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- 在线时间
- 74 小时
- 威望
- 51 点
- 财产
- 2891679 个栗子果
- 人气
- 32 ℃
- 最后登录
- 2019-11-8
- 注册时间
- 2005-7-21
- 帖子
- 94235
- 主题
- 93677
- 精华
- 10
- 积分
- 269899
- UID
- 11
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原文
2ND PLACE CONTEST ENTRY BY INGRID YU: Following is the contest entry written by Ingrid Yu from Canada who won second place in the GhibliWorld.com Giveaway Contest. Read on below to find out what she has to say about her favorite Studio Ghibli films.
Dear Peter,
I decided to do my three different movie entries in different styles: my first being second person, the second and third being first person and less formal. I wanted to do Grave Of The Fireflies in second person because it was such an important film to me, and writing in first person would be harder.
Grave Of The Fireflies
51:00. You stop there. After fifty minutes, you and your boyfriend squirm, and after another sixty seconds, you both beg each other at the same time to stop the movie. This has never happened before. You have never seen a movie and stopped it because the sadness was just that unbearable. You haven't even stopped a movie before out of boredom, because you wanted to follow through. But this... this movie, that you expected to be so light hearted and warm like the previous Studio Ghibli movies you had seen, has you wanting to cradle an animated little girl like she was your very own. Daughter? Family member? Friend? It didn't matter. You just felt like she belonged to you somehow, it didn't matter in what way. Her voice is perfect. Adorable. When she fidgets and moves her shoulders when talking about her mother, you feel ill. Had she bawled her eyes out and screamed, you would have been sympathetic. But the quiet attempt at strength scrapes painfully in the back of your throat. That sounds so cliché-- an attempt at being overly epic. But that's just how you want to describe it. That's how little kids are, when they're sad about something substantial. They get fussy, and fidget in their restless ways. The fact that they're so little and trying to cope makes you feel horrible, because you, as an older, stronger person should be doing anything to lift the burden off their little shoulders. But she's animated. You can't do anything to her.
How can such an ugly, cruel story be painted so beautifully? Your thoughts draw to the current war on terror. The thought of a third world war. And after a slew of anti-war movies that have left you callously unfazed, you find yourself thinking about all the protests you would participate in if there was threat of a war. Then you think, well, is this just a phase? Why don't you protest more about the current war in the Middle East? You probably won't do anything. But the difference is: now you actually care. You don't hear about war without blinking anymore. You wish wars weren't depicted so coldly in your history class. You're wishing for something different. Nothing has made you care before. Maybe you were too selfish. Maybe you had never seen anything honest before. Either way, you feel changed. Your entire life's orientation around the fact that nothing mattered, your lifestyle of day to day action has been broadened. You look online to find storyboard artwork, and notice that many people admit that this is the first movie they cried to. You would be joining that club. And you would be doing more than just joining that club, you would be promoting it. You actually force four other people, including your mother, to watch it. You want people to see a REAL anti-war movie, not one with just a pile of bloody carcasses scattered around and protesters stirring things up. It may be callous of you, to say that, but like the fact that one person can affect you so much more than a million statistics, you feel that things are more effective when you care. And no other Studio Ghibli movies has wrecked you so much like this one has-- not just because of its sad content, but also because of its portrayal of family being the only thing you have left. So perhaps this isn't a movie that you'll be popping into your DVD player every week. Your heart wouldn't be able to take it. But it's one of your favorites because it's very close to you now, and very precious. You want classrooms across the world to watch it, to learn about the human side of the war, not the bloody or activist side of it. You want them to care, too.
