[jfax]

Earwig and the Witch was a really fun movie to watch back when the Gamestop short squeeze was in the news. It's a film about overcoming cruelty and injustice through a hacker mindset, rather than resolving conflict through cathartic resistance. Goro in an interview said:

> "Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoshiyuki Tomino, are, in a manner of speaking, the first generation of those who experienced the war, who saw a radical change in values. Their opposition to authority and violence began from a certain kind of resistance, and they came together to make something, to start building something new. I think it's a kind of revolutionary mindset. But it's not possible for those of us who were born amid the period of economic development to possess that. The answer I've come to now, which made me think while making movies, is found in Earwig."

> "There's dubious stuff going on across the world, and there's no rosy future waiting after an upheaval. And this state of affairs will probably continue," Goro says. "If people rose up democratically against violence, would stable peace eventuate? It's a very difficult situation. I get the feeling that an ending with catharsis isn't something you should portray without careful consideration. At the same time, we need some kind of fantasy to live mentally enriched. We realized the time has come to decide on where to put emphasis."