I’m no stranger to inspiration, seeking it or feeling it. My childhood was one filled with notebooks, cardboard boxes, and long-winded narratives featuring various Hamtaro characters, and whatever else was in the plastic menagerie. There was always media in the background, some movie on repeat or Saturday morning cartoons. Being that I was the only child in my household fighting for the remote, there were also plenty of shows that went way over my head.
For example, the Meredith and Derek romance of Grey’s Anatomy had all my Barbies (and Kens) becoming surgeons with scalpels dripping of melodrama while watching Titanic for the first time meant my toys were constantly fighting for survival aboard a sinking ship. Play time wasn’t about recreating the plot or relationships using toys, though, it was just that everything I consumed had to come out somewhere else – the same way that Taco Bell does. It’s all shit in the end.
I’ve given my fair share of presentations throughout my life. The ones where I cite my sources, quote the authors I “drew inspiration from,” and every time it felt disingenuous. My work tethered, only in theory and not in practice, to another writer’s, usually long dead, not even able to feel their ears burn as I spoke about them in front of my peers – the actual people inspiring and influencing my work. Did I really draw inspiration from Sylvia Plath? Sure, the same way every other depressed English undergrad did. But, Plath is Plath is Plath. No one else is Plath, no matter how hard they try.
So, when I hear Wes Ball, the director of the new live action Zelda movie, say that he’s “drawing inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki” I call bullshit. For long-time fans of both Ghibli and the Legend of Zelda series, a collaboration between the two studios felt just shy of a dream – there was potential, especially since Ghibli stories and Zelda stories tend to draw from a similar narrative well. Youth, curiousity, exploration, grief – parallels made even more obvious with the latest era of Zelda.
But “drawing inspiration from” is not a replacement for the collaboration that could never happen. Emulation is an exercise taught frequently in writing programs. Read Walt Whitman and live in the grass leaves he lived in. This is a fine and dandy practice, and one that’s beneficial to get professional writing jobs, where you can adapt to a brand’s tone and style, but the purpose of emulation isn’t to make it your own. It’s to place a Legend on a pedestal and attempt to recreate their work without any of the tools, context, or experience. Ball’s comments regarding Ghibli makes me think of this exercise in futility. He’s playing a dangerous game with a pool of lifelong fans.
As it stands, “A Live Action Zelda Movie Inspired by Ghibli” misses the point of both what makes Zelda, Zelda, and what makes Ghibli, Ghibli. What part of Ghibli is he drawing from? And what part of Zelda? Is it the weird, little characters? The subtlety of emotion? The soft backgrounds? Hunger-inducing food scenes? The ethereal nature of growing up? There’s enough to be inspired by in a Ghibli film, but there’s an equal treasure trove found already in the Zelda world. The considerable overlap aside, does Ball know what makes Zelda, Zelda or does he think Zelda and Ghibli are one in the same?
Inspiration, to me, is a passive thing. It’s the buzz of a mosquito in your ear while you’re trying to relax in a hammock. It sweeps you when you’re immersed in something else like a chill in a hot tub. It never comes when you’re seeking a specific crumb. Every time I’ve looked for inspiration, I’ve come up empty-handed. Trying to consume something solely for inspiration turns it into shit.
Many an outlet disagrees, keeping optimism alive in these trying times. Really though, Ball’s nod to Ghibli sounds like a sad attempt at quelling the fear fans rightfully have that their beloved, whimsical gaming franchise will be rendered a CGI disaster with an ill-fitting, all-star cast a la Uncharted, or, dare I say, Sonic the Hedgehog? Why drag Ghibli into this? It’s rich coming from a director who at one point (yes, it was in 2010, so it might not hold true), made comments that a Zelda movie should be a mo-capped blockbuster like James Cameron’s Avatar. (Cameron is cited as yet another inspiration for him. As I’m a fan of both Cameron and Miyazaki, I would suggest that a film trying to capture either oeuvre in one go have a billion dollar budget and a good production manager.) Ball has also called Zelda “an untapped IP with so much potential.” An untapped IP, not an inspiring 40-year Legend of a series with millions of worldwide fans in its own right. That’s show business, baby.
If the Legend of Zelda is just an untapped IP with so much potential, then it truly is sad to see that potential wasted on this upcoming film, where best business practices seem to be at the forefront more so than paying homage to a beloved video game legacy. And it’s even sadder to see other beloved legacies drawn into the mire, touted as “inspiration.” Balls’ dug his own grave with that sentiment, and I will be watching closely to see if he really can capture Miyazaki and Nintendo’s work without the tools, context, wonder, and whimsy that truly inspired it. Or, if it will be exactly what I’m expecting: shit.
Shea Angus 
Adriana Wiszniewska