Many thanks to Mark the helping me with this and allowing me to use his stuff.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Little Goldfish Who Fell In Love
In the world that we live in, goldfish are defined as a type of carp who were loved for their golden color. These days, you usually see them as pets from carnival game prizes or in pet stores waiting to be bought. On planet Earth, everyone in the world have to follow certain laws that affect everything. Such as the law of gravity where basically whatever goes up must come down. Such things must be there to explain why...well, we basically stay on the Earth and how we all function. In the imaginary world of Ponyo, the most recent Miyazaki film, we are brought into the beautiful aquatic world of Ponyo. From there, we are swept up and come upon the land where the humans dwell. If you read this, you might think that this is pretty similar to our world and you would be correct. For the most part, the world of Ponyo is very much like our own where people go about their business living their lives and going about to and fro in their vehicles. In the world above, people are ruled by the laws of physics as well as the creatures underwater. The normal aquatic life all swim the same way. In fact, Ponyo, a goldfish who becomes the center of attention in this animated film swims very much like how a normal film would swim. It's just has a huge humanoid face for design purposes. She is the daughter of a large and powerful being of the sea and to a wizard who wishes to abandon his human birthright because of the damage that humans as a whole caused to the sea. Immediately, we are brought to the attention that in this world, people with magical abilities exist. Old wives tales that involve the sea suddenly become true and thus, the world that we once knew is blown asunder. For in this world, Everything follows some law of physics, but if you have special powers, then those laws don't need to apply to you if you don't feel like it.
The two main characters in the film, Sosuke and Ponyo, are around the age of five. The movie in very involved in how they view the world to the point that the artistic style is almost like how really young children would see the world sometimes. Both are children of families that are not always together due to similar reasons. Both the father of Sosuke and Ponyo's mother must attend to their jobs on/in the sea. Sosuke is your average five year old little boy. He is curious about many things around him and is self-involved and doesn't fear much. Actually, he almost drowns at one point because he was trying to get back Ponyo. At another exciting point of the story, we see Sosuke running on top of a wooden fence, but we see him leaning past the point of balance. So due to dramatic purposes, and maybe momentum, Sosuke is able to do such a thing and it seems plausible. Even though this is a love story, it is a very innocent concept of love. One where it is the most pure, not polluted with other worries that often plague the more older people in life. Which leads the topic to the older people in this film. All the other children, adults, and seniors ground the feeling of this world as well. They act and react to things as well would in real life. If they fall into the water, they would eventually sink. They all run at a certain pace, and even when the old grannies regain their ability to walk again, they run at a medium speed, probably around five miles per hour. We also come upon Lisa and the father of Sosuke. They're pretty normal as well. Except for Lisa's uncanny ability for speeding down the driveway, she's pretty normal. The laws of gravity applies to her especially when she was pouting on and around her bed. She lies in a very depressed pose and you clearly see the weight of her on the bed. A point where things kind of break is when Lisa opens the large can of beer in anger and the beer foams out as if there was a large amount of pressure inside the can before. So when characters are angry, things on or around them might be affected to add to the mood. One very good fact on this subject, would be about the hair in this film. It can sometimes defy gravity at certain points when the character is either excited or angry or surprised. When Ponyo's father is using magic to shrink Ponyo back into her regular size, his hair sticks up wildly to display how much he is stressing against Ponyo's magic. Another good example is around the same period of time, Ponyo's father also sweats huge beads of sweat that doesn't fall, they kind of just stay there. Another good example of hair would be when the grannies are underwater, their hair acts like it isn't effected by the motion of the ocean probably to lessen the attention from them to the more important characters in the scene. Even nature around them reacts the same as our world does. There is one point when Lisa and Sosuke are in the car and a huge storm is a brewing. Hills of waves are developing fast and they must get home fast. But before that, we see a road block being blown by the wind. Foreshadowing the point when at the side of the road, the wind picks up so much, that it picks up Sosuke and tosses him over the railing. For the wind to have that much force to pick up a 40 pound child, it must have at least the same amount of force as Sosuke does. In fact, it has the force that would toss Sosuke, but not Lisa or the car that they were in. Another major force in this film is the water. It has a special quality that Miyazaki surely realize, for it acts as a force of it's own, as if it is a creature as a whole. At some parts, parts of the water look like little fishes. Things in physics also apply to water as well though. When water is dripping, it drips in small round drops instead of teardrop shapes which often symbolizes water dropping. Like the slinky example that was shown in class, all the mass comes back down as one. At one point after Sosuke runs on top of the fence, we see a sequence where, in slow motion, the water leaves the bucket as one large mass and splashes on Granny Toki's face. There is no real force holding the water back, so it continues on forward. Also, when Ponyo is spitting water at Sosuke or anyone else, the water travels in a parabolic arc. Waves comes up upon the shore, or in some cases, hills, as it would normally. Under the water, things move as a constant slow speed if they aren't moving that much and even if the creature moves, they act like they are going against some sort of pressure. For the water is pushing against the object as well. A good example would be when we see the underwater net pulling the trash and random fishes through the water.
