my idea for the final paper is to talk about miyazaki in the context of magical realism. perhaps drawing information from interviews as well as other portrayals of magical realism and comparing them. i feel like doing that might tease out ideas about what makes miyazaki unique and to try and understand his role as an auteur in film.
some brainstorming:
cagliostro- rings=magic?? believed to be, but they really only have mechanical power.
nausicaa- the alternate reality where there are massive insects and flying gliders. the power of the ohmu when they extend their feelers.
castle in the sky- the castle in the sky, the technology of the flying island and its former people (robots, underground passages, disappearing walls, the great cube that holds everything together), the levistone that sheeta has.
my neighbor totoro- the totoros, catbus, flying top, super fast tree growth
kiki's delivery service- witches/spells
porco rosso- pig face, power of love (fio's?) to change that.
princess mononoke- gods/cursed gods, power of curse
spirited away- bath house/spirit realm.. but also the normal world? haku bridges the two worlds because he is a river spirit that actually came into contact with chihiro before they met again in the bath house. does that validate the magical world or the bath house? is miyazaki saying that in this alternate reality within japan, magic is around and it's just hidden? what reveals it?..
howl's moving castle- magic users, calcifer as fire demon/suspended shooting star, spells/curses, love as having magical power
ponyo- the mother/father, ponyo herself is magical (probably because parents are magical), the power of love as magic in itself (perhaps to show a bridge between reality as we, the viewers, understand it vs. the magic of the world miyazaki is depicting).
"magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. These magical elements are explained like normal occurrences that are presented in a straightforward manner which allows the "real" and the "fantastic" to be accepted in the same stream of thought." -wikipedia
in this case the bridge between the real and the magical (specifically to accentuate that bridge) is the magical power of love. that is something that most people have a sense of and miyazaki uses that as a tie into non-magical people doing magical deeds.
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