Speaker 1: On the bel Cast, the questions asked if movies have
Speaker 1: women in them? Are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands?
Speaker 1: Do they have individualism? The patriarchy? Zef invest start changing
Speaker 1: it with the Bechdel Cast. There you'll be with tot
Speaker 1: Row tot Row. It's the toe too row to to
Speaker 1: row episode of the Bechdel Cast. Wow that you should
Speaker 1: throw in some music there too, just to really really
Speaker 1: hit it home. I'll think about it. I've heard this
Speaker 1: song a million times and then it's it's this sort
Speaker 1: of thing where it's kind of Miyazaki's It's a small
Speaker 1: world where you're like, I appreciate where this song is
Speaker 1: coming from, but I do want to walk off a
Speaker 1: cliff because it's going to be following me around for
Speaker 1: the next, you know, six days. I'm having a good
Speaker 1: day today, but the rest of the week is going
Speaker 1: to be rough. I'm fine with it. I will be
Speaker 1: fine with it. I just you know, when you hear
Speaker 1: like a little earworm like that and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is awesome, but it won't be soon. But it
Speaker 1: won't be soon. Yeah. Anyways, Welcome to the Becktel Cast.
Speaker 1: My name is Caitlin Darante. My name is Jamie Loftus,
Speaker 1: and this is our podcast where we take a look
Speaker 1: at your favorite movies using an intersectional feminist lens. Ever
Speaker 1: heard of it? Yeah, And we use the Bechdel test
Speaker 1: simply as a jumping off point. Most of the time
Speaker 1: we forget to pay attention to if the movie passes
Speaker 1: the Beck Doeld test or not, or at least I
Speaker 1: do this one does? It does so much um and
Speaker 1: here done by the Bechtel test, of course, being a
Speaker 1: media metric created by queer cartoonists Else and Becktel, sometimes
Speaker 1: called the Bechtel Wallace test, in which our version that
Speaker 1: we use requires that two characters of a marginalized gender
Speaker 1: have names, and they speak to each other, and their
Speaker 1: conversation has to be about something other than a man,
Speaker 1: ideally for a at least two line exchange of dialogue,
Speaker 1: and one that is narratively meaningful or irrelevant. Not a
Speaker 1: big deal for for this week, because we've got oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, it's it's my neighbor Totoro week. It's it's
Speaker 1: a part of our Miyazaki ongoing series. We are going
Speaker 1: to be kind of just like checking in with with
Speaker 1: Mr Miyazaki over the course of the next several years.
Speaker 1: So just a quick disclaimer, please don't yell at us.
Speaker 1: If this isn't your favorite of his movies, that's not
Speaker 1: our problem. Yeah, we'll get around to the others. I do.
Speaker 1: There is sometimes a little bit where you're just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. They're like, why didn't you We were
Speaker 1: talking about this on the kikiS episode. They're like, why
Speaker 1: not Princess Mononoka. I'm like, this isn't a personal vendetta
Speaker 1: against Princess Mononoke. She will be, But what if there was?
Speaker 1: What if Caitlin and Princess Mononoke word princess narrative? We
Speaker 1: quietly don't address it. We'll get around to other Miyazaki movies.
Speaker 1: These are the three we chose for this year, and
Speaker 1: I think we're we're ending strong, strong movie and a
Speaker 1: strong guest who can see clearer than he's ever been
Speaker 1: able to see in his life. I mean that mentally
Speaker 1: and physically. He watched this movie with such clear vision.
Speaker 1: And that guest, of course, is co host of The
Speaker 1: Daily I Geist and for Twenty Day Fiance. You know
Speaker 1: him from such episodes as The Rock This Christmas, It's
Speaker 1: Miles Gres. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
Speaker 1: always always honored and touched when you asked me to
Speaker 1: be on your very special show. Uh, and I hope to,
Speaker 1: you know, I just hope to continue my streak of
Speaker 1: good performances and good good dialogue discourse with you both.
Speaker 1: Everything's riding on this one. It's funny you just got
Speaker 1: so you just got LASIX surgery. I did. I was
Speaker 1: realizing as we were introducing you, we make it sound
Speaker 1: like we don't let most of our guests watch the
Speaker 1: movie with clear vision. Yeah. Yeah, we we added an obstruction.
Speaker 1: It's like when you go to a show and you
Speaker 1: pay less money because you're sitting in front of a pole,
Speaker 1: Like damn, why was that on the ticket? Like? Wow?
Speaker 1: One half of the Phantom of the Opera was so
Speaker 1: good at the Pantages. That was okay, everything that's on
Speaker 1: stage right, So Miles, let's get right into it. What's
Speaker 1: your history with my neighbor Totoro And let's just say
Speaker 1: the Miyazaki Expanded Studio Jubilie World, Oh man, tot is
Speaker 1: like one of my favorites. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys know this. I'm Japanese, okay, so yeah, I grew
Speaker 1: up watching a lot of Miyazaki cartoons and Toto was
Speaker 1: like one of those ones that came out when I
Speaker 1: was like four or five, So I remember was so
Speaker 1: big in Japan, like as it was coming out, and
Speaker 1: I remember seeing it on like tape. I remember seeing
Speaker 1: it like with my friend's house. It was me and
Speaker 1: a few other family friends were watching it. But Mononoke
Speaker 1: is like one of my other favorites, so yeah, I
Speaker 1: probably would have been like Dooka calling in. But for me, yeah,
Speaker 1: total was like a very It's it's so pure and
Speaker 1: I just like that about it, and it's so Japanese.
Speaker 1: That's another thing I really like about it is a
Speaker 1: lot of American people don't always get it when they
Speaker 1: watch it or think it's good, you know, because it's
Speaker 1: just so different from like what most animation or most
Speaker 1: stories are about, like especially you know, Western American cinema
Speaker 1: type stuff. But yeah, it's like it's just one of
Speaker 1: those things. It's like it's fucking Disney for us in Japan,
Speaker 1: all of it, the entire universe. But yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: totally like a thing that i've just I don't know,
Speaker 1: I've always liked, Like when I was a kid, I
Speaker 1: like stuffed animals and the scenes are like the scale
Speaker 1: of total little like as a kid, I was like,
Speaker 1: that's that's all I want. I just wanted a totoro friend.
Speaker 1: I just wanted I want a sentient pillow. Yeah, on
Speaker 1: a big pillow that yells at me. And then and
Speaker 1: then called the bus was so cool and the cat bus.
Speaker 1: I've kind of forgot about the cat bus when the
Speaker 1: cat bush? Did you guys when you watched it? Were
Speaker 1: you watching it dubbed? Are you watching with subtitles? How
Speaker 1: do you? How do you take it in? So? I
Speaker 1: watched the English dub they like Disney one from two
Speaker 1: thousand five the Fanning Sisters. Yes, but I grew up
Speaker 1: watching the original English dub, which I have a little
Speaker 1: anecdote about when we get into my history with the movie.
Speaker 1: I watched the first half of it in Japanese the
Speaker 1: other day and then I needed to take a nap,
Speaker 1: and then I just watched the Red not because I
Speaker 1: was just tired, but Rice, Okay, it's just tired. And
Speaker 1: then I um watched the rest of it in English.
Speaker 1: But I do want to go back and watch the
Speaker 1: entire thing in Japanese with English subtitles. So I've never
Speaker 1: seen the Mizaki not in Japanese, which is so wild.
Speaker 1: When I was when you asked me to do it,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, maybe I should, like I only
Speaker 1: know it in Japanese, like maybe I should just check
Speaker 1: it out. And part of me was like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna watch. But yeah, so I'm always curious how
Speaker 1: people take it in Sure, I watched it with the
Speaker 1: dub first, and then I watched the original Japanese version second,
Speaker 1: and I liked I mean, I liked them both, but
Speaker 1: I always, I mean, it's always better to watch a
Speaker 1: movie not dubbed, Like even if the dub is pretty good,
Speaker 1: which I thought the fanic Sister dub is like it's fine,
Speaker 1: it's it's cute, but it's always wait, oh that's what
Speaker 1: you meant that Wait what it's Dakota and Dakota and
Speaker 1: l inning when they were like like eleven and seven.
Speaker 1: So this is my other thing with my personal issue
Speaker 1: in me zacky stuff. I have no idea what's happening
Speaker 1: with it in the US, like I don't whenever I
Speaker 1: hear about it, it's because I'm hearing about it through
Speaker 1: my cultural pulse in Japan versus like, how it's happening here?
Speaker 1: So I have not had no fing idea that Ellen
Speaker 1: Dakota Fanning, We're okay, good now, now I might have
Speaker 1: to hear it. It was I thought l Fanning especially
Speaker 1: did a really really good jobs as May. She was
Speaker 1: really cute. Um and the Ursula the Sea Witch does Granny, Pat,
Speaker 1: Carrol and Carol. So oh shit, Okay, it's a fun
Speaker 1: dub cast. Yeah, it's it's reverberating with my American brain now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I know those voices and those are iconic.
