Disney and Studio Ghibli: Beautiful Differences
Walt Disney and Hayao Miyazaki: the best animators of their age.
Both are revered as master storytellers, cutting to the heart of their audience through carefully constructed pictures and characters, like gods, having created worlds of ink and film.
Walt and the Disney company are known for films like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, while Miyazaki and his company, Studio Ghibli, are lauded for full-length features like Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
As the top of their fields in the United States and Japan, respectively, (if not worldwide!), it’s inevitable for these animators, and their companies, to be compared. In fact, some people refer to Studio Ghibli as Japan’s Disney. However, upon closer examination, Disney and Ghibli couldn’t be more different. (Fun fact: Disney distributed Studio Ghibli films in the U.S. for a little over 15 years.1)
Different styles, different cultures, different messages – it seems to be a lesson in contradictions but taken together, they make for a well-rounded and truly wonderful film collection. My little shelf of DVDs wouldn’t be complete without my Ghibli and my Disney. Because sometimes you need someone to remind you that big dreams can come true, but at other times, you need someone to hold your hand and say, “take joy in the little things, it is enough.”
Animation Style: Pencil, Paper…Computer?
Walt Disney became interested in drawing when he was just a kid growing up on a Missouri farm, and he never lost sight of that first love. Similarly, Hayao Miyazaki fell in love with animation at a young age – the first time he saw Hakujaden, Japan’s first full-length, color animated movie, in 1958.2
Both Disney and Miyazaki dedicated their lives to their craft, creating their movies frame by frame, whether it was loveable Mickey Mouse whistling behind the helm of a steamboat or a troop of soot sprites sprinkled around a heroine’s tennis-shoed feet.
Of course, in Walt’s day, there really wasn’t another option for producing cartoons, but since then, technology and animation have progressed into a digital era of 3D and CGI, something Disney and sister-company Pixar have worked to pioneer and embrace.
Walt championed progress and was personally fascinated by advances in technology, so, I think it’s safe to say he’d be pleased with adventuring into this new territory. In his day, the animation studio was already working to improve their storytelling abilities with new inventions like Technicolor, Fantasound, and a multiplane camera.3
Perhaps Disney’s best foray into the computer-animated realm is Tangled. Now, as you may know, I absolutely adore Tangled, so, yes, that’s a pretty biased statement. Regardless, I can’t imagine Rapunzel’s elaborate (and glowing!) hair being achieved in another medium. Each individual strand was meticulously animated and programmed to move in perfect sync with Rapunzel as if her hair were a character of its own.4 It certainly symbolizes what Rapunzel is feeling – flowy and carefree, droopy and downhearted, then at the end, no longer weighed down, finally free to live her life.
There is a certain magic in that kind of animation, with three-dimensional characters who pop off the screen like real people. (When Rapunzel cries, I cry.) And yet, when it comes to Studio Ghibli, hand-drawn, 2D animation is still the gospel.
“I believe that the tool of an animator is the pencil.”5
Hayao Miyazaki, interview with the new york times
Hayao Miyazaki famously shuns computers and would like to see a future where “wild green grasses are going to take over.”6 Even today, at the age of 80, Miyazaki is still carefully drawing out the storyboard for his latest (and likely last) movie – How Do You Live?
Being 2D makes each movie feel like a living piece of art. I love sinking into the watercolor backgrounds, finding myself in the flowery fields, or scudding through the fluffy clouds with Porco Rosso in his red biplane. Majestic and homespun at the same time, Ghibli’s “old-fashioned” animation style exudes the gentle touch of the animators, unique and inimitable.
Ghibli scenes are always vivid, but never gaudy. The momentum is sometimes slow, often introspective, and each hand-drawn sequence is always deliberate.
In my favorite Ghibli movie, The Whisper of the Heart, there are many quiet scenes of heroine Shizuku simply reading or writing, working to fulfill her dream of finishing a novel, of proving she can be a real writer. Precious frames are taken up by the clicking of a mechanical pencil, the turning of a page, and in those moments, the viewer has time to let the emotions of the previous scene sink in. You are truly living with the characters, two-dimensional in appearance, yet so very three-dimensional in the heart.
The Art of Storytelling: Dream Big or Live Little?
Both Disney and Miyazaki look to other stories for inspiration. Of course, they have original stories, too, but often they like to borrow from fairy tales, novels, or local folklore. In fact, both have turned to Hans Christen Andersen for a suitable fable – Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Ghibli’s Ponyo are loosely based on Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”
However, Disney and Miyazaki have an incredibly different approach when it comes to storytelling, mainly because they are pursuing different themes. Their works also emerge from two separate places (east and west), different generations, and different experiences (especially in regard to the Second World War). Simply put, the films are as unique as the artists themselves, subtly reflecting the core values of the source.
