Disclaimer: If you have not read the works of Walter Benjamin, specifically his collection of essays entitled ‘Illuminations’ (published by Pimlico), then I thoroughly recommend you do so to better understand this essay. Although I recognise that he is a relatively obscure figure, having never heard of him myself before my university course, and can be quite difficult to engage with, it is seriously worth it for his words [far more than helping to understand mine a bit better].
When I was first introduced to the works of Walter Benjamin[1] it took me quite a long time to grasp the concepts that Benjamin was arguing for, and even longer to begin to agree with them. The ‘aura’ of art seemed like a silly argument, and the fear of a technology-based world seemed like the trite writings of a romanticist – clinging on to notions of the past that were simply not true. Over time, I realized that to simply write Benjamin off as a romanticist was naïve, because it ignores the complexity and intelligence that he brings to each topic he tackles. It is also difficult to blame Benjamin for his dark world view, as a Marxist Jew living in Nazi occupied Germany there was no future for him, a bleak reality that culminated in his suicide 1940.
In many ways, I’ve had the same criticisms of Miyazaki, a man whose films revel in a world and culture long forgotten, yearning for a return to nature and childhood innocence that is simply at ends with the global spread of Western capitalism. I had also written off many of his films as idealistic, despite the beautiful positivity they had at the core of them, yet in The Wind Rises it appears as though Miyazaki has written off this notion as well. It is a beautiful film, but a wholly melancholic one, reflecting on failed dreams, death, love, art and the impact of technology. A film that encompasses everything Benjamin stood for, and in doing so presents Miyazaki as a contemporary Benjamin figure, one who despite the positivity that he yearns for recognises he is fighting a futile battle. Consider this quote from Miyazaki in a 2014 interview, “I think the peaceful time that we are living in is coming to an end”, it is reminiscent of Benjamin’s work at the end of his life – the signs of a once hopeful genius worn down through attrition by the negativity that he (rightly or wrongly) perceives surrounds him in society.
Take the opening scene, for instance, it is a dream sequence involving a young Jiro flying an airplane. He soars through the air, the look of the plane seemingly defying reality (especially for the time), and it is accompanied by a tranquil score that sets the tone as one of beauty, imagination and purity. This tone, however, is quickly done away with, the scene transitioning into one of horror and destruction – the other side of flight. Jiro’s beautiful dreams turns to a nightmare, the bombs of the planes above destroying his aircraft and send him plummeting to a brutal death – of course, he wakes up though. It is characteristic of The Wind Rises that the opening scene is one of a dream sequence turning into a nightmare, it appears a statement reflecting Miyazaki’s own transition from positivity to cynicism; a once beautiful dream of the future that Miyazaki held has turned into one of destruction and nightmares.[2]
It is not long before Jiro dreams again of flight and planes, this time occurring after learning of the great Italian airplane designer Caproni. In these dreams, Jiro meets Caproni who flies extravagant, gorgeous planes designed to transport people, not bombs. A man who has devoted his life to engineering planes, with the belief that “Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.” It is easy to posit that Miyazaki is entirely dismissive of planes as a technology/art, but that would be foolish, for like Benjamin he has always cautiously recognised the potential of future technologies – consider Benjamin’s appraisal of film as a medium that could produce it’s own art, something many critics of the time refused to recognise, despite his own belief in the traditional arts of storytelling through spoken and written language. Yet, if “engineers can turn dreams into reality”, for Miyazaki they just as easily turn nightmares into reality, which is key with the story of Jiro, most famous for designing the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter-plane, renowned worldwide at the time for being a scarily effective killing machine[3]. Despite the dreams Jiro has of creating planes that are fast, efficient, aerodynamic and beautiful, he never considers the end to which his means are being used for – death. Jiro seems to be a symbol of all that is cruel and wrong in the world for Miyazaki, a man who had dreams to create something beautiful and for the entire world, but due to circumstance outside of his control by men more selfish and powerful than he, ended up becoming infamous for his killing machine. This is also not to say that Miyazaki passes moral judgement on Jiro, for Jiro is merely a talented cog caught up in the Japanese war machine, it is rather a tragic statement on war itself that his talents must be used to such futile ends.[4]
