Mobile Fantasy: Miyazaki’s Transnational Magic

Abstract

Since the 1960s, anime on both film and television has become a part of global screen culture. It is Miyazaki Hayao who may take the credit for being the most highly regarded anime filmmaker known across the world. The global popularity and success of his films encourage us to link his works to transnationalism. But is Miyazaki transnational only because of his global popularity? There is another perspective in which we may take Miyazaki’s transnationalism: through film aesthetics and narrative, for his works may be said to enable mobile fantasy. While discussing transnationalism, many film studies scholars focus on the discussion of film production, distribution, exhibition and reception in relation to economic globalization. Mette Hjort points out the complication and sometimes confusion in the way that transnationalism is defined. She argues the term transnationalism is often used to describe “a series of assumptions about the networked and globalized realities that are those of a contemporary situation.” These assumptions, however, do not define transnationalism explicitly. The reality of economic globalization is a space we are well aware of. I am more interested, however, in studying how cinematic transnationalization takes place in the space of an imaginary. Apart from political, cultural and economic enterprises, transnational magic is also embedded in film aesthetics, narrative and its psychological effects on audiences. It is in this connection that I propose a notion of what I will call mobile fantasy. This chapter will first re-conceptualise the theory of transnational cinema in order to link transnationalism to a notion of imaginary space and to mobile fantasy. It will then focus on Miyazaki’s works as a case study, by looking into two main characteristics of his films – the question of a surreal world, and the theme of childhood.