In Disney’s Little Mermaid, the central theme is getting to have a choice: land or water? Favored plot points include following your dreams, romance, and finding happiness.
Ariel’s dream is to be part of the human world, which initially isn’t even an option for her. Through a deal with a villainous sea witch and true love with Prince Eric, the ability to choose becomes a reality: she can be “part of our world.” She makes the choice to follow her dream, to be with Eric, and her happiness at the end of the movie is our assurance of her success.
I love how Ariel’s passion for the human world is so clearly displayed in her collection of “whozzits” and “whatzzits.” She even risked her life to explore a sunken ship, merely in the name of researching humanity! Ariel’s dream was a deep-seated one, and to get to see it come true was inspiring for me as a kid.
Today, it’s easy to critique her romance with Prince Eric as totally rushed, and the fact she has to rely on him to kiss her so she could reach her dream…well, it slightly undermines Walt’s motto that dreams come true by working hard.
“People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.”7
Walt Disney
Though to be fair, Ariel did display great courage in giving up her voice to chase her dream – she made sacrifices to pursue her goal! (Even if her decision-making might have lacked a little wisdom.)
Ultimately, like much of Disney’s repertoire, this version of “The Little Mermaid” is a story about making the impossible come to pass, and of course, “happily ever after.”
Miyazaki’s interpretation of the classic story through Ponyo is similar in that there is a choice between life as a human or life as a goldfish (rather than a mermaid). However, rather than shedding her goldfish tail for legs in one song, little Ponyo changes in stages, and at one point sports a pair of adorable chicken feet.
Her “true love” is a little boy named Sosuke, and since they are both around 5 years old, there is no romance. The love they share is simply the implacable bond of friendship. Like Prince Eric, Sosuke is still integral to Ponyo’s transformation, promising Ponyo’s parents he’ll love her – whether fish or human – which helps them to let her go. While she couldn’t have become human without Sosuke’s help, Ponyo still did plenty on her own to get there, at one point creating a tsunami just to escape her father.
My favorite moment of Ponyo is when she and Sosuke sit and eat a bowl of ramen together. It’s a quintessential Ghibli quiet moment that cements their bond as friends, Ponyo’s love for the human world (ham!), and allows the viewer an intimate moment with the characters.
Rather than focusing on Ponyo’s desire to be human, Miyazaki focuses on the transformation itself, making Ponyo a film about leaving things behind while still rightfully remembering them.
Like other Miyazaki films, nature plays an enormous role, and there are no clear-cut villains like Ursula the sea witch. Ponyo’s father stands in her way, but he is protective and a perhaps little misguided – not evil.
A strong heroine, little to no romance, moral greyness, nature’s fury – these are all constant plot devices in Studio Ghibli films.
While Disney and Ghibli both incorporate magic into their stories, Disney’s is loftier, begging you to dream big, while Miyazaki’s is seen in the mundane, asking you to cherish the small things.
Studio Ghibli and Disney: Embracing the Differences
These messages are not mutually exclusive. Far from it!
Life is hard. Sometimes we need a power-up anthem sung by Idina Menzel to get our blood pumping again! Sometimes we need a reminder we can change our circumstances or a reminder that it’s okay and downright fun to have dreams! That working toward your dream isn’t a waste of time. Sometimes you just need something happy after a long day. And Disney movies are known for “happily ever after.”
“That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.”8
walt Disney
But while you’re pursuing your dream – because that’s not something that’s achieved overnight – it’s imperative to enjoy life around you. Savor your favorite food, sit outside and soak up the sun, relish in the relationships you have.
It’s okay to acknowledge times that are hard, scary, or sad. In Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro, scenes of middle-school Satsuki and little sister, Mei, chomping on fresh veggies and happily playing with forest spirits are interspersed with moments of sloppy tears and heart-breaking grief as they worry for their hospital-bound mother. Their happiness does not eradicate their sorrow, nor does their sorrow completely eclipse their happiness.
“I would like to make a film to tell children, ‘it’s good to be alive.’”9
Hayao Miyazaki
Although the style and themes of Disney and Studio Ghibli are different, I return to both, again and again, like old friends. Sometimes I need to belt out a tune with Rapunzel, and other days I need to have a quiet writer’s conference with Shizuku. I am so thankful for both Walt Disney and Hayao Miyazaki; their work has made my world a brighter, more navigable place.
Further Reading
Ross, Deborah. “Miyazaki’s Little Mermaid: A Goldfish Out of Water.” Journal of Film and Video, vol. 66, no. 3, [University of Illinois Press, University Film & Video Association], 2014, pp. 18–30, https://doi.org/10.5406/jfilmvideo.66.3.0018.
Cover Image
Photo: Unsplash
Recommended Gear for this Adventure
Disclaimer: We earn a commission if you click any of the links above and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
