Why Hayao Miyazaki Hates the Lord of the Rings

hayo Miyazaki needs no introduction his impact on Japanese animation and film making is renowned while his themes of environmentalism traditional living and concern about Technology's impact on Humanity has led countless of fans to wonder whether miyazaki's works and those of JRR tolkin are Kindred Spirits of sorts not only do they share a long for nature and most importantly Humanity's relationship with it but they have both voiced their dislike for consumerism the excessive industrialization of the 20 Century pollution as well as the spread of American culture or what they consider to be americanisms throughout the globe nonetheless despite what you might think Miyazaki does not actually like the Lord of the Rings and has said so himself in this video we'll explore precisely why this is the case and examine whether his reasons for disliking tolkin works are Justified misguided or simply misrepresented Miyazaki has been critical of Hollywood for decades now and it is no surprise to those that know his work that he dislikes the type of Cinema that it produces at worst a type of Cinema that pushes an American agenda and at best a culture that is contradictory to the society that Miyazaki views as ideal hayo himself was born during the height of the Japanese empire during the second world war an Empire that had completely transformed the face of Japan through the influence of the West changing not only the landscape but also the very heart of the traditional Japanese culture and way of life this trend not only continued even after the War but it spread at an even faster pace and the country's newly forced openness to the United States and the massive economic growth of the middle to late 20th century led to a seismic shift in Japanese Society although on opposite sides of the second world war and with a very different background and beliefs tolkin was very similarly concerned about the future of humanity and especially of Britain and its culture as well as the loss of Mankind's connection to Nature in The Lord of the Rings the themes of tolkin environmentalism are felt throughout the trilogy whether that be through the life and character he gives to the trees and the forest his way of writing itself or even how he emphasizes the environment's importance by showing its destruction at the hands of Saruman and saon an act of evil committed by in sauron's case at the very least evil incarnate in his own medium Miyazaki uses his movies to showcase the importance of Nature and most importantly how it makes up an absolutely essential part of the spiritual existence of each and every one of us this is done in a variety of ways whether that be through the animation itself nature being embodied in certain characters or it feeling like a living and breathing organism which in a way it is nature for Miyazaki is not a simple background it is not the ground on which characters lay nor is it the trees that fill the screen it isn't just a pretty green color in the movie theater nature is treated with respect and you're made to feel nostalgic about it if that even makes sense despite all of these similarities in terms of their outlooks on life and the environment's role in it Miyazaki has voiced his disdain for the Lord of the Rings for a very different reason as I have said he has been an outspoken critic of Hollywood and the types of movies it produces on the matter masaki has stated that Americans shoot things and they blow up and the like so as you'd expect they make movies like that as an outspoken pacifist he feels that through the media it produces Hollywood glorifies and perhaps even celebrates War and what he feels is essentially murder seeing the constant presence of these types of movies cementing themselves in popular culture throughout the world eventually spreading to Japan too he continues by adding another layer to this argument explaining that not only do these movies and pieces of media glorify War but they glorify War conducted by the good West against the evil East the people of Asia and of Africa who are often treated as enemies that are simply in the movies to be killed and not only killed K but killed in a way that is inhumane inhumane not in the way that they are killed but in the way that their death is treated as nothing essentially as if their lives meant nothing and were meaningless and perhaps unequal Miyazaki says 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 without any self-awareness is unbelievable there's no pride no historical perspective Miyazaki throughout his career has been against depicting different types of people or nationalities or cultures in a certain light and that is especially the case when casting these different peoples for the role of the villain at this point you might ask what does the Lord of the Rings have to do with this on the Lord of the Rings in a continuation of the first quote he has said that if someone is the enemy it's okay to kill endless numbers of them Lord of the Rings is like that the lord of the the Rings is a movie that has no problem doing that if you read the original work you'll understand but in reality the ones who are being killed are Asians and Africans those who don't know that yet say they law fantasy are idiots I'll first try to explain his argument there have been countless discussions especially in recent years following the release of the Rings of power regarding the role of race and different ethnicities in the world of Middle Earth in miyazaki's views the enemies of the free peoples of the westerners are representations of real life peoples with the Orcs and evil men for example supposedly being inspired by the people of Asia and Africa or at least the Western perception of them at the time The Lord of the Rings was written in terms of Japan in particular it has been claimed by some that the Orcs specifically for example were inspired by the wartime depictions of the Japanese themselves during the 