on re-watching "Castle in the Sky"

I think that part of what I love so very much about Miyazaki films is that they use symphonic music the way I remember it from going to concerts as a child. Ordinary movies use symphonic scores, but they're always kind of John Williams-esque. They work in their own particular way. They're meant to underscore, not to lead.

Miyazaki could almost be using classical symphonic compositions unrelated to his films as scores. The instrumentation is free and unconventional and empowered. It really does make me feel like I'm back home, going to symphony concerts with my father, and telling myself stories about the music. The instruments matter just as much as the vocal performances do - sometimes even more.

Also, I love Miyazaki's tendency to draw big, capable women with massive bustlines. It makes me all happy inside.

As it's rainy and I'm going to be alone all night, and as I don't have any classes tomorrow, I'm going to mainline Miyazaki, and then maybe watch Fullmetal Alchemist. Safe warm lovely things, with pretty music. It took me a few years, after I moved out, for me to realize how much I needed orchestral music. As a kid, it was always playing around me, and so I played my own stuff. Without daddy to provide the Bach and Copeland, I have to remember to play those things myself. They make me so awfully happy.