Studio Ghibli films and parental abuse | Part 2

Okay, so in my last video I went through some of the old crowd favourites, you know, My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, Spirited Away, but there's another film in the Studio Ghibli collection that I want to talk about, and that is called Only Yesterday. Honestly, I could talk about this film for multiple videos, but I ain't gonna, not because I respect your time, but because my therapist told me no one wants to hang out with me because all I want to do is rant about this film. Now if you haven't seen it, or don't remember it, and I don't blame you, Only Yesterday is a fever dream of a film about a 27-year-old woman who peaked in the 5th grade called Taeko. Taeko obsessively delves through her childhood memories while she goes on vacation to the countryside to help with the harvesting of safflowers. Many scenes are expertly crafted to keep you on the edge of your seat, like who can forget that scene where they cut up a pineapple and eat it? Or when the class talk about how hall monitors should police people running in the halls. Or when they go into detail about the manufacturing process of rouge. Christ, something happened in this film! Or when the boys look up the girls' skirts to see their periods, wait what? Now if you've watched part 1 or basically any of my other videos, you'll know that I'll be ripping into the characters and messaging of this film. Let's start with Taeko's mum. Now she's in fierce competition with Chihiro's mother for the most likely to be a reptile wearing human skin. Now she is just straight up mean, you know, like that time she eviscerated Taeko for not being married at the age of 27. Mmm, gross. Or that time she destroyed Taeko's self-esteem for getting a D on a maths test. I love how she's somewhat taken back by the fact that Taeko accidentally heard her say But then later on she's just openly discussing to the two other daughters about how Taeko might have subnormal intelligence and potentially has brain damage because she got a D on a maths test. And Taeko's just in the other room just having to listen to this. You can almost hear her self-esteem just decaying with each syllable that comes out of their mouths and it's just, oh, hmm, what a supportive family, what a 10 out of 10 supportive family, just, ugh, 10 out of 10. Lovely. Honestly, at this point, the only quicker way of destroying Taeko's self-esteem would be if the mum metaphysically mulched Taeko's self-worth in a blender and then drank it like the soul-crushing vampire she is. But not only has she mastered the art of being an absolute piece of work, this mother is also cunning in the discipline of passive-aggressiveness. Just look at the way she speaks to Taeko. Or when Taeko was forced to get one of her sisters to help her with maths and her mum just completely ignored her concerns. Honestly, you will never hear the silent treatment get attached to a parent with redeemable qualities. There's also that time she started dumping Taeko's leftovers and Taeko's begging, pleading that she'll continue eating them so they don't go to waste and the mum's just like... She even started sticking up for her like the other sisters constantly gang up and insult her and the mum just does nothing. I'm getting some serious Moses vibes off this lady. A really telling moment of the quality of this type of parent is quite evident when someone from outside of the family gets involved in the drama. For instance, in one childhood memory, Taeko was seen to be denied acting in a college play by her dad for literally no good reason and we will get to that later on in the video. And the worst part is, is the mother's more concerned with the feelings of the girl that eventually got the role rather than the feelings of Taeko herself. And what I will give this movie credit for is how it perfectly captures the bitch mother archetype. Every bitch mother has to excel at passive aggressiveness, face value of their own child's mental health, creating levels of expectations their child could never reach. It's like, did they all come out of the same factory? Anyways, I'm sure Taeko will be reminiscing on these lovely childhood memories as she's checking her mother into a two-star nursing home. Now let's look at the father. Now I'm pretty sure this man was created when the colour beige mated with an eye in awe that had anger management issues. Now this guy is your stock standard white collar lump of resentment and anger. It's the type of guy that takes laughing and having fun as an act of hostility. It's the type of guy that makes you wonder, why on earth did you bother having a family? For instance, when he's at the dinner table, he barely interacts with the family, like he's just constantly reading a newspaper. And he commands his wife around like she's his servant. You seem a little tense there, buddy. Might I suggest a warm bath or some essential oils? He gives me all kinds of anxiety, you know? You never really feel safe or comfortable around a guy like this. One minute you're sitting next to him at the dinner table while he reads his newspaper and the next minute he jams a fork in your hand because you salted your food before you tasted it. Now he has two defining moments in this film, alright? One when he spots Taeko walking out of the house without shoes on. Wow, he just slapped her like she just told a joke about his wife being in G.I. Jane 2. And his face after is just amazing. Hmm, was the slap too much? Was it too much? Maybe grabbing her by the collar hard enough to pop a button off was a bit too hardcore. Maybe I should have just gone for the chokehold. Now you're probably thinking that was a little bit of an overreaction, but things were different back then, you know? Why, when I was a young boy, you'd be lucky to get slapped for such a horrendous, horrific crime such as walking out of the house without shoes on. I knew someone who dropped food on the ground during dinner. His parents cut off his