My Neighbor Totoro (Studio Ghibli and Walt Disney 1988) by Miyazaki Hayao

Post By: Kel Robbins

One of the greatest internationally celebrated films for kids is My Neighbor Totoro.  For those who
watch this film simply for entertainment, they may miss the fine details that show that this film also reflects Japan’s cultural values. With an in-depth analysis of three themes of the film; the cinematography that displays nature as powerful, the pure connection the kids have with sacred things, and the adults’ awareness of the unseen world, tells the audience of how Shinto values are rooted in Japanese culture. 

            Being directed by the renowned Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Walt Disney Productions and Studio Ghibli, this film has all the makings to be a wonderful movie. But what is this film about? The story involves a young family (the Kusakabes) that includes a hospitalized mom and a father that takes care of his two daughters; satsuki, who is in elementary, and mei who still plays at home.  The family recently moved to an extremely rural area that is surrounded by a vast amount of nature.  

Moving in, they notice that they have intruded on the home of some spirits that live in and around the forest nearby.  As the two girls continue to grow accustom to their new home they often come in contact with these spirits and begin to develop a relationship with them. The more connection that is built, the more trust and harmony they have with each other.

         The filmmakers use multiple cinematic strategies in order to convey the power and importance nature has in relation to humans.  One of the tactics they focus on is how they would develop each shot.  For viewers to understand how little humans really are in comparison to Earth and the nature therein, there are panning and tilt shots that are used specifically.  As the girls pull up to move into their new home for the first time, one of the girls directs the attention of the audience to the nature by saying, “it's a tunnel of trees!” describing the little pathway that leads up to there home.  Right next to the home is a humongous tree that is hundreds of years old, known as the camper tree.  To show the tree’s majesty, tilt shots start from the bottom to the top displaying how the highest branches stand tallest and overlook everything around it.  In essence, this can represent that trees power over the many things around it.  The producers would continue to focus on including the power of nature by panning from man-made houses and roads, to the vast fields and forests that engulf the insignificant things made by hand.

            In showing how strong the connection between humans and nature can be, extra props and artifacts were used to fill the scene.  The creators of this movie show that technological advances are yet to have a major influence on the people in this rural setting.  

Things like telegrams, little access to a phone line, wearing Geta sandals, pumping water manually, and other things like this shows a touch of the historical background for the farmers of Japan.  Due to the little use of advance technology, the farmers are able to appreciate and recognize the role and connection nature has in humans’ lives.  Along with the camera work and artifacts placed in the scenes, sequences are created showing that spirits control the winds.  One of the early scenes shows the young Kusakabe family after they just finish moving in, and the spirits who previously lived in the home challenge their new neighbors by pounding their old crumbly wooden home with fierce winds.  This shows the interaction of creating boundaries between nature and humans.  Though the two counterparts may have created separation between worlds, relations and connections are still able to form.

The Kusakabe kids, Satsuki and Mei, are ultimately the connection in this film.  The reason they are able to connect so well is due to their non-threatening purity within them.  One of the side characters, Granny, pointed out specifically that it was because Satsuki and Mei were young (and innocent) that they have the ability to see the spirits from time to time.  When Mei and Satsuki first come in contact with Totoro, the spirit of the trees, there is also the presence of other animal life forms.  

At a bus stop there is a toad, and inside of the camper tree there were butterflies.  This can be an example that when there is purity, animals, humans, and nature can all live in harmony.  Because children, who are still in their adolescent stages, have yet to confront the profane things of the world too much, they are able to maintain this purity and connect easier with sacred things.

Whenever the kids would come in contact with Totoro, it is as if time stands still, creating the sense of a world of non-duality.   With an Anime approach, the filmmakers are able to display this easier as they create sequences of transparent spirits, kids flying with these spirits, and in one scene, a seed growing into a gigantic tree at exponential speeds. 

In each encountering, it is as if there is a lot going on with a lot of time passing, but after the transition to the next scene, it is as if nothing has change.  However physical evidence is left each time these events happen proving that it wasn’t just a kid’s make-believe story.  Even as these stories are relayed to the adults of the film, they never disregard the statements by the kids.

Maturing into adulthood, people tend to obtain more knowledge about religion and beliefs.  For Japanese people, it is in their culture to respect nature as each aspect has a specific god.  The more respect given to these gods and aspects of nature, the more light will be shone down upon that individual’s life.  At the same time, as people start confronting the working world and other realities, the more profane things are introduced into life.  There is one scene that shows the father in Tokyo on the phone with Satsuki.  In this clip not only is the father on the phone, but the building he is in is built by man-made brick.  The more disconnected one becomes with nature, the more purity is lost. 

This can be one of the reasons why adults struggle to see spirits and kids can.  Nevertheless, the Kusakabe father does his part to teach his girls to respect nature in order to communicate with the other side.  In another scene, as the girls seek to come in contact with Totoro, the father has his girls bow in respect to the great camper tree.  This displays the importance Shinto values have in the home of the typical Japanese family.  The father is never shown worshiping deity, but still by teaching his girls to show respect to nature is an example of Shinto values apart of the lives of the Japanese.

There are many significant occurrences in this film that depicts the Japanese giving respect and trust to nature.  Another example is “Granny” telling the two girls that if their sick mother eats her veggies she will recover speedily.  From this, viewers can see that humans really can connect to nature and that the Japanese believe it.  If, not only Japanese people, but all people see the example of the Japanese culture embedded in this film and follow to it, the light that comes from the rising sun might just shine brighter in their lives also more than ever before.