Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the art of animation of one of the most influential directors Hayao Miyazaki. By applying analytical methods of folktale study, the author reveals how and why Miyazaki can be perceived as a modern story-teller.

Paper long abstract:

Fairy tales (and folklore in general) have always been examined in their local frame and background in the same extend in which they have been thought as a universal phenomenon. Be it on socio-historical level with the theory of Lutz Roehrich, or within the depth-psychology stream initiated by Sigmund Freud, on structural level applying Vladimir Propp's morphological parsing or through Max Luethi's literary analysis, in the methods of geographic-historical school of Krohn and Aarne, or the theories of origin and distribution developed by von Sydow, Benfey, and Bastian, folktales have always been as much local as a global phenomenon.

Shiro Yoshioka calls Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away "a folktale for the 21 century which teaches that contemporary culture is an extension of, or even a part of, a much larger context of Japanese tradition" (2008: 258). In the proposed paper we would argue that Miyazaki is indeed a modern story-teller, whose art is very much bound to folktale structure, thematic and impact.In this new anime-lore the author traces the emerging medium for transmission of ideas and visions, which are born in the interaction of local and global cultures and whose success has much to do with the essence of folktales.