Speaker 1: That's good casting right there. It's fun cast. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: then the only other and then we don't mean it's
Speaker 1: it's just a very Disney casting. But they did cast
Speaker 1: Um Scooby Doo as Totoro and the cat Bus, Frank Welker,
Speaker 1: Frank Welker, icon legend king Scooby himself. Um, Jamie, what
Speaker 1: is your history in relationship with Totru? Uh? Not very extensive.
Speaker 1: I think that I saw this movie maybe once or
Speaker 1: twice as a kid. As I was watching it back,
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I don't. I've definitely seen this before. Um,
Speaker 1: I guess I would have been seeing I don't know,
Speaker 1: it could have been either of the dubs, because that
Speaker 1: there was a dub done in three and then again
Speaker 1: in two thousand and five. I don't really remember. I
Speaker 1: remember really liking it, but I was just such a
Speaker 1: kikiS delivery service stand that if we were going to
Speaker 1: watch a Miyazaki movie, Kiki was always going to be
Speaker 1: my choice. But it was really really fun to watch.
Speaker 1: I've never I don't think I had seen it as
Speaker 1: an adult, and it was fun to go back and
Speaker 1: watch as an adult. It's just like the sweetest, most perfect,
Speaker 1: thoughtful movie. I don't know, I just really love it.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful, it is. It feels it truly. It just
Speaker 1: feels like, uh, I don't know, a blanket. It feels
Speaker 1: like a Totoro is hugging you. It does. It does.
Speaker 1: It's so well because it's like, oh, I sort of
Speaker 1: associate sometimes. I've like, every time I see Totoro, I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is there a sale at Hot Topic because Miyazaki
Speaker 1: stuff is so popular there. Like I think of Totoro
Speaker 1: as being in the window of Hot Topic when I
Speaker 1: walked by at the Glendale Galleria. But he's so much
Speaker 1: more well It's funny because like it was just a
Speaker 1: when it first came out, like they were not really
Speaker 1: interested in marketing it at all in the US because
Speaker 1: there's so much that people like they're bathing together like wet,
Speaker 1: like that was a huge thing that a lot of
Speaker 1: the studios I think want to take it out, like
Speaker 1: in the American versions of it, but like as a
Speaker 1: character like in Japan, like to total is like visually
Speaker 1: so like iconic that it's funny that here it's sort
Speaker 1: of distilled into like only fandoms of people who are
Speaker 1: like really an animal and stuff that. Yeah, like it's
Speaker 1: more of a topic when it should be. I mean
Speaker 1: it should be. It should be coming down the Macy's
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day parade. I mean, I mean it probably has
Speaker 1: has he I feel like he should. I was like,
Speaker 1: I hope, so wait, I gotta look into this. Did
Speaker 1: you know that as far as licensed merchandise sales, this
Speaker 1: movie has made one point one billion US dollars in
Speaker 1: revenue from licensed merchandise. Not surprise at all. That's like globally,
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, So honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised
Speaker 1: if it were even higher, because I feel like most
Speaker 1: people who even if you haven't seen this movie, you
Speaker 1: know who what he looks like. Yeah, but it's it
Speaker 1: is great because it's like the sort of iconography where
Speaker 1: the story also like lives up to it, where the
Speaker 1: story is so beautiful. And we were talking about this
Speaker 1: with kikiS too, but like this era of Miyazaki movies
Speaker 1: are like fantastic, but also it's very very grounded where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, yeah, this is a story about kids
Speaker 1: trying to adjust to a new home and having a
Speaker 1: sick parent, Like that's just like dealing with really really
Speaker 1: heavy stuff. And then also and cat Bus and it's
Speaker 1: not like, oh my god, the nuclear power plant is
Speaker 1: coming to tear down to Toto's home and we have
Speaker 1: to save it, which is like what I think most
Speaker 1: kids story like we're used to, is like what's the
Speaker 1: gigantic fucking behemoth conflict and like who's the bad guy
Speaker 1: and who's the good guy? And I think that wasn't
Speaker 1: I remember as a kid, Like I've seen it with
Speaker 1: like an American friend of mine, and they just they
Speaker 1: did They're like this is dumb, Like I mean it is.
Speaker 1: There's so he gave them the umbrella and he didn't
Speaker 1: even know what to say. It just drew all ruism.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't fucking know about that because this country's fun, right,
Speaker 1: there's selective values. It's like it's a character driven story
Speaker 1: in the way that most children's media or like family
Speaker 1: media is not very character driven. There's always especially for
Speaker 1: like American media, like intended for like children and family audiences,
Speaker 1: it's always like some yeah, some big comment, like you know,
Speaker 1: you're like fern Gully, they're tearing down the rainforest kind
Speaker 1: of thing of friend Gully though, same, you know, the
Speaker 1: stories like that are perfectly valid as well. But I
Speaker 1: do love that of the Miyazaki movies I've seen, they're
Speaker 1: all just like kind of quiet character studies that also
Speaker 1: have really cool fantasy elements and uh mythology incorporated in
Speaker 1: the narratives and beautiful imagery of course, but they're just like,
Speaker 1: and what if we just kind of examine the lives
Speaker 1: of these two sisters for ninety minutes and it's wonderful.
Speaker 1: What's your history with this movie? Yes? Um, I watched
Speaker 1: this movie every time I went to visit my grandmother,
Speaker 1: and it is the only fond memory I have of
Speaker 1: spending any time with my grandmother, who was a terrible person. Um,
Speaker 1: but it's fine because I have Totoro because thank you, okay,
Speaker 1: swop it out, um. But she had it on VHS.
Speaker 1: So that was just like the activity there was to
Speaker 1: do at my grandma's house. And why did she have
Speaker 1: total I'm not sure. That's like just so I guess
Speaker 1: those things are really interesting to me because I feel
Speaker 1: like most grandparents, like American grandparents, have like the soft
Speaker 1: box Disney VHS tapes at their house, you know, like
Speaker 1: get real dirty and stinky. Yeah, exactly, sticky and just
Speaker 1: covered in nonsense, whereas like your grandma's like I'm cultured, man,
Speaker 1: you want some you want some Miyazaki ship, which is
Speaker 1: hilarious because my grandma was also otherwise completely uncultured. Um
Speaker 1: and like a Fox movie scary person. I'm here to
Speaker 1: get my grandma's on this episode. But so anyway, uh,
Speaker 1: that was like my favorite movie that she had on
Speaker 1: VHS at her place, because she did have a couple
Speaker 1: other you know, I think, like Disney movies and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But I was like, I we didn't have
Speaker 1: Toto at home, so I was like, this is my
Speaker 1: chance to watch it, and I just fell in love
Speaker 1: with it, especially because the dynamic between the two sisters
Speaker 1: was very similar to the dynamic I had with my sister.
Speaker 1: I I'm like the older sister. I'm three years older
Speaker 1: than my sister Sarah, and it was like a very
Speaker 1: similar like she looked up to me the way that
Speaker 1: May looks up to Sotsky. I had to like look
Speaker 1: out for my younger sister the way that Satsky has
Speaker 1: to look out for May. A lot of the time.
Speaker 1: I also lived in a very rural area and was
Speaker 1: always just like trapesing around the woods and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I so desperately wanted to go into the woods and
Speaker 1: find a Totoro friend and be best friends, and like
Speaker 1: this was a fantasy I had as a kid. I
Speaker 1: wanted so badly to ride around on a cat bus.
Speaker 1: Like this movie connected with me in a very major
Speaker 1: way as a kid, and then I kind of fell
Speaker 1: off of it as I got into my teen years
Speaker 1: and stuff. But I've rediscovered it as an adult a
Speaker 1: couple years ago, and I was like, all right, this
Speaker 1: is like the best movie ever made. I love it
Speaker 1: so much. Um, I do have a little Totoro enamel
Speaker 1: pin that I will and I'm also thinking about getting
Speaker 1: a Totoro tattoo. We'll see. Oh yeah, you kind of
Speaker 1: tattoo bene this year. I'm cool. Now you get a
Speaker 1: bunch of tattoos. What are the tattoos you get? I
Speaker 1: got a Titanic one. Oh dope. I got a quote
Speaker 1: from Paddington too. If we are kind of polite, the
Speaker 1: world will be right. And I got the mad Max
Speaker 1: Fury Road or rig within the past year, dude, And
Speaker 1: then you need the Neco bus coming at the mad
Speaker 1: Max Fury Road just straight up head on collision. Whatever.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Look, I'm not here to you know
Speaker 1: that it's your man and your tattoo artists, you know,
Speaker 1: between your tattoo artists. I'm making the appointment right now.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's got to be like a Nyazaki like
Speaker 1: specialist tattoo, right, because I know there's like Sip like
Speaker 1: that for Disney tattoo. Right. Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure
Speaker 1: there is. Okay, should I do the recap of my
Speaker 1: neighbor totor? Please? Do? Let's do it, Okay. We meet
Speaker 1: Satsky and her younger sister May. They are traveling with
Speaker 1: their dad, Mr. Kusakabe to their new house in the
Speaker 1: countryside of Japan. I think the year is like nineteen five.
