Ponyo

Ponyo is an animated Japanese film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Hayao Miyazaki said that his inspiration for Ponyo came from The Little Mermaid and while the movie does have many similarities to The Little Mermaid, it is quite different. The story centers around a little goldfish-girl with magical powers that lives in the ocean and has a goddess for a mother, but lives with her once human father. She is on an outing with her father and hundreds of goldfish siblings when she becomes separated from them, is washed to shore, and is rescued by a 5 year old boy name Sosuke. Sosuke takes her in and promises to take care of her. Ponyo is fascinated by Sosuke and decides she permanently wants to become human. The father freaks out because he believes that Ponyo will upset the balance of nature, so he spends the majority of the movie searching for her and trying to bring her back to the ocean. He sends these big waves to look for her, which cause an insane tsunami. During the storm, Sosuke's mother goes out to help the elderly and doesn't come back, so Sosuke and Ponyo set out to search for her after the storm is over (but there is still massive flooding everywhere). Ponyo's magical powers cut in and out and at one point she reverts back to a goldfish, in which Sosuke frantically dunks her in water to save her. In the end, Ponyo's mother, the goddess, intervenes and Ponyo agrees to give up her magical powers in order to remain human. All is well and the balance of nature is restored.

I teach first grade and this is a film I can use in my classroom. In fact, I'd first heard of Ponyo because several of my students in the years past would talk about it. This would be a great movie to discuss the Japanese culture in a way 6 or 7 year olds would understand. For example, Sosuke's mother Lisa, works at the senior center, so Sosuke spends a lot of time there. He knows all the little old ladies by name and is very respectful in talking and interacting with them. Ponyo's dad is very concerned about the balance of nature and how humans are corrupting it. This loosely ties into the Shinto belief of supernatural forces and the sacred spirits of nature. After spending some time on the Japanese culture, we (class and I) could then watch The Little Mermaid and Ponyo and compare and contrast the two movies, using a double-bubble map or Venn Diagram. We could even discuss cause-and-effect events from the movie Ponyo!

On a personal note, this movie was not at all what I expected. I thought it was odd--very abstract. I suppose one who does not have nostalgic ties to The Little Mermaid would think the concept of that movie is odd, but I thought Ponyo was especially weird. My husband went to art school in college and appreciates this kind of stuff--he really enjoyed Spirited Away (another Hayao Miyazaki film) due to its artistic and abstract value, but did not like Ponyo at all. Kids seem to like the movie, though!