Laputa: Castle in the Sky by Hayao Mizaki - Essay Example

? Laputa: Castle in the Sky LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY Laputa: Castle in the sky is a film originally written by Hayao Mizaki, under studio Ghibli. The film was later adapted by Disney in 2003. The Disney re-make was voted the second most rated animated film in the world by the agency for cultural affairs. Laputa itself is an adaptation from Gulliver’s travels by Jonathan Swift. Originally made in Japanese, the film was distributed first by Streamline pictures as an English dub from 1989. Later, Disney produced its own English dub in 1998 as a video release, tentatively slated to be released in 1999. However, after the critical failure of another Japanese animation, Princess Monoke, the release date was pushed back. It was finally released on video and DVD on 15th April 2003. Its English dubs have been released under 3 different titles, due largely due to the Spanish meaning of Laputa; the whore. Laputa is, however, an adaptation from Gulliver’s travels, which has a floating town by the same name, and is meaningless in Japanese. Through the Disney English dub, Tex Avery’s Laputa: Castle in the sky shattered the Disney cartoon formula via its use of sex, violence and speed, which while prevalent in Japanese animations, were revolutionary in the Disney context. 1. Plot The animation’s back-story sees the building of flying cities by human civilizations. However, a disaster, unspecified in the story, destroys the city, forcing them to inhabit the ground as they did before (McCarthy, 1999). However, Laputa remains hidden by thunderstorms. The animation kicks off with Sheeta being escorted by Colonel Muska’s agents. However, air pirates attack their ship led by Dola, a vivacious old woman. Jumping through the window, Sheeta begins to fall but suddenly floats as a pendant that had belonged to Muska begins to glow. Pazu spies her floating and takes her home with him. Here, he regales Sheeta with tales of Laputa, which his deceased pilot father had photographed. The pirates, led by Dola, pursue them but are cornered by soldiers. During this struggle, the two of them drop from a falling railing. They are again saved by Muska’s pendant and are trapped in the mines. Here, they meet Uncle Pom, who reveals to them a forgotten and mysterious element, aetherium. After showing Pom her pendant, he tells her that what kept Laputa afloat was one of the same pure crystals. He tells her never to use the crystal for violence (McCarthy, 1999). Leaving the mine, Muska and his army capture them and take put them in a fort. Muska and a general look for Laputa, and decide that the crystal and Sheeta is crucial in discovering the city (McCarthy, 1999). As a way of making Sheeta co-operate, Muska shows her a huge robot and tells her that failure to help her will lead him to harming Pazu. She agrees to help the military and tells Pazu so, while also begging him not to think about her any more. Pazu goes back home disillusioned, to find that Dola and her crew have taken over his house. Dola captures him, but they decide to rescue Sheeta together. Sheeta meanwhile is still in captivity. Reciting an old verse taught to her by her grandmother causes a beam of light to point from her pendant to Laputa. The robot is also reanimated by the spell, which causes it to wild out on the fortress. Attempting to rescue Sheeta, the robot is destroyed by Goliath, a warship. Sheeta’s pendant falls to the ground, and Muska recovers it, taking the Goliath to find Laputa (McCarthy, 1999). After Dola and Pazu have rescued Sheeta, they pursue the Goliath. Flying in a glider, a massive storm cloud, the hiding place of Laputa, becomes visible to Pazu, who recognizes it. The Goliath appears as they try to maneuver their way into Laputa and just zaps them. After a sickening flight, they land in the city, and all they find is a robot that cares for the animals and plants. Muska and his army also make it to the city and capture Dola’s pirates, while ripping off the treasures in the city (McCarthy, 1999). After locating the city core’s hidden entrance, Muska kidnaps Sheeta, taking her inside with him. Meanwhile, Pazu frees the pirates, finding an alternative path to the sphere. Muska takes Laputa’s technology over and activates robots, which he utilizes to wipe out the Goliath and also his army. Dola and her followers shelter inside what remains of her ship. Stealing the pendant from Muska, Sheeta tries to find a way to escape. She encounters Pazu and gives him the crystal. However, Muska catches Sheeta in a room, where Pazu finds them again, and they use the destruction spell. The pendant, with only one word, causes a collapse of the crystal core of the city. The collapse blinds Muska who falls and dies. Saved by the roots of the tree, Pazu and Sheeta use their glider, which they find caught nearby by the same tree’s roots, to exit Laputa. They are reunited with Dola, who in true pirate fashion has some treasure gleaned from Laputa (McCarthy, 1999). The roots of the tree also trap the crystal, which causes it to rise, high above the earth, in orbit. Several changes were made in the Disney version of Laputa: Castle in the sky that do not appear either n the earlier 1989 English dub, nor in the original version (McCarthy, 1999). Background chatter was added, as well as one-liners, which had the effect of increasing various scenes’ frenetic effect, as well as filling out the silent moments. Sheeta and Pazu also sound as if they are in their mid-teens. In the original, they were in their pre-teens. There is also declaration of love from a pirate to Sheeta, as well as other dialogue additions. Originally, Sheeta acted as a mother figure. 