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I do often take slight issue whenever Laputa Castle in the Sky is touted as a “completely original” work by Miyazaki, as implied here...
...I’ve heard it many times, but let’s face it, few things are “completely original” and if they were, I wouldn’t count Laputa among them. I don’t think it is an obscure fact that the floating land concept and even the *title itself* clearly comes from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels:
Don’t forget also: the robot design was one that Miyazaki already employed in Lupin III.
And, in turn, he initially took the concept for it from the Fleischer Superman cartoon, “The Mechanical Monsters.”...
It’s hard to believe one can make a convincing argument that Laputa is 100% original: I would have thought it hard to obfuscate *in Japan* the very fact that Japan itself is actually featured in Gulliver’s Travels – the only non-fictional location Gulliver actually travels to.
(Prev. img: https://studyenglish.at.webry.info/201504/article_4.html ) The chapter is a fascinating satire of how the Dutch were happy to step on crucifixes and deny their Christianity in order to have access to Japan’s ports during the seclusion era, before the Meiji Restoration...
To recap, personally, hailing Laputa as “100% original Miyazaki” is to deny the historical works that informed it previously, and at the end of the day, that adds to the wonder and enjoyment of the film, rather than takes away from it, IMO. And don’t get me started on Nausicaa :P
