One no longer needs to demonstrate Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s environmentalist sentiments. Environmentalism, feminism and anti-war pacifism are the three main themes that can be highlighted from movie to movie. Nonetheless, in our current political climate, bringing specific attention to the environmental issues at hand is more important than ever. Born in 1941, having grown up under the bombing of Japan during World War II and throughout all the numerous and fast social, political, economic and environmental developments of his country during the second half of the 20th century, Miyazaki often explores the traumas of his childhood through his art.
There are four films of interest we can review to see examples of the symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural world. Why these four films in particular? They are connected by a red thread that weaves them into a singular continuation. More than a story, they tell a history, the history of Earth and of humanity in its environment. They tell of the relationship between humanity and nature in all the beauty and all the ugliness of this relationship, all its healing and all its destructive properties.
If you would like to read A history of Earth in Hayao Miyazaki’s environmentalism: from Mononoke to Nausicaä, through Laputa and Totoro in its entirety, here is a downloadable PDF. Enjoy!
Page count: 16.
Word count: 3,627.
Les Recueils de Rapha 
Laisser un commentaire