The first film in
my analysis of the
films of Hayo Miyazaki is the excellent adventure classic Lupin the Third: The Castle of
Cagliostro. This marks the first feature film directorial debut for
Miyazaki where, like Christopher Nolan on the film
Insomnia, he was more of a director for hire for a film that was
already slated for production. However, unlike Nolan, Miyazaki was able to be
both writer, chief animator and storyboard artist which allowed him greater
creative control than Nolan had. Thus, this film, as with a lot of directors
that reach such acclaim as Miyazaki, is a prototype for future work; and
therefore has a lot of the concepts, elements and ideas that will be fleshed
out in future films. With Miyazaki, this film is a resounding trumpet that
leads to the development of not only his own style, but of his own studio; the
famed Studio
Ghibli.
PLOT
Master
thief Arsene Lupin III and his right hand man Diasuke Jigen rob a bank in
Monaco. As they are celebrating their victory Lupin realizes that the money
they stole are legendary forgeries called “goat bills”. Once they dump the fake
currency, they travel to the supposed birthplace of the counterfeit cash, the
grand duchy of Cagliostro; a place Lupin had attempted to rob before (10 years
prior) but was thwarted by the palace guards and heavy security.
Once in the region, Lupin and Jigen
interrupt an escape attempt/kidnapping of Lady Clarisse. After which Lupin
enlists the help of his second partner Goemon Ishikawa, Super spy Fujiko Mine
and Inspector Koichi Zenigata, (the INTERPOL agent that is always trying to
catch Lupin) in order to rescue Clarisse and find out the secrets of the
Cagliostro Castle.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The
film Castle of Cagliostro is based on
the characters in the “Lupin the Third” Manga created by Monkey
Punch in 1967. In 1971 one of
Miyazaki’s first animation jobs was to direct episodes for the Lupin
the third tv series. When Miyazaki moved from A-Pro studios to TMS
entertainment in 1979, he was given the chance to write, storyboard and direct
what was at the time only the second “Lupin” film (The first being “The
Mystery of Mamo”). It is under Miyazaki’s direction that this film
not only becomes one of the best Lupin films, it also marks as a drastic change
from the characters both in the manga as well as the previous and any
subsequent Lupin films. In this way
Miyazaki shows his talent for character and strong storytelling that eventually
becomes a major influence for some of the important animators over the next
thirty years.
Characters and their ‘Cagliostro’s
iterations (Spoilers ahead)
The
depiction of the Lupin the third characters in Castle of Cagliostro is a radical departure than how they have been
represented before or since in various media properties. In many of these other
(lesser) depictions, the characters are often selfish, cynical, and morally
ambiguous to such a degree that to watch them with any kind of sociological or
critical eye is difficult, leaving the critic angry and/or having to make
excuses for character behavior by delegitimizing the property as nothing more
than fiction. Therefore, there is something to be gleaned from a brief comparison
between how the main characters are usually depicted and Miyazaki choses to
depict them in his film.
Arsene Lupin
III
It is through Lupin
himself that Miyazaki provides the most divergent take. In the manga and other
films (not directed by Miyazaki) Lupin is an ego-centric, lecherous morally
bankrupt violent killer.[1] He is always
thinking about his next score, women, or living up to the memory of his thief
ancestor. He often puts his “friends” in compromising situations that make them
have to defend themselves. This is especially true with his relationship with
Fujiko Mine which is often depicted as violent often suggestive of rape and
sexual harassment.
The
Cagliostro Lupin, while portrayed as
one that flirts and is described as a “ladies man” at one point. The focus of
the story is Lupin helping Clarisse because he owes her for saving his life,
and not because he wants to sleep with her. In fact, the film goes out of its
way at several points to show just how uninterested he is in Clarisse. In the
films initial chase sequence Lupin does not go after Clarisse until he realizes
that she is being chased by armed men. Secondly, after the film’s climatic
sequence, as Lupin and Clarisse are talking Clarisse is willing to leave with
Lupin and become a thief. He gently refuses and leaves with his compatriots.
It is also interesting to note that all of the
behavior that is characteristic of Lupin in other iterations is embodied in Cagliostro’s villain. At several points
in the film, The Count is called lecherous, devious, and untrustworthy and is
shown on several occasions to be violent, devoid of humanity, and in one
sequence, blood thirsty. Thus, when he dies a gruesome death (crushed by large
clock hands) it serves as a strong critique of those character traits.
By contrast, this makes the Cagliostro version of Lupin the
antithesis of how he exists in other forms. Miyazaki’s Lupin is the thief with
a heart of gold, he is noble and honest with a clear moral center. By this
simple shift Miyazaki is not only infusing the character with a sensibility
that Miyazaki would be more comfortable writing, but also putting his definitive
stamp on the character, whose ideals and values show up in other characters in
a lot of his later work.
Jigen and Goemon
Two of
the characters that get the least to do in Miyazaki’s Cagliostro are the characters of Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa. While these characters have extensive
backstories in the manga and in the subsequent films, even to the point where
there are several films that focus on one or both of these characters. These
rich backstories are not represented in Cagliostro,
either because the said backstories had yet to be written at the time of the
films production, or those details did not fit with the story that Miyazaki
wanted to tell. Instead, Miyazaki decides to use them sparingly; each given a
sequence or two of action while at other times literally being sidelined throughout
several sequences. The greater victim of this is Goemon, of which little is
known of in the film. All Miyazaki does is infuse him with the honor and
nobility that is found in typical Samurai stereotypes.