Speaker 1: I read it's postwar in rural Japan. On the way,
Speaker 1: they run into some neighbors, including a young neighbor boy
Speaker 1: who we will learn his name is Conta. They all
Speaker 1: arrive at their new house and start exploring outside. They
Speaker 1: notice a huge tree in the nearby forest. Their dad
Speaker 1: tells the girls it's a camphor tree. Inside the house,
Speaker 1: they find a bunch of acorns, and they also see
Speaker 1: a bunch of little black dust bunnies or like dust
Speaker 1: gremlins that seem alive and sentient, and they scatter when
Speaker 1: you turn on the lights. They're similar to Spirited Away. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: the footballs in Spirited Away exactly. Satski in May search
Speaker 1: for more of these little dust spirits. Their neighbor granny
Speaker 1: comes by and she's like, oh, yeah, those are soot spreaders,
Speaker 1: and she mentions that their house is possibly haunted, but
Speaker 1: that that's not like a bad or scary thing. Everyone's
Speaker 1: excited about them living in a haunted house. We see
Speaker 1: Stotsky May and their dad cleaning the house and settling in,
Speaker 1: and then one night we see the soot spirits float
Speaker 1: away into the night sky. The family then heads into
Speaker 1: town to visit Satsky and May's mom, who is in
Speaker 1: the hospital. She is ill, but she's been feeling better
Speaker 1: and will hopefully be able to come home soon. Then
Speaker 1: Satsky goes off to school and May stays home because
Speaker 1: she's not old enough for school yet, so she's just
Speaker 1: kind of occupying herself around the house. She finds a
Speaker 1: trail of acorns, which she follows that leads her to
Speaker 1: this little spirit, This little white, fluffy thing with kind
Speaker 1: of pointy bunny like ears, just a little friend, just
Speaker 1: a little friend, is translucent. It's bobbing around, and May
Speaker 1: starts following it, but loses it for a moment, But
Speaker 1: then she sees it again, and a bigger spirit bobbing around.
Speaker 1: This one's blue and white, and it's carrying a bag
Speaker 1: of acorns, and May follows them both into the woods
Speaker 1: and into the depths of this giant camphor tree that
Speaker 1: they saw, where she meets Totoro, who is the maximum
Speaker 1: of Totara, the biggest Toto, biggest you've seen thus far. Yes,
Speaker 1: the chars are of Yes, he's big and furry, He's
Speaker 1: so cute. I would die for Toto and I would
Speaker 1: kill for Totoro. Holy shit, every time Totoro is, he
Speaker 1: does a lot of like ah, like he yells a lot,
Speaker 1: and every time I see to yelling, I think it's
Speaker 1: very like sweet. The kids are like not afraid of that.
Speaker 1: If I was a kid, I would be crying, uh,
Speaker 1: giant teeth, big old I was like, okay, if if
Speaker 1: may slip even a little. But but I was always
Speaker 1: like almost have like pretty good breath. I'm always thinking
Speaker 1: about like what does this breath smell like? Because that
Speaker 1: because even if you're not afraid of the big old teeth,
Speaker 1: you would think that the breath might not be good.
Speaker 1: He was sleeping, but maybe what breath smell like? He's fresh.
Speaker 1: Those are like these weird story tropes that are like
Speaker 1: reinforced that we like expect right Like as kids were like, oh,
Speaker 1: the thing, the giant thing is showing its teeth and
Speaker 1: in my you know history of looking at stuff as
Speaker 1: it kid like, that means danger. Usually if a big
Speaker 1: thing shows you its teeth, and I was like, and
Speaker 1: the kid is not afraid, okay, weird oh And then
Speaker 1: the other thing would be like pu is like the
Speaker 1: next thing like like these sort of storytelling habits that
Speaker 1: were used to like and that wasn't there. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: so this big fucker was like had pleasant breath and
Speaker 1: the teeth were I mean, teeth were beautiful, they were
Speaker 1: immaculates and hygiene. Yeah, well it's because we've seen like Shrek. Okay,
Speaker 1: and Shrek keeps coming up these last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Shrek keeps coming up. But there's that scene in Shrek
Speaker 1: where like he's baring his teeth and he's scaring off
Speaker 1: like the villagers and you see like all this goo
Speaker 1: come out of his mouth and everyone's like Shrek. And
Speaker 1: then later Donkey he's like you need a mint and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So wild, but this is nothing like Shrek.
Speaker 1: Toto is fresh. It goes against everything total. It blows
Speaker 1: up everything we thought about big creatures exactly, true, pleasant, smelling,
Speaker 1: docile as hell. It's true. And then May it's just like,
Speaker 1: all right, I think I'm gonna take a nap. She
Speaker 1: becomes best friends with Totoro and the other little Totoro's.
Speaker 1: Toto's just kind of like napping and chilling, and yeah,
Speaker 1: he wakes up and he yells a little bit but
Speaker 1: she's like, I love that for you and we are
Speaker 1: best friends. She's like, oh that's your name. Cool, good night,
Speaker 1: all right. And then later that day, Satsky comes home
Speaker 1: from school and finds my eeping in the middle of
Speaker 1: the woods and she wakes up and she's like, where's Totoro.
Speaker 1: He was right here and he's my best friend. And
Speaker 1: Stotski and their dad are like, we believe you, and
Speaker 1: also we should go give the foest spirits a proper greeting.
Speaker 1: So they go into the woods and pay their respects
Speaker 1: to the Camphor tree. But the opening that May had
Speaker 1: kind of tumbled into where she found Toto is now closed. Um,
Speaker 1: and their dad is like, oh, it's probably because the
Speaker 1: fourest Spirits don't want to be seen right now. And
Speaker 1: then Stotsky is all bombed out because she wants to
Speaker 1: see Totoro and friends too. Then Stotsky goes to school
Speaker 1: ps that neighbor boy Kanta is there in class with
Speaker 1: her and he has a big crush on Stsky. And
Speaker 1: then May shows up to the schoolhouse. I love this part,
Speaker 1: it's so sweet. So Granny is babysitting May because their
Speaker 1: dad is I think in Tokyo teaching at a university,
Speaker 1: and May wants to be with Stotsky, so she stays
Speaker 1: at school with Stotsky until the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and then on the walk home from school, it starts
Speaker 1: raining heavily. Kanto walks by gives them his umbrella because
Speaker 1: again he loves Stotsky. It's very cute. And then Satsky
Speaker 1: and May return home and notice that their dad left
Speaker 1: his umbrella, so they head out to meet him at
Speaker 1: the bus stop. Um they returned Kanta's umbrella on the way,
Speaker 1: and at the bus stop they wait. They wait, their
Speaker 1: dad's bus isn't coming, but then who does show up
Speaker 1: but Totoro. May has fallen asleep, but Stotsky has a
Speaker 1: fun interaction with him. He gives them this little pouch
Speaker 1: of acorns, and then a cat bus shows up. Totro
Speaker 1: gets on the bus that is also a cat and
Speaker 1: it runs off just takes a different line than them exactly.
Speaker 1: Satsky in May return home. They plant the acorns in
Speaker 1: their mom's garden, but nothing grows until one night when
Speaker 1: Toto shows up with his little totos and they all
Speaker 1: raise their arms and their umbrellas and their leaves up
Speaker 1: in the sky and then the seeds start to sprout
Speaker 1: and another huge camphor tree grows. It's so that scene
Speaker 1: is beautiful, just beautiful, so beautiful, and sounds so beautiful,
Speaker 1: and the music in this movie is incredible. Um. And
Speaker 1: then Toto gets on this flying top and he and
Speaker 1: Sot sky in May and the little Toto's fly around
Speaker 1: and play instruments, and the next morning the tree is
Speaker 1: not there, but the little seedlings have started to sprout.
Speaker 1: I just love how whimsical the description is. And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love this, Like and they take a magical top
Speaker 1: to the highest tree and they play their instruments under
Speaker 1: the moonlight, you know, And I'm like, oh man, that
Speaker 1: was great, awesome. Everything in this like the I don't know,
Speaker 1: like there's there's plenty of moments where in this movie
Speaker 1: where things are urgent, but like how urgency is conveyed
Speaker 1: in Miyazaki movies is just different. And even with like
Speaker 1: little things where how granny Granny brings made a school
Speaker 1: because she's like, yeah, I don't know, she just like
Speaker 1: I just wanted to come to school, sorry, And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, yeah, I guess why not. And then
Speaker 1: the teacher is just like very sweet about it. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: come in and like it just these things that again
Speaker 1: I think myles are totally right of just like these
Speaker 1: story conventions, you don't even realize that, like you expect
Speaker 1: of something being a big conflict and then it's like, no,
Speaker 1: let's just deal with it. Our instinct is like, oh no,
Speaker 1: like you can't have your sister at school, right, And
Speaker 1: then like it's completely inverted and the teachers like their
Speaker 1: mother is really sick, you know, and it's a terrible situation.
