Having watched every Hayao Miyazaki film every made, I have noticed that some of the characters are repeated throughout some of the movies. For example, the old woman (Ubaba, Oh-baba, The Witch of the Waste, and Dola to name a few) is a character that is often used and many times she is either a good or bad influence. Yet despite this, the stories of each film are distinct. Therefore, is the repetition of the characters in Hayao Miyazaki films an aspect that continuously attracts fans to his movies?
Absolutely. Repetition is not always a bad thing. It is if it's done the same way but what makes Miyazaki films unique is that what is repeated is repeated in different ways. It's like saying hello over and over again but in different languages. The words are different but the meaning remains the same. Hello. Aloha. Marhaba. Shalom. Ni Hao. Konichiwa. Different words, all interesting, same meaning. And Miyazaki is not the only one who repeats certain elements in his story. Disney Animation does it too. The articles of the seve standards of Disney that I wrote serve to show the elements repeated over and over again. They never steered Disney wrong before and Miyazaki never steered Ghibli or us wrong before. Whoever does take this up (I'll seriously consider this actually) I would advise talking a little bit about originality. Originality, in a sense, does not exist in its present definition. What is repeated should not decide whether or not something is original. Instead, it should be the execution that decides what is original. – SpectreWriter9 years ago
Hmm, sorry for writing another note but I'm thinking a lot on this. I'm not familiar with Oh-baba but Ubaba, Witch of the Waste, and Dola are figures I am familiar with. However, if I take this up, the repetition of characters would include Lady Eboshi as a powerful woman similar to the aforementioned characters. Not to mention the fact that most of our protagonists are girls which, again, suggests a type of repetition. – SpectreWriter9 years ago
Thanks for you notes. The character Oh-baba was the wise woman in Nausicaa. I only mentioned the old woman parallels throughout the films because most of those characters appeal to me. If you wish to look at Lady Eboshi, than I highly recommend checking out Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind for the character Kushana. These characters are fairly similar in terms of personality. – SStevens9 years ago
Well, from what I understand, I saw these characters as old. I can also use generally powerful women like Eboshi and she can be compared to Howl's enemy (forget her name) who holds a position of power. In fact, if I look at Princess Mononoke, I can relate the wise women of the Emishi people to those you mentioned. You know what, I'll grab it. This is too good an article. Thanks. – SpectreWriter9 years ago
Enjoy! I can't wait to read your article. – SStevens9 years ago
