Film discussion - The Boy and the Heron「君たちはどう生きるか」

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Join Fabio Gygi, Satona Suzuki and Filippo Cervelli as we celebrate Hayao Miyazaki's legacy and delve into Studio Ghibli's latest film, "The Boy and the Heron".

Diving into the intricacies of the film's narrative, the panel aims to unravel its themes of grief, the afterlife and coming of age. We will question the film's fidelity to the 1937 novel, considering whether it serves as a fitting adaptation. 

With awards season at its height, the panel will compare Studio Ghibli's animation against other industry-leading animation studios worldwide, and reflect on its standing among cinematic peers. The looming question of whether this is Miyazaki's final contribution to the world of cinema prompts further contemplation on the future of Studio Ghibli.

And what of the unconventional marketing strategy deployed in Japan – a deliberate choice to abstain from all forms of promotion, except for a solitary poster? This enigmatic approach adds an extra layer to the discussion, inviting reflections on the potential impact on local and global audience reception.

About the speakers

Fabio Gygi is the Chair of the Japan Research Centre and a senior lecturer in anthropology at SOAS University of London. He is interested in the intersection of material culture and medical anthropology, with a focus on how medical and social categories are formed around practices of disposal. 

He is the co-editor of ‘The Work of Gender: Service, Performance and Fantasy in Contemporary Japan’ and has written about animism, dolls, robots and Marie Kondō. His most recent publications are ‘Falling in and out of Love with Stuff: Affective Affordance and Horizontal Transcendence in Styles of Decluttering in Japan’ (Japanese Studies) and ’The Afterlife of Dolls: On the Productive Death of Terminal Commodities” (Ars Orientalis).

Satona Suzuki is currently a lecturer in Japanese and Modern Japanese History at SOAS University of London. Trained as a historian at the Department of History at SOAS, her main interests are the rise of modern Japan with an emphasis on imperialism, militarism, ideology and the relationship between politics and religion (Buddhism). 

She also teaches Advanced Japanese using current issues in Japan, including constitutional revision, security and gender. As these issues often closely relate to Japan's imperial legacy and the postcolonial impasses between Japan and its neighbouring countries, she is keen to connect 'then' and 'now' in the global context.

Filippo Cervelli received his PhD in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford, and is currently Lecturer in Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture at SOAS University of London. 

He has written on the literature of Takahashi Gen’ichirō, Ōe Kenzaburō, Abe Kazushige, on post-Fukushima fiction, and on manga and animation. He recently co-edited an interdisciplinary special issue on representations of nerds and loneliness.

• Organiser: SOAS Library in collaboration with SOAS Japan Research Centre
• Contact email: librarycomms@soas.ac.uk