Change of Inquiry and Sources

This post was written prior to the midpoint investigation about an early change in my inquiry.

I have decided to change my inquiry! After speaking with my grandmother, the project I want to do about her doesn’t fit into my capstone, as she doesn’t feel as connected to Chinese history and culture as I previously had thought. She had some experiences, however it was a lot more segregated, and I would prefer a more integrated approach to this project! I also think my original inquiry was a bit too general, and I couldn’t decide on a specific aspect of her life that I wanted to explore that would fit into this project.

I am thinking that I am changing my inquiry to something I am more familiar with and confident in with my research. I want to go more in depth on Studio Ghibli, and specifically Hayao Miyazaki’s filmmaking/animating. He consistently brings human beauty to the animation world, and I have a lot to learn from him as an artist, filmmaker and businessman.

New Inquiry/problem: Coping is something that I deal with a lot in my artwork, and especially the films of Ghibli have been integral to my thought processes and ways of doing things. I have dealt with many mental and physical health issues, and one of the ways I would cope was to “fall” into the world of “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Spirited Away.” I watched the film before Disney partnered with them, and redid the English voice over, and it was a film that I always kept dear to my heart. It brought a sense of safety to me while still acknowledging what happens in the real world. It made what I was going through more easy to process. I would like to go more in depth on this, showing the impact ghibli created as well as what I would like to create based off of what I learned.  Studio Ghibli impacted me as a child, and inspired me to think more deeply about my life and the world around me. 

I have compiled some resources below that go in depth on his style as well as philosophy and impact of his films.

Denison, Rayna. Studio Ghibli : An Industrial History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. 

Greenberg, Raz. “Giri and Ninjo: The Roots of Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ in Animated Adaptations of Classic Children’s Literature.” Literature Film Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 2, 2012, pp. 96–108. 

Greenberg, Raz. Hayao Miyazaki: Exploring the Early Work of Japan’s Greatest Animator. Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 2018. 

“Learn How Artist Hayao Miyazaki Uses Colour Palettes in His Studio Ghibli Animated Films.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020. 

Li, Chenmei. “Influence of Hayao Miyazaki’s Animation on the Cross-Cultural Spread of Japanese Traditional Culture under the Background of 5G and Wireless Communication.” Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, vol. 2021, 2021, pp. 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/1640983. 

Suzuki, Toshio, and Roger Speares. Mixing Work with Pleasure : My Life at Studio Ghibli. Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2018. 

Williams, Wendy R. “Examining Studio Ghibli’s Animated Films: A Study of Students’ Viewing Paths and Creative Projects.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 63, no. 6, 2020, pp. 639–650, https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1043.