Gkids recently brought the legendary Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro back to cinemas for a limited engagement and tickets for these showings sold quickly. While My Neighbor Totoro is undoubtedly a classic, it is unusual for a 35-year-old film to sell out cinemas. The huge demand is doubly unexpected because this film returns to theaters regularly. One reason for the film’s ticket sales could be that modern audiences are finding its themes especially relevant today.
One of My Neighbor Totoro’s most prominent themes is family. The Kusakabe family remains loving despite the struggles they are all going through. In many children’s films, the parents often act as antagonists, but this isn’t the case in Totoro; this is most clearly seen when the father accepts his little girls’ accounts of their time with Totoro rather than brushing it off as a childish flight of fancy. All too often, family units can drift apart or grow hostile due to external life situations, but Totoro shows how clear communication, listening, and mutual respect can help families navigate even the most turbulent times.
Totoro Perfectly Captures Feelings of Anxiety
The film perfectly captures the deep anxiety and powerlessness we can feel when confronting change or worrying topics. Through the girls and their father, viewers are given a visceral look at how this deep, existential anxiety can affect someone, even if they seem happy outside. Of course, recent years have likely led to more people grappling with these feelings, making seeing them depicted so accurately on screen all the more powerful.
The film also touches on the concept of connection to something bigger than one’s self, be it internal or external. While fans and critics alike debate if Totoro and the others are actual forest spirits or manifestations of the girl’s inner anxieties, the idea of connecting to your inner creativity, imagination, or spirituality still holds merit, especially in the fast-paced modern world.
Totoro is Beautiful, Yet Realistic
Of course, the film’s balance of beauty and realism hits hard today. While the girls live in an idyllic rural landscape — and Totoro shows them scenes of magical whimsy — they still have to confront the painful reality of their mother’s illness, and the ups and downs that come with it. This illness is handled realistically, with the healing process having many bumps along the way. While the mother gets better by the end, she heals naturally rather than being cured by magic or through the girls’ actions, perfectly illustrating that there often isn’t an easy solution to life’s problems. Nevertheless, the film shows how we must push on and find beauty and community wherever possible, without pretending that hardship doesn’t exist. These lessons can help audiences endure and overcome the hurdles of everyday life.
While My Neighbor Totoro is a product of its time and context, it’s easy to see why the film still speaks to modern viewers, whether it be their first viewing or their fiftieth. In fact, the film’s long-lasting relevance is a testament to Hayao Miyazaki’s skill as a writer and director. His ability to capture common human emotions and problems and show them in a relatable, universal way means his films have a timeless quality. On top of this, the issues his movies focus on have become more prominent in the years since the film launched, making Totoro feel all the more relevant today.
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