Speaker 1: Please everyone be really kind to them. Okay, yeah, and
Speaker 1: everyone and all the kids are like, yep, than they
Speaker 1: are right. I feel like in most Western movies that
Speaker 1: would have there would have been like some kid with
Speaker 1: frosted tips that was like your mom is what her
Speaker 1: head right? Right? What the fuck? Like it's like, no,
Speaker 1: most kids are pretty sweet. That's very thoughtful. And then
Speaker 1: they get a telegram from the hospital their mom was
Speaker 1: supposed to come home that weekend, but she's not feeling
Speaker 1: well so she can't come home anymore, which really upsets
Speaker 1: May and Stsky. Satsky kind of takes out her upset
Speaker 1: on May and calls her a baby and tells her
Speaker 1: to grow up. And then May sets off without Stotsky knowing,
Speaker 1: presumably to go to the hospital to take their mom
Speaker 1: and ear of corn to make her feel better, which
Speaker 1: is so sweet. And then when Satsky realizes that May
Speaker 1: is gone, and like law us, she starts frantically running
Speaker 1: around trying to find her. The whole village is looking
Speaker 1: for her. Everyone's worried that May might have died. And
Speaker 1: then Stotsky goes to Toto's tree and asks if he
Speaker 1: can help her find May, and Toto is like, of course,
Speaker 1: I'll except without using words, but he is more than
Speaker 1: happy to help. Yeah. He Toto summons his cat bus
Speaker 1: friend and Stotsky gets inside cat bus and cat bus
Speaker 1: is like, next stop May, and then they race across
Speaker 1: the countryside until they reach May. She and Stotsky reunite.
Speaker 1: It's really nice, and then cat bus takes them to
Speaker 1: the hospital where they kind of watch their mom through
Speaker 1: the window and she's doing fine. And then Stotsky and
Speaker 1: May ride back home in cat bus and there's like
Speaker 1: a few kind of like credit images, is of like
Speaker 1: their mom returning home and them all spending time together
Speaker 1: and Toto is doing stuff in the woods, Granny's relieved.
Speaker 1: Everyone is happy that made save yes, and it's beautiful
Speaker 1: and that's the story. So let's take a quick break
Speaker 1: and we will come right back to discuss and we're back.
Speaker 1: Uh man, It's but Carolin and I were texting before
Speaker 1: we started recording. We're like every I liked everything there
Speaker 1: starting with I mean the and this is something not
Speaker 1: because this is our third episode in Miyazaki movies, you know,
Speaker 1: we again we have girls centered in the story, and
Speaker 1: specifically in this one. I think it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a bonus because it's like two sisters relating to each other,
Speaker 1: and you know, they are in conflict almost constantly because
Speaker 1: their siblings, and that is how that works. Um, but
Speaker 1: you can also tell like there's this huge genuine love
Speaker 1: between them, like there's it's it's just so like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, presented matter of fact. It's like effortless how
Speaker 1: Miyazaki is able to center kids and kids stories and
Speaker 1: then relating to each other and also like prioritizing girls,
Speaker 1: which is um in a in a just a very
Speaker 1: matter of fact way where this could have easily been
Speaker 1: brothers or a brother and a sister. You're kind of
Speaker 1: any combination of siblings and yeah, totally, I think it's great,
Speaker 1: perfect no notes. Um, yeah, and especially the relationship between
Speaker 1: the sisters, it felt again so authentic. It felt very
Speaker 1: reflective of like the relationship dynamic between me and my
Speaker 1: younger sister, although I was far less patient and supportive
Speaker 1: of my younger sister as a because I was a
Speaker 1: little asshole, But um, I love that you see like
Speaker 1: a version of a sibling dynamic where the older sister
Speaker 1: is very patient and is very supportive and the younger
Speaker 1: sister clearly looks up to Stsky. But again, this is
Speaker 1: not without conflict, and the conflict that does exist between
Speaker 1: them feels very authentic, and everything is just happening very organically,
Speaker 1: despite they're also being like forest spirits that they are
Speaker 1: always on the lookout for and like hoping to meet
Speaker 1: and interact with. And I remember like the part where
Speaker 1: they go to pay the respects at the Camphor tree
Speaker 1: and the idea of like your younger sister getting to
Speaker 1: see something or do something before you the older sibling,
Speaker 1: and like when Satsky is all like, oh, but I
Speaker 1: want to see Toto too, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know what that feels like. Because anytime, like my
Speaker 1: sister got to do something and I didn't, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: what the Yeah. But it's just like it's these little
Speaker 1: moments that are captured in the movie and just like
Speaker 1: watching the way the characters handle them and just like
Speaker 1: showing these just everyday moments that are just like so
Speaker 1: familiar and beautiful and cool, things like the corn, like
Speaker 1: the like Mom's going to sleep in my bed and
Speaker 1: like brush my hair and like just like thive. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like there's an order, get in line. Okay, Mom's
Speaker 1: brushing my hair first. And plus it's wavy like hers
Speaker 1: used to be assholes. Sit down. Yeah, yeah, it's so
Speaker 1: great there. Yeah, there is something just the pacing of
Speaker 1: very Japanese too, you know, of just going to set
Speaker 1: the table set that just like really anchor it wherever
Speaker 1: you are. And for me, like you're saying, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of familiar things that you saw me spending
Speaker 1: so much time as a kid in Japan, like in
Speaker 1: the summer too, like where a lot of this is
Speaker 1: taking place was really fun to see. And there's so
Speaker 1: many of these like little moments that he shows that
Speaker 1: are like are really just even from animation or sense memories,
Speaker 1: like when they're going up to the attic to to
Speaker 1: go up the stairs, like the way may comes down
Speaker 1: the stairs like slowly, or they go up them climbing
Speaker 1: them is because staircases are so steep in Japan. They're
Speaker 1: like fucking ladders basically that like when you're a kid,
Speaker 1: like you don't have the fucking balance to be like
Speaker 1: confidently walk upstairs. You're gonna like crawl step by step
Speaker 1: to get up because you could fall down. Like I
Speaker 1: remember falling downstairs as a kid because it was they
Speaker 1: were too steep, and like watching you know, the kids
Speaker 1: navigate the steps was like a thing that I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh shit, like yes, like you know, especially as I
Speaker 1: watch it again because it's been at least ten years
Speaker 1: since I've seen this after like till we watched it
Speaker 1: recently um or then like falling asleep in the summer
Speaker 1: like on like the tatami floor just like passed out
Speaker 1: because you're hot and your kid and you just fucking
Speaker 1: just just knock out because it's hot. And the long
Speaker 1: playing of like the cicadas like just sort of you know, singing.
Speaker 1: There's are just such like very you know, specific things,
Speaker 1: but they're done so like you know, they're very effortless
Speaker 1: and it's just like and here we are just showing
Speaker 1: you these slices of life, but each single one, like
Speaker 1: every I don't know that they're they're really efficient in
Speaker 1: what they convey every single time. It's like not a
Speaker 1: wasted frame really in that sense, right, Yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that attention to detail to some like very
Speaker 1: specific Japanese things, but that like also feel familiar to
Speaker 1: anyone watching the food again there. We talked about this
Speaker 1: in kikiS as well, but anytime that there's food prepared
Speaker 1: in a Miyazucky movie there, there's just like such attention
Speaker 1: to detail and you get hungry. Yeah, you're like, oh
Speaker 1: that I could I could hear those vegetables being chopped properly,
Speaker 1: like oh like when they trenched down on the cucumbers,
Speaker 1: and like I was watching it with you know, my wife,
Speaker 1: and when they were putting you know, my wife come
Speaker 1: circle circle and she loves cucumbers. But for me, like
Speaker 1: seeing there's like a very folkloric image in Japan of
Speaker 1: like putting vegetables in a cold stream. Like that's like
Speaker 1: a very like it's like even used in marketing They're like,
Speaker 1: this is how fresh these vegetables are. Man, They're in
Speaker 1: a bamboo basket in this like stream. Like that's like,
Speaker 1: you know, like the version of like in America, like
Speaker 1: the Heartland type stuff like in Japan, Like this cooling
Speaker 1: stream has brought these fresh vegetables out. And she was like,
Speaker 1: is that that's that's real? And like I mean if
Speaker 1: you live by one, yeah for sure. It's like I
Speaker 1: want to river cucumber and I'm like, yeah, we all do,
Speaker 1: we all do. But it's so refreshing someday. And the
Speaker 1: way even like the granny is like, oh, I think
Speaker 1: they're ready, like there what like there's even a perfect
Speaker 1: time and that you like I thought we were just
Speaker 1: cooling them off in this dream. Okay, granny knows is awesome.
Speaker 1: A couple other things about the relationship between the sisters
Speaker 1: that again just like felt very grounded and relatable and authentic.
