Laputa:Castle in the Sky

As mentioned in Professor Cohen’s lecture, Miyazaki creates characters with very ambiguous characteristics. For example, in Castle in the Sky the pirates that attempt to steal the princess’s necklace are quite sympathetic characters. The film makes fun of the ambiguousness of the characters. In the scene where Pazu and Sheeta are on the pirates’ plane, Pazu mentions the mother pirate’s kindness even though the mother acts tough.

Susan Napier notes that many of Miyazaki’s films seem to have children without parents. Both Sheeta and Pazu are orphans. The film never cuts to a flashback of Sheeta’s parents but the film does show a flashback of Pazu’s father riding in the clouds as he tells Sheeta about the mysterious castle in the sky. Although the two only have known each other for a brief time they form a strong bond which turns to love for one another. This seems to be a common theme in Miyazaki’s films. Whenever a male character is introduced in the film he is drawn to the female protagonist and has a strong desire to help her for no explainable reason other than the fact the young girl is beautiful.