Miyazaki does offer a little bit more
dimension to Jigen from the beginning of the film through the films first two
action sequences. In this the Cagliostro Jigen
seems to be more loyal, less violent and certainly more friendly than his Manga
counterpart These sequences play on the “best friend” relationship Jigen and
Lupin seem to have[2] and show Jigen as an
easy going, humorous fellow do-gooder thief. In this version, gone is the
tragic backstory, the deep nihilism and bitterness that saturates a lot of the
other stories (especially the ones that focus on Jigen). Much like with Lupin,
these characteristics did not fit with Miyazaki’s sensibilities nor with the
tone he wanted Cagliostro to have;
therefore these traits were properly exorcised for the film.
Fujiko Mine
Aside from Lupin,
the character of Fujiko Mine is the most changed from her portrayal in the
Manga and in the other non Miyazaki Lupin films. Originally, she was created to
be a series of 2 dimensional female characters that were the “girl” to Lupin’s “Bond”.
But Monkey Punch stated that rather than create different female characters all
of the time, he just amalgamated all his ideas into one character. Because of
her paper-thin origins, Fujiko, in almost every iteration is hyper sexualized
(even appearing nude or near nude in several films) and the object of Lupin’s
constant lust. She is often “damseled” and seen as of secondary importance.
Miyazaki’s Fujiko is nothing of the sort, in fact that Fujiko can be seen as
the proto-feminist
template that Miyazaki will become
known for in future films[3]
In Castle of Cagliostro, we are introduced
to Fujiko as a simple hand maiden, but quickly find out that she was sent to
the region of Cagliostro to spy on the Count (for whom we are not quite sure).
Throughout the course of the film we find out that Fujiko is not only adept at
espionage, and a master of disguise but she is proficient in martial arts and
military weapons and tactics. When
Fujiko decides to help with Clarisse’s escape Fujiko explains her history with
Lupin to Clarisse. When Clarisse surmises that Lupin left her (and thereby
breaking her heart). Fujiko corrects her with a smile stating how she left
Lupin. In this one simple piece of dialogue it shows Fujiko as a “self-possessed
women at the top of her field”[4] In this story, she
is not there for Lupin, she does not follow Lupin, their paths just are intersecting
at this particular point[5] and they diverge
just as quickly at the end (when again she leaves causing Lupin to pursue her).
Over the years, (after the cultural impact of Cagliostro) Fujiko has been given some
amount of agency (but it is usually only agency gained though sex) and some
depictions showing her to be just as ruthless and violent as Lupin. It is difficult to say how much of this
agency that Fujiko eventual achieves was the original intention of Monkey
Punch, or is the result of the acceptance and canonization of the Cagliostro story. Either way, Miyazaki’s
Fujiko, with minimal screen time, is the most well rounded non sexualized
depiction we have seen so far.
Miyazaki before Ghibli
An important aspect
of trying to understand the historical context of this film and judging it accordingly
is to understand that this is the first film of a (clearly) talented director
before he became synonymous with the term Animation. It is in tis film were he
is given creative control of the films production but was still hamstrung by
the limitations of the Lupin IP. However, this along with his next feature,
ignite the germ that would lead to the creation of one of the greatest
animation studios in the world.
INFLUENCES
Over the years, Miyazaki’s Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is
regarded as not only the aforementioned best of the Lupin films, it was once
regarded by Steven Speilberg as one of the greatest adventure movies of all
time[6] and may have been a
inspiration for Indiana Jones. This is film is so well regarded that many homages
to the film can be seen in other animated films and tv shows. The two most egregious
examples of this are The Great
Mouse Detective and the Clock King
episode of Batman
the Animated Series
The Clock King:Batman:TAS
Partners with Disney
Miyazaki has influenced, many animators and
companies but no company more so than Disney. Many of the key animators at Disney
through the late 1990’s through the 2000s have been influenced by Miyazaki’s
work. However, it was the love of Miyazaki’s work ( and Cagliostro in particular ) that caused animator, executive and sexual
harasser John
Lasseter to convince the Disney company to
be the international distributor of Ghibli films through the 2000’s to early
2011 when they sold it to GKIDS
It is just unfortunate to note that people
in the United States would not know of Miyazaki, or this film without Disney given its number of ethical
and human
rights violations the company suffers from. This stings especially when you
consider the overall themes of Miyazaki’s work being in direct opposition to
the corporate practices of a company that he influenced.
CONCLUSION
This
is my favorite Miyazaki film. I have been a champion for it since I saw it in
early 2000. Unfortunately, regardless of its brilliance, it is often not
included in boxed sets of Miyazaki’s work, nor is it considered one of the
Studio Ghibli films. In fact, the
blu-ray of this film is difficult
to find. Yet, it is worth your time and analysis as this review, and
others protest.
[1] So
much so that the content of the manga and some of the films had to be greatly
censored
[2] Although not once
does Jigen call Lupin “boss” an inflection and term of endearment that used in
both the manga and the later films. While some would see this as doing a
disservice to the character, I would consider this a extreme form of fan
Nitpicking and what can lead to toxic
fan culture
[3]
Especially in Nausicca, his first film under Studio Ghibli
[5]
Earlier in the film Lupin states that he hasn’t seen Fujiko in over a year.
[6]
Quote taken from the 2000 DVD release of Castle
of Cagliostro
