Sondra Perry & Hayao Miyazaki
Continuing our topic of videos and films, we learned about Sondra Perry, Wong Kar-Wai, and Hayao Miyazaki. More specifically, I’m going to talk about Sondra Perry and the topic of accessibility and miscellaneous points with Miyazaki’s Spirited Away as those two interested me more (one being video installations which I’ve always liked and one a childhood throwback).
Sondra Perry is an installation and video artist who believes that art should be accessible and available to everyone, which is something that I agree with! This is also the reason why her video pieces are free and online, not restricted by a paywall or an in-person experience. I think this is possible only because of the medium of videos itself, and its ability to be spread on the internet fully without barriers.
However I thought it was interesting that installations, perhaps the least conducive medium to wide-spread access and availability, was her second most used art form. Personally, I feel as though I can’t get the full effect and experience of installation pieces (especially if they’re interactive) through photos, videos, or even virtual reality technologies. Though I do understand that sometimes a sub-par experience in online form is better than none at all.
In regards to Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, I thought it was interesting how our discussion of the distinction between Studio Ghibli films and other japanese films turned into a discussion about the difference between Studio Ghibli films and anime. It was interesting to see how people (me included) think of Ghibli films as separate from anime, when it is an anime itself (animated japanese film).
Looking at it from that lens, the main difference between those two groups probably comes from that fact that Ghibli animations are produced by an established and large company, where they don’t have to worry about trends and succeeding short term, whereas small animation companies do. Ghibli has no need to sensualize the story or use character archetypes as commonly to appeal to their audience.