Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films may take place in fantastical worlds, but they possess many real-world lessons. They tackle deeply relatable themes that many millennial artist's face.
Trying to make it as a creative. “She has to develop a work/life balance that doesn’t completely wear her out.”
Creative burnout.“[Kiki’s] lost of flight communicates that when you wear yourself too thin and turn your passion into just a job, you’ll no longer be able to just create,”
Self-care. Kiki finds enjoyment in flying again by learning when to take a break from things.
Mild spoilers ahoy, of course. I watched Kiki's Delivery Service again today, and was overcome by how much this film has inspired me through the years. It continues to be a source of inspiration as I go on my own adventures.
Kiki goes out on her own, and the only thing she really knows how to do is flying. At some point, she loses that ability and cannot think of what to do. Eventually, the magic of flying comes bac...
Kiki's Delivery Service is an example of a story where there are not many moments of extreme action, but there is still a significant story being told - one of finding people who inspire or help during a personal crisis.
As with Kiki, we can only be so lucky to find people that provide roles and teach the lessons that Kiki has learned.
Work is the master of the modern world. For most people, it is impossible to imagine society without it. It dominates and pervades everyday life - especially in Britain and the US - more completely than at any time in recent history. An obsession with employability runs through education.
Our culture claims that work is unavoidable and natural. The idea that the world can be freed from work, wholly or in part, has been suppressed for as long as capitalism has existed.
In 1885, socialist William Morris proposed that in the factories of the future, employees should work only four hours a day.
In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that advances in technology would lead to an age of leisure where people might work 15 hours a week.
Since the early 2010s, these ideas have been developed further, creating a growing critique of work as an ideology, and exploring alternatives to work.
Post-work offers enormous promises: In a life of much less work, life would be calmer, more equal, more communal, more pleasurable, more thoughtful, more politically engaged, more fulfilled.
Before the modern era, all cultures thought of work as a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Once the modern work ethic was established, working patterns started to shift. Between 1800 and 1900, the average working week shrank from 80 hours to 60 hours, and in the 1970s to roughly 40 hours.
In 1979, Bernard Lefkowitz related in his book that people who had given up their jobs reported feelings of "wholeness." During the same period, because wages were high enough, it became possible for most people to work less.
During the 80s, work ideology was reimposed by aggressively pro-business governments who were motivated by a desire for social control.
By the early 21st century, the work culture seems inescapable.
The Hedgehog Review is published three times per year by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. In keeping with the Institute's own mission and vision, the journal is concerned with issues of contemporary cultural change and its individual and social consequences.
What working a decent job means is slowing losing ground, as we are not deriving meaning from our work.
Having a job means getting paid for our talents, but it may not be the case for many. Work ethic is supposed to provide us a good life, but in reality, the opposite is happening.
Most workers rely on the whims and fancies of the so-called 'Job Creators', a class of people who own a business and can employ staff. Job creators hold power on the worker's time, behavior and conditions of employment.
These employers also monitor and sanction what workers post on social media, what they eat or drink, how frequently and for how long are they going to the bathroom, and what are their political leanings.