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INTEREST: Miyazaki is Agitated Over the Latest Ghibli Movie Poster

Then he tore the poster down and left the studio to go teach children how to use knives and start fires.

Hmmm, I can see the point he might be coming from since perhaps it has always been done in animation studios using blonde girls as characters with exoticism. He may have wanted them to not do something overused/cliche.

Still I don't think we can judge him on this issue since we were not there and perhaps he may have specific reasons why he was agitated over the movie poster.

Although I do see this being the downside of retiring you can no longer influence the direction of future projects.

I think some people here are missing the point.

I think he is probably angry at the fact that this poster is nothing more than just the character standing there.

This poster doesn't say much about the movie besides "hey the main character is this blonde girl here, come watch the movie".

That is cliche and outdated, he probably wanted something more creative that said more about the movie.

I don't exactly like the poster myself either. I guess what bugs me is that the poster is basically just Marnie, so in a way it feels more like a photoshoot than a movie poster. I'm also bugged by her pose, because I've seen it elsewhere in situations where it carried a sort of coquettish vibe, that feels a bit discomfiting to see in a Ghibli work. And last of all, it doesn't help that the text along the right-hand side can be translated to read "I love you", and couple that with the fact Marnie seems to be looking directly into your eyes... well I dunno', I think I'm just reminded a bit much of an idol or dating sim advertisement which is hard to stomach when I'm trying to think about a Ghibli movie (I realize it has nothing to do with the plot of the movie, I guess it's more of an unsettling parallel for me).

As for Miyazaki's reasoning, it might be tamer than people are getting worked up over. I remember reading in the Kiki's Delivery Service artbook that Ghibli had devised a very unique coloring scheme system for their works (one they thought was innovative and unique to Ghibli at the time, IIRC) that balanced the character coloring with the background art in a way that produced a warm, earthy tone and a stronger sense for realism. Maybe Miyazaki is bugged by the fact that the color scheme in the poster kind of emphasizes the girl's blonde hair in a way that seems to purposefully catch the eye rather than act as an integrated earthy picture like the studio is known for. And sort of similar to my sentiment, he might not like the way the picture excessively focuses on just the girl, making it feel more like a posed magazine photo than an artistic representation of the movie itself. So maybe Miyazaki just feels like the poster comes across more like an advertisement than a piece of art.

Honestly though, he's the only person who knows what he meant, so it's really up for interpretation until he clarifies.

Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:

There's nothing mysterious about this girl. It's *obvious* that she's an American. Everyone knows that all Americans have blond hair and blue eyes. Sheesh.

> The original novel is by a British author.
>> And is set in Norfolk, England.
>>> So the characters must be American!

But then again, having watched the K-ON! Movie, the point still stands that according to the Japanese, all westerners have blond hair and blue eyes.