2. Discussion 2.1 Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Sex The animation is a transformation of the shojo girl’s comic’s traditions. Laputa starts with the Dickensian type of story, starting with an orphan boy catching a girl as she falls down from the sky (McCarthy, 1999). Sheeta and Pazu have an archetypal quality that is typical of fairy tales. Pazu is a boy whose ability with machines and machines and animals acts as a compensation for his family’s loss, while Sheeta is a secret princess whose heirloom is a blue gem that glows and allows her to float, locate her ancestral home, and command a robot army. This is consistent with Disney’s animations and their portrayal of the sexes. The animation is a portrayal of Japanese comic tendency to pair strong characters of Female sex with boys who are fixated with strong girls (McCarthy, 1999), inconsistent with Disney’s archetypal impressionable girls and patronizing boys theme. These pairings, as shown in the animation, have a quest to complete and a secret to reveal. There is also the case of Dola, an old vivacious vixen, who is the leader of the pirate crew. Disney pirate animations are dominated by domineering male leaders like Long John, with little or no time devoted to developing female characters. Disney animations usually involve a girl and a boy adventure whose narrative quests to dovetail with romance and/or a marriage plot (McCarthy, 1999). The animation’s final scenes consist of the coming together of a couple. The plots of Japanese animations, Laputa included, does not allow female and male protagonists to remain together, often allowing them to separate. This, as seen in Laputa, does not allow the closure that many Disney animation enthusiasts knew. Classic Disney animations usually fulfill the quest, set out at the beginning and end with a union of souls. Disney animations set out to tie quest and marriage as a significant restoration of world order. However, it is important to note that the disjunction between unfulfilled marriage and fulfilled quest does not signify a world order restoration failure, rather a failure in marriage between humans and ecotopia (McCarthy, 1999). The fact that Sheeta and Pazu are too young to be married is tied to the fact that humans are not mature enough to live in utopic environments. The declaration of love by a pirate to Sheeta is uncommon in Disney movies, especially seeing as Sheeta is in her early teens. The pirate himself, were it in another Disney animation, would either be rude to Sheeta, or said a few lewd things to her. However, he shows a respect that indicates that she is a strong willed heroine in the movie, on an equal standing with Pazu, the other protagonist. Muska does not try to intimidate Sheeta, instead trying to bring her to his side, although Sheeta is unwilling, as a partner. This is not common place in other Disney animations, where the princess’ heirloom would have been stolen, and the princess locked up to, be rescued. 2.2 Laputa: Castle in the sky and violence. The robot in Laputia is a guardian, as opposed to the archetypal Disney destroyer (Cavallaro, 2006). The robot’s offering of a small, delicate flower to Sheeta is an image that invokes the preservation of delicate beauty by a physical presence that is overwhelming. Disney caricature uses giant robots to symbolize power that is destructive in nature. The robots inside Laputia’s sphere, while destructive, are converted to this kind of machines by human brutality, which is a departure from Disney doctrine of brutish robots against peace loving humans. It appears that these robots have a caretaking default mode in Laputian royalty presence. The robots represent reconciliation of technology and nature, used to represent the image of what man could become were he to end all wars, a stunning reversal of Disney robot roles as archaic machines bent on war with humans. However, as much as these robots are peace instruments Muska awakens them as an imperial army by using Sheeta’s levistone and her understanding of the traditions of Laputa. Muska does this by reciting ancient texts, referring to the city as Indra’s arrow. Fiery destruction falls from above and transforms the ecotopia, which is tranquil, into a militant sky-god’s hands (Cavallaro, 2006). In the earlier part of the film, Sheeta tells Pazu that Laputa’s royal family left the city due to its wish for peaceful co-existence with earth. They, however, passed Laputa’s knowledge to later generations. Muska’s incursion into Laputia as king causes Sheeta to utter the destruction spell. Disney logic would demand the entire city’s destruction for possessing an imperial evil technology. Evil would have to be defeated by good, as so well laid down by such Disney classics as Snow white and sleeping beauty. Sheeta’s and Pazu’s triumph, even with the end of Muska, would end in the destruction of the enemy, as the quest narrative’s climax. Laputa comes away from the destruction of its platform of weapons intact. This is not Disney-land at all. 2.3 Laputa: castle in the Sky and Speed Laputa is an epic animation that never slows down. It is full of adventure, and all scenes are action packed. Even when conversation is going on, there is action in the background. Still pictures are absent from this animation something is always moving, even during the sad, emotional sequences of the film. An example of this is when Sheeta tells Pazu that she has made a deal with the military and that he must forget her (Beck, 2005). The frenetic pacing of the events surrounding this emotional moment is simply surreal. This is in contrast to Disney animations that make use of these emotions slow down the frame movements as a way of creating a somber mood. Laputa: Castle in the air instead relies, on the music score to reflect the mood. The animation hits the viewer with one stupendous sequence of action after another. The train chase scene which goes on building and building until it reaches a momentous breath-taking climax is worth watching again and again. Most Disney animations buildup the climax from the beginning, slowly, with the middle punctuated by slow frames and the occasional action scene. This is different in Laputa: Castle in the sky, as it is in most Japanese animations, where every scene is crammed with movement and sub-movement (Beck, 2005). 3. Conclusion Laputa: Castle in the sky is distinguishable from almost all other Disney animations for its roots in Japanese animated film, with its alliance to Japanese comic books, Otaku culture, and mass-manufactured merchandise. Its elevation of strong characters, which are female, can be traced to the tradition of shojo, comic books made for girls. This leads Laputia to have a strong girl as its co-lead protagonist. Laputa also stands out from the Disney glossary for its reversed depiction of technological role in violence, as well as the frenetic speed and action it packs into the same time frame as other Disney animations. With this, Disney has been tempted to make movies that attempt to follow this blueprint, with Pocahontas being the most successful. The effect that Avery had on animation was great and animation will never be the same again. References Beck, J. (2005). The animated movie guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Pr. Cavallaro, D. (2006). The anime? art of Hayao Miyazaki. Jefferson: McFarland & Co. McCarthy, H. (1999). Hayao Miyazaki : master of Japanese animation : films, themes, artistry. Berkley: Stone Bridge Press. Read More