By KAITLYN HENSON
Staff Writer
Unlike Studio Ghibli’s other iconic movies, Whisper of the Heart tends to go unnoticed for many people. Visually it seems like an ordinary story with ordinary-looking characters, much different from characters such as Totoro or Ponyo. But on the first couple watches, you might find that this movie is much, much more than you might think at first.
Whisper of the Heart was made in September of 2006, and is about a young girl named Shizuku. Shizuku is a bookworm who often checks out books in the library, but finds out that all the books she’s read have been checked out previously by a student at her school. Throughout the film she wonders if it’s the boy she met later that day, the person that infuriates her the most.
What makes this film so interesting is how real it all feels; it doesn’t take place in any magical setting with the characters on this big journey. It’s pretty much a girl going to school and figuring out her life. She struggles with relationships, gets teased by her classmates, and is having to take finals that will determine what high school she goes to. Above all, she’s trying to make sense of the world around her and figuring out what she wants to create, which is something that we all struggle with at some point in our lives.
There’s many delightful themes and characters within this film, including Shizuku’s friend, her parents, and an old man that owns an antique shop. And within the antique shop is a statue of the Baron; a tiny anthropomorphic cat that wears a suit and top hat respectively. Shizuku finds the Baron, and would stay beside it often, trying to understand his story. Throughout the story she starts to become inspired to write her own fantasy story based around him.
I really enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would initially, mostly for it’s direct message about the struggles of creating something that can be considered “good enough”. Oftentimes when you’re trying to make something, whether that be artwork or a story or architecture, etc., you will find yourself comparing yourself to others and not feeling like the stuff you make is the “standard” or what the world expects of you. It can be hard and very pressuring if you’re someone who has a creative mind and wants to do something in a particular field. Shizuku is frustrated by this same thing because she believes that she’s not good enough to write her own story, and starts visiting the library less often and begins failing in school. The world of creation can be incredibly inspiring, but can also be suffocating if you don’t have the right confidence in yourself.
Shizuku finds out that the boy she met at the beginning of the story creates violins in his spare time, and she is in awe of his talent. This further inspires her to continue to create her story and to finish it, despite her initial fear of people reading it. With her newfound confidence she slowly starts putting her life together again. Working on your passion can be straining and difficult without having confidence in your skills and the want to learn. And Shizuku, being able to express herself and awaken her creative talent through her fantasy story, is something that I feel many people like her need to hear. Making stuff, let alone showing your creation to people, is terrifying. You are your own worst critic, but don’t let that part of yourself bring you down from doing something that you love and feel so strongly about. If you have an idea of something that you want to learn or create, then go out there and do it because it is special to YOU. That feeling of longing will feel like it’ll never go away until you make whatever it is you want, and that is the real message behind Whisper of the Heart.