each focuses on a main character in confusion of why he or she is alive and what he or she is meant to do.

Each character's identity is somehow affected by technology. Mima is confused about her own actions and personality because of what someone else says about her on the internet. Tetsuo is overcome by the power of government control of technology, and ends up morphing into a giant, pulsating, baby-shaped pile of enlarged veins and intestines. And, quite honestly, I'm still confused buy Ghost in the Shell, but Major Motoko is not really a human. Her actions are completely computer-operated, because really she is a computer.

Well. What does all this mean? Tbh, I don't know, nor do I care, really. I enjoy the films because they are action-filled and look cool. I hate philosophy and I don't like to think about who I am or what I'm living for. However, my boyfriend likes philosophy for whatever reason and his analysis of Ghost in the Shell is interesting. I'm going to attempt to paraphrase it. Generally stating, the human race believes in a greater being or power or whatever. We humans are eternally trying to know what this greater being maybe, so we are forever trying to advance our society. This is how technology came to be. I suppose that Akira and Ghost in the Shell sort of exemplify the extremes of what may happen if the human race ever understands such a great power through means of technology. That is why they are so frickin' confusing! Perfect Blue is more about a female individual's struggle, and I can relate to it better.

Directly after I saw Perfect Blue, something strange happened to me. I got stuck on an elevator alone for about an hour. During that time, I contemplated my existence. I was alone with my thoughts and I began to question my personality, my relationships with others, and why I was alive; why the elevator chose me to trap. In other words, I felt crazy. WHO AM I? EXCUSE ME, WHO ARE YOU?

hehe

Veith Vampire Hunter D

How exciting it is to be able to write about vampires at Halloween time! As a very superstitious person who believes in ghosts and all that jazz, I have always been intrigued by, as well as afraid of, vampires. In fact, when I was little, I refused to sit in the backseat of my mom's van at night because I was afraid there were vampires in the trunk. I've long overcome this fear, but I still like to think about how vampires might be real. Yay supernatural beings!

I've read the first two Twilight books and seen all the movies. But I think that Twilight is stupid and cheesy as hell, and I'm embarrassed that I enjoy the movies. I also think that Edward Cullen is ugly. However, I LOVE this vampire trend. It's so cool that pop culture these days is filled with vampire movies and television shows. True Blood is where it's at. Vampires in Louisiana! Though I've only seen some of the first season, I think it's a great show. What a crazy idea; vampires living in harmony with regular humans, in addition to synthetic human blood for vampires, in addition to vampire blood being an insane hallucinogenic drug for humans. Vampire Bill is so sexy too. I wish I had more to say about True Blood, but I just haven't seen enough episodes.

More vampires in Louisiana: Interview with the Vampire! Vampires in New Orleans! What an awesome movie. I have not read anything by Anne Rice, but I do know I want to visit the orphanage-turned Anne Rice doll collection storage-turned apartment complex on St. Charles. It's gotta be haunted. Anyway, Interview with the Vampire is so awesome. Th best part is when Brad Pitt turns Kirsten Dunst, who had been living in squalor with her diseased dead mother, into a vampire. Then her hair curls and she looks like a doll. So humans become more beautiful when they are turned to vampires. That's so cool! Agh I want to be a vampire.

It's interesting how every writer adds a different characteristic to vampires. I've found a Wikipedia page that compares characteristics of vampires in different cultures and works of fiction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vampire_traits_in_folklore_and_fiction

I think that if vampires are real, they are nothing like Edward Cullen or Bill. They've got to be reclusive, tortured, beautiful beings. Whenever I pass the Ann Rice orphanage, I think that there must be a man living in one of those apartments, but he's not really a man. He's a vampire.

Veith Perfect Blue

Female body image in the world of entertainment is sickening. Both in Perfect Blue and Black Swan the central characters feel the pressure to be perfect; to have a career that is centralized on pleasing everyone that watches them. In the process they are abused.

