60% of the world’s population lives in the continent – but in Hollywood it’s still regarded as one homogeneous place. Can Disney’s new film change things?
It should be cause for celebration that we have reached the stage where we can have a Hollywood movie with an all-star cast of Asian-descended actors. Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (out now on Disney+ at a premium price) is voiced by the likes of Star Wars’s Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh and Benedict Wong. We are in a good moment for representation in movies in general, when you factor in awards.
The Music Makes It: Studio Ghibli s Dream Duo - Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi wpgu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wpgu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mary And The Witch’s Flower.
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who was an animator at the studio for 20 years, was trusted enough to direct not one but two features for Ghibli,
Arrietty and
When Marnie Was There, so in teaming up with producer Yoshiaki Nishimura (
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya, Howl’s Moving Castle) they make a formidable duo with plenty of experience. For their inaugural feature they looked to a children’s story,
The Little Broomstick, by British novelist Mary Stewart, perhaps best known for her
Merlin trilogy and romantic thrillers featuring ‘anti-nambi-pamby’ heroines. So far, so promising.
In
Mary And The Witch’s Flower a restless, headstrong girl runs off into the woods, picks a flower and finds an unruly broom that whisks her off on a dizzy adventure involving mutant animals, magic-hungry witches and a boy who needs rescuing. Hiromasa Yonebayashi explains, via a translator, why they are launching their studio with this particular tale: “I made
Titled Studio Ghibli Complete Works, the book covers everything from fan favourites My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle to the forthcoming Earwig and the Witch