In the Realms of the Unreal

The eminent Miyazaki Hayao will be making an appearance at U.C. Berkeley on July 25th, talking with Roland Kelts and picking up the 2nd annual Berkeley Japan Prize.  So far the prize reads like a who’s who of breakthrough Japanese culture, seeing as how the first one went to the genre-defying Murakami Haruki.

Expect to see rainbows and cheerful-looking kami floating around the Bay Area on that day.

I was reminded of the powerful effect that Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli has had on American animators when I saw UP the other night.  Incredibly sweet without being saccharine, it proved an important rule that many animation studios seem to have forgotten: you don’t make a film for kids–you make a good film.  Story and characters create the soul of animation, so when animation is this good, the result is an overall transcendent experience.

I couldn’t help but be reminded that the last time I had a truly transcendent experience related to animation, it was, improbably enough, looking at non-animated work inspired by Miyazaki’s genius.  

One of my colleagues here at the museum, Yukino Pang, was part of the committee that brought the Totoro Forest Project to the Cartoon Art Museum, where a once-in-a-lifetime auction benefiting the Totoro No Furusato National Fund culminated in an exhibition of more than 200 pieces by artists working in fields ranging from fine arts and illustration to animation and comics.  The night of the opening it seemed as though most of San Francisco turned out, all smiles and genuine looks of wonder.  Here was art that was not merely Studio Ghibli-lite, but work that stood on its own, inspired and original.

The joy continued when I ran into curator Yoko Woodson that night, who mentioned that she had purchased James Jean’s Gatherer for the Asian Art Museum’s collection.  The piece is still being processed for the collection, but when it goes on view, it will serve as a valuable reminder that museums are living, changing places worth supporting–especially when they challenge the boundaries of what art can mean.

James Jean, Gatherer