[HN Gopher] Miyazaki has used the art of animation to study the ...
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       Miyazaki has used the art of animation to study the major problem
       of adult life
        
       Author : prismatic
       Score  : 104 points
       Date   : 2023-07-16 04:24 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nybooks.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nybooks.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | Olympicene wrote:
       | https://archive.is/J0GER
        
       | dudus wrote:
       | Miyazaki's new movie "The boy and the heron" was released just
       | last week in Japan. Not sure when it's coming to the west but
       | it's the first movie by Miyazaki since 2013.
       | 
       | It's also quite unique in the sense that there was no trailer or
       | marketing for this movie. Even in Japan.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Recent and related:
         | 
         |  _Hayao Miyazaki's How Do You Live is a beautiful relic - and
         | the end of an era_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36760469 - July 2023 (74
         | comments)
         | 
         |  _Studio Ghibli to release Miyazaki's final film with no
         | trailers or promotion_ -
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36314647 - June 2023 (12
         | comments)
        
         | lupus9 wrote:
         | >Not sure when it's coming to the west
         | 
         | Hacker news being an international community, I would say the
         | relevant question is when it's coming outside Japan. Let's
         | remember the average person lives neither in Japan / China nor
         | in the west :-D
        
           | nonethewiser wrote:
           | Average location doesn't really make sense but the typical
           | hacker news reader probably does live in the West or Japan.
        
         | UncleOxidant wrote:
         | > it's the first movie by Miyazaki since 2013.
         | 
         | I was going to say "what about The Wind also Rises?"... and
         | then looked it up and it was released in 2013. Hard to believe
         | it's been 10 years.
        
           | the_af wrote:
           | Same here! I thought The Wind Rises was _recent_. Is this
           | what old age feels like?
        
           | BolexNOLA wrote:
           | Ok so I'm _not_ the only person who accidentally calls it
           | _The Wind *Also* Rises_!
        
             | samcheng wrote:
             | Probably confusion with Hemingway's _The Sun Also Rises_
        
         | erwincoumans wrote:
         | It was a pleasant surprise during our Japan trip and we went to
         | watch 'How do you live' in the Toho Cinema Shinjuku on the
         | second day. Very beautiful and touching movie, even with very
         | limited Japanese skills.
        
         | glandium wrote:
         | "The boy and the heron" is quite removed from the original
         | title, Jun tachihadouSheng kiruka, which would be "How do you
         | live?" (plural you)
        
           | bozhark wrote:
           | How do yous live?
           | 
           | or
           | 
           | How do we live?
        
             | jondwillis wrote:
             | y'all
        
             | akprasad wrote:
             | "you" (plural) as in "you all," since "you" can also refer
             | to just one person now that "thou" is no longer used [1].
             | 
             | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou
        
               | JohnBooty wrote:
               | Do you have any (linguistic) insight into why they
               | changed the name for release outside of Japan?
               | 
               | One certainty is that it references a Japanese book also
               | entitled "How Do You Live?" that would likely be unknown
               | outside of Japan.
               | 
               | However, I was wondering if it was also an issue of
               | connotation. The question, "How do you live?" can have a
               | rather negative connotation in US English. It carries an
               | accusatory connotation, as if the asker has a negative
               | view of the subject's life or conduct and wants to know
               | how the subject can bear to live or act in such a way.
               | 
               | But I suspect that in Japanese, it may be a more literal
               | and connotation-free question?
        
               | ChainOfFools wrote:
               | I'm going to guess that for an English speaking market,
               | there is a certain expectation for Miyazaki movies that
               | has to do with whimsicality, children and some sort of
               | anthropomorphized animal. and so that's the title format
               | that they believe will sell better.
               | 
               | Americans in particular are likely to be put off by
               | something that sounds like it's questioning their life
               | decisions.
        
               | UncleOxidant wrote:
               | As an American I didn't read "how do you live?" as being
               | somehow accusatory. I read it more in the sense of "what
               | are the best known practices for living?". I didn't get
               | any negative connotations from the title/question.
        
               | anigbrowl wrote:
               | _Americans in particular are likely to be put off by
               | something that sounds like it 's questioning their life
               | decisions._
               | 
               | I think this 'good vibes only' aspect of US society is a
               | side-effect of the country being only a few hundred years
               | old and never having dealt with any real existential
               | catastrophe. 9/11 is probably the closest thing to one
               | the US has undergone, and I don't think the country has
               | handled it that well.
               | 
               | Edit: I considered the Civil War, but internal strife is
               | simply not the same as an external/natural disaster that
               | overtakes the whole country.
        
