Hayao Miyazaki

Notes

"Renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki states that he’s not the biggest fan of Lord of the Rings and other Hollywood franchises for a reason his many fans all over the world will be surprised to hear at first. However, you’ll most likely come to understand why this Academy Award-winning filmmaker feels this way.

Farout Magazine reports Miyazaki, at the time, reflected on the destructive messages he often found in Hollywood films. According to him, these films tend to push a narrative that believes wrongdoing can only be punished through bloodshed, and that the slaying of countless lives of innocent individuals is permissible so long as it brings retribution to evildoers.

“Americans shoot things and they blow up and the like, so as you’d expect, they make movies like that,” Miyazaki expressed at the time. “If someone is the enemy, it’s okay to kill endless numbers of them. Lord of the Rings is like that.”

Continuing on, Miyazaki stated, “The Lord of the Rings is a movie that has no problem doing that [not separating civilians from enemies, apparently]. If you read the original work, you’ll understand, but in reality, the ones who were being killed are Asians and Africans. Those who don’t know that, yet say they love fantasy are idiots.”