"My Neighbor Totoro" and "The Tai Chi Master"

Paper Summary:

This paper compares two films, one from Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" and China, Yuen Woo-Ping's "The Tai Chi Master." It analyzes the aspects involving the relationship nature has with the beliefs and values of the Shinto and Taoism religion that are prevalent in the films. The author states that the films' similarities reveal the common ideals that both religions are founded on: respect and gratitude towards nature and its power.

From the Paper:

"Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" and Yuen Woo-Ping's "The Tai Chi Master," one from Japan and another from China, will be analyzed in order to see how the beliefs and values of Shinto associate nature with human beings while Taoism interprets nature as the ultimate source of power. My Neighbor Totoro reveals Shinto beliefs throughout the films by presenting the audiences how Shinto belief "that nature has a great deal of influence on human beings and actions one takes originate from nature" has become a critical factor of Japanese people's life on a daily basis. The Tai Chi Master emphasizes the notion that one can strengthen himself from understanding the order of nature. Yuen leads the audiences through the main character's ordeal and how he manages to recover from the emotional and physical injury by questioning himself about the force and order of nature which eventually enables him to discover the path leads to his goal."

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