Speaker 1: I guess just the idea of like Stsky kind of
Speaker 1: having to take on a somewhat like mothering and caregiver
Speaker 1: role for both her younger sister May and their dad.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's such a relatable thing for
Speaker 1: a family dynamic like that where the mom is absent
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, and it's like the the eldest siblings
Speaker 1: responsibility to kind of take on a lot of that,
Speaker 1: maybe like domestic short stuff and because we see Saltsky,
Speaker 1: you know, preparing lunches for everybody and again just always
Speaker 1: looking out for may you know, bringing dad the umbrella
Speaker 1: he forgot kind of thing. Because we talk about like
Speaker 1: female characters doing domestic things in movies, especially in like
Speaker 1: American or Western movies, and the way that's often presented
Speaker 1: as a way of like, well, of course, because women
Speaker 1: do domestic stuff, But in a story like this, the
Speaker 1: way it's presented, it's just like, well, of course, like
Speaker 1: these things need to be done, and Sotsky is the
Speaker 1: one to do them because she It's just like that's
Speaker 1: just kind of what makes sense. Although I guess you
Speaker 1: could make the argument that like why isn't there Dad
Speaker 1: doing more stuff and why does he always seem to
Speaker 1: be not knowing where his kids are? But I sort
Speaker 1: of thought that, like I do think that some of
Speaker 1: that it has to do with like the nineties, where
Speaker 1: I like where it kind of like pings for people
Speaker 1: of our generation to be like, why are these kids
Speaker 1: just wandering around right, but sure all of our parents
Speaker 1: were like just allowed to wander around but before the
Speaker 1: internet and everyone was like everyone's a murderer right right
Speaker 1: right there, like just be back a sunset, which I'm
Speaker 1: just like wild that you all made it good for you.
Speaker 1: It seems risky, but um, but I thought that they
Speaker 1: threaded the needle of the dad sort of having to
Speaker 1: operate as a single dad for a period of time,
Speaker 1: A think, pretty pretty realistically where it's like he's definitely
Speaker 1: not killing it, where it's like and they added in
Speaker 1: those moments of like he forgot about lunch and like
Speaker 1: he's trying to bat like he's it's single parents, single dad,
Speaker 1: stuff that you don't see often on screen anyways. And
Speaker 1: also I think that it's like especially I mean I
Speaker 1: think you usually see it with single mothers, but like
Speaker 1: the single parent portrayed as like a superhero too, when
Speaker 1: it's like no, it's like fucking hard and you know
Speaker 1: things are going to be dropped and that's not fair
Speaker 1: to either of the children, certain and like certainly not Satzky,
Speaker 1: who has to kind of pick up the slack. But
Speaker 1: I did, I mean, you do see the dad trying
Speaker 1: he's doing laundry with them. He's cooking some of the
Speaker 1: time and then like kind of phoning it in other times.
Speaker 1: It just felt like a thoughtful portrayal. And also it's like,
Speaker 1: of course he wouldn't have been used to doing everything,
Speaker 1: because we know that it's a relatively new situation that
Speaker 1: their mother isn't well, it's like he's getting used to
Speaker 1: in patriarchy out there, gender roles even now, like in Japan,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's not you know it, those
Speaker 1: those roles are pretty defined, so like in that way, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure their dad was a little bit like oh
Speaker 1: boy cooking, whereas like I feel like the modern version
Speaker 1: now would be like I'm just gonna go to the
Speaker 1: convenience store where I can get everything pre made and
Speaker 1: like and like when you see like modern sort of
Speaker 1: like Japanese dramas of like bumbling dad kind of thing,
Speaker 1: it's like everything's bought at the store like that. It
Speaker 1: just has to be microwaved, is the person now, because
Speaker 1: men don't got no cooking skills. But their dad's also
Speaker 1: like so sweet and wonderful with them, and there's trying
Speaker 1: he's trying. A scene that really struck me was the
Speaker 1: scene where where May has just befriended the Totoro's but
Speaker 1: then like falls asleep, and when she wakes up, she's
Speaker 1: kind of closer to the house and the totoroes are gone,
Speaker 1: and she's like, I swear I saw them. They were
Speaker 1: right here, and I'm not lying. This is not a lie,
Speaker 1: and both Saski and her dad are like, we believe you,
Speaker 1: and in fact, probably the reason they're not here anymore
Speaker 1: is that they don't want to be seen, but let's
Speaker 1: go pay our respects. And then they go to the
Speaker 1: camphor tree and to the shrine and they say thank
Speaker 1: you for looking after May. And again we are so
Speaker 1: conditioned by American media, where if this happened in a
Speaker 1: Western story, it would be like, no, I swear I
Speaker 1: saw Totoro and the elder sister and the parents would
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, right, you silly little kid, you fool.
Speaker 1: Those things aren't real and we don't believe you, and
Speaker 1: it would take so long into the story, right, and
Speaker 1: then she cos out. She's like, Totals my boyfriend, now,
Speaker 1: Total just got out of jail for stealing catalytic converters,
Speaker 1: and he got a tear drop tattoo because he had
Speaker 1: to shank a snitch Like what yeah, and I'm hooked
Speaker 1: on jewel pods Dad, whatnot? So it's like euphoria at
Speaker 1: euphoria high. Uh. I mean, and that goes back to
Speaker 1: the very beginning when both of the kids are like
Speaker 1: we live in a haunted house and Dad is like
Speaker 1: awesome dream right. Yeah, it's like this parental like jiu
Speaker 1: jitsu where it's like the children's energy like I or
Speaker 1: like aikido, like I'm gonna just redirect it right back
Speaker 1: at you in a positive way because I think again,
Speaker 1: it's almost like as a Western and writer, there's no
Speaker 1: way you'd write a scene where a little kid sees
Speaker 1: a mythical creature, tries to tell the adults and then
Speaker 1: they're like, oh wow, cool, right, that's great. It's normally
Speaker 1: like that's like this like habitual storytelling thing we're used to.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, this is what happens when you tell
Speaker 1: the adults about the mythical thing. They don't fucking believe you,
Speaker 1: and in fact, they're going to tell you they're gonna
Speaker 1: ridicule you, yeah and gaslight you and be like that's
Speaker 1: not what you saw or you know whatever, Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is so interesting to see like over and over there
Speaker 1: these moments. I'm sure if you're watching, like only watching
Speaker 1: like Western cartoons or storytelling, like you see this like
Speaker 1: what the fund was supporting as dad and teacher and classmates.
Speaker 1: It's so refreshing. It's it's really nice, so nice. And
Speaker 1: then I wanted to jump back to part of what
Speaker 1: especially worked for me about like the even though Sotsky
Speaker 1: has to take on some kind of like caregiver slash
Speaker 1: domestic chores, you know, picking up that black that worked
Speaker 1: for me, especially because she's still allowed to be a
Speaker 1: kid and so many of the scenes and like the
Speaker 1: story doesn't make her into this like that you know,
Speaker 1: precocious child thing where she's wise beyond her years and
Speaker 1: she's abandoned any semblance of being a kid because she's
Speaker 1: still like wants to see the spirits and she gets
Speaker 1: to see them, and she's young enough that she's able
Speaker 1: to because it's implied that like adults can't see the
Speaker 1: totoros or the cat bus or anything like that, they
Speaker 1: just like perceive it as a gust of wind when
Speaker 1: the cat bus is running by. But she's young enough
Speaker 1: to be able to see and you're like, oh, is
Speaker 1: that what Polar Express stole it from? Is it Polar
Speaker 1: Express stealing cat bus starting a beef? But yeah, she's
Speaker 1: like she she has this you know, like childlike curiosity
Speaker 1: and imagination and all these you know, childlike qualities that
Speaker 1: are appropriate for her age. And even like her parents
Speaker 1: comment on, like, yeah, she does act super grown up,
Speaker 1: but like, you know, she's still just a kid. And um,
Speaker 1: we see that scene where they learn about her their
Speaker 1: mom not being able to leave the hospital, and they're
Speaker 1: both really upset by it, but like May responds in
Speaker 1: a way that's that tracks for a much younger like
Speaker 1: a four year old, where she like cries and you
Speaker 1: know doesn't really know how to comprehend this because she
Speaker 1: had this idea, Oh, Mom's coming home and I'm going
Speaker 1: to get to see her, where Satsky has a clearer
Speaker 1: understanding of what must be going on, but she's still
Speaker 1: upset by it, and she ends up kind of like catastrophizing.
Speaker 1: She's like, well, what if Mom's already dead and and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna yell at my younger sister and call her
Speaker 1: baby and tell her to grow up. And it's just
Speaker 1: like again a very like appropriate reaction for whatever, like
Speaker 1: a nine or ten year old however however old Satsky
Speaker 1: is supposed to be. But like, I don't know, I
Speaker 1: just love that, like she was able to like still
Speaker 1: be a kid and like her her choices and actions
Speaker 1: and behaviors still attract for the kid that she is.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I just loved it. Yeah. I mean it's
Speaker 1: like in watching her finally reached that breaking point. And
Speaker 1: like the Another aspect of this movie that I really
Speaker 1: love is the like community aspect where it seems like
Speaker 1: class wise, I was like, oh, this is interesting. I
Speaker 1: should have done more research on the exact moment that
Speaker 1: this is depicting. UM, But you know, they're kind of
Speaker 1: like a I guess like middle class to some extent family.
