Disney and Ghibli: Two animation empires, two worldviews, and a century-long quest to imagine a better future
This groundbreaking book tells the story of the creative dialogue—and creative rivalry—between the world’s two most influential animation studios: Walt Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli. Susan Napier reveals how the films of Walt Disney (1901–1966) and Hayao Miyazaki (b. 1941) offered radically different visions of hope and happiness—visions shaped by the contrasting histories of twentieth‑century America and postwar Japan.
Inspired by sometimes-harmonizing, sometimes-opposing philosophies, the studios complicate, echo, and haunt each other as they grapple with the aftermath of devastating world wars, shifting gender norms, seismic technological advancements, and encroaching ecological destruction. Author of the acclaimed Miyazakiworld, Napier blends cultural history with close readings of these beloved films to explore
• How Disney and Ghibli imagined utopia after war and trauma
• Why Ghibli’s worldview resonates powerfully in the twenty‑first century
• Evolving depictions of heroines, childhood, technology, and animism
• The global cultural impact of animation as a serious art form
• Ghibli’s growing influence on Disney itself
Drawing on deep knowledge of animated cinema and Japanese culture, Napier offers an essential guide to how animation has shaped—and continues to reshape—our collective imagination.