1940s which is an opinion that Miyazaki seemingly shares some on the other hand have given emphasis to the General West versus East themes of tolkin Works in which the former represents the forces of good while the latter those of evil and Corruption other claims made against the work also concerned for example the purity of numenorian blood being lost by the intermixing with the barbarians of Middle Earth with the long lives of their descendants being diminished and gradually lost I personally disagree with these views as well as what they imply about the beliefs and nature of Jr Ulin himself to play Devil's Advocate however let's analyze the matters that concern Miyazaki for him the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is a Hollywood influence production that glorifies and romanticizes the evils of War like the rest of Hollywood's America Centric action films beyond that the enemies of the good guys are supposedly inspired by racial stereotypes made against miyazaki's own people as such since he obviously States what he believes to be true based on his own experiences and understanding of the work as a man born in World War II era Japan he feels that the Japanese people who read watch and are fans of these works are idiots I think as is the case with everything an important way to analyze someone's work is to see them as the individual that they are tolkin started with the wish to write a mythology for his home of England as we know this developed into something much much more into something deeper into something epic and into something spiritual with his world starting as a mythology for England it is only natural that the epicenter of his story would be in the West W just as perhaps a Japanese writers would be in the East there are explanations within the story for why the West alone is standing against the darkness thousands of years of History Falls of civilizations dark Lords corrupting at certain points even the entirety of the world the blue Wizards however were sent to the east to save the people from the corruption of Darkness do you know why because the evil men of the South and the East are not inherently evil they live under a totalitarian Empire that has taken hold over their Souls but which can be repelled the racism that is described from tolkin critics make it seem that these men are essentially animals with a certain nature that is not that of a human this is obviously not the case in The Two Towers tolken writes it was Sam's first view of a battle of men against men and he did not like it much he was glad that he could not see the Dead face he wondered what the man's name was and where he came from and if he was really evil of heart or what lies or threats had led him on the Long March from his home and if he would rather have stayed there in peace from this one quote you can obviously see not only the intent of the author but also his view on the people that he's writing about these men have been turned to evil yes by an unrelenting force of hate and yet they are still people they are Sons they are husbands they are brothers they have mothers waiting for them back home the tolken who wrote this passage is the very same tolken that adamantly opposed apartheid in South Africa even before it was fashionable that opposed the wartime depiction of the German people as Savages even though he suffered immensely because of them during the first world war and his beloved Son during the second and the very same tolken that stood up to the Nazis and their anti-jewish laws causing him the German market for The Hobbit this is who tolkin was in countless ways he was against the prominent opinions of his days despite certain things finding their way through that could be described as not being in line with our modern society still to paint his works as something whose foundations rely entirely on racism Eugenics and moral geography is not at least in my opinion accurate to the nature of the Lord of the Rings there is complexity to the story after all it was not the Orcs or an easterling that were consumed by Pride the cardinal sin and refused to cast The Ring into the fire it was a selder and froo it was Boromir that attacked the ring bearer it was denior that lost his faith and his purpose and it was WM Tong that did so many unspeakable deeds and turned the life of Awin into a waking nightmare it was numor and the numenorians these supposed means with which tolin passed messages of racial superiority and Eugenics that became the most evil and that fell the hardest and it was in the king Strife gondor's brutal Civil War that the villain turned out to be the numenorian purist who refused to bow down to the half Barbarian Heir who eventually managed to reclaim his Birthright and become king of Gondor and lastly it was the hobbits the supposedly most inferior creatures of all the weakest and most looked down upon race that performed the impossible and saved the World perhaps from the movies alone one could get certain ideas that especially if they're looking for them could be viewed as problematic the Nuance however and knowledge of both the man and his writings tell us that the opposite is actually the case and going back to the original premise of the video the opinions of Mr Miyazaki are understandable from his own Viewpoint especially if he has not personally delved into the world of Middle Earth as much as some of us and when considering the horrifying realities his country experienced in his youth nonetheless despite his opinions on the Lord of the Rings I do genuinely view their works as Kindred Spirits in certain aspects at least and are both shining examples of the beauty of man's relationship with nature and giving our world the respect it deserves a massive thank you to my channel members and thank you very much for watching

Channel: Ink and Fantasy

Views: 334,991

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Id: fX5o0jY_4Uo

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2024