Speaker 1: They've moving into a countryside sort of lower income area.
Speaker 1: The only way that attention is really called to it
Speaker 1: is that on um, like harvest days, some of the
Speaker 1: kids who go to the school have to work, so
Speaker 1: there's no school and Um Satsky doesn't do that. She's
Speaker 1: she's like new here and doesn't participate in that area
Speaker 1: of it. But that's how they end up meeting Granny,
Speaker 1: who immediately just like becomes this extension of their family
Speaker 1: in a way that's like and I really loved that
Speaker 1: when Satsky does reach her breaking point, that like it's
Speaker 1: Granny who's there for her and like hugs her and
Speaker 1: it's like, don't worry, I'll stay and it just what
Speaker 1: an angel. I loved Granny and I just love in
Speaker 1: general how their community is there to support the girls
Speaker 1: kind of like no questions asked, um. Where again it's
Speaker 1: like in in Western media, I feel like you would
Speaker 1: get more slammed doors, um, and that just doesn't happen. Oh,
Speaker 1: your sister's missing chasing a totoro. Yeah, alright, shut, that's
Speaker 1: what it is, Hi, I need help, fuck you kind
Speaker 1: of the dynamic we're conditioned to I need help fuck you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now it's like I need help. Let me strip down
Speaker 1: to my very traditional Japanese underwear and get the bamboo
Speaker 1: pulls out because we found the sandal by the pond. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so And I guess that's what's so interesting too,
Speaker 1: is like I grew up. It's it's interesting to have
Speaker 1: these dualities, like even in my mind, I grew up
Speaker 1: very much thinking like a like graized Japanese, where like
Speaker 1: neighbors look after you. You You you help each other. Like
Speaker 1: it's very community oriented. It's always about putting the the
Speaker 1: group before yourself first. Obviously too detrimental levels at times societally,
Speaker 1: but like on the other side, which Americans so much
Speaker 1: like you know, got to take care of yourself. You know,
Speaker 1: you gotta figure it out, you know, we figure stuff
Speaker 1: out here, yourself up by your bootstraps and yeah, and
Speaker 1: like not to say that there's no sense of community,
Speaker 1: but the way our stories are told, it's usually about
Speaker 1: an individual triumphing despite everything. That's not always like look
Speaker 1: at these people come together and think this is how
Speaker 1: life is for us, Like it's always like no, man,
Speaker 1: despite all the fuck use, they figured it out. And
Speaker 1: that just shows you how strong you gotta because everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna say fuck you, like on your way there. And
Speaker 1: in the US sometimes that's very true. Right, And then
Speaker 1: in this story it's about like a community rallying together
Speaker 1: and like everyone's looking for May and the third act
Speaker 1: of this movie and then you have Totoro is an
Speaker 1: extension of that community to the spiritual community like also
Speaker 1: shows up for them and this like no questions asked
Speaker 1: kind of way fucking mutual aid group. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean. It's like, let me hit up the neco
Speaker 1: bus fucking faction real quick. They're really good at finding
Speaker 1: lost people. Great group of activists. They'll be here and
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. We protect us, okay, Stsky, we
Speaker 1: protect us. That's how this works. And tot was part
Speaker 1: of the community because everyone respects there's no fear the
Speaker 1: spirits and the Totoro was in the capital, like everyone's
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, it's awesome that this house is haunted,
Speaker 1: and yes we have to go pay our respects to
Speaker 1: the spirits who look out for us. And there's even
Speaker 1: like a line to that's like, again, if you were
Speaker 1: this was like a Pixar film, right, if the little
Speaker 1: like there would have been a boy or a child
Speaker 1: who cried wolf moment, if someone got lost in the
Speaker 1: community got together and even bother to look they're like,
Speaker 1: it's not even her sandal, What the hell I could
Speaker 1: have blah blah blah, And there would have been a
Speaker 1: lot of grum Yeah exactly like the next time you
Speaker 1: needed help. That would have been a barrier to that
Speaker 1: character to have been like, well, I can't ask because
Speaker 1: the last time because there is in the Japanese version.
Speaker 1: There might be in the subtitled or dubbed version where
Speaker 1: they're saying like, it's okay, you know, that's just what
Speaker 1: we gotta do, like it could have been anybody, and
Speaker 1: like that was like the sentiment that the groups like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was some frustration, but at the end of it,
Speaker 1: they're like, no, it's all right, like whatever, like this
Speaker 1: is what we get, is what it is. There is
Speaker 1: that part where someone's like when it and out to
Speaker 1: not be maze sandal in the pond, Someone's like, it's okay,
Speaker 1: Granny just caught carried away again. It's like that made
Speaker 1: me sad. They're like that, They're like treating this older woman,
Speaker 1: this hysterical old woman, like that she's still missing, like
Speaker 1: what do you where what? They're like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: Like she was right to be concerned. All right, did
Speaker 1: you call cat bus? Okay? Then why are we You
Speaker 1: didn't call cat bus? That's the first call you make,
Speaker 1: your first call, you make a missing kid, You called
Speaker 1: cat bus fucking time. Oh my god. Alright, I love Granny.
Speaker 1: Granny fucking rules and I feel like Granny and Totto
Speaker 1: are like the two strongest allies of the girls in
Speaker 1: their neighborhood, but everyone's their ally and then like it.
Speaker 1: It is like such Anta Conta. I love that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's switch to Conta world, because I thought
Speaker 1: that that was yet another thing that in a you know,
Speaker 1: he has a crush on Stsky. It's really sweet, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't like it just kind of is like there
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be in a way that felt like
Speaker 1: really age appropriate for those characters that would be whatever,
Speaker 1: like fifth or sixth grade aged where it's like, I
Speaker 1: have a crush, I'm just gonna act weird and be
Speaker 1: helpful and like, and Satsky also clearly doesn't know what
Speaker 1: to do with it, and it's just like, Okay, it's
Speaker 1: going to be a very sweet friendship. Like I just
Speaker 1: I loved it. Yeah, I like to that. Like the
Speaker 1: male character in this Is in the beginning just reduced
Speaker 1: to grunting and groaning, like this motherucker didn't even have lines.
Speaker 1: He's like for Granny from mom, Like, okay, bro, it's
Speaker 1: just like the silent baker husband in kikiS Delivery Service.
Speaker 1: We're at the end, You're like, oh he can talk, wow,
Speaker 1: okay ye, like and great, I love that because he
Speaker 1: doesn't need to do much more than that, Like we
Speaker 1: get it just from his very efficient groaning and you know,
Speaker 1: one word, simple sentences. Yeah, and she's like, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, You're so good. That reminds me so much
Speaker 1: of like, yeah, my like best friend growing up, where
Speaker 1: we were just like had crushes at each other, but
Speaker 1: we were also just like never mind, and then we
Speaker 1: would just be like, oh, it's your litter, like shake
Speaker 1: hands or whatever. Yep, let's take another quick break and
Speaker 1: then we'll come back for more discussion and we are back. Um,
Speaker 1: shall we talk about another way that this movie kind
Speaker 1: of inverts Western tropes that that I am conditioned to expect,
Speaker 1: which is how the mom has treated in this movie.
Speaker 1: I thought, again, just like a very thoughtful and interesting
Speaker 1: way of having because we most movies that you know,
Speaker 1: if you grew up watching Disney Renaissance movies, you're used
Speaker 1: to a mother's absence, but in a way that is
Speaker 1: barely acknowledged, and it's almost like she was just like whoop,
Speaker 1: Like her absence is I don't know, like that's like
Speaker 1: the trophiest thing in the world. We've we've talked about
Speaker 1: it to death on this show. In this movie, you
Speaker 1: do have a mother who is mostly absent. They don't
Speaker 1: they do not kill her off, um, but she is sick.