eyelids. He looked like he was in a constant state of surprise. The second moment was when Taeko got offered a role in a college play. To say Taeko was excited is an understatement. When she heard the news she literally rolled on her back like a dying stag beetle and made chicken noises. But then... I love how the slapper just lets the tension simmer, you know, really amping up the hope that he might be okay with this before he gives the hard rejection. There is literally no good reason as to why he denied her at this point. Like, the family speculate it's because he might have been afraid she might turn it into an actual career. Well, thank god he stopped her, you know? Taeko might have actually pursued something fun and creative in her life. Instead, she grew up perfectly normal, you know? Depressed, stuck in a bland corporate job, having a midlife crisis before she even reached the middle of her life. Haha, great parenting! Round of applause for this guy, you know? I hope he falls into a human-sized paper shredder. The rest of the family ain't great either. You've got a sister who should be slowly lowered into a volcano, you've got another sister who's like the 0% sugar version of her, and a grandma who has her moments but is largely irrelevant. But let's be real, that father's behaviour came from somewhere, right? You ain't innocent, grandma! You ain't fooling me! I think this movie captures toxic family behaviours quite well, and really demonstrates how growing up in such an environment can hinder you in your later years. But where it falls down for me is how it deals with that premise. A perfect example of this is how adult Taiko responds to the flashback of her getting slapped by her dad. Adult Taiko is talking about the incident to a young teenager called Naiko, who is also helping with the harvest. That sounds healthy. At this point, Naiko asks if that was the only time she was slapped, and Taiko says yes. But then the girl mentions that her dad slaps her often. And what's Taiko's response to this? What? I mean, I can't tell if that's supposed to be sincere or funny. Because that is the most twisted logic when it comes to parents physically punishing their children. I mean, what is this film even trying to say at this point? If you do accidentally slap your child, make sure you do it more than once, so it's not as impactful. Hello, I'm Nathan from Nathan Ramps. We talk a lot about parental abuse on this channel, and we've had some laughs, some tears, some mental breakdowns. But I'm here today to tell you about how hitting children is wrong. Don't hit your child. And if you do accidentally slap your child, don't hit them more than once. It doesn't make it less impactful, it makes it worse. It's not like the Konami Code, you can't go left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down on that little sucker and hope he forgets about it. Don't hit the children. I would lean into this being like two people bonding and trying to find the fun and humour in such a traumatic situation. But given how the conversation goes, I'm leaning to believe that this is supposed to be some deep, soulful, meaningful conversation and questioning. For instance, they then go on to discuss how they accept that they are spoiled brats, but then Taiko immediately backtracks and says that reminiscing about her bratty ways is only going to encourage Naiko to be a pain for her mother. So in a sense, the two are implying that their parents' actions are to be excused because of their own bratty horrendous behaviours, such as asking for a pair of shoes the child might want, or not eating onions, or stepping outside of the house without shoes on. I'm sorry, what was that? Did she just E.T. phone home this girl? Is Taiko 3 million light years away from home? Because that would explain a lot. Now the second scene that really makes me question the film's messaging is after the flashback in which child Taiko is denied acting in that college play. After adult Taiko talks about that incident to her new friends, they immediately sympathise with her. But she just excuses it all as one big funny story, and being the star really wasn't for her. But honestly, that's just more of an indication that the events of her childhood shaped her to not be confident in pursuing anything like that, which might have been different if she grew up in a more supportive environment. But the more interesting reaction comes from Toshio, uh, Taiko's love interest in the film. Toshio relates to Taiko's acting story by mentioning his dad banned him from following his dream to go to Tokyo. But then it gets weird when he starts backtracking and hamfisting how he now respects his dad, regardless of what happened then. Oh yeah, you're totally over that. No resentment at all. What's really fantastic is Toshio's family is just as cooked as Taiko's family. I mean, the signs were all there. When she first rocked up, the family are just standing out in the fields, smiling like actual demons. I still see their faces when I close my eyes. Another red flag is in a cringe-inducing scene when Toshio's family try and force Taiko to marry him. She's literally only been there for like a few days and the thirsty mum and grandma are like, You must consider marrying him. The dude is begging for a woman and here you are. A woman who is not married. Just ready to be served up on a plate. Mmm, yes, I will purchase you for him. This led to Taiko running off feeling embarrassed and confused, and Toshio eventually caught up with her. Oh yeah, this guy's a real catch with his popped up collar underneath his sweater. In what's supposed to be a really deep and meaningful moment, Taiko goes on to explain about how when she was younger, there was this dirty poor kid in school who used to threaten to hit her, refused to shake her hand and spit on the ground whenever he saw her. Toshio then goes to explain that this is probably because he liked her and he couldn't express it in any other way. Which is totally messed up. Like, just