Nina and Mima. Ha! Look at how similar their names are. Ironic, since the way in which they live, forever struggling to please an audience, are parallel. And they've each got a psychotic (or near-psychotic, in the case of Nina's mother) woman seeking control over their careers. Let's examine Mima. The young, innocent pop star wants to change her image. She wants to be taken seriously; to become an actress in dramas. Simple enough, right? Most famous people like a change of pace at least once in a while. But Mima isn't lucky enough to have an easy career transformation. Since she is so sickeningly admired by boys and men who watch her without any expression in their eyes, and since she is unknowingly the embodiment of Rumi's hopes and dreams, she cannot go and act on TV as she pleases. She ends up being disrespected by men and actually raped during the filming of the rape scene. That was the hardest scene to watch for me.

But anyway, then things get really tricky. With the murders, the crazy fish face-looking guy, insane Rumi, and Me-mania, everything in her world is misconstrued. She literally loses herself and her identity while she’s just trying her damnedest to be a well-loved actress. And that’s the price of fame for Mima, unfortunately.

As for Nina, she’s unlucky enough to have a mother trying to live her unattained dreams through her daughter. She feels the pressure to be beautiful and perfect more than anything, because that is what ballet requires. Her whole world and her identity is distorted like Mima’s, because she cannot take the competition, the pressure from her instructor and from her mother, and the need to be perfect. It probably doesn’t help that she’s lightheaded from bulimia either. In the end she dies I think, I’m not sure really since everything in the film is so symbolic. But it’s because she’s finally done what she has lived her life for; she dances perfectly in her show. But what good was that? Did she do it for herself or for everyone else?

I’ve only discussed and compared the misfortune of two girls in this blog. I haven’t examined the need for help for these types of females. There are too many ballerinas, actresses, and normal girls too, who succumb to everything from anorexia to sexual abuse from men. It is saddening the way body image can take over a girl’s life completely. 

Veith Botchan

Although the film Botchan was pretty boring, I commend it because of the relevance to my own high school the plot had, and the portrayal of competitiveness in Japanese school systems. The vice principal, "Red Shirt", reminds me of the principal of my high school; I will call him He Who Shall Not Be Named. He abuses his power over other teachers almost exactly like Red Shirt did: firing and promoting and downgrading teachers to his advantage, sneakily. You know, I could have had a much better and stress-free English class if it weren't for the firing of a certain teacher and the hiring of another. Oh, well.

Student Days: boy, what a depressing film. I can totally relate to the poor boy who succumbed to suicide since he felt unworthy in comparison to his little brother. Not that I'm suicidal or anything, it just kind of sucks to have a sibling who's good at everything, who's nice, who's giving, and naturally super intelligent. I love both of my siblings, but between the three of us, I am at the bottom of the intelligence and self-motivation pyramid. I don't know what I would have done if I had gone to school with them or if they were younger than me; they would have been part of the awful competition I felt forced into in high school.

Poor guy.

The rigorousness in Japanese school systems is definitely portrayed in both Botchan and Student Days. From my understanding, both students and teachers striving to be the best make them CRAZY. If I was in Japanese school, I would be too. People expect SO MUCH OF YOU. Then again, people expect so much of you at the high school I attended as well. In this way I see a similarity between my high school and Japanese school.

So yeah, in conclusion, school is hard. The pressure is on for everyone in school around the world, but Japanese high schoolers have it really rough when they're trying to get in to college. I am so so so thankful to be done with high school. So. Thankful.

Veith Ninja Scroll

Ninja Scroll was totally insane. I was really not expecting the amount of blood and gore that was featured. What I'd like to discuss in this post is an issue brought up in class: how far can a good person go before becoming evil? Can anyone actually be totally good or totally evil? Well, not in reality, but in an anime film such as Ninja Scroll most of the characters were either completely good or completely evil. The only figure who wasn't seemed to be that Dakuan Gollum-esque guy. I'm still not totally clear on what his deal was. I hear he was a spy. But anyway, yeah, Jubei was definitely a good guy. Whatever he did was for a gainful purpose, and he was clean and perfect and helped out everyone else who was good.

Most everyone else featured in Ninja Scroll was extremely evil, save Kagero. Those demons were hardcore. They did not let anything get in their way. My personal favorite was the guy with a hornets nest on his back. How creepy. It really is interesting how demons and magical characters can walk around in anime films. That’s what makes these movies so good. I honestly did not know characters like these would be present in many or most animes. The magical aspect of their personalities is obviously important; there’s a whole long chapter about it in the book. Especially important was that nast Oni; his sexual abuse to Kagero was really bad, wasn’t it? I was disturbed.

