“One shot tells me whether a film is great or not.“ Hayao Miyazaki’s Auteurist Identity as ‘Media Figure’ in Studio Ghibli’s Making-Of Documentaries

Abstract

Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron is the newest attempt to discoursively frame director Hayao Miyazaki as an ‘animation auteur’ in a making-of documentary. Using auteur theory as a category of reception as well as research on Ghibli’s brand image and the commercial impetus behind this brand strategy, this article focuses on making-of documentaries as paratextual media artefacts to construct the director as the sole creative voice behind Studio Ghibli’s films. I want to argue that the documentaries offer interpretations of the movies by primarily suggesting autobiographical readings of his works. Moreover, they minimize the labor of animators through a depiction of Miyazaki as an artistic ‘genius.’ On the filmic side, the article examines how the documentaries’ editing enforces this connection between Miyazaki’s movies and his life, e.g., by establishing a connection between characters and staff.