When it comes to anime, there are a few animators who reign supreme. The team at Studio Ghibli has housed plenty of those artists, and director Hayao Miyazaki has come to lead them all with international fans. So, it is easy to see why fans were shocked when an interview with Miyazaki resurfaced where he reportedly bashed western media.
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As reported by Kotaku, the newly circulated interview dates back a few years, and it sees Miyazaki share some damning thoughts on stories told by Hollywood. The site does admit it hasn’t been able to confirm the viral quotes in question, but fans are still passing the pulls along.
You know, since some fans are taking Miyazaki’s dislike for The Lord of the Rings seriously.
“Americans shoot things and they blow up and the like, so as you’d expect, they make movies like that,” Miyazaki saod.
“If someone is the enemy, it’s okay to kill endless numbers of them,” the director admitted. Lord of the Rings is like that. If it’s the enemy, there’s killing without separation between civilians and soldiers. That falls within collateral damage. How many people are being killed in attacks in Afghanistan? The Lord of the Rings is a movie that has no problem doing that [not separating civilians from enemies, apparently]. If you read the original work, you’ll understand, but in reality, the ones who were being killed are Asians and Africans. Those who don’t know that, yet say they love fantasy are idiots.”
Continuing, Miyazaki said he found films like Indiana Jones to be particularly insensitive to global audiences.
“Even in the Indiana Jones movies, there is a white guy who, ‘bang,’ shoots people, right? Japanese people who go along and enjoy with that are unbelievably embarrassing. You are the ones that, ‘bang,’ get shot. Watching [those movies] without any self-awareness is unbelievable. There’s no pride, no historical perspective. You don’t know how you are viewed by a country like America.”
While these quotes have thrown off some fans, netizens can see why Miyazaki would hold these opinions. The animator is well-known for supporting pacifism and the natural world. Much of Hollywood’s blockbusters do involve bombastic action which pay little mind to human life. If you were to compare Spirited Away to Transformers, fans would see a clear difference between the Hollywood and Miyazaki’s philosophy. So, if the director isn’t down to watch Avengers: Endgame, then audiences shouldn’t be too-too surprised.
So, what do you make of the director’s take? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
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