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Piper Renee 4 Why Studio Ghibli Trains Feel Like Home · Piper Renee

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello there, my friends, and welcome to the very first
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: episode of Piper Renee. My name is Piper Renee Dixon,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and I am so genuinely happy that you are here
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  Speaker 1: hanging out with me at my drawing table today. Before
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: we jump into today's story, I want to ask you
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  Speaker 1: for a tiny bit of moral support as we get
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: this show off the ground. If our chat today brings
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a smile to your face or makes your drive a
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: little cozier, please take five seconds to tap that follow button,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: leave a kind five-star rating or review, and share this
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: episode with a friend who loves animation and good stories.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Independent podcasts like this one grow entirely because kind people
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: like you pass them along. And remember that whenever you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: want more company. You can always scroll through our podcast
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: feed to check out all the other episodes we have
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: waiting for you. Right now, I am sitting at my
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  Speaker 1: wooden drafting desk with a cup of hot green tea.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: looking out the window at the afternoon clouds drifting across
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  Speaker 1: the sky. And those big, puffy summer clouds always make
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  Speaker 1: me think of one thing, the worlds of Heiyo Miyazaki
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  Speaker 1: and Studio Ghibli. Have you ever wondered why watching a
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  Speaker 1: Studio Ghibli movie feels less like watching a cartoon and
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  Speaker 1: more like stepping into a warm memory from your own childhood,
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  Speaker 1: even if you never grew up in Japan? Think about
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  Speaker 1: movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, or Kiki's Delivery Service.
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  Speaker 1: In most big Hollywood animated movies, everything is moving at
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  Speaker 1: 100 miles an hour. There is a joke every 10 seconds.
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  Speaker 1: Something is always exploding, the camera is spinning around, and
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  Speaker 1: the characters never stop talking for a single breath because
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  Speaker 1: the studio executives are terrified that if the screen gets
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  Speaker 1: quiet for three seconds, the audience will get bored and
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  Speaker 1: walk away. And then you watch Spirited Away. Think about
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the famous train scene near the middle of that film.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Young Chihiro boards a quiet, vintage red train that runs
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  Speaker 1: along submerged tracks across a vast, shallow ocean of water
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  Speaker 1: after a rainstorm. Alongside her sits No-Face, a tiny bird,
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  Speaker 1: and shadowy passengers who step on and off at lonely
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  Speaker 1: island stations as the sun goes down. For more than
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  Speaker 1: two full minutes of screen time, nobody says a single word.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing explodes. Nobody tells a joke. There is only gentle
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  Speaker 1: piano music, the soft reflection of pink evening clouds on
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  Speaker 1: the water, and the quiet rhythm of the train gliding
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  Speaker 1: along the tracks while Chihiro looks out the window. The
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  Speaker 1: first time I watched that scene when I was 12
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  Speaker 1: years old, sitting on my bedroom carpet, I didn't know
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  Speaker 1: why it made my chest feel so full. Years later,
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  Speaker 1: when I was studying illustration and animation history, I read
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  Speaker 1: an interview where Heiau Miyazaki explained, why he puts those
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  Speaker 1: quiet moments into every single one of his films. In
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  Speaker 1: Japanese aesthetics, there is a wonderful concept called ma. Ma
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  Speaker 1: translates roughly to emptiness, or the quiet breathing space between things.
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  Speaker 1: When an interviewer asked Miyazaki why his movies have so
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  Speaker 1: many scenes where characters just look at the sky, wash dishes,
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  Speaker 1: wait for a bus in the rain, or ride a
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  Speaker 1: silent train, Miyazaki clapped his hands together slowly. He said,
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  Speaker 1: The time in between my claps is maw. If you
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  Speaker 1: just have nonstop action and tension with no breathing space
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  Speaker 1: in between, you just have noise. You cannot feel the
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  Speaker 1: emotion of a story unless you give the audience a
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  Speaker 1: quiet room to sit down and feel it. When I
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  Speaker 1: read that quote, it completely changed the way I look
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  Speaker 1: at art, and honestly, the way I look at my
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  Speaker 1: own life. Think about how rare that quiet space is
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  Speaker 1: in our everyday lives right now. We wake up, we
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  Speaker 1: rush to work or school, we fill every quiet second
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  Speaker 1: in the elevator by looking at our phones. And we
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  Speaker 1: treat an empty afternoon like a problem that needs to
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  Speaker 1: be fixed with more errands. We live our lives like
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  Speaker 1: a frantic action movie with zero breathing room between the scenes.
