Laputa - The Castle in the Sky
Laputa: The Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ; Tenku no shiro Rapyuta) is a 1986 animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Characters
- Sheeta--a little girl, the heroine of this story, and possessor of a mysterious flying stone.
- Pazu--young boy, friend of Sheeta who serves as an apprentice to a boiler machanic and helps Sheeta throughout the story.
Plot
There is a legend that somewhere high up in the sky, a flying castle called Laputa is still wandering about in the air. The people who lived on Laputa had a highly
advanced technology to maintain Laputa in the air and they had ruled the people on the earth with the threat of their technology some 700 years ago.
Sheeta's family heirloom, a stone that prevents one from falling to one's death has some connection to the flying city. She is pursued by pirates who wish to steal it, and by the military for unknown reasons.
Other Information
The flying island/city Laputa is based on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, though the two stories are not related in any other way. The name of the movie was changed in the USA to Castle in the Sky because "la puta" means "whore" in Spanish. Swift undoubtedly knew this, but Miyazaki probably did not.
Referenced By
Atlantis: The Lost Empire | List of Japan-related topics L-Z | Streamline Pictures | Studio Ghibli
|
