Message from djones

[Anonymous]

The idea that caught myattention the most was the lecture on Anime in Japan and all across the world. I have seen a few of Hayao Miyazaki's films and thought they were great, but I never realized or caught the underlying message of those films. For example, in Spirited Away, our main chartacter is constantly in contact with various ghosts and spirits. This strongly represents the ideas in Shinto belief and even stresses the "cleansing" of the spirtit as well. In addition, the blending of real world problems like pollution in one of the evil spirits was quite clever and unique. It was like a hidden "inconvient truth message" inside the movie! Finally, one thing that I did catch onto was the fact that Girls can succeed and be hero's just as much as boys can be.
When I teach my Japan Unit, I will offer an extra credit assignment that follows Spirited Away and its relation to our text and Calif Content Stds! 😀

Summary Points:
Hayao Miyazaki
All child appropriate films
Pro-Girl Power
My Neighbor Totoro
Animism: Shinto – World inhabited by Spirits
Spirited Away: Cleanse the spirits of Japan
Young Girl: Sailor Moon
Young Boy: Dragonball Z

Mecha/ Ghost in the Shell/ Metaphor of Atomic Bomb, kids inexperienced dealing with technology that went outta control

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