[Commlist] CFP Eyes Unclouded: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

*Eyes Unclouded: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli*

May 8th 2019, Depot Cinema, Lewes, East Sussex, UK

*Keynote speaker: Dr Rayna Denison (“Miyakazi’s Worlds of Women: 
Feminism in the Films and Working Practices of Studio Ghibli”)*

“You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is 
evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither 
side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two”

— Princess Mononoke

Hayao Miyazaki is an unusual figure. Only Walt Disney rivals him in for 
closeness of his association with the studio he co-founded. Unlike 
Disney, however, Miyazaki was also a director, further 
complicating distinctions between individual and industrial authorship 
in the works he helmed for Ghibli. Often fantastical, his films are also 
intimately bound up with very real social and historical questions, 
ranging from environmentalism, to the cultural politics of girlhood, to 
Japan’s role in World War Two. Though identifiably Japanese, Ghibli is 
also nothing if not transnational. The studio has developed adaptations 
of novels by Mary Norton, Diana Wynne Jones, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and 
its characters have acquired an on- and offline life of their own 
in multiple languages and markets; Hello Kitty is arguably Japan’s only 
culture industry export to compete with Ghibli for global penetration 
and recognition. Finally, Miyazaki’s anime blurs the boundaries that are 
often imposed on the form both inside and outside the academy. Films 
such as the Oscar and Golden Bear-winning Spirited Away challenge 
(western) perceptions of the cartoon as children’s entertainment, and 
contemporary expectations of animation as a digital endeavor, all while 
achieving both market success and critical acclaim. Perhaps part of 
their appeal lies in their resistance to easy categorization.

This one-day symposium seeks to bring together scholars to discuss the 
work of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. We are open to proposals on all 
aspects of this topic, and from a broad variety of perspectives. These 
could include issues of industrial and studio authorship; the cultural 
politics of representation; material culture (e.g. the Ghibli Museum, 
merchandising); the transnational circulation, reception, and influence 
of these films; or their digital afterlives. This is just a 
small selection of potential examples.

Please send proposals for 20-minute papers to the organizer, Dr Luke 
Robinson ((luke.robinson /at/ sussex.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(luke.robinson /at/ sussex.ac.uk)>) by March 31st 2019. Proposals 
should include a title, a 250-word abstract, and a brief author biography.



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