"The Tales of Princess Kaguya" is a animated movie created by studio Ghibli and of course directed by one of the most well known director in Japanese and probably any animation history. the movie was animated completely by hand with no computer graphics to back it up and thus having this traditional Japanese brush art style. From the cover, it may seem like any ordinary animation however you cannot judge a book by it's cover. This modern day rendition of the Japanese folktale of "The tale of The Bamboo Cutter" is considered to be a visual masterpiece among critics. Also it's deep and breathtaking narrative is as equally astounding.
Summary:
One day a bamboo cutter found a glowing bamboo stalk with a baby within it. He took this as a sign from heaven to raise it. He took the baby back to his home and raised it with his wife. This baby grew at an accelerated rate and was fully grown within one year. During the time the bamboo cutter raised the infant, he encountered multiple fortunes within multiple glowing bamboo stalks and thus took it as a sign from the heavens that the baby was meant for nobility. With all the fortune received, he went to the capital to build a mansion for the child he raised and for his family. Once the child reached the capital, her training as a princess started and along the process a minister named her princess "Kaguya" or radiant night. After her coming of age ceremony she was visited by 5 princes for her hand in marriage. She sent them all to undertake impossible tasks and rejected them. When the emperor came to ask her to become a concubine she also refused. Discontent with her situation she goes back to where she originally came from, the moon.
Explanation:
As said from the cover and even the summary, it may seem bland and that like a folklore and it is. It is based off a folklore however studio Ghibli has added some extra scenes within the movie to convey a deep and emotional message to the audience. Why did I choose to talk about this movie you ask? Well ... it is about how I took this message and related it to my own life.
Princess Kaguya didn't simply just upped and left Earth to go to the moon but she contemplated about her feelings, her emotions. The movie shows that at the current moment she is discontent with the current affair and thus tries to look to her past but unfortunately her happy past just felt like a knife is being pushed further into her heart and looking to the future only makes her feel more grim. She tries to make most of the present at all times and thus remains happy with the current flow of emotion passing through her. I can compare it to real life. The more you look to the past the more you realize what you have been doing wrong and that it is too late. The more you look to the future the more you worry what is going to happen to you and your surrounding. the key is to look to the present and make the most of what you can do at the current moment.
Another message show in the movie is to not allow others dissuade you on how you feel. In the movie princess Kaguya's adoptive father tried to do as much as he can to try and satisfy her in any way possible that HE can think. Problem is the more he tried the worse her misery gets. If she had just followed her own feelings she would have led the life she wanted to have. A sad ballad as it is, the depiction is also quite frank. The consequences are obvious and there are no back doors to it because of missed opportunities.
Conclusion:
I guess what I was really trying to say the whole time is really the depiction of the film is quite frank and hits you hard on your sensitive side. At the very least it did to me. What may seem like a reward to someone else may be a consequence to you. Try to focus on living and leading a life you want. Happiness is not something that can be eventually acquired as it has always been with us. Happiness in its purest form is the feeling of joy that you are feeling at the current moment. Life is never as it seems so whatever makes you happy right now is the happiness that everyone is looking for and you should feel lucky that it occurs. Us humans are shaped by what we have done and will later be morphed by what we will do so make the most of the present and lead a happy life.
Phew ... now that I have that of my chest I guess I should end this post and pls don't judge me ;)
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