Though these two are pushed and pulled around by forces larger than themselves for much of the film, they both find courage and agency, determining not only their own fate, but the fate of the earth and human civilisation. Sheeta may be a damsel in distress, but she has a real sense of purpose and very much becomes the heroine of her own story. Though Pazu is indeed heroic, he doesnвЂ™t work as a savior here. On her journey, she discovers the answer to these questions, but like Pazu, she becomes a heroine accidentally, with no interest in changing the world or fighting powers far too large for her to expect success.ДЄnd the introduction of Pazu isnвЂ™t the end to SheetaвЂ™s problems, but only a coincidental meeting between two powerless children. Orphaned and working in a mine, Pazu becomes the unlikely and accidental hero in a story dealing with global consequences.ДЄnd our other protagonist, the young girl, Sheeta, is also an orphan with little idea about why sheвЂ™s being pursued or why her family heirloom matters so much to so many people, and why theyвЂ™re willing to kill for it. Though the mining town is shown as a happy place with a strong sense of community, it revealsВ that this is an unkind world. Pazu, one of our protagonists, is a miner and a child. Not only real people, but average people. While the film containsВ magic, governments, armies, apocalyptic technology, it deals with real people. The girl who falls from the sky is saved by the power of her necklace and sheвЂ™s found by Pazu, a young orphan in a mining town.ДЄnd this, to me, is where things become very interesting. While Laputa is certainly a world imbued with magic, much of the first half is firmly grounded in reality. Many of LaputaвЂ™s themes will be seen in future Miyazaki films, which tend to deal with the real world, though influenced and refracted by magic and mythology and worlds hidden within ours. References to Jonathan Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Hindu and biblical mythologyВ made throughout the film tie this directly to our world. The world of Laputa is a steampunk alternate reality with touches of magic, hyper advanced technology, piracy, espionage, and powerful militaristic governments. A young girl being held captive on an airship struggles for freedom while airpirates attack the ship in order to capture her.ДЄnd in the process, the young girl knocks out one of her captors, steals back her necklace, and falls out of the airship to avoid pirates, plunging towards the earth. Laputa: Castle in the SkyВ begins somewhat chaotically. IвЂ™ll also be discussing these with the assumption that theyвЂ™ve been seen by you. IвЂ™ll also only be discussing the Japanese audio version of the films, though that doesnвЂ™t mean the dubs are bad or not worth seeing. This does, however, mean I wonвЂ™t be discussing Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which was made before the founding of the studio. Because this is one of my favorite films studios and Miyazaki is one of my favorite artists, whoвЂ™s made some of my favorite films, IвЂ™ve decided to go through the history of Studio Ghibli one film at a time.ДЇor the next twenty weeks, IвЂ™ll be discussing a different Studio Ghibli film, starting with Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which is the first Studio Ghibli film. 2015 is the 30th anniversary of the founding of Studio Ghibli and, according to Hayao Miyazaki, it may also be one of its final years as a studio.

Laputa castle in the sky