In contrast to all of that, we have Ponyo. From the very beginning, we understand that Ponyo is special. For one, she's larger all of her sisters.And secondly, she has the ability to act like a human child, like when she uses the jellyfish as a blanket in the beginning of the movie. Grandma Toki also describes Ponyo as a fish that brings tsunamis due to the weird nature of her having a face. We are also brought to the attention, by Gran Mamare, that if Sosuke doesn't accept Ponyo for who she is, then Ponyo will turn into foam. A concept that was first used by author Hans Christian Anderson in the book, The Little Mermaid. She is so special, in fact, that with her own will, she grows arms, feet, and teeth. Not even her father is able to hold down her power and desire to be with Sosuke. When Ponyo is in the bubble, she exerts so much pressure that the bubble stretches to a point where she almost escapes right then and there. When she does escape though, she does it with style. It is here where she first shows what she can do. In fact, she walks on water and on the wall. For her to do that, she would have to weight less than the water and for her to walk up the wall, she would have to have little to no gravity effecting her. When Ponyo is sucked into the room with the magic water, she floats down slowly like how a leaf would. This was to show her process of turning even more human, much to her excitement. The scene climates with her and every other creature literally bursting out of the underwater house up towards the surface at extreme speed. For her to move that fast, we must understand that she and the others are magically influenced. They shoot up as if little to no pressure is pushing back at them to the point that even when they break the surface of the water, they jump out at an extremely high height. Which leads to one of the most beautiful scenes in animation history. The scene where Ponyo is running along the waves. For her to do that, she must not weigh that much as well run at the same constant speed of the waves. Other examples of Ponyo running on water would be when she runs back to the baby to cheer him up as well as when she's carrying the front end of the enlarged toy boat, she continues to run on top of the water until she stops, then she sinks. She's also stronger than Sosuke, as seen when they were carrying the toy boat. Also, when Ponyo is blowing into the boat to start it, she is able to blow so much air into it that it kind of pushes Sosuke away. One of the most gravity defying scenes is when in the end, she kisses Sosuke and turns back into her human form. She doesn't continue falling, but stays in the air while transforming. That in turn, might be a design choice as well.
Ponyo isn't the only being in the film that is able to use some kind of magical force. There are many other characters in the film that show abilities to perform. One such character is Gran Mamare, Ponyo's mother. She is such an important being of the sea that when she first appears, she's huge. When you see her, all of her movements are slightly slower than a normal size character. But when she shrinks, her movements speed up a little. Another noticeable thing about her is that her hair is constantly moving as if her hair is made of the sea. Another character that shows abilities to defy normal physics is the tsunami and moon. In one point of the movie, the tsunami is seen standing still, with a large amount of ships at the base of the wave. Tsunami's normally don't increase size drastically until it's closer to land, not where it's in the middle of the ocean. Ponyo's sisters also able to break the bounds of physics when they come in contact with the magic water. They increase in size and become part of the water in fact, which was mentioned earlier during this essay. Bubbles are also something that is very interesting in this movie as well. They acts as a shield from the water, but at some points, it also feels like it has water inside them as well like when Gran Mamare puts Ponyo into a bubble and it floats in the bucket. It goes down slowly as if it's underwater.