for a minute, let's just forget about all the problematic family stuff I've been peddling and let's just talk about this one for a second, okay? What a disgusting message. Like yeah, let's just teach people that if someone threatens you or is violent or emotionally abusive, it's because they love you and they can't express it in any other way. I can't imagine how that's going to be problematic later on in life. Okay, I need to wrap up the last part of this film before I have an aneurysm. Okay, so Taiko eventually leaves because her vacation is over and the grandma can't help but push it again. Get out of here, you old hag! Then as she's leaving, she starts thinking, well maybe getting with a guy who wears popped up collars is okay. She then heads back and the two walk side by side, surrounded by marriage symbolism. So it turns out that even though it seems cruel to ridicule and question a woman who is unmarried by the age of 27, it's actually the correct thing to do because marriage always needs to be the end goal. You know, sometimes it's good to pressure women into getting married, otherwise they become weird abnormal goblins who should be outcasted from society. Only Yesterday's murky messaging is a perfect illustration why I have a general distaste towards any Miyazaki film that's not, hey look at this funny character I drew. And it's not just the films I talked about in Part 1 or Only Yesterday, there's still the other films I haven't talked about, like... Howl's Moving Castle. The mother is overall neglectful and ends up betraying her daughter for fun. Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns. Both the mothers in these films are weirdly reliant on their daughters due to their obsession with work. Castle in the Sky. The parents are so neglectful they forget to even be alive for the child. All these films constantly dip their toes into toxic family behaviour and you always just wait for the moment that it's going to be called out, but it just never is. Whether it's neglect, reckless behaviour, betrayal, emotional or physical abuse, I can never work out whether it's being painted in a bad light because it's very quickly excused or ignored. Now I'm not against subtle storytelling, but I think if you want to explore topics such as family abuse, you can't have your characters be seen excusing or ignoring it. It just ends up normalising the behaviour for people who are dealing with it in reality. Understanding the effects of toxic family behaviour is complex and I wish media was a little bit more direct on what's not okay. Otherwise you have people falling into the trap of just going, Well that's just family, you gotta love them, right? After all of this, it got me thinking. Why is awful parenting so common in Studio Ghibli films? Well, after doing a bit of detective work, I've uncovered the potential truth that was hidden from the public. My sources? Publicly accessible articles and documentaries that someone could find very easily. And I will explain all in my new one-time reoccurring segment, Miyazaki Watch! According to the documentary 10 Years With Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki was largely absent from his son, Goro's life. Can we just stop to appreciate how awesome of a name Goro is? This was later confirmed by Hayao Miyazaki when he mentioned that the dad in Ponyo was based on himself, you know, not being there for his son. Goro was asked by Studio Ghibli to direct a film, Tales From Earthsea. Now for context, Goro had absolutely no experience in the film industry. He was reportedly a landscaper at the time, which is hilarious. And his dad was pissed, to say the least. Hayao Miyazaki mentioned that he had to work hard to get where he was in the film industry and he didn't think Goro should have it so easy. So, when Goro reached out to his father for some advice during the production of Tales From Earthsea, Hayao Miyazaki basically just ghosted him, leaving him to fend for himself. But all was not lost. See, Hayao Miyazaki agreed to come to the premiere of that film. Which is nice, right? Wrong. So wrong. You see, from that same documentary, Hayao Miyazaki was seen walking out of his son's film only an hour into it. When asked why, he said, It felt like I'd been sitting there for three hours. Oof. And then at one point said, It's good that he's made one film, and with that he should stop. No, Miyazaki! Bad Miyazaki! You do not say that about your son! But fear not! The two reconciled eventually when a grandchild came into existence and the two went on to produce a film together from up on Poppy Hill. But then the two butted heads constantly during production and Hayao was cited saying, I think Goro doesn't get it. It's okay for him to stop directing. I think he should. He isn't cut out for it. Well, at the very least the two stayed in each other's lives and Goro's still creating for Studio Ghibli, most recently The Earwig and the Witch. Oh. Oh, oh no. Oh. Oh no. Oh. Well, Hayao Miyazaki had some nice things to say about it and when Goro was asked about his father's reaction, he went on to say, My ex-animator mother, who is as outspoken as my father, also praised my work for the first time. I feel hollow and dead inside. Yeah, upon reading those remarks, I started to understand why bad parenting is so common in Studio Ghibli films. When we're creating stories and characters, we tend to draw from real-life experiences and I do think maybe these characters are a reflection from Hayao Miyazaki's own behaviours, self-realisations and expectations. And maybe his parental behaviours bleed into these characters, which is why the films don't take a stand against it. But those are just my thoughts. I mean, I don't know the guy. Well, that's about it for this video. I hope you find some time this week to do something you're passionate about and I just want to let you know that you are awesome. So, keep being you. Unless you're a murderer. Then don't be you. Or be you, but just don't be that part of you.