Ponyo: Imagining A Better World

Mrs. Brisby and Aunt Shrew face off against a tractor before our hero must cross the threshold and meet with The Great Owl.

Mrs. Brisby meets Jeremy, the crow, who are both met by Dragon, the cat. We dive into Don Bluth's uses of color for mood and running theme that children should be taken more seriously. 

We begin our conversation on one of our favorite movies from childhood, Don Bluth's animated classic, The Secret of Nimh.

We love Doctor Tot! Gargan Roo creeps us out. We evolve our feelings on Zorn & Thorn. We get thrown in jail. And we get to Cleyra which opens up all kinds of interesting political parallels to the real world.

We wrap up our series on the Studio Ghibli film, Ponyo, with an examination of the power of a child's imagination. The ending reminds us that there are all different kinds of love, and the music gives us a tiny bit of tonal whiplash. What are the best lessons we can learn from Sosuke and Ponyo?

Lisa makes the highly controversial decision to leave her young kids alone. And they end up in peril. I relate this part of the story to the first time I lost track of my own child and the fear that entailed. Plus, do the hard magic rules introduced by Ponyo's mom undercut the magical realism the story has been building?

On this episode Ponyo becomes human and we dive into a concept popularized by Mr. Rogers and Ms. Rachel, "there's no such thing as other people's kids."

On this episode we dive into more metaphors from Ponyo from Studio Ghibli. How one key scene reminds us that parents aren't here to control their kids. How growing up, self-discovery, even coming out as LGBTQ requires bravery from the child and understanding from the parent. #studioghibli

On this episode we continue the story of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, continuing to evaluate the magical realism of the world, environmental themes, and accurate portrayals of parenting. Plus, what are the appropriate parameters for telling what is essentially a love story between two children?

As we dive into the story of Ponyo (on the Cliff by the Sea) we wonder about its unique use of magical realism. Plenty of our favorite fantasy stories are "weird" in many ways but Ponyo feels like the rules of its entire world work like the rules that kids make up when they play.