Princess Mononoke
While "Grave Of The Fireflies" is one of my favorite movies because of the way it makes me feel, Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites because it fulfills everything that I traditionally want in an "instant favorite" of mine. Handsome, brooding hero: check. Epic, feudal scenery: check. The lovebirds getting off on the wrong foot: check (always a classic with the girls.) And those little tree spirits with the bobbling heads certainly don't hurt either. Wikipedia tells me that they are called kodama. I'm not so embarrassed that I didn't know their proper name though, because it made for interesting conversation when my friends and I would mention the spirits and say, "you know, the cute little... the bobbly...." and someone would shake their head like the spirits a little and everybody would smile in a ridiculously pleased manner. Not in a, "oh, funny impression," sort of way, but rather an eerie, reminiscent way. But yes, back to the point, the movie itself was just so much better with the kodama dotted throughout. I have to admit, I was slightly horrified when the forest was dying and they were falling out of the trees.
But what makes this film my favorite? I can't just say it's a FEELING. That would be both lazy of me and untrue, but it's going to take a lot digging to see truth past general impressions. I think the way movies make you feel are very personal, making this task difficult. At least, it's personal if it's an authentic feeling. If it's just a phase, I just gush over it for about half an hour after the movie is over and then don't really have a second thought about it. But if the movie really affects me, the way these three Studio Ghibli movies have and other films, then it's connected to me because of what it conveyed and how it reacted with my own experiences in life. It made me want to be more important, made me want to have more purpose in life. These characters all had such great ambition, and determination, and suddenly living the slacker university life wasn't so amusing as it was before I saw this movie. I went to my friends who had seen this movie and brought up the subject of Princess Mononoke just to see their thoughts. And their thoughts completely echoed some of mine. One said, "the soundtrack is just so SAD." Another couldn't describe why he loved it so much, it was just "majestic." And it's just... such a wonderfully crafted story. A thing that's common in all Studio Ghibli films that I found particularly evident in this one was the little details added. The great lengths that were put through to get sound effects with depth, gorgeous art, just all the little details and mannerisms of the characters that all blended together to make this soothing, amazing world. I love it because it's a long but beautiful journey, and I want others to see it to share it. Although a lot of Asian culture is become popular nowadays, anime is typically scorned, but I can honestly say any critic I have EVER encountered has loved Studio Ghibli. And I'm proud of it for breaking those barriers. I know I sort of digressed, and this was supposed to be about Princess Mononoke, but I just think it's a fine example of all these traits that I have come passionately love about Studio Ghibli films.
My Neighbor Totoro
I originally saw the dubbed version as a child, and remember laughing and LAUGHING at the moment that Mei peered into the large camphor tree and then went tumbling down to where Totoro was. So recently, "jaded and hardened" by the years under my belt, I decided to rewatch it and saw the original Japanese version. I couldn't believe how hilarious Mei's voice was. It was just so expressive and... I don't know if harsh is the right word, but just so blunt but not in a flat manner, just the way children her age are. The whole concept and the creatures are just so imaginative, and it's not even an epic storyline which is usually the type of film that grabs me. It's rather simple, but it's just that through a whimsical film, family and just being carefree was captured so WELL. It wasn't just REPRESENTED, the actual essence of those two key concepts were just breathing life into the film. And the element of the ill mother added enough depth to everything, giving the characters opportunity to grow, without being just thrown in like so many films do today. It may sound silly, but these sort of things just astound me. As an aspiring writer, whenever I read a book or watch a movie and they've pieced things together so PERFECTLY, so NATURALLY, I'm just... I just fall for it.
I admit though, this movie is a harder sell to convince people to watch than the other more mature Ghibli movies. But I think it's still worth a watch because it's just 2 hours of something that we all probably miss in our lives. And that puts it above the other amazing Ghibli movies because none of them make me remember my childhood that way, no other Disney movie that I watch repeatedly as a child makes me remember how... easy and sunny it was. It doesn't fool me into thinking that there weren't bad moments too though, where all I wanted to do was grow up, but because of that consciousness, it makes me hopeful for the future, now that I am where I wanted to be. Less scared of it, and not too eager of it either. This film manages to make me, an extremely sarcastic person at times, optimistic, which is why I think everyone should give it a chance.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entry, and you have a wonderful site. I'm so jealous of your collections, although I'm sure MANY other people are :)
- Ingrid |
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