Now let me just take a moment to discuss my favorite character: that sassy gay guy, Yurimaru. I jsut loved his outfit and his bangs parted down the middle. He, along with the evil so prevalent in Ninja Scroll, really give you the impression that Japan is an open country willing to discuss any issue shamelessly. The fact that they have a word, bishonen, for beautiful men like him in anime is really cool to me. It would be so nice if all Americans were more accepting of homosexuality. The words that we use for gay men are, for the most part, derogatory. Why can’t we have bishonen in all our cartoons?

Veith Akira

Akira is, in the obvious dropping-of-atomic-bomb sort of way, symbolic of the disasters in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is a film which explores power and greed, and in what ways power can overtake an individual. I'm going to examine some of the ideals in Akira while trying to think in terms of postmodernism. Though I don't think I quite grasp the meaning of postmodernism yet, my intrigue for it was triggered in our class discussion on Thursday. As Professor McCay stated, postmodernism can be thought of as an outgrowth of some experimentation of modernism. Alright, so here goes nothin'. I will try my darnedest to examine a fraction of the highly articulate plot of Akira.

Having not much of a background in Japanese history, and not a full understanding of postmodernism, I'm going to break this down in the simplest of ways: I will try to analyze ideals from Akira as outgrowth of experimentation of modernism. Much of the film seemed to be critical of modern-day (eighties modern-day) codes of ethics. For example, having been to Japan, I observed that everyone there was extremely polite. But, in a world post-extraordinary atomic bombing, everyone in Neo-Tokyo seemed selfish, and gangs ran rampant through the city. Girls were dressed much much less conservatively than typical real world Japan. The previously extremely rigid school system was totally botched and disrespected. I suppose that these drastic changes are representative of an extreme world where chaos and power rule over all, and people are given no choice but to live like they do in Akira's Neo-Tokyo because they have no choice. Everyone must fend for themselves.

Okay, I know I'm jumping around and not really being continuous here, but I've just given a lot of thought to the roles that females played in Akira. Every normal girl had nothing better to do than to chase around a boy. Which was ironic in comparison to Kyoko, who seemed to be the leader of the Espers, and Kei, who was a total badass. What was up with that??? Was this some sort of commentary on how in the eighties women's equality was rising, but there were still very many stupid sluts? In 1980s Japan what were women's roles in society? I've actually heard that men have priority seating over women on Japanese trains and buses. I'm confused....sorry for this weird rant.

Now I'm flustered, but on a final side note, let me just discuss some of the AWESOME graphics in Akira. My favorite part was when Tetsuo's power overcomes him, and he morphs into a giant baby composed of pumping veins, skin, and intestines! HOW COOL WAS THAT? And also, in the beginning of the film, I recall a part where a montage of Neo-Tokyo was shown, and was absolutely stunning. The vastly oversized buildings, the holographic advertisements; just incredible animation, especially for the eighties.

Tetsuo's power beginning to overtake him

Tetsuo's power has almost completely overtaken him

Wow, there is sooooo much to say about this film. I feel like I haven't even begun to analyze it.

Veith About Me

My full name is Emma Ruth Veith. I don't know much about anime, but I do know that I love Japan and Japanese culture! The photo above is of me in a public park in Nara, Japan. In that park is a GIANT bronze statue of Buddha, and deer roam freely like people, because they are thought to be divine messengers of some sort. They are quite docile and friendly. Over the summer, my sister and I vacationed in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Kurashiki, and Hiroshima. It was definitely an awesome trip, and my favorite part was seeing a Kabuki play. It was just so beautiful and their movements and sounds were so highly and gracefullly stylized! But anyway, I am a freshman at Loyola, and I am from New Orleans. I went to Ben Franklin High School, as well as New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. I love animals, namely house cats and sea creatures. In my free time, I like to paint and decorate things. I really like stickers. I'm not very good at talking about myself, so I will keep this short. This is all I have to say. I am looking forward to learning about anime!