In the world of Ponyo, things are pretty much like how are in our world. Things follows the laws of physics, but the difference would be that in this world, there are beings that are able to defy the laws of physics and even cause things around them to act differently as well. From Sosuke, a normal young five year old boy who is acting on the pure innocence of a promise to protect. To Ponyo, the goldfish who found love and was able to transcend all leaps and bounds and in turn cause something that in the end benefited everyone. The laws of physics applied to all beings in this movie, but when certain beings feel like changing things in order to get to their goal, they can break the laws. So in the end, what we see is the adventure they have that strengthen their bond with each other.
The two main characters in the film, Sosuke and Ponyo, are around the age of five. The movie in very involved in how they view the world to the point that the artistic style is almost like how really young children would see the world sometimes. Both are children of families that are not always together due to similar reasons. Both the father of Sosuke and Ponyo's mother must attend to their jobs on/in the sea. Sosuke is your average five year old little boy. He is curious about many things around him and is self-involved and doesn't fear much. Actually, he almost drowns at one point because he was trying to get back Ponyo. At another exciting point of the story, we see Sosuke running on top of a wooden fence, but we see him leaning past the point of balance. So due to dramatic purposes, and maybe momentum, Sosuke is able to do such a thing and it seems plausible. Even though this is a love story, it is a very innocent concept of love. One where it is the most pure, not polluted with other worries that often plague the more older people in life. Which leads the topic to the older people in this film. All the other children, adults, and seniors ground the feeling of this world as well. They act and react to things as well would in real life. If they fall into the water, they would eventually sink. They all run at a certain pace, and even when the old grannies regain their ability to walk again, they run at a medium speed, probably around five miles per hour. We also come upon Lisa and the father of Sosuke. They're pretty normal as well. Except for Lisa's uncanny ability for speeding down the driveway, she's pretty normal. The laws of gravity applies to her especially when she was pouting on and around her bed. She lies in a very depressed pose and you clearly see the weight of her on the bed. A point where things kind of break is when Lisa opens the large can of beer in anger and the beer foams out as if there was a large amount of pressure inside the can before. So when characters are angry, things on or around them might be affected to add to the mood. One very good fact on this subject, would be about the hair in this film. It can sometimes defy gravity at certain points when the character is either excited or angry or surprised. When Ponyo's father is using magic to shrink Ponyo back into her regular size, his hair sticks up wildly to display how much he is stressing against Ponyo's magic. Another good example is around the same period of time, Ponyo's father also sweats huge beads of sweat that doesn't fall, they kind of just stay there. Another good example of hair would be when the grannies are underwater, their hair acts like it isn't effected by the motion of the ocean probably to lessen the attention from them to the more important characters in the scene. Even nature around them reacts the same as our world does. There is one point when Lisa and Sosuke are in the car and a huge storm is a brewing. Hills of waves are developing fast and they must get home fast. But before that, we see a road block being blown by the wind. Foreshadowing the point when at the side of the road, the wind picks up so much, that it picks up Sosuke and tosses him over the railing. For the wind to have that much force to pick up a 40 pound child, it must have at least the same amount of force as Sosuke does. In fact, it has the force that would toss Sosuke, but not Lisa or the car that they were in. Another major force in this film is the water. It has a special quality that Miyazaki surely realize, for it acts as a force of it's own, as if it is a creature as a whole. At some parts, parts of the water look like little fishes. Things in physics also apply to water as well though. When water is dripping, it drips in small round drops instead of teardrop shapes which often symbolizes water dropping. Like the slinky example that was shown in class, all the mass comes back down as one. At one point after Sosuke runs on top of the fence, we see a sequence where, in slow motion, the water leaves the bucket as one large mass and splashes on Granny Toki's face. There is no real force holding the water back, so it continues on forward. Also, when Ponyo is spitting water at Sosuke or anyone else, the water travels in a parabolic arc. Waves comes up upon the shore, or in some cases, hills, as it would normally. Under the water, things move as a constant slow speed if they aren't moving that much and even if the creature moves, they act like they are going against some sort of pressure. For the water is pushing against the object as well. A good example would be when we see the underwater net pulling the trash and random fishes through the water.