Speaker 1: And but what you're bracing for I think as a
Speaker 1: Western story watchers like when's a mom gonna die? Because
Speaker 1: you know, that's how the characters become interesting or I
Speaker 1: was always like, I think ever since Bambi, I'm like,
Speaker 1: the mom's gonna die, Mom's gonna die. Being a mother
Speaker 1: is a huge liabilita in children's media. It's just like
Speaker 1: you can't you're you're fucked. But but in this I
Speaker 1: I love how it's handled where I think that like
Speaker 1: story wise, what their mom's absence brings out is the
Speaker 1: fact that their dad isn't quite ready to be a
Speaker 1: single parent, doesn't really know what he's doing, but it's
Speaker 1: like trying his best in a way that like subverts
Speaker 1: I think usually in the Western trump you see the
Speaker 1: dad doubled down on having to be a single parent
Speaker 1: by being really mean and really aggressive and very like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna destroy your grotto full of forks or whatever
Speaker 1: the fuck. Um. And this not only is the mom alive,
Speaker 1: but her relationship to her children is like I thought,
Speaker 1: really well developed and like I really loved her, and
Speaker 1: then at the end they're like she's gonna get better,
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, she gets to live lives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's weird that that fields like such. Ah, not even
Speaker 1: necessarily like a deliberate subversion of because like you know,
Speaker 1: like Miyazaki is Japanese, He's telling stories from his Eastern perspective.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's like looking at American media and
Speaker 1: like I have to consciously subvert this. He's just like
Speaker 1: telling stories from his culture and point of view. It's
Speaker 1: just better storytelling, right, Yeah, but it just like feels
Speaker 1: from a Western point of view, like, Wow, you can
Speaker 1: have stories without all this contrived conflict and it still
Speaker 1: works as a compelling narrative. And that's what watching all
Speaker 1: these Miyazaki movies, that's like been my experience covering them
Speaker 1: and watching them. It's just like, oh, you can have
Speaker 1: a compelling slice of life story about girls and their
Speaker 1: relatable struggles and their adventures that also often incorporates elements
Speaker 1: of fantasy, much of which is rooted in East Asian
Speaker 1: and Jack needs mythology, Like there's a lot of Shinto
Speaker 1: symbology in my neighbor Totoro, which I don't know an
Speaker 1: awful lot about, but based on some research I was doing,
Speaker 1: you know, that's a big part of Totoro, and you
Speaker 1: know the narrative that plays out. Uh. But yeah, like
Speaker 1: we've talked about on other Miyazaki movie episodes we've done recently,
Speaker 1: it's just so refreshing to watch these stories that are
Speaker 1: both culturally specific and universally relatable because they are about
Speaker 1: girls experiencing life and they're learning and growing and making
Speaker 1: mistakes and discovering their strengths and navigating the world around
Speaker 1: them and forming bonds and making friends and having sisters
Speaker 1: and having families and all the stuff that everybody experiences.
Speaker 1: And I like that you get a little moment of
Speaker 1: the parents talking to each other too, just felt like
Speaker 1: a rare, nice look into their relationship, and um, their
Speaker 1: daughters are watching their parents like love each other and
Speaker 1: watching their I mean, I just feel like for children
Speaker 1: of divorce, you're like, well, great for the sure, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that totally happens all the time at my house too.
Speaker 1: But it was just so sweet to like have that
Speaker 1: moment of their kids see that mom is doing better
Speaker 1: and that they're getting along and it's just like it's
Speaker 1: such a gentle conclusion to the movie. I really loved it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think it's like, you know, the for when
Speaker 1: like Miyazaki grew up like he's he was born like
Speaker 1: in so like you know, in a way, this kind
Speaker 1: of reflects his own childhood, I'm sure, because they talk
Speaker 1: about how his own mom like really informed a lot
Speaker 1: of the characters because his mom had like long term
Speaker 1: illness and was in the hospital and then came home.
Speaker 1: So like I think there there's like some biographic goal
Speaker 1: sort of energy to that portrayal. But yeah, there there's
Speaker 1: I think and that I think just in like growing up.
Speaker 1: You know, my mom was born in seven. Like growing
Speaker 1: up like right after World War two in Japan was
Speaker 1: like you know, it's like it was on an upward
Speaker 1: trajectory because you're basically rebuilding the country after the war.
Speaker 1: But I think on some level you wanted like nice
Speaker 1: stories or there's something about you know, this yearning media, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like for a pleasant ending two things, especially through a
Speaker 1: child's lens when you're probably looking a lot of adults
Speaker 1: who have a ton of you know, been through a
Speaker 1: ton of ship just from everything that's happened like in
Speaker 1: the country. But yeah, like I think all of those
Speaker 1: they're so realistic, even though like for me, like you know,
Speaker 1: my parents marriage wasn't the most pleasant thing, but like
Speaker 1: you kind of see those moments you're like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's that does feel real, even though I may not
Speaker 1: have seen it, but that feels like real and is nice.
Speaker 1: Other people have experienced that, I'm sure, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: many other people. I'm like that, Wow, fantastic giving me
Speaker 1: the imagination for something, well do you give them? Um?
Speaker 1: Does anyone have any other thoughts about the movie? Uh? No,
Speaker 1: I just I just think that this is like a
Speaker 1: really beautiful, thoughtful, sweet movie that I don't know, like
Speaker 1: just everything that is great about this movie is I
Speaker 1: feel like it has everything to do with it being
Speaker 1: so effortless and like just letting What I've loved about
Speaker 1: this chunk of Miyazaki movies that we've covered is that
Speaker 1: they're all sort of centered around letting kids be curious
Speaker 1: and like taking their curiosity about the world around them seriously,
Speaker 1: even though it's like sometimes you know, if you watch
Speaker 1: it back as an adult, you're like, oh, I can
Speaker 1: see how you know, Like this is like could be
Speaker 1: a metaphorical projection of A B and C. But you
Speaker 1: all also can watch it as a child or an
Speaker 1: adult and be like, this is all real, Like it
Speaker 1: just is so cool. I love that he just like
Speaker 1: and and that he I guess that um, I was
Speaker 1: reading a little bit about his writing process and that
Speaker 1: may was like pulled from his own nieces sort of
Speaker 1: attitude about the world, and just like that. I just
Speaker 1: think it's it's great and it's even better to see
Speaker 1: young girls curiosity centered in a movie, because that doesn't
Speaker 1: happen a lot without it coming with like a really
Speaker 1: tact on love story, or like their curiosity starts as curiosity,
Speaker 1: but then it somehow ends in the suddenly suddenly she's
Speaker 1: living with a beast in a castle, even though she
Speaker 1: wanted to explore. Boy needs save Boy needs save, right, right,
Speaker 1: And that's like the only place that a woman's curiosity
Speaker 1: can leave at lead as fixing him, or it leads
Speaker 1: you to a place that now requires boy need to
Speaker 1: save you like what you did getting all curious and
Speaker 1: ship right right? Yeah, I feel this like aame way,
Speaker 1: you know, it's as a child, it captured me because
Speaker 1: it presented no obstacles to me narratively, like in terms
Speaker 1: of being like man and you who knows, man, one
Speaker 1: day you might fucking find a total just this thing
Speaker 1: didn't reflect back to me that it's dangerous or not
Speaker 1: going to happen, or adults are going to treat me
Speaker 1: with contempt for wanting something to happen that might not
Speaker 1: be real. And then even as an adult watching it again,
Speaker 1: I was like even more touched because I really then
Speaker 1: because I saw all of the real nuance that you
Speaker 1: miss as a kid. Like as a kid, I was
Speaker 1: just taking it and it's like this is like a
Speaker 1: really fun, frictionless like journey that just feels good and
Speaker 1: I can feel all kinds of great emotions. And then
Speaker 1: as an adult, I'm like, this is so like this
Speaker 1: is just so good to watch, you know, like it's
Speaker 1: it's so you're you know, if we like conflict is negative,
Speaker 1: this is like just taking in so much like positive energy,
Speaker 1: even with like the you know, the like the dramatic
Speaker 1: elements of it, but it just feels i don't know,
Speaker 1: nourishing in this very strange way that I didn't find
Speaker 1: watching it, like you know as a kid. Right, it does, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does sort of make you think like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: there is Like when you see a truly beautiful piece
Speaker 1: of kids media, you're like, damn, I spent all that
Speaker 1: time watching movies about terribly c g I talking dogs
Speaker 1: with be like, hey what I can I mean? Also
Speaker 1: an incredible genre, but it doesn't hold a candle. Who's
Speaker 1: talking now to the beauty of a movie? Like that's true. Um.
Speaker 1: The last thing I want to say is cat Bus
Speaker 1: facts with Caitlin. How many nipples are we talking? Well,
Speaker 1: there's some math involved, Okay, okay, based on those arms. Right,
Speaker 1: So if cat Bus has twelve legs, which is three
Speaker 1: times the number of legs as a regular cat, and
Speaker 1: if a regular cat has eight nipples, if you multiply
Speaker 1: that by three, cat bus has twenty four nipples. Everything
Speaker 1: about that, And that's cat Bus facts with Caitlin. Thank
Speaker 1: you for indulging me. Um does this movie pass the
Speaker 1: Bechtel test? Oh? Hell yeah? Oh yeah, hell yeah. With
Speaker 1: growny boy with the barely speaking boy, I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that Miyazaki goes the extra mile and actively
Speaker 1: removes the voice of at least one male character. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna have a hard time contact just doing
Speaker 1: the basics and this is real. Man can't even give
Speaker 1: an umbrella. Oh you're so sweet. Yeah, yeah, you've got
Speaker 1: May and Stotzky talked to each other about a bunch
Speaker 1: of stuff. May and her mom, Stotzky and her mom.
