Miyazaki Can't Stand Modern Animation

From the Straits Times:

HONG KONG - In the age of digital animation and computer special effects, Hayao Miyazaki is a purist.

The 67-year-old Oscar-winning master animator known for his hand-drawn movies said in a newspaper interview on Sunday he hasn't seen any of the major digitally animated films in the last two decades.

'I can't stand modern movies. The images are too weird and eccentric for me,' Miyazaki told Hong Kong's Sunday Morning Post in an interview to promote his latest movie, 'Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.'

Miyazaki said his recruits are tested in a boot camp where mobile phones, iPods and other electronic devices are banned.

'Young people are surrounded by virtual things,' Miyazaki was quoted as saying. 'They lack real experience or life and lose their imagination. Animators can only draw from their own experience of pain and shock and emotions.'

Getting past the irony of Miyazaki talking about animated images that are "too weird and eccentric," it's always nice to see someone who still loves the old school. I think Miyazaki is talking about modern Japanese animation, which, believe it or not, is far more weird than Miyazaki's own movies. After all, Miyazaki is a close friend of Pixar's John Lasseter and has definitely seen the Pixar films (he congratulated Lasseter after seeing Cars). I myself am puzzled, shocked, and repulsed by what little mainstream anime I've seen, but I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki. He makes films that are very different not only from what we are used to in the west but also from what the rest of his countrymen make — and more importantly, his films are very, very good (with the exceptions, in my opinion, of Nausicaa and Mononoke). I can't wait for Ponyo to come out in the U.S. this summer.

The idea of cutting off access to virtual devices in order to boost creativity is very smart. When I was about 13 I used to watch a lot of TV. Because my family had no TV and I had to go over to other people's houses to get my fix, I watched far less than most kids my age. Nonetheless, my vocabulary decreased (I actually noticed and worried about it at the time) and, more frighteningly, so did my imagination. When, for various reasons, I could no longer go over to my friends' houses, I rediscoverd the joys of reading and of imagination. I think the best thing parents can do for their children is to keep TV and other visual media away from them while they are growing up. Movies should be occasional outings. Miyazaki agrees: he thinks kids should see his films at most once per year!