In contrast to all of that, we have Ponyo. From the very beginning, we understand that Ponyo is special. For one, she's larger all of her sisters.And secondly, she has the ability to act like a human child, like when she uses the jellyfish as a blanket in the beginning of the movie. Grandma Toki also describes Ponyo as a fish that brings tsunamis due to the weird nature of her having a face. We are also brought to the attention, by Gran Mamare, that if Sosuke doesn't accept Ponyo for who she is, then Ponyo will turn into foam. A concept that was first used by author Hans Christian Anderson in the book, The Little Mermaid. She is so special, in fact, that with her own will, she grows arms, feet, and teeth. Not even her father is able to hold down her power and desire to be with Sosuke. When Ponyo is in the bubble, she exerts so much pressure that the bubble stretches to a point where she almost escapes right then and there. When she does escape though, she does it with style. It is here where she first shows what she can do. In fact, she walks on water and on the wall. For her to do that, she would have to weight less than the water and for her to walk up the wall, she would have to have little to no gravity effecting her. When Ponyo is sucked into the room with the magic water, she floats down slowly like how a leaf would. This was to show her process of turning even more human, much to her excitement. The scene climates with her and every other creature literally bursting out of the underwater house up towards the surface at extreme speed. For her to move that fast, we must understand that she and the others are magically influenced. They shoot up as if little to no pressure is pushing back at them to the point that even when they break the surface of the water, they jump out at an extremely high height. Which leads to one of the most beautiful scenes in animation history. The scene where Ponyo is running along the waves. For her to do that, she must not weigh that much as well run at the same constant speed of the waves. Other examples of Ponyo running on water would be when she runs back to the baby to cheer him up as well as when she's carrying the front end of the enlarged toy boat, she continues to run on top of the water until she stops, then she sinks. She's also stronger than Sosuke, as seen when they were carrying the toy boat. Also, when Ponyo is blowing into the boat to start it, she is able to blow so much air into it that it kind of pushes Sosuke away. One of the most gravity defying scenes is when in the end, she kisses Sosuke and turns back into her human form. She doesn't continue falling, but stays in the air while transforming. That in turn, might be a design choice as well.
Ponyo isn't the only being in the film that is able to use some kind of magical force. There are many other characters in the film that show abilities to perform. One such character is Gran Mamare, Ponyo's mother. She is such an important being of the sea that when she first appears, she's huge. When you see her, all of her movements are slightly slower than a normal size character. But when she shrinks, her movements speed up a little. Another noticeable thing about her is that her hair is constantly moving as if her hair is made of the sea. Another character that shows abilities to defy normal physics is the tsunami and moon. In one point of the movie, the tsunami is seen standing still, with a large amount of ships at the base of the wave. Tsunami's normally don't increase size drastically until it's closer to land, not where it's in the middle of the ocean. Ponyo's sisters also able to break the bounds of physics when they come in contact with the magic water. They increase in size and become part of the water in fact, which was mentioned earlier during this essay. Bubbles are also something that is very interesting in this movie as well. They acts as a shield from the water, but at some points, it also feels like it has water inside them as well like when Gran Mamare puts Ponyo into a bubble and it floats in the bucket. It goes down slowly as if it's underwater.
In the world of Ponyo, things are pretty much like how are in our world. Things follows the laws of physics, but the difference would be that in this world, there are beings that are able to defy the laws of physics and even cause things around them to act differently as well. From Sosuke, a normal young five year old boy who is acting on the pure innocence of a promise to protect. To Ponyo, the goldfish who found love and was able to transcend all leaps and bounds and in turn cause something that in the end benefited everyone. The laws of physics applied to all beings in this movie, but when certain beings feel like changing things in order to get to their goal, they can break the laws. So in the end, what we see is the adventure they have that strengthen their bond with each other.
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