Speaker 1: Satsky and May talked to granny individually, the teacher. I
Speaker 1: believe that there's an example. Satzky talks to her new
Speaker 1: friend from school. Oh, yes, you love that. They the
Speaker 1: movie goes out of the way to give her friend.
Speaker 1: We don't really learn anything about the friend aside from
Speaker 1: her name. Yeah, but you're just like man Stotski, she
Speaker 1: can do it all. Yeah. Even then they like it
Speaker 1: wasn't the dad even like what you made a fucking friend.
Speaker 1: She's like, yeah, I gotta go. I'm out. Yeah, I'm Stotzky.
Speaker 1: I'm awesome. Yeah, you be jopping my hairstyle for years
Speaker 1: to come. But yeah, lots lots of combinations of characters
Speaker 1: that passed the Beckel test, and the movie is like
Speaker 1: almost constantly passing, especially because I would argue that even
Speaker 1: though Toto and friends are I think referred to with
Speaker 1: like he him pronounced, they gendered Totoro as male, and
Speaker 1: Toto's voice by a male voice actor, a male Scooby
Speaker 1: and male Scooby do. I would argue that Toto's are genderless.
Speaker 1: I think so they're sentient pillows exactly with great breath. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't need to gender a mutual aid pillow. That's
Speaker 1: a genderless entity. Total is the concept of mutual aid
Speaker 1: as a sentient pillow, like that's planting community gardens. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is first fucking legend. And then the point being
Speaker 1: when Satsky and May talk about Totoro, they're talking about
Speaker 1: a genderless icon. So I think I think it absolutely
Speaker 1: passes the bastile test to talk about absolutely And then
Speaker 1: that brings us to our nipple scale zero to five
Speaker 1: nipples based on how the movie fares when examining it
Speaker 1: through an intersectional feminist lens, I think this is five nipples.
Speaker 1: I cannot think of a reason why it deserves any less.
Speaker 1: I think it's a five nipple movie. I love that.
Speaker 1: And this is a common thread of all the Musaki
Speaker 1: movies we've heard so far, that it centers girls in
Speaker 1: a way that like just presents them as being very
Speaker 1: authentic and just exploring their lives and choices and and
Speaker 1: behaviors and actions in a way that tracks so much
Speaker 1: better than basically every other story I've ever seen that
Speaker 1: focuses on girls, which, as we've discussed, is like kind
Speaker 1: of surprising considering these movies are made by a man.
Speaker 1: But when you know someone like Miyazaki just has a
Speaker 1: vested interest in it actually like authentically representing girlhood on screen,
Speaker 1: like it can happen. It works, he sits, he pulls
Speaker 1: it off. I love the characters. I love the relationship
Speaker 1: between the sisters. It's five nipples. I want to give
Speaker 1: one to Satsky, one to May, one to Granny, one
Speaker 1: to the cluster of totoros, and one two their mom.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm gonna go five as well. I
Speaker 1: totally agree. I think this movie is so like beautifully done,
Speaker 1: and I love how it brings in spirituality in a
Speaker 1: way that is like very again just like matter of fact,
Speaker 1: The way that um Miyazaki is able to bring in
Speaker 1: like fantastic and grounded elements is just like a fact
Speaker 1: of the world is like so it seems so effortless,
Speaker 1: but like having seen other movies, like it's really hard
Speaker 1: to do. It's so beautiful. Um the only thing that
Speaker 1: I would say, so, I'm completely on board with everything
Speaker 1: you're saying, Kaitlin. The only thing that really pings for
Speaker 1: me is more just like behind the scenes stuff of
Speaker 1: like this is a beautifully told story about childhood and
Speaker 1: at about and I guess about girlhood specifically. Um, so
Speaker 1: you would hope to see more women in prominent roles
Speaker 1: behind the scenes in a movie like this, true, which uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we always try to be mindful of as well. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: in this case, it does appear that all the at
Speaker 1: least the top titles. Unless I'm missing something listeners, let
Speaker 1: me know. I would love to be wrong, but it
Speaker 1: seems like it is mostly men, which is a systemic issue.
Speaker 1: But also you would think Mizak you would have some
Speaker 1: say in uh, his crew, So there is that, But
Speaker 1: in terms of like story wise and presentation, I just
Speaker 1: think it's like fucking incredible across the board. So five nipples,
Speaker 1: and I've giving them all to cap bus Hell. Yeah yeah, Miles,
Speaker 1: what about you? I mean, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can give five just because we arrived at such a
Speaker 1: great number, which is twenty four nipples, and I think
Speaker 1: this deserves twenty four nipples for all of the reasons
Speaker 1: that were stated, plus the criticisms, which are very valid overall,
Speaker 1: I think the other thing too, which is really I
Speaker 1: really don't didn't even really think about, is I never
Speaker 1: thought of this as being about like a gendered story,
Speaker 1: that this is like it's about two girls, you know,
Speaker 1: like and I was never as a partially like in
Speaker 1: real time being he brained boy in the eighties and
Speaker 1: nineties could still look at this and be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like it had nothing to do like because it wasn't present,
Speaker 1: you know why, Because I think it wasn't hitting any
Speaker 1: of these like weird notes in my brain which is
Speaker 1: spen to go this is supposed to happen, this trope
Speaker 1: is present. That means this, The story means this, And
Speaker 1: it allowed me to really engage with something that was
Speaker 1: just about being curious and innocent and a child. That
Speaker 1: plus just all the nostalgia for me, you know, I
Speaker 1: just uh, yeah, it's fantastic. Um, So I'm gonna split
Speaker 1: the twelve nipples twelve to the concept of mutual aid
Speaker 1: in the form of to total and then twelve to
Speaker 1: nickel bus Well. Yes, so you're giving the movie twenty
Speaker 1: four nipples. Okay, I see what's happening. Yes, yes, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying if we can take the five and multiply
Speaker 1: them by five, what I'm trying to divvy it up
Speaker 1: so it would at the conversion rate of nipples, this
Speaker 1: would be a five nipple film. I'm just using a
Speaker 1: different I'm using a crypto or nipto currency, not nipto.
Speaker 1: Nipto currency is tanking right now. You've got to be careful.
Speaker 1: Oh not no, not mine, Jamie. I told you should
Speaker 1: have got in, should have got in early when I
Speaker 1: told you I gave my totoro slurp juice. And now
Speaker 1: there's there's eight hundred of them. Oh yeah, no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't funk with the slurp juice straight up Nipto
Speaker 1: all nippta. Well, here's what happens. If you give the
Speaker 1: smallest toto a slurp juice, you get two more, including
Speaker 1: the scooby. So okay, well, okay, I'll think about we'll
Speaker 1: offline about it. Well, look, it's an investment, think about it.
Speaker 1: Nipto coin. Yeah, I mean, look, dude, I mean, if
Speaker 1: you want to come to the moon with me, let
Speaker 1: me know, because I got I got room on the
Speaker 1: spaceship I got room, no pressure, but you're probably gonna on.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be greedy about it any unlimited
Speaker 1: slurp juices. Miles, Thanks for coming back, Thank you for
Speaker 1: having me. It's always again a pleasure and honor to
Speaker 1: talk to the Bothy All about film because I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know as much, but you ask me on
Speaker 1: the ones I can speak relatively well about, so I
Speaker 1: appreciate that. Miles, you absolutely crushed. I mean you've covered
Speaker 1: three very different genres here. You've done an action movie,
Speaker 1: a holiday movie, and a children's movie. Yeah. All Up
Speaker 1: by Alley was like the Rock. I'm like, yep, pretty much.
Speaker 1: You're like his wife of course? Of course, was that
Speaker 1: the movie that inspired you to get married yourself? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: When I saw how much purpose it gave him to
Speaker 1: stand over a gravestone that said his wife, I was like,
Speaker 1: that's want that that's missing in my life. I want
Speaker 1: what they have. Yeah, that's why I'm not committing active
Speaker 1: domestic chemical terrorism. Oh God, that movie good. Anyways, Where
Speaker 1: can we find you on online? Miles? And where can
Speaker 1: we listen to? You? Find me? At Miles of Gray,
Speaker 1: At Miles of Gray, wherever there's at symbols also Daily
Speaker 1: Zeitgeist every Day and if you like trash reality shows,
Speaker 1: check out Force with Sophie, Alexandra and I Hell Yes Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then you can check out us on Twitter and
Speaker 1: Instagram at Bechtel Cast. You can check out our Matreon
Speaker 1: at patreon dot com slash becktel Cast, where you get
Speaker 1: too bonus episodes every single month, plus access to the
Speaker 1: whole back catalog of over one bonuses. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a darn delight, if I do say so myself. You
Speaker 1: can also check out our merch at dot com slash
Speaker 1: d Bechtel Cast, and you can follow us online wherever
Speaker 1: wherever you find us. I don't think there's anyone impersonating us.
Speaker 1: We're kinda we're not We're not on that level. So
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. Yeah, don't don't sweat it with
Speaker 1: I gotta get on this cap us because I gotta
Speaker 1: go save my sister