<\/noscript><\/a>I am a huge fan of animation. \u00a0I think it features some of the most interesting and deeply felt storytelling in cinema today. \u00a0Today I caught up with Ponyo (written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki). \u00a0NetFlix streams\u00a0this Japanese anime film instantly. \u00a0It is worth the watch.<\/p>\nFirst of all, the film is stunningly beautiful visually. \u00a0The fluidity of the ocean is marvelously and imaginatively depicted and the solid gravity of earth keeps the human characters anchored to the ground in a very real way. \u00a0It is a delight to behold.<\/p>\n
The film tells the story is about a curious “daughter of the sea” (Ponyo) who is rescued by a very young boy. \u00a0She is trapped in a glass jar, a piece of ocean trash washed up on shore. \u00a0In helping her out of her predicament, the boy (Sosuke)\u00a0cuts his finger. \u00a0She licks the wound and it heals instantly. \u00a0Ponyo, having ingested human blood, begins the transformation to becoming human. \u00a0The two children desperately want to stay together. \u00a0Ponyo risks all to be with her friend Sosuke. \u00a0Sosuke must accept “all the Ponyos” in all her incarnation as a test of true love.<\/p>\n
<\/noscript><\/p>\nHere is what Manohla Dargis, writing in the New York Times<\/em> has to say: \u00a0“To watch the image of a young girl burbling with laughter as she runs atop cresting waves in \u201cPonyo\u201d is to be reminded of how infrequently the movies seem to express joy now, how rarely they sweep us up in ecstatic reverie. It\u2019s a giddy, touchingly resonant image of freedom \u2014 the animated girl is as liberated from shoes as from the laws of nature \u2014 one that the director Hayao Miyazaki lingers on only as long as it takes your eyes and mind to hold it close, love it deeply and immediately regret its impermanence.”<\/p>\nThat is exactly\u00a0what I’ve been missing in more recent live action releases. \u00a0I see so very little joy, hope or the exuberance of life and love on the screen. \u00a0And yes this is a fairytale. But there are gentle reminders that things are not at all well in the world.<\/p>\n
The ocean is polluted and Ponyo’s father decries how careless humans are with the natural treasures in our world.\u00a0The youthful exuberance of the children is contrasted with the routine and sedentary existence of the seniors in the center where Ponyo’s mother work (and where Sosuke often visits). \u00a0The impermanence of life is reflected in those seniors whose lives are slipping away.<\/p>\n
This film really hit home for me. \u00a0Sosuke must promise to love Ponyo in whatever form she appears to him. \u00a0During our lives we all go through many iterations of ourselves. \u00a0Some variations are more pleasant than others. My husband and I have been together since I was nineteen. \u00a0In the decades we grown up together we’ve gone through many changes, and very different forms and iterations of ourselves– we’ve undergone\u00a0rough times and smooth times, seen much sorrow and great joy.<\/p>\n
But constancy, fidelity and true love must allow for each change, no matter how difficult. \u00a0Right now my father-in-law is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. \u00a0In many ways he is longer recognizable as the man he once was, and yet we love him just the same. We love him in whatever form he appears to us.<\/p>\n
That constant love is what Sosuke must promise to Ponyo’s mother, the Goddess of Mercy. \u00a0It is his love that restores the balance of nature in the film. \u00a0No matter how upsetting or difficult the circumstances it is love that restores the balance and harmony to our own lives. \u00a0When we love we see life through the lens of compassion. \u00a0When we have compassion it is also possible to find joy no matter how difficult the situation.<\/p>\n
‘Compassion and love are not mere luxuries.<\/div>\n
As the source both of inner and external peace,<\/div>\n
they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species.’<\/div>\n
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama<\/div>\n
‘Compassion and love are not mere luxuries.<\/div>\n
As the source both of inner and external peace,<\/div>\n
they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species.’<\/div>\n
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama<\/p>\n
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