In-Review: April 2025
Studio Ghibli vs AI and CinemaCon Headlines
A little over a week ago, Studio Ghibli was under attack. Not the studio or the people, but the legacy they’ve created over the last forty years. Perhaps you didn’t come across the images online, but brands and people were using AI to create
”art” that tried to replicate that Studio Ghibli magic.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that it has come to this so quickly. Many artists have had their art compiled into the hungry AI machine (this one is known as OpenAI, which integrates directly into ChatGPT) but certainly not to the public extent of the legendary Japanese studio.
“I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” -Hayao Miyazaki, on AI tools.
For a more in-depth look into this topic,
wrote about Miyasaki and how we already know what he thinks about AI. In a video clip that surfaced around the internet some 8 years ago, Miyazaki did not mince words about the future of AI.Every morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability,” Miyazaki begins. “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five. His arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is.” He does not stop there. “I am utterly disgusted. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
Merchant said the big viral trend to come out of this was the ability to turn all sorts of different images into animated stills in the style of Studio Ghibli films. The first thing the internet did was recreate famous memes in this artform, whether it’s Bernie Sanders, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Ben Affleck. If you must look at these, this link does a good job of collecting them. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was posting examples of these AI creations on his personal Twitter/X account, and even The White House’s X account used the generator.
We already know what Miyazaki feels about AI— he hates it. I hope he’s busy doing whatever he loves instead of being disgusted by this AI tool. Miyazaki dedicates his life to the medium of animation. One particular scene in the movie The Wind Rises, which is four seconds in length, took 15 months to animate.
A Beginner's Guide to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli
A decade after his last feature film, The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki and Gkids have launched Miyazaki’s latest animated movie in US theaters. The Boy and the Heron plays like the greatest hits of the great directors’ works, highlighting his trademark themes and style, while taking audiences to a new magical world of his …
As for me personally, I think it’s disheartening to see. I know how much work has gone into creating these movies and this art form that people around the world really love. These AI images will never be able to capture the love and attention that goes into each frame of a Studio Ghibli movie. But don’t just take my word on it.
GKIDS, Ghibli’s U.S. distributor, was showing a 4K restoration of Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke in IMAX theaters recently. The company’s distribution vice-president Chance Huskey noted, “In a time when technology tries to replicate humanity, we are thrilled that audiences value a theatrical experience that respects and celebrates Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece in all its cinematic hand-drawn glory.”
Collection of links on this topic from The Verge:
OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli meme factory is an insult to art itself | Brian Merchant
Seattle engineer’s Ghibli-style image goes viral | Seattle Times
OpenAI just raised another $40 billion round from SoftBank | The Verge
ChatGPT “added one million users in the last hour.” | The Verge
ChatGPT’s Ghibli filter is political now, but it always was | The Verge
OpenAI, Google ask the government to let them train on content they don’t own | The Verge
Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction | Max Read
OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem | Vergecast
AI slop is a brute-force attack on the algorithms that control reality | 404 Media
The New Aesthetics of Fascism | New Socialist
Here are the movies I caught up with in March:
As always, if you’d like to follow along on Letterboxd, my account can be found here.
Podcast
🎙️My co-host Evan Crean and I have recorded two episodes of the It’s the Pictures podcast since the last newsletter.
The first one is on director Michael Mann:
The second is an in-depth look at the films of Hayao Miyazaki:
Links
CinemaCon Headlines
R.I.P. to the great actor Val Kilmer, who passed away this week at 65.
AMC Entertainment is hoping all the Major Studios agree to return to a 45-day Theatrical window. I don’t think it will work.
Apple TV’s new show, The Studio, has been receiving glowing reviews.