On Cartoon Brew's recent Miyazaki-themed posts, I've read a surprising number of commenters cast doubt on the friendship between Miyazaki and John Lasseter. I don't know how many people believe this (the internet is notorious for exaggerating crank ideas), but I'm reading occasional opinions like this:
"I still don’t understand why Lasseter and Miyazaki get along. Miyazaki’s position seems particularly cynical."
Am I missing something here? Why is there such skepticism about the friendship between John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki? Where exactly is this coming from? When they first met around 1980, Miyazaki was in the States working on the Nemo movie project (before withdrawing), and he was at the low point in his career. Castle of Cagliostro, his first directoral film, was a box office failure. Sherlock Hound (Meitantai Holmes) was scuttled by Telecom after six episodes were created but never aired. His great television series, Future Boy Conan, had finished its run in 1978. In fact, Miyazaki’s great triumph was Heidi in 1974 and 3000 Leauges in Search of Mother in 1976.
Clearly, in 1980 there was no master plan to take over the film world. Miyazaki would be absent from anime entirely for the next four years, before his film version of Nausicaa signalled his triumphant comeback.
John Lasseter, likewise, would see the darkest days of his career. He would lose his job as a Disney animator, then find work with George Lucas’ obscure computer graphics company. Said company was bought by Steve Jobs, and nobody at the time could have dreamed that Pixar would become the Great American Movie Studio.
The idea that Lasseter and Miyazaki’s friendship is cynical business politics is absurd. It’s beyond absurd. What is it with Americans and stupid conspiracy theories, anyway? Are we going to ask John Lasseter for his birth certificate next?
3 comments:
I think its funny, well no absurd, that of all the things that people choose to comment on its whether or not Miyazaki and Lasseter are friends. Who really cares? They seem to have a pretty good working relationship and this equates to a better chance to get future studio Ghibli stuff into my hands. If they have beers together or not, it doesn't make one ounce of difference to me.
I love that line about the birth certificate. HAHAHAHA
I have no doubt Miyazaki and Lasseter are friends and great admirers of one another's works though I do think Lasseter tends to be more face PR gushy about it. Obviously both studios have their own different philosophies on how to make movies.
How do George Lucas and Steven Spielberg get along? Or Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino? Or C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien? Or any two artists, for that matter?
These people all have it where it counts most: they care about each other as human beings, and they especially care about the progression of their respective art form. Their views on how to achieve great filmmaking may differ, but they're united in their singular goal: make better films.
I think most people only see the friendship on that superficial level of differences. In their differences, they sort of balance each other out. Miyazaki's Yin to Lasseter's Yang.
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