紅の豚 and Anime Chicago
2018-Jun-28, Thursday 08:42![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
Ghibli's great but I haven't actually seen most of their movies, especially not the older movies that came out before I cared about anime (so, before 2002 or so. I was not raised on DBZ or Sailor Moon). So when I heard that Anime Chicago was doing a group discussion about Porco Rosso, an anime I'd actually heard of, I signed up immediately. I watched the movie two days ago and went to the discussion yesterday.
I even took notes during the movie!
I gave it 7/10, based mostly on how I like Ghibli movies like Spirited Away much more.
The discussion was held in a cafe, so we all gathered around a table and one person gave a quick intro about Miyazaki's mindset when making the movie, like how he had been a communist in his youth and Porco Rosso was originally supposed to be set in Yugoslavia, which Miyazaki admired for taking a variety of different ethnic groups and forming them into a single society. He was sharply disillusioned when Yugoslavia fell apart during production of the movie, so now it takes place in fascist Italy instead. It was also supposed to be a 45-minute short so that JAL could show it on their flights, but that obviously didn't happen.
We also talked about how the movie kind of takes place in a bubble. It's post World War I, so Porco is the cynical veteran who used to fight for glory and honor and the Fatherland only to have all his friends die and his country change so much due to creeping fascism that it now has government agents hunting him. The sky pirates and bounty hunters exist in a liminal space, only possible because countries haven't asserted full control over their airspace yet. I described it as like the late 90s internet in my closing statement.
It's a bit like a farce but with a serious background. The Mamma Aiuto gang is a bunch of buffoons, who fire off a huge amount of ordinance but never kill anyone, and who open the movie by kidnapping a bunch of children who run roughshod all over their plane and treat it like an adventure. Everyone accepts that this is a world with a pig who flies an airplane. But in the background, Gina's third husband died in a war, just like her previous two, and the fascist Italian government is growing more and more powerful. The world of sky pirates and flying pigs, like the cherry blossoms in spring, is transitory.
I hadn't considered that Porco might have died, but I guess the ending is ambiguous to leave that possibility open. I figured it was a happy ending, with the curse broken--Fio says she never sees Porco again, but maybe she sees Marco--but it could be bittersweet. As the floating world (so to speak) fades, Porco fades with it. And I mean, Porco Rosso does take place during the interwar period. How much happy ending is there, for anyone, in the face of that?
I should have mentioned that.
It was fun! I'll definitely go again, once they find another anime I want to watch.
Edit June 29: And the person who hosted this meeting was at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stephen_poon's house last night when he had people over to watch Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door. Fun!
I even took notes during the movie!
Crimson Pig. 紅の豚. But Porco Rosso in dialogue. Magical pigism.
Aegean Sea. Kornati Islands.
Friendly pirates. No deaths, all hostages got away. Pirates happy to have half the money, kids treat it like a vacation.
Singing about cherries. 物の哀れ
空賊. Sky pirates.
Pig eating sausage? Marco? Left as a human? Curse? Literal magical pigism?
Pirate alliance to get the pig.
Shot down by American!
"A pig that doesn't fly is just an ordinary pig." 飛ばねえ豚は ただの豚だ…
Post-war inflation
women working.
"I'd rather be a pig than a fascist."
Fio comes with plane. Feels responsible.
Plane joyride through the canals.
Italian government has bounty on Porco Rossi. Pilot warns.
豚に真珠
Scene over countryside with new plane. Beautiful.
Pirates attack in hidden cove!
American asks Fio for marriage! Duel stakes.
Above the clouds, plane heaven? 天の川
Duel
Air force on the way to interrupt
Both guns jam! Fist fight
double ko
Might curse be cured? Unclear.
Gina bet maybe won? Unknown
Aegean Sea. Kornati Islands.
Friendly pirates. No deaths, all hostages got away. Pirates happy to have half the money, kids treat it like a vacation.
Singing about cherries. 物の哀れ
空賊. Sky pirates.
Pig eating sausage? Marco? Left as a human? Curse? Literal magical pigism?
Pirate alliance to get the pig.
Shot down by American!
"A pig that doesn't fly is just an ordinary pig." 飛ばねえ豚は ただの豚だ…
Post-war inflation
women working.
"I'd rather be a pig than a fascist."
Fio comes with plane. Feels responsible.
Plane joyride through the canals.
Italian government has bounty on Porco Rossi. Pilot warns.
豚に真珠
Scene over countryside with new plane. Beautiful.
Pirates attack in hidden cove!
American asks Fio for marriage! Duel stakes.
Above the clouds, plane heaven? 天の川
Duel
Air force on the way to interrupt
Both guns jam! Fist fight
double ko
Might curse be cured? Unclear.
Gina bet maybe won? Unknown
I gave it 7/10, based mostly on how I like Ghibli movies like Spirited Away much more.
The discussion was held in a cafe, so we all gathered around a table and one person gave a quick intro about Miyazaki's mindset when making the movie, like how he had been a communist in his youth and Porco Rosso was originally supposed to be set in Yugoslavia, which Miyazaki admired for taking a variety of different ethnic groups and forming them into a single society. He was sharply disillusioned when Yugoslavia fell apart during production of the movie, so now it takes place in fascist Italy instead. It was also supposed to be a 45-minute short so that JAL could show it on their flights, but that obviously didn't happen.
We also talked about how the movie kind of takes place in a bubble. It's post World War I, so Porco is the cynical veteran who used to fight for glory and honor and the Fatherland only to have all his friends die and his country change so much due to creeping fascism that it now has government agents hunting him. The sky pirates and bounty hunters exist in a liminal space, only possible because countries haven't asserted full control over their airspace yet. I described it as like the late 90s internet in my closing statement.
It's a bit like a farce but with a serious background. The Mamma Aiuto gang is a bunch of buffoons, who fire off a huge amount of ordinance but never kill anyone, and who open the movie by kidnapping a bunch of children who run roughshod all over their plane and treat it like an adventure. Everyone accepts that this is a world with a pig who flies an airplane. But in the background, Gina's third husband died in a war, just like her previous two, and the fascist Italian government is growing more and more powerful. The world of sky pirates and flying pigs, like the cherry blossoms in spring, is transitory.
I hadn't considered that Porco might have died, but I guess the ending is ambiguous to leave that possibility open. I figured it was a happy ending, with the curse broken--Fio says she never sees Porco again, but maybe she sees Marco--but it could be bittersweet. As the floating world (so to speak) fades, Porco fades with it. And I mean, Porco Rosso does take place during the interwar period. How much happy ending is there, for anyone, in the face of that?
I should have mentioned that.
It was fun! I'll definitely go again, once they find another anime I want to watch.
Edit June 29: And the person who hosted this meeting was at
stephen_poon's house last night when he had people over to watch Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door. Fun!
no subject
Date: 2018-Jun-28, Thursday 20:48 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-Jun-29, Friday 19:51 (UTC)I'm part of an online anime discussion group with some friends too, but it's not very active anymore. Going to something in person was really nice!
There's an event in a couple weeks where they're going to watch a ton of the next anime season's first episodes, but I probably can't go.