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A review by scipiokento
Miyazaki and the Hero's Journey by Deborah Scally
informative
5.0
"When we compare a man in action and a girl in action, I feel girls are more gallant. - Hayao Miyazaki"
I have been so excited to read this book ever since I saw it about a year ago. It happened to cross my path again this year so I took that as a sign that it was time. What drew me to this book originally was the idea of taking Miyazaki's work and using it to update an incorrect and outdated idea, rather than tearing it apart. Don't get me wrong, Joseph Campbell's super sexist point of view of women and their role in relation to the hero's monomyth really makes me want to tear it apart, but Scally has found a way to do that in a much more professional manner. (Any suggestions that it was, "just normal at that time," will immediately be directed to my trash can. Just because it was the "norm," doesn't make it right.) Going through, you get a breakdown of a lot of great Miyazaki characters as well as stories and how he consistently bends the stereotypes and proves them wrong. I feel any Miyazaki fan would enjoy reading this. I have obsessively consumed his films for years and I still learned many things about the films while reading through this book.
I have been so excited to read this book ever since I saw it about a year ago. It happened to cross my path again this year so I took that as a sign that it was time. What drew me to this book originally was the idea of taking Miyazaki's work and using it to update an incorrect and outdated idea, rather than tearing it apart. Don't get me wrong, Joseph Campbell's super sexist point of view of women and their role in relation to the hero's monomyth really makes me want to tear it apart, but Scally has found a way to do that in a much more professional manner. (Any suggestions that it was, "just normal at that time," will immediately be directed to my trash can. Just because it was the "norm," doesn't make it right.) Going through, you get a breakdown of a lot of great Miyazaki characters as well as stories and how he consistently bends the stereotypes and proves them wrong. I feel any Miyazaki fan would enjoy reading this. I have obsessively consumed his films for years and I still learned many things about the films while reading through this book.