Episode 4 - My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988).

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988).

The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation.

In episode four, Chris and Alex discuss the work of Studio Ghibli and their feature-film My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988). Released as part of a double-bill with Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988), My Neighbor Totoro is a colourful animated fantasy that takes place in rural Japan inhabited by mysterious dustbunnies and the eponymous Totoro creature (who has since become Ghibli’s own official mascot).

Suggested Readings

  • Kirkland, Ewan. 2017. Children's Media and Modernity Film, Television and Digital Games. Oxford: Peter Lang.

  • Lacan, Jacques. 1978. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

  • Napier, Susan. 2005. “The Problem of Existence in Japanese Animation.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149, no. 1, 72–79.

  • Todorov, Tzvetan. 1973. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, trans. by Richard Howard. Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantFANTASY, ANIMATION, ANIME, JAPANComment