brb, making studio ghibli my entire personality.

There’s never been a better time to dive into the Hayao Miyazaki cinematic universe.

I don’t need a Studio Ghibli AI version of myself since this image from Spirited Away already exists. (Photos courtesy Studio Ghibli)

I’m no fan of AI—at least when it comes to the creative fields. I had a friend point out to me once that AI cannot create anything truly new or original. By definition, it organizes, regurgitates, and remixes what already exists in ways that are sometimes helpful, other times entertaining, but rarely earth-shattering. It’s hard for me not to see the societal embrace of AI as part of a broader race to the bottom: more output from fewer workers at a lower quality to result in higher profits for an ever-smaller group of people at the top of the chain—plus fewer jobs for the rest of us. Perhaps there’s no better emblem of late-stage capitalism than the very idea of “AI art.”

Still, AI art continues to worm its way into our social media feeds, and the latest example of this is the new trend of using ChatGPT’s image generation tool to create Studio Ghibli-style reworks of your own photos. The trend has become so popular that it resulted in a record high number of users on ChatGPT—so many users, in fact, that the app dealt with a number of outages due to the high traffic.

While I don’t feel compelled to hop on ChatGPT and Ghibli-fy myself, the trend did serve as a potent reminder of one of my biggest pop culture blind spots: I’d never seen a Studio Ghibli film before. To remedy this, I have been mainlining some of the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki’s most iconic works in recent weeks.

The results of my little experiment lead off qtb what’s good #3, the latest edition of my monthly rundown of the TV shows and movies I’ve been enjoying (or not) lately. Read on for my takes on pop culture new and old, and though everyone can enjoy this introduction and a bit of the rest, the whole thing is available exclusively to paid subscribers. If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to smash that subscribe/upgrade button.

Movies

Spirited Away (Max)

Princess Mononoke (Max)

Ponyo (Max)

My Neighbor Totoro (Max)

Kiki’s Delivery Service (Max)

How gay is it (scale of 1-10)? 9

Worth your time (scale of 1-10)? 10

My Ghibli journey started on a recent weekend afternoon with Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and has continued with four more films since. I think of the five, Kiki remains my favorite. There’s just so much here that is extremely my shit that I’m still wrapping my head around how it took me so long to come to it.

The movie centers on a young witch named Kiki (voiced by Kirsten Dunst in the 1998 English-dubbed release) who moves to a new town with her black cat and starts a courier service in partnership with a small local bakery. At one point late in the movie, Kiki is burnt out and it is the words of an artist friend named Ursula (voiced by Janeane Garofalo) that get Kiki back into her magical path: “Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you’ll be flying again.”

From there, my husband and I have enjoyed the iconic Totoro, the playful and wild Ponyo, the extremely over-the-top Spirited Away, and even caught a screening of Princess Mononoke at our local movie theater this past weekend. Experiencing the epic quality of Mononoke’s music, scenery, and design on a large screen was truly special.

Across all the movies, I’ve enjoyed how these stories combine the domesticity of family life and friendship with a fantasy world of warlocks, ghosts, and endless other magical creatures. I love the bright, unrestrained visuals of these alternative timelines. And, of course, I can’t help but enjoy how incredibly queer and gender ambiguous most of these movies are. I mean, come on: Witches, black cats, artist friends, a pair of old women living together in the middle of the woods? Kiki’s Delivery Service sounds like it could have taken place at Lilith Fair.

Ponyo is probably the most blatant in its pro-queer messaging. The Little Mermaid-esque movie centers on a goldfish who wants to be a human girl. She embraces a new name, despite her father’s disagreement, and transitions into life as a human girl while finding acceptance with her chosen family. Whether or not the movie was intended to be this trans-affirming is beyond the point. In this political environment, we have to grab our wins wherever we can find them.

The fact that this collection of open-hearted, eco-conscious, queer-affirming, kid-friendly movies both exists and has been so warmly embraced by generations of weirdos brings me so much joy. These movies open your eyes to an alternative timeline where otherness is not feared, but celebrated; where kindness and empathy are revered, not mocked. The fact that all of these Miyazaki masterpieces are easily accessible on Max, too, is a treat. It’s truly about time I’m on the bandwagon—just a few decades late.