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  Speaker 1: That is why Studio Ghibli feels like medicine for the
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  Speaker 1: human nervous system. When you watch Kiki's Delivery Service... The
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  Speaker 1: story isn't really about fighting a giant evil villain to
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  Speaker 1: save the universe. The story is about a 13-year-old girl
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  Speaker 1: who moves to a new seaside town by herself, tries
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  Speaker 1: to do a good job delivering bread for a kind baker,
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  Speaker 1: gets tired, loses her confidence for a few days, eats
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  Speaker 1: pancakes with her cat, goes for a walk in the
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  Speaker 1: woods with a friend who paints pictures, and slowly finds
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  Speaker 1: her spark again. Miyazaki treats the small. ordinary rituals of
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  Speaker 1: being human with the same respect that other directors save
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  Speaker 1: for giant battles. Watch how much care studio Ghibli animators
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  Speaker 1: pour into drawing everyday food and chores. The way a
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  Speaker 1: fried egg sizzles in a cast iron pan with thick
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  Speaker 1: slices of bacon. The way a girl ties back her
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  Speaker 1: sleeves with a ribbon before sweeping a dusty wooden floor.
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  Speaker 1: The way raindrops gather on the tip of a green
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  Speaker 1: leaf in the forest before falling into a puddle while
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  Speaker 1: Totoro stands under a tiny umbrella at the bus stop.
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  Speaker 1: Three years ago, I was going through a really stressful
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  Speaker 1: month where I was working 14 hours a day on
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  Speaker 1: freelance illustration projects, barely sleeping, and feeling completely burned out.
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  Speaker 1: One rainy Friday night, I turned off my computer, made
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  Speaker 1: a simple bowl of hot ramen noodles with a soft-boiled
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  Speaker 1: egg and green onions, and put on my neighbor Totoro
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  Speaker 1: for the 20th time in my life. Watching those two
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  Speaker 1: little sisters run barefoot across the wooden porch of their
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  Speaker 1: old country house, watching them laugh at the dust sprites
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  Speaker 1: in the attic, and watching them wait in the dark
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  Speaker 1: rain for their father's train to arrive, I realized why
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  Speaker 1: we love anime like this so much. It reminds us
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  Speaker 1: that life does not have to be a grand, exhausting
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  Speaker 1: war to be meaningful. A good life is made of
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  Speaker 1: clean laundry flapping on a clothesline in the breeze, a
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  Speaker 1: warm bowl of soup shared with someone you care about,
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  Speaker 1: and a quiet train ride watching the sunset over the water. So,
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  Speaker 1: my friend, if your week has felt like non-stop noise lately,
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  Speaker 1: give yourself a little bit of ma today. Give yourself
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  Speaker 1: the quiet space between the claps. Look out the window
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  Speaker 1: at the clouds for five minutes without checking the time.
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  Speaker 1: Make yourself something warm in the kitchen, and remember that
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  Speaker 1: the quietest moments of your story are often the most
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  Speaker 1: beautiful ones. Thank you so much for hanging out with
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: me on this very first episode of Piper Renee. If
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: you enjoyed our time together, please give us your moral
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: support by tapping that follow button, leaving a kind five-star
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: rating or review, and checking out the other episodes waiting
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  Speaker 1: for you right on our podcast feed. I am Piper
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  Speaker 1: Renee Dixon. Take a deep breath, enjoy the view out
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  Speaker 1: the window, and I will talk to you on the
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  Speaker 1: very next episode.