The Power of Studio Ghibli

STARTING FEB 1, Netflix will showcase the expansive catalogue of animation films by Studio Ghibli, the revered Japanese art house co-founded by Hayao Mizayaki. For Netflix, it's a smart move to help counter Disney's withdrawal of all its shows from Netflix to start its own streaming service Disney+. Though the canons of Disney (which now include Pixar) and Ghibli are each monumental in their own right, the current zeitgeist may well favour Ghibli's creations over anything Disney has ever made.

To start with, Miyazaki empowers his female characters beyond anything we've ever seen in animation. In the last decade, Hollywood cinema finally put women front and center of action blockbusters, with tentpoles such as The Hunger Games (2012), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2…