Nausicaa/Miyazaki interview: Difference between revisions

:But it's wrong. The prevalent idea throughout the world is that pain and human existence are irretrievably linked. After the war, Japan built an artificial and unnatural 'better' world, thinking that 'post-war democracy' could alleviate pain. We thought that we could clear up most problems by reaching a certain level of national wealth. So instead of guns, we built a high-growth economy. A lot of misery was eliminated by eradicating poverty. "Ku-pora no aru Machi" (A Town with a Cupola) could not be made in these times of plenty. But in Korea, China, Taiwan and other Asian countries, there are disparities aplenty, and dramatic, aggressive movies are being made all the time. It's only natural. But in Japan, where these contradictions no longer exist, we're only making movies about girls in love, strolling down the street. It's difficult to live in a society seething with contradictions, but it's also difficult to live in a society like that of current Japan. These problems have existed since the time of Buddha and before, but we didn't recognize them until very recently. Now we see them, but we still haven't faced them squarely, and we, and the government, continue in our mistaken belief that there must be a paradise somewhere quite near by. I don't think that it will be an easy time, when we finally do face up to these problems.