“Learning to Fly” — Kiki’s Delivery Service and the Unchanging Economy

The 1989 film remains relevant to young creatives, but why?

A girl flew through the night sky. “The wind blowing past her grew stronger, and the bristles of her broom sounded like a running river. Now and then she saw a scattering of lights between the dark mountains.” The roar of a plane engine and the beams of headlights split the night. Soon, “the eastern sky began to grow lighter… The hills were carpeted in the gentle greens of spring and looked light enough to float into the air… she saw a village with trails of smoke rising from chimneys.” At last, she reached a town. “Tall buildings, both box-shaped and triangular, jutted toward the sky. “On the ground, the streets were bustling with afternoon shoppers” and she was isolated, hovering above them — basking in the “solitude of flying alone.”

It is not surprising that this image resonated with Hayao Miyazaki as he adapted Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service. His father and uncle both worked in the aeronautical industry and he spent his childhood…