Forum - View topic

Is Miyazaki a good story teller?

^
I'm interested on this. Why do you consider them the gold standard for storytelling in animation? Miyazaki has better rounded stories in my opinion, particularly Porco Rosso; true, Kiki is a great coming of age and Mononoke is an amazing epic, but are their narratives that solid? If these are gold standard, what about Takahata's -pretty much- entire filmography?

I wouldn't say Arkthelad's storytelling standard is arbitrary. It is based on Western movie narrative norms which stipulate that early on in a film you reveal what the film is about, the middle portion is devoted to developing what has been introduced and the final portion resolves the conflict/s in a satisfying way. This tradition also requires that action be "rising" so that stuff that happens later in the film needs to be bigger than what preceded it. It's expected that character/s will encounter a series of increasingly difficult obstacles to their readily identifiable goal. Tangential explorations and matters are not encouraged. Elements introduced early on need to be threaded throughout the narrative as opposed to dropped at some point without explanation. It's hard to argue that Miyazaki's films slavishly follow these principles. For me that is not a problem in the least. I am Miyazaki's helpless little bitch - I'd watch an animated film of his grocery list. For others, the lack of conventional Western storytelling techniques is more of a problem.

I think the OP's main problem is that he asks if Miyazaki is a "good" storyteller which I believe he feels is synonymous with "Western" storytelling and doesn't recognize that there are other ways to tell stories that can be extremely effective for some audiences, just not necessarily Western ones.

My point is that even for Western movie's this standardized way of doing things did not produce the best ones like Apocalypse Now, which also do not follow these tropes.

While Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke are really great epic sci fi/fantasy storytelling as well.

CameronMac wrote:

Beginnings, Middle and Ends of his stories having nothing to do with each other.

For me this is one of the main problems, and it often is the result of a lack of dramatic focus ie the stories are not held together by a main character (or characters) trying to reach a goal or overcome a problem. About half way through Spirited Away, Chihiro tells her parents that she's going to save them, but she literally does nothing to that effect either before or after she says this. That's not just Spirited Away either.

Instead of Problem>Struggle>Resolution, it goes Problem>Characters doing random stuff>Resolution.

The character development in his movies is exceptional and on-par with what you can experience reading a good fantasy novel!

Simply put, his stories have characters that are relatable to many people for different reasons and in my opinion that is what matters most in a "great" story.

I can see what you are saying in regards to Spirited Away. The focus veered away from the goal of saving her parents, but I think in the context (that she was an adolescent girl in an unknown world) this is not surprising.I mean, there is only so much she could've done in that situation...she was just trying to navigate her way through a traumatic experience and was worrying about her own livelihood.

I also feel it is important to note that the "journeys" characters in Miyazaki movies have are typically not filled with excessive angst or strife.

The protagonists end up reaching their goals by staying the course and committing to their adventures by experiencing the moment. By doing so, they end up finding what they seek in an almost "natural" way.

You know, I don't think Mamoru Hosada gets enough love. I think he's just as good, if not at times, a better storyteller than Miyzaki.

For example, Wolf Children alone is better than a lot of his work. I freaking ADORE Wolf Children.