Gedo Senki: Responses from Correspondents
I am receiving many emails from Japan about "Gedo Senki," some
passionately defending the film, some very disappointed in it. A
correspondent in Japan sent a thoughtful, interesting letter about
this division of opinion, and has allowed me to quote from it.
— UKL
19 August 2006
From a Correspondent in Japan
I saw your comments on the Ghibli film today, after having watched it some
days ago. I suspect many have already written to you about the discussion on
the Japanese Internet sites. There is a distinct division, and while many are
devastated by the movie, there are also many who are elated with
it. Strangely
enough, those who are elated often respond with hostility to the ones who are
devastated, while the opposite is rarely seen.
Simply put, the Ghibli movie is a story of a boy who kills his father without
cause, and of what happens to him after he then runs away. The other
characters trust and succor him despite the fact, saving him
whenever it seems
everything is lost. Apparently, many in the elated group find the film gives
them will to live. The fervor with which they defend it brings to
mind someone lost in a maze who has just found an engraving of an
arrow on a door,
only to be told by another traveler that the corridor behind it is
a dead end.
Between the two sides there are people who try to bridge the divide,
responding to the accusations and pain with logic and compassion. The entire
situation feels eerily like some scenes in the books themselves - e.g. where
the mages of Roke are divided about the creeping change, or Dragonfly, or the
wall.
— A Correspondent from Japan
(And more recently the same correspondent observed of those who most
ardently defend the movie:)
The ones affected the most are in a sense the most open and
innocent. They only
know that they have been moved, are happy and relieved when the boy
lays aside
his guilt and anxiety at the end, and so hurt by the more objective
viewpoints
that they tend to go on the offensive. Some are still willing to think, some
are swayed by your comments (which they read with a dictionary) — and sadly
some can't abide any criticism of the movie, protecting the director and
blaming its incoherence on the books. Even so, they all are victims of the
chain reaction which started when too much responsibility was shouldered by
someone not equipped for it.
— A Correspondent from Japan
Copyright © 2006 by Ursula K. Le Guin
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