Welcome to our Holiday Series where we cover Hayao Miyazaki films all February. Oil the propeller and grab a glass of your finest swine because are covering Porco Rosso. Tit for tit. Tat for tat. Trot for trot.

Stats

Released: July 1992
Director and Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Music composed by: Joe Hisaishi
Budget: $9,200,000
Box Office: $59,000,000

Breakdown and Analysis

• One of the few films where you can pinpoint them into actual events and places in history.
• The manga this film is based on is not the same kind of mangas that Oti reads.
• Theme: Planes/Flying. This is a given. It’s a pig in the plane.
• Theme: Anti War. Film is set after Porco’s involvement in World War One.
• Theme: Environment and taking better care of it. Porco is disillusioned with the cruelty of war and completely withdraws.
• Theme: Kids/Strong female lead. A lot of his protagonists allow themselves to feel. Not necessarily through Porco but this is demonstrated through Fio.
• Theme: Ambiguity in regards to good and evil. There is a grounding of seeing people in multiple dimensions. The spell can be seen as more reflective of how he felt about himself. He saw himself as the bad guy but people were enamored by him.
• Theme: Pigs. Is there anyone else to say? A key scene in the film is where Porco is in the cinema and Ferrarin approaches him. Porco snipes he rather be a pig than a Fascist.
• Theme: Whimsical/Fantasical. Miyazaki is full escapism. I am going to forget about everything and indulge in this world.
• Sometimes saying things exactly as they are, doesn’t hit you in the way that it needs to make a meaningful change. To stir something within you.
• In the last shots of the film, we have Fio narrating that she never saw Porco again. His face was not shown the last time but we are lead to believe that he was human again for a moment. Fio would visit Gina every Summer. Oti believes Porco did end up with Gina but remained a pig. It is nice to think they are together. Referencing (hehe) Howl’s Moving Castle, the spell was more to do with foundational qualms the character has to reconcile within themselves.

Unrelated but vital points

• We love a perfect dynamic and we experience this with Hayao and Joe. The score so beautifully melts into the cinematography of all the films they have worked on together.
• Miyazaki is known for not naming a successor and has quit 6 times.
• Oti calls KT the Scarlet Pig.
• Miyazaki was strongly on keeping the drawing real.
• Oti loves a strong female lead.
• The betty boop being watched by Porco is a nod to Miyzaki’s appreciation and inspiration.
• We all would want to live in a Miyazaki film.
• Let us know if your first Miyazaki film was Porco Rosso, let us know.
• We live in a world where we appreciate the realism of Narcos whilst also being swept away in a Miyazaki film.
• Do not ask KT to rank these films.
• Oti is still working on his screenplay, Bitcho Rosso.

For Your Reference

Sheesh guys, we are on holiday. Recommendations to check out all films covered in this sun kissed holiday.