Post by klep on May 31, 2021 9:49:28 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/31: Porco Rosso
WAR MOVIES WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
Porco Rosso is not a movie that is talked about first in the Ghibli canon. Or second. Frankly, people starting talking about it somewhere toward the bottom, in my experience. Which is a shame, because its specific brand of anarchy really appeals to people once they've seen it. I won't say its my kids' favourite—my daughter has seen PONYO approximately fifty times at least and Porco Rosso maybe twice—but they do enjoy it nonetheless.
The eponymous Porco is a former pilot for the Italian Air Force. He'd flown during World War I and burned out, which is frankly not surprising. At some point, he was cursed and turned into a pig. Despite that, what the current incarnation of the Italian Air Force is upset about is that he won't join and actively does his own thing. A woman whose husband he was unable to save loves him, which he refuses to acknowledge. His plane takes serious damage, and he goes to have a new one built, picking up a plucky engineer sidekick on the way. There ends up being a big fight between him and a show-off American.
I have to admit that I've never watched it in Japanese, and therefore I think of all these people by their names and using their voices from the Disney dub. Though Gina's name is altered from the Japanese only in giving it a more Italian spelling, which I believe is not phonetically possible in the Japanese alphabet. However, since Miyazaki's own favourite dub of this is the French—wherein Porco is dubbed by Jean Reno—I'm a little less upset about that fact. Frankly, I'm more likely to watch the French dub with English subtitles at some point than the Japanese dub with English subtitles.
Porco's curse is believing that the futility of war proves the futility of everything. He stops caring about everything and believes that it's the right answer to what he saw in the war. As it happens, World War I was futile, and Italy certainly wasn't the best place to convince you otherwise. He's also distancing himself from the world because he couldn't save people, and he's equating "I couldn't save that person from a meat grinder" with "I can't do anything worthwhile." He's better than the air pirates in that he's not actually hurting people, but there's a large distance between "helping" and "not hurting."
The word "Mussolini" is, I believe, never in the Disney dub. Maybe it's in the Japanese. But it's certainly the underlying danger in the movie, one that means that the meat grinder Porco escaped in 1919 is on its way back. We are never intended to blame Porco for not wanting to join the Italian Air Force. That is not one of his failings. Ever. But he doesn't stand up to fascism, either.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/7: Orlando
IT'S LADIES' WEEK!
This time for Ladies' Week we're visiting Sally Potter's Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton in a role for which she is perfectly suited. Come join us next week for our discussion of Orlando, available for rent in the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/1: The Woman in the Window
Next week the podcast tackles Joe Wright's long-delayed The Woman in the Window. Should this film have stayed on the shelf? Join us for our discussion on Wednesday! The Woman in the Window is available on Netflix.
WAR MOVIES WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
Porco Rosso is not a movie that is talked about first in the Ghibli canon. Or second. Frankly, people starting talking about it somewhere toward the bottom, in my experience. Which is a shame, because its specific brand of anarchy really appeals to people once they've seen it. I won't say its my kids' favourite—my daughter has seen PONYO approximately fifty times at least and Porco Rosso maybe twice—but they do enjoy it nonetheless.
The eponymous Porco is a former pilot for the Italian Air Force. He'd flown during World War I and burned out, which is frankly not surprising. At some point, he was cursed and turned into a pig. Despite that, what the current incarnation of the Italian Air Force is upset about is that he won't join and actively does his own thing. A woman whose husband he was unable to save loves him, which he refuses to acknowledge. His plane takes serious damage, and he goes to have a new one built, picking up a plucky engineer sidekick on the way. There ends up being a big fight between him and a show-off American.
I have to admit that I've never watched it in Japanese, and therefore I think of all these people by their names and using their voices from the Disney dub. Though Gina's name is altered from the Japanese only in giving it a more Italian spelling, which I believe is not phonetically possible in the Japanese alphabet. However, since Miyazaki's own favourite dub of this is the French—wherein Porco is dubbed by Jean Reno—I'm a little less upset about that fact. Frankly, I'm more likely to watch the French dub with English subtitles at some point than the Japanese dub with English subtitles.
Porco's curse is believing that the futility of war proves the futility of everything. He stops caring about everything and believes that it's the right answer to what he saw in the war. As it happens, World War I was futile, and Italy certainly wasn't the best place to convince you otherwise. He's also distancing himself from the world because he couldn't save people, and he's equating "I couldn't save that person from a meat grinder" with "I can't do anything worthwhile." He's better than the air pirates in that he's not actually hurting people, but there's a large distance between "helping" and "not hurting."
The word "Mussolini" is, I believe, never in the Disney dub. Maybe it's in the Japanese. But it's certainly the underlying danger in the movie, one that means that the meat grinder Porco escaped in 1919 is on its way back. We are never intended to blame Porco for not wanting to join the Italian Air Force. That is not one of his failings. Ever. But he doesn't stand up to fascism, either.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/7: Orlando
IT'S LADIES' WEEK!
This time for Ladies' Week we're visiting Sally Potter's Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton in a role for which she is perfectly suited. Come join us next week for our discussion of Orlando, available for rent in the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/1: The Woman in the Window
Next week the podcast tackles Joe Wright's long-delayed The Woman in the Window. Should this film have stayed on the shelf? Join us for our discussion on Wednesday! The Woman in the Window is available on Netflix.