Hayao Miyazaki's 'My Neighbor Totoro' (1988)
About this episode
Caitlin reflects on Hayao Miyazaki's 'My Neighbor Totoro' and how grief has influenced her understanding of the film.
In this episode, I talk about Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film, "My Neighbor Totoro." It’s about two young girls who discover magical forest spirits after moving to a rural home with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. I recorded this episode in the wake of my own mother’s death, and I speak about how grief has shaped my experience of the film. I talk about watching the entire Studio Ghibli catalog and reflect on childhood, absence, and how nature and cinema offer solace when nothing else can.
People in this episode
Host: Caitlin
Topics covered
- grief
- childhood
- nature
- cinema
- Studio Ghibli
- magical realism
Keywords
- Hayao Miyazaki
- My Neighbor Totoro
- grief
- Studio Ghibli
- childhood
- nature
- cinema
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: My Neighbor Totoro
More episodes of Her Head in Films
- William Wyler's 'The Heiress' (1949)
- Douglas Sirk's 'All That Heaven Allows' (1955)
- Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 'The Red Shoes' (1948)
- Dianne Jackson's 'The Snowman' (1982)
- Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Conversation' (1974)
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