We have said it before and we will continue saying over and over and over again that Hayao Miyazaki’s output is perfect. The wonder and creativity and aggressive pursuit of jaw-dropping imagery in his fluid animation is the stuff of artistic legend and helped put his Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli on the map years ago. The latest American entity to take his and Ghibli’s creative cues is Travel Oregon—the Pacific Northwestern state’s tourism board and the entity that’s responsible for making sure outsiders and tourists don’t forget that the humble coastal state is home to wonders like Crater Lake, the Siskiyou Mountains, and the epic Mount Hood.
Travel Oregon’s ad “Only Slightly Exaggerated” isn’t a Miyazaki movie, but it sure looks like one. It’s a 90-second animated wonder popping with color, motion, and characters—animals and humans alike—who look like they’d feel right at home sitting alongside something like My Neighbor Totoro’s. The ad presents a reality that arguably should exist—in our minds if nowhere else—a reality where giant rabbits dart across the plains carrying children on their backs, where hikers take a moment to look at the night sky across a mountain lake only to catch a glimpse of an imposing dragon made of yellow forest spirits, where whales take to the skies in a moment that calls back to one of the most memorable sequences of Fantasia 2000. Those whales in the sky, witnessed by a girl whose gaze never breaks away from them (and is accompanied by a frog standing on its hind legs and just as transfixed as she is), remind you that—yes—at one point you also took a moment to look at clouds in a bright sky, and you couldn’t help but marvel at them and keep staring.
That’s the power of “Only Slighly Exaggerated” and the power of most of Studio Ghibli’s best films. Through empathy, scale, reverence for reveries, and attention to the subtle details like the movement of wind across a field or the tying of shoelaces, they tether us to the tactile awareness of our surroundings and heightened sense that we typically lose when we’re hindered by work or responsibilities or social media or a pressing news cycle. To borrow from Oregon’s state motto, they remind us of what it was like to “fly with out own wings.”
Isn’t that what going on vacation is all about? Go hike in Oregon. Leave your phone at home.
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