Studio Ghibli vs Walt Disney Animation, which one is better? This is a question that many animation enthusiasts may encounter at some point. Of course, as to who would actually win would be subjective – everybody has their own reasoning as to why they believe one studio has been more successful than the other. One thing is for sure, they are both some of the biggest animation studios out there. Gaining a huge amount of popularity all around the world, selling merchandise of some of their most iconic characters by the masses and most importantly creating hit movies, usually containing a moralistic theme. People may argue that some of Disney’s and or their partner Pixar’s work don’t really hit the nail when it comes to morals. Today I will be taking the liberty of comparing some very popular films from Disney including The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Pixar’s Wall-e and other films to Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke.
They all share some similar themes – nature to be specific – but are represented in their own unique ways. Princess Mononoke was released back on October 28, 1999, it is a film taking place during 14th century Japan, and the harmony between humans, gods and animals has started to wither away. Ashitaka – the protagonist – is seeking out help from a God known as Shinshigami after being cursed during an attack from a wild boar. It is then that he discovers the humans taking advantage of the nature surrounding them, enraging a God that takes the form of a giant Wolf known as Moro and her human daughter San, also known as Princess Mononoke or the Wolf Princess; translation of Mononoke-hime which loosely translates to Princess of Spirits.
This film’s major theme revolves around nature and how the humans interact with it and the gods that inhabit the area. Miyazaki has stated consistently that while he is drawn to the animation of Walt Disney, he is uncomfortable with Disney’s cloyingly artificial, sanitized portrayal of nature… “We don’t subordinate the natural setting to the characters. . . . That is because we feel that the world is beautiful. Human relationships are not the only thing that is interesting. We think that weather, time, rays of light, plants, water, and wind—what make up the landscape—are all beautiful. That is why we make efforts to incorporate them as much as possible in our work” (Shunsuke, 2015, para. 2 & 3) The natural world surrounding Princess Mononoke represents a great amount of complexity and as viewers, we are given a whole array of different points of views. Rather than just following the generic storytelling of a protagonist going against some sort of villain or antagonist, we are just given opposing viewpoints. Each character clearly demonstrates their motivations throughout the film rather than just following a singular moral narrative and so conflicts develop between the humans vs nature and nature vs nature itself. Unlike Ghibli, Disney decides to take on a much softer, cuter, perhaps even more innocent aspect of nature. In popular films such as Bambi, the theme revolving around nature is rather simplistic and cheerful when compared to the complexity that can be found in Princess Mononoke.
“Movies like The Lion King and Bambi feel like they are talking down to their young audience. Using bushy tails, wide eyes and uneasy legs to capitalize on cuteness as a way to draw people in” (Our Changing Climate, 2017). And it works. More often than not the first thing people think of when recalling certain Disney movies is how cute the main characters looked. It is the overall softness of the film that draws in an audience, especially younger generations. Whereas with Miyazaki’s work, he doesn’t shy away from showing more mature scenes, upscaling the violence and including some bloody scenes. In Disney and Pixar’s film Wall-e we are given a futuristic perspective as to what would happen if humans were to allow their lives to be taken over by technology and how it could affect the nature around us. We follow a little robot named Wall-e whose only purpose is to pick up the immense amount of trash that had been left behind by the humans after they left the earth in a ship called the Axiom. Nature back on Earth had been left in such a devastating shape that the humans never really thought of going back and have even forgotten about what it was like.
Wall-e is, of course, very different when compared to Princess Mononoke, but they both cover nature as two very different perspectives. With Princess Mononoke, it more or less represents what is going on in the world today, with humans taking over every piece of land they feel would be beneficial for their own needs – shelter, food, profit, etc. And Wall-e gives us more of a look into the future and what consequences could come from almost eradicating nature as a whole. Another greater difference between Miyazaki and Disney films is the portrayal of gender. Princess Mononoke is filled with strong female leads; San, Lady Eboshi, and Moro. Yes, there are Disney films that show strong female leads, like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, or Fa Mulan from Mulan, but in Miyazaki’s work women have a bit more of an edge and realism. Lady Eboshi, San’s enemy and ruler of the nearby town, wants to clear the forest, but she is also kind. She takes in lepers whom others have rejected and invites women from brothels to do work around the factory—a job the women jokingly say is too tough for their male neighbors. In Mononoke’s world, women can achieve anything men can, if not more. (Bellot, 2016, para. 18)
Like Lady Eboshi herself, the other women from Irontown are shown very strong minded and independent. Toki, one of the women from Irontown, is given the leadership role whenever Lady Eboshi needs to depart the town. Throughout the film, we can see these women interacting in a feminist oriented dialog, and taking action when protecting Lady Eboshi and Irontown demonstrating a large sum of courage. Miyazaki has stated in the past that he likes to show women who aren’t afraid of standing up for themseleves and take risks. They don’t show interest in finding their prince and don’t need a savior. With early Disney films it was the opposite, women are shown in a more passive nature, often needing a man to rescue them. This, of course, has changed over the years, women are being shown ore resilient and independent gaining praise from audiences. The idea of romance is being challenged and a pull back from the damsel in distress trope.
In conclusion, it is a known fact that both Miyasaki and Studio Ghibli, in general, have always shown great appreciation and respect towards nature as a whole. Always depicting beautiful sceneries and giving a bit of a spiritual feel with the heavy inclusion of Kami; Gods and spirits in nature. And Princess Mononoke is a great example of this. The entire film revolves around the theme of nature and its importance, not just for the humans but for the spirits inhabiting it. Whereas with Disney, they take a bit more of an innocent and perhaps somewhat cautious approach to nature. They have tried to bring light into the topic of not appreciating nature in Wall-e, but when in comparison to Ghibli, the efforts seem to fall short. There is also the topic of feminism and how women are being represented in these films. Once again, this is something Ghibli has been doing in the long run, as for Disney, it took a bit of time to develop further. There is no denying that both studios have been extremely successful for quite some time and they both bring out certain themes that their studios stand for within their work. It is the development of each theme that brings on the amount of success and even a debate as to which animation studio is truly the best. So, who wins?
