Maybe that's what these films are doing. They are my way of blessing the child
Well, yes. I believe that children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations. It's just that as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down to that level. If I could do that I would die happy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the belief that children carry the essence of history within them, but as they grow, this connection fades. The speaker aims to create art that reconnects with that deeper understanding.
Hayao Miyazaki reflects on the idea that children possess a profound connection to the historical memories of past generations, which diminishes as they encounter the realities of life. He expresses a desire to create a film that can tap into this innate wisdom and nostalgia, suggesting that art can serve as a bridge to childhood innocence and historical awareness. This aspiration to engage with the deeper emotional layers of human experience speaks to the power of storytelling in preserving and reviving cultural memories.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
A motivational speech about the importance of preserving childhood innocence in education.
More from Hayao Miyazaki
All quotes →I wanted to convey the message to children that this life is worth living.
You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two.
But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.
I’d like to see Manhattan underwater. I’d like to see when the human population plummets and there are no more high rises, because nobody’s buying them. I’m excited about that. Money and desire—all that is going to collapse, and wild green grasses are going to take over.
To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, a life. To exist here, now, means to lost the possibility of being countless other potential selves.. Yet once being born there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.
Similar quotes
I am always worried that over-planning and outlining will kill the magic of writing; most of the world I created in 'California' occurred via good old sexy sentence-making.
In the theatre, every form once born is mortal; every form must be reconceived, and its new conception will bear the marks of all the influences that surround it.
This is Art holding a Mirror up to Life. That’s why everything is exactly the wrong way around.
Am I nostalgic for film? … I mean, it’s had a good run, hasn’t it? You know, I’m not nostalgic for a technology. I’m nostalgic for the kind of films that used to be made that aren’t being made now.
One does not contemplate it like a picture. The idea of contemplation disappears completely. Simply take note that it's a bottle rack, or that it's a bottle rack that has changed its destination... It's not the visual question of the readymade that counts; it's the fact that it exists, even.
When I was a kid I drew like Michelangelo. It took me years to learn to draw like a kid.