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I personally really disliked the wind rises - it seems apologetic to the role of an engineer in creating a machine used to kill people, just because they were b

I personally really disliked the wind rises - it seems apologetic to the role of an engineer in creating a machine used to kill people, just because they were beautiful. Perhaps I missed the point and there was a subtle sadness I did not perceive in the creation of the fighters. Also, a somewhat weird romance compared to even other Ghibli movies

rawgabbit 4y ago
I liked the film because I thought it was an honest take on Miyazaki's feelings about that era. The hero and heroine were just people who had hopes and dreams and fell in love. The times they lived in were horrific. I identify with them because I have family members in my extended family who fought each other in the same war. War is evil.
atoav 4y ago
I did not perceive the message as positive, but as rather sad. The protagonist is all work on a war machine while he looses a beloved one. In the end it surely made me (as an engineer) reflect on the role I am playing.
parker_mountain 4y ago
I think the Zero was a turning point in Japanese manufacturing and development - and directly leading to skills and people who were mightily influential in the post WWII economy. As Americans, we lionize the B-52 bomber, the fighter jet, and other tools of our trade of war. I think that's why they remember it so fondly, with a little footnote at the end about how it was a great example of Japanese engineering and effort used for a horrible end. This film definitely is uncomfortably close to an intangible border of "war atrocity"; and, considerably more so considering the Zero's usage in the end of WWII and Japanese atrocities. Considering Miyazaki's anti-war stances and efforts, I always was inclined to take his thoughts and messaging on this with a positive light. By the way, did you know that in Japan, this film was viewed extremely negatively by Japanese nationalists? So, there may be something culturally lost in our interpretation as well. I remember coming out of that movie thinking, "well, that's kinda fucked up". And yet, my understanding of that movie is contrary to the man's many decades of outspoken commentary. So, idk. I think I just didn't "get it". > The movie’s subject dovetails with an issue currently under heated debate in Japan: the new prime minister’s plan to amend the country’s constitution to allow for the building of a full-fledged military, boosting the limited self-defense forces put in place after the war. > Miyazaki, a venerated cultural figure in Japan, published an essay last month objecting to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan, in the process raising the ire of some Japanese conservatives, who on Internet message boards labeled him “anti-Japanese” and a “traitor.” > Miyazaki’s movie, which is seeking U.S. distribution, reflects his pacifist stance. In the subtitled trailer above, he depicts Japan in the years leading up to WWII, when it faced some of the same problems that have plagued the country in recent years, including a devastating earthquake and economic stagnation. The character of Horikoshi appears as a contemplative young man, tossing paper airplanes with a girl, gazing at the Japanese countryside from the window of a steam train and working in a factory, until the war hits and the tone shifts, with a plane breaking up in the sky and blood falling to the ground.
autoexec 4y ago
> I personally really disliked the wind rises - it seems apologetic to the role of an engineer in creating a machine used to kill people, I think that might have a lot to do with his father. "His father, Katsuji Miyazaki (born 1915),[2] was the director of Miyazaki Airplane, his brother's company,[4] which manufactured rudders for fighter planes during World War II.[5]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki) He hates war, but his own father played a role in it. I imagine that a person would have to come to terms with that somehow. He also really does think military airplanes are beautiful so there's that too.

rawgabbit 4y ago

I liked the film because I thought it was an honest take on Miyazaki's feelings about that era. The hero and heroine were just people who had hopes and dreams and fell in love. The times they lived in were horrific. I identify with them because I have family members in my extended family who fought each other in the same war. War is evil.

atoav 4y ago

I did not perceive the message as positive, but as rather sad. The protagonist is all work on a war machine while he looses a beloved one. In the end it surely made me (as an engineer) reflect on the role I am playing.

parker_mountain 4y ago

I think the Zero was a turning point in Japanese manufacturing and development - and directly leading to skills and people who were mightily influential in the post WWII economy. As Americans, we lionize the B-52 bomber, the fighter jet, and other tools of our trade of war. I think that's why they remember it so fondly, with a little footnote at the end about how it was a great example of Japanese engineering and effort used for a horrible end. This film definitely is uncomfortably close to an intangible border of "war atrocity"; and, considerably more so considering the Zero's usage in the end of WWII and Japanese atrocities. Considering Miyazaki's anti-war stances and efforts, I always was inclined to take his thoughts and messaging on this with a positive light. By the way, did you know that in Japan, this film was viewed extremely negatively by Japanese nationalists? So, there may be something culturally lost in our interpretation as well. I remember coming out of that movie thinking, "well, that's kinda fucked up". And yet, my understanding of that movie is contrary to the man's many decades of outspoken commentary. So, idk. I think I just didn't "get it". > The movie’s subject dovetails with an issue currently under heated debate in Japan: the new prime minister’s plan to amend the country’s constitution to allow for the building of a full-fledged military, boosting the limited self-defense forces put in place after the war. > Miyazaki, a venerated cultural figure in Japan, published an essay last month objecting to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan, in the process raising the ire of some Japanese conservatives, who on Internet message boards labeled him “anti-Japanese” and a “traitor.” > Miyazaki’s movie, which is seeking U.S. distribution, reflects his pacifist stance. In the subtitled trailer above, he depicts Japan in the years leading up to WWII, when it faced some of the same problems that have plagued the country in recent years, including a devastating earthquake and economic stagnation. The character of Horikoshi appears as a contemplative young man, tossing paper airplanes with a girl, gazing at the Japanese countryside from the window of a steam train and working in a factory, until the war hits and the tone shifts, with a plane breaking up in the sky and blood falling to the ground.

autoexec 4y ago

> I personally really disliked the wind rises - it seems apologetic to the role of an engineer in creating a machine used to kill people, I think that might have a lot to do with his father. "His father, Katsuji Miyazaki (born 1915),[2] was the director of Miyazaki Airplane, his brother's company,[4] which manufactured rudders for fighter planes during World War II.[5]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki) He hates war, but his own father played a role in it. I imagine that a person would have to come to terms with that somehow. He also really does think military airplanes are beautiful so there's that too.