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Grief is all around us - even at the heart of the vibrant, vividly characterized, whimsical films of Studio Ghibli.
Though made for adults and children alike, movies produced by Studio Ghibli are filled with themes of loss - of innocence and love, of the world itself and of our connection to it. Whether facing the realities of the death of a loved one, the small and continual losses we encounter throughout our daily lives, or the anticipatory grief of the environment's ongoing decline, each beloved film holds its own lesson we can take forward into our lives and find comfort in.
In Now Go, Karl Thomas Smith enters the emotional waters to interrogate not only how Studio Ghibli navigates grief but how these works have informed his own understanding of its manifold faces, weaving cornerstone films and characters - including My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, The Boy and the Heron, and more - with his own life and the broader human experience of loss.
Ghibli films, with all the magic and mystery they contain, become beacons of joy offering us a winking light in the darkness.
Karl Thomas Smith is a writer covering fashion, music, film, and other arts-adjacent topics for outlets including Dazed, Highsnobiety, i-D, and more. Previously an editor at Hypebeast and The Quietus, he is now the editorial director of FUTUREVVORLD. He lives in Brighton with his wife, Marianne, and their dog, Bowie. He can usually be found cooking.
Introduction: A winking light in the darkness
Chapter 1: Grief has No-Face
Chapter 2: Our neighbour, certain death
Chapter 3: The squandered gift
Chapter 4: The animated anthropocene
Chapter 5: Grief is a myth, and myths are real
Epilogue