The symbolism of flight in Hayao Miyazaki's films

The many animated films by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki frequently feature characters embarking on flights or journeys through the sky. However, these moments of taking to the skies often represent more than just literal flight. There are commonly deeper meanings and symbolism when the characters soar above in Miyazaki's masterful works. Whether it's discovering one's capabilities, gaining a new perspective, or finding freedom and escape, the act of flight most importantly conveys important life lessons and insights into the human experience.

Few directors have achieved the same sublime blend of imagination, artistry, and storytelling mastery as Hayao Miyazaki. Through his modern fairytales, Miyazaki shows that seeing the world from a higher perspective is not a flaw but a gift - in ways beyond the physical. Since his breakthrough film "My Neighbor Totoro" in 1988 through his Oscar-winning "Spirited Away" in 2001, the sky is Miyazaki's canvas. For his characters, flight signifies more than altitude; it embodies transcendence. Those who take wing traverse the tangible and intangible. They pass between realms, dimensions of experience, and planes of existence.

In Miyazaki's latest film, "The Boy and the Heron," flight serves an even more profound purpose: as a portal between this life and the next. Through the animator's inimitable style, soaring above provides a pathway to explore expansive themes of discovery, growth, and transformation - both for individuals on screen and audiences off. Under Miyazaki's guiding hand, each new journey skyward unveils fresh insights into the human condition.

Coming of age through flight

Miyazaki frequently features young protagonists who must face the complexities of reality not always as idealistic as childhood imaginations. For these characters, epiphanies of maturity tend to occur at the climaxes of their epic, and sometimes risky, journeys. Significantly, the awakenings often arise while in flight - suspended literally and figuratively between youth and adulthood. Whether escaping from threats below or simply soaring in contemplation, the experience of taking to the skies seems to catalyze recognizing life's deeper truths. Under Miyazaki's masterful storytelling, flights serve as pivotal moments when the innocence of being a child first lifts, allowing glimpses of the responsibilities and insights that accompany growing up.

Journeys to something spiritual

One of Miyazaki's remarkable achievements is how gracefully his films convey his politics without resorting to preaching or propagandizing. A renowned environmentalist and pacifist, Miyazaki frequently centers protagonists embroiled in tensions between the natural world and encroaching civilization. Beyond the fantastical battles between deities, beasts, spirits, and humankind, there often lies the promise of an ideal place that the heroes must reach by taking wing. With subtlety and nuance, Miyazaki's stories advocate for preserving nature's balance and humanity's higher virtues. Through thrilling flights of imagination, his animated works transport viewers to realms embodying hopes for harmonious coexistence, justice, and peace - ideals as relevant for children as for adults.

Escaping war and conflict

In their flights towards paradise, both Nausicaä and Sheeta find themselves amidst aerial combat, bravely facing down direct threats without wavering in their journeys. They are not alone in this; Miyazaki's films frequently feature conflict and warfare attempting to sabotage characters' literal and symbolic flights of imagination. Whether dogfights amongst the skies or ideologies clashing on the ground, Miyazaki inserts obstacles that his protagonists must overcome through perseverance and nonviolence to reach destinations embodying hope, liberation, and harmony. Through edge-of-your-seat sequences, he illuminates humanity's ceaseless struggle between our capacity for both war and peace, degrading what is natural or uplifting society. In the end, courage and compassion tend to ensure his heroes safely find the futures they envision.