               | eslaught wrote:
               | Really?
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
        
               | Swizec wrote:
               | As a European from a country that lived under foreign
               | rule (with varying levels of self-governance) from about
               | 900 AD to 1991 ... lol. Self-inflicted existential
               | catastrophes just don't quite hit the same.
        
               | anthk wrote:
               | In Spain we got three or four "officially" since
               | 1492-1512 or 1714 depending on how the modern Spain it's
               | stated. One of them with a dictator lasting down to 1975.
               | Go back to the Iberian kingdoms and the fun starts back
               | to the Romans and before.
        
               | nonethewiser wrote:
               | The civil war was an existential threat.
               | 
               | Im also curious what existential threat in say the UK
               | shapes peoples world views today? And more specifically
               | How it crushes optimism?
        
               | Blikkentrekker wrote:
               | Titles are very frequently changed, this is because
               | titles are supposed to sound catchy and what sounds
               | catchy in one language often does not in another.
               | _Spirited Away_ in Japanese was also literally more so
               | "Sen and Tihiro 's mysterious disappearance _._ The
               | Vanishing*'s original Dutch title was "trail-less"
               | literally, which sounds good in Dutch, but very poor in
               | English though I suppose "without a trail" would work.
        
               | greybox wrote:
               | I had a Japanese teacher who liked to talk about how
               | surprised she was about the title in English.
               | 
               | She also gave me a little insight into the word Shen Yin
               | shi which, apparently comes from a saying. When children
               | used to go missing, people used to say that "God snatched
               | them away", which is why the first kanji Shen  is 'god'.
               | 
               | Her translation of the title was "God snatched sen &
               | chihiro away" which of course isn't a literal
               | translation, but I thought it was interesting
        
               | Blikkentrekker wrote:
               | It should be noted that "Shen " can probably better be
               | translated as "spirit" in many contexts, and denotes a
               | wide variety of supernatural beings, which actually makes
               | "spirited away" an interesting choice.
        
               | lupus9 wrote:
               | "In Japanese folklore, spiriting away (Japanese:
               | Kamikakushi (Shen Yin shi), lit. 'hidden by kami') refers
               | to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person,
               | after they had angered the gods (kami). There are
               | numerous legends of humans being abducted to the spirit
               | world by kami." [0]
               | 
               | [0]:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away?wprov=sfti1
        
               | jonny_eh wrote:
               | > But I suspect that in Japanese, it may be a more
               | literal and connotation-free question?
               | 
               | I think you're right. In English there's already the
               | phrase "How can you live with yourself?!".
               | 
               | The name for the Western release is from the original
               | book the movie is based on, so it's not inappropriate.
        
             | qbasic_forever wrote:
             | How do yinz live?
        
           | PhileasNietzche wrote:
           | "The Boy and the Heron" couldn't be considered inflammatory
           | to Western audiences plagued by guilt as opposed to
           | presenting them with a question loosely meaning, "how do you
           | live with yourself?".
        
             | anthk wrote:
             | Stop generalizing "The West" as if the West was just the
             | USA. I remember then internet users said that the West
             | didn't get DBZ until 200s where in Europe by ~1995 we
             | already finished DBZ for months both in the manga and the
             | anime.
        
           | s0rr0wskill wrote:
           | how do y'all live
        
       | echelon wrote:
       | If I had significant wealth, one of the things I'd do would be to
       | try and commission Miyazaki to make another film in the same
       | veins as _Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind_ or _Princess
       | Mononoke_. Maybe adapting his earlier _Shuna no Tabi_ manga,
       | which was also great. I 'd even settle for something more kid-
       | friendly like _Castle in the Sky_ or _Spirited Away_.
       | 
       | I know money probably wouldn't sway him, but a donation to
       | something he cared about... maybe. It's just an unrealistic hope,
       | anyway.
       | 
       | I can't stand that there's nothing else like Princess _Mononoke_
       | or _Nausicaa_. The world needs more Miyazaki, and especially his
       | adult-themed sci-fi and fantasy.
       | 
       | Miyazaki is a treasure. I'm going to miss having him.
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-17 23:00 UTC)