At this point, it seems odd to suggest that Miyazaki is so cynical for the future, as surely he is criticising WW2 and Japan’s involvement, not the whole progression of technology itself. For instance, Porco Rosso, another film focused on airplanes and war (WW1) offers a far more balanced message at its centre, Miyazaki recognizing the horrors of destructive technology, but also acknowledging the good they can bring to the world.[5] Yet, it is in no doubt in my mind that the only acknowledgment of the good technology brings to the world in The Wind Rises is its potential for beauty through dreams, never its reality. A scene with a paper airplane is one of delight and humour, an innocent scene in which Jiro and his fiancée share a tender moment over the wonder of flight. Sadly, it is only a paper airplane, once again Miyazaki restricts the beauty of flight to outside of its reality, and when Jiro finally achieves record times with his new plane at the end of the film it is not met with celebration from him, like his wonderment at design here, but rather the feeling that something terrible has happened. The reality of flight can never be truly celebrated for Miyazaki, for with it comes the caveat of destruction and death, here that is literally with Naoki’s death causing an elemental, otherworldly reaction in Jiro, one that transcends his dreams of flight.
Here, Miyazaki returns to the themes that he has championed throughout his directorial career, those of human connection, love and the simplicity of the past. Like Benjamin’s terror at the loss of the storyteller in society, Miyazaki suggests that technology is not bringing people together, but tearing them apart – he has been quoted as being against today’s children’s current reliance on television, computers, tablets etc. and is a champion of traditional, practical skills[6]. The beauty and humanity in The Wind Rises comes from the relationship between Jiro and Naoki, one that Jiro places over his own ambitious career, and as this is a highly fictionalised account of Jiro’s life by Miyazaki, it allows him to stress that these human connections are far more important than technology can ever be.
The ending of the film is one of melancholy, Jiro once again dreams of Caproni who tells him that he has created something beautiful, but it feels like a hollow claim amidst all the destruction that has come from Jiro’s creation, and Naoki tells Jiro to live his life to the fullest. But, in a Japan that has been ruined by WW2, and as a man that lacks the most important thing to him, his wife, there is a recognition from the viewer that Jiro cannot live his life to the fullest, for he is lacking fundamental human elements to this. For Jiro, like Miyazaki, the future is not one of happiness, love and beauty, but rather a despairing and melancholic one, suffering from the impact of destructive technologies and lacking in human connection. It is a lot like the future Benjamin foresaw in his writings, conveniently also writing at the time the film is set, where the on-set of mass industrialisation and the rise of the information age would be irrecoverably damageable to society.
It is ultimately strange to suggest that Miyazaki has ended his career on a melancholic note; a man who has throughout his films championed the wonder of the world through children, nature, and art; who saw the beauty of the world where others saw the darkness; yet, in his swan-song piece The Wind Rises Miyazaki reflects on the end of peace, the loss of humanity and the horrors of technology. For Miyazaki, he recognises the potential of all of these elements, but no longer does nature “win”, or love triumph, instead a universal sense of suffering forebodes, and the future does not seem so bright as it once did.
[1] Illuminations, a collection of his essays.
[2] We are drawn back to the Miyazaki quote previously used, “I think the peaceful time that we are living in is coming to an end”
[3] At one point during WW2, it had a kill ratio of 12 to 1.
[4] A scene roughly 1 hour and 37 minutes in sees a howling laughter to Jiro’s suggestion of “leave out the guns” – a sad reality for Miyazaki.
[5] Contrasting scenes of Porco Rosso saving innocent people from pirates, and reflecting on the deaths of hundreds of his comrades.
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