Tuesday 28 June 2011

"HUMANS ARE DISGUSTING!"


So proclaims Wizard Fujimoto, voiced hilariously by Liam Neeson in a tone devoid of almost all emotion as he embarks on a search (dressed like a sort of extra-ginger Willy Wonka and armed with a watering can and a pump spraying sea water so he does not dry out on land, of course) for his daughter, a magic goldfish who loves ham. This is all apparently very, very bad.

Ponyo, the latest Studio Ghibli film released last year, is anything but. Like all of Miyazaki's creations it is moving, bizarre, and utterly adorable. Less complex than some of the previous films but no less profound, it follows the story of a young boy and a goldfish he rescues from the sea one day - when Ponyo's father returns her home, she escapes again, and in doing so causes a tsunami.

As with all such films we are invited to guess at the meaning, and in all likelihood choose it for ourselves - some viewers may wonder at the crushing power of the sea and perhaps by extension of nature, others at the way in which individuals (in this case Ponyo's sister) may group together and overwhelm opposing forces as one living, breathing organism. Personally I was touched by the ending; when asked if he can accept the fact that Ponyo lives two lives and 'moves between two worlds', the boy responds that he loves all aspects of her. Awhh. Well that and the bit when the old folks' home is the only place protected from the tsunami and all the old women gather on the balcony squawking about Las Vegas.

The 'magical' quality of these films, though, only makes the conspiracy theories that surround one or two of them more unsettling. When given the freedom to project our own beliefs even onto something as innocent and charming as a Ghibli film doubtless there will be one or two that, quite frankly, no one wants to hear.

The Totoro conspiracy is the most notorious; a number of sources have pointed out the theme of death that appears to be consistent throughout the film, have considered that Totoro and his companions are Shinigami (bringers of death), that the cat bus is the ferry to 'the other side'. Parallels have been drawn with the 1963 Sayama incident.

Elsewhere, Spirited Away has been linked with prostitution.

In agreement with one of the above bloggers, however, I found that reading these theories made little difference to how I felt when watching the films. The concepts of Totoro as huggable giant hamster and Totoro as angel of death remain entirely distinct; like with the existence of Smurf porn or the content of Zeitgeist, the new information becomes confined to a dusty corner of the brain, to be recalled in edgy conversation but otherwise too believable to be believed for fear they would ruin everything. The human mind is brilliant - to debunk a popular internet meme, what has been seen can be unseen.

Honestly? If the stories are true, then humans are disgusting.

But if we've dreamt up the whole thing, then humans are disgusting.