On animation: The art of wishful thinking
The living backgrounds of Studio Ghibli.
20 October 2020
Backgrounds in animation are like the supporting actors in a movie, a story would be empty without them. Often a background is nondescript and generic – Hanna Barbera would just repeat background frames but for Studio Ghibli the background is a snapshot of a world of optimism
After watching Howl’s Moving Castle again recently I was surprised by how much I enjoyed simply being a tourist in the imaginary landscapes. The sightseeing was as much a pleasure as the story.
Recently Studio Ghibli released some background frames to enliven video calls. When you’re stuck indoors, what a lovely place to be outdoors.
The weather is always kind in a perpetual summer, the grass sways in gentle breezes, still waters reflect deep skies and the homely buildings look slightly aged but well loved and cared for.
Such technology as there is – aeroplanes, bicycles, cast-iron robots, windmills, railway trains and steam-powered castles – is often delightfully archaic and, when not technically accurate, sometimes slightly impossible.
The towns, from anywhen between the 17th century and the 1930’s, often have a shambolic feel.
Aged and irregular buildings that would never pass a building code today line the twisting lanes and narrow streets.
There’s always going to be something charming and interesting around the next corner.
And those colours.
Fresh as a lettuce on a sunny day at the seaside.
The palette alone is an antidote to the relentless radioactive blues that haunt our future and the sullen greys of today’s gritty movies.
It’s all very beguiling and slightly wistful.
Beatrix Potter’s creatures would feel quite at home here. The Borrowers would approve of the interiors.
I’d hope my dust bunnies would be fortunate enough to inhabit such a painterly world.
If Studio Ghibli designed the future
Studio Ghibli painted a world we might hope to enjoy - if not in our past then perhaps as a template for our future.
In this wishful view of the future called The Verge, see how many elements from Ghibli World manifest in the future.
Greenery abounds most of all, there is wilderness and untamed roughness, water flows, trickles and tumbles and the architecture is hardly there at all.
Clouds dot the skyscape and a bit of me thinks this - like the landscapes of Studio Ghibli - this wouldn't be a bad place to live even when the clouds cast a shadow.
Studio Ghibli artwork in abundance
Lots of landscapes, characters, towns and technology and the occasional dash of magic.
Below a link to the making of The Verge
