Over the years, there have been a lot of movies that try to depict a child’s innocence but none gets close to Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo. The film is a visual treat and through its gentle narrative celebrates the eyes of a child and stresses on the relationship that humans have with nature. It is fundamentally, a love story focused on the bond of friendship of a young boy and a golden talking fish. However, there is much more in Ponyo that deals with an environmental concern, a delicate balance that needs to be maintained between humanity and nature.
A Magical Encounter
The Ildiko Enyedi directed film starts with a vibrant underwater world and its inhabitants. Ponyo is a goldfish with human features whose most exuberant part is her love for atheism. One of her parents, Fujimoto, considers himself a sorcerer and believes that the ocean is his domain and that it ought to remain untouched. Ponyo’s want for novelty shapes up the advent of events that are bound to happen.
Ponyo is rescued from the glass jar by a kind-hearted boy. Ponyo and Sosuke instantly develop a bond. From this point forward, Sosuke begins to call her Ponyo and makes a promise to never let her get hurt. The entire narrative revolves around this simple act of kindness.
Sky vs Sea
After falling in love with Sosuke, Ponyo discovers her yearning to become human. But magic comes at a cost. In exchange for her transformation, Ponyo is forced to unleash a flood to the world by unbalancing nature. In simple words, Ponyo is destroyed by the erosion of nostalgia permeating her soul.
Fujimoto on the other hand, wishes to turn the world again to order and for this purpose tries to bring Ponyo back to the ocean. But Sosuke remains loyal to Ponyo and they are together again. Their pure friendship triumphed over all odds — over fear and over the fear of being infiltrated by the order of two different worlds.
A Visual Masterpiece Invoking Synergy Between Nature’s Brilliance and its ferocity
One of the defining characteristics of Ponyo is the animation, which is absolutely stunning. A work of art by Miyazaki, the film portrays hand-drawn scenes beautifully and all movements have life infused in them. Paintings of the ocean have been created in a dual light – it has been created as beautiful but is also at the same time terrifying for it is depicted as a character of sorts that both human and horse fully embodies.
One of the biggest highlights of the sequence is when Ponyo, while trying to meet Sosuke, uses her fish-like form to jump across giant waves, now fully immersed into human form. In an ethereal sequence that encompasses both surrealism and the sheer strength and fury of nature, the ocean moves around her. And when that happens, fuscia water, the sun’s golden tint, and deep green vegetation scattering the coast create a scene so mesmerizing that it feels as if one has been teleported to a different dimension Amalgamated together, it creates an eternal beauty that brings the audience’s fantasy alive.
Ponyo did not only constitute magical elements, it preached our logic core tenet – Balance. While Fujimoto had a deficiency in thrusting us to look up at humanity with his work, he did so only because he had witnessed pollution and Improper human ways of working with mother earth. And although one could say, he had all available options did show human beings in a dehumanizing way with no concern for nature. Characters Chakana and Danao can, however, serve as sources of feeling: ‘Hope’ as they showed concern for even the most basic.
The film also shows Lisa’s relationship with her son as an important factor which attests to the theme of the human bond. She is relatively a successful working mother and tender and enterprising at that given her ability to work while helping develop Sosuke’s kindness and self-reliance. Their home which is situated at the cliffs to the seaside becomes a stronghold of sanity and love during the storms that arise within them.
Resiliency – The Essence of Reality’s Property
Ponyo seems to be us sitting at the center of the question that Fujimoto is asking Sosuke, “Can you love Ponyo as she is, when She is not a human?”, “Yes,” Sosuke says with conviction, “I love all the Ponyos.”
This declaration by Sosuke encapsulates the film’s central thesis true love is not something that one offers in order to receive something back, “For everything there is a season and a beauty resides and not everything can exist at one time’’ Possessing so much of Sōseki’s affection for Ponyo, to the extent that when she was a fish, a girl, or anything else is all a celebration of a child’s ability to perceive the wonderment and weirdness that the world presents.
It is this very love that has the ability to change everything that eventually achieves the much-needed equilibrium. By demonstrating his unquestioning fidelity, Sosuke guarantees Ponyo to be a part of the human realm with minimal disruptions.
A Contemporary Fairytale with Important Morals
When watching Ponyo, one understands how Miyazaki draws his inspiration from a fairy-tale while retaining a contemporary feel to it. The movie is based around the story of The Little Mermaid however, it chooses to depart from the themes of tragedy and sacrifice and works towards a more positive ending.
This anime film teaches us that children’s love and kindness is the strongest weapon that exists. The adventures of Sosuke and Ponyo are a gift — a gift of strength, love, and harmony in a world that is becoming more and more alienated.
Memorable Images
In order to delve deeper into the topic of Ponyo, it is important to describe the visuals that stick in your head after the end credits:
The Jellyfish Forest: The sequence begins with Ponyo who is underwater with jellyfish and with bioluminescence as the background. This goes on to reiterate her fascination with the surface world.
The Underwater Goddess: Ponyo depicts her mother, Granmamare as a serene yet gargantuan sea goddess who is above all oceans and the beauty that comes with it.
The Lantern-lighted Journey: While out on a rogh excursion, Sosuke and Ponyo ride in a boat through a submerged village. The experience is bolstering since it provides a sense of tranquility and a surreal atmosphere at the same time.
A Love Letter to Wonder and Whimsy
Ponyo is not just a movie- it is a call to us to remain awestruck at the world around us,It implores us to never forget to nurture everything we have been bestowed with and to always be ready to fall in love.
Ponyo, as expected, does not distinguish the real and supernatural. It is effortless magic. It reminds us that we are all still and can be kind, even amongst in a disordered world.
Ponyo is a movie that makes your heart feel braver with just a touch of magic, Its an all time classic that is hard to forget and easy to keep on watching.
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