'Mirza Ghibli' and its arty discontents

Oh dear, oh dear. Move over real problems like neighbourhood potholes and climatic apocalypses. There's a new catastrophe gripping hearts of keyboard warriors: ChatGPT's crimes against art, a.k.a. its new 'Studio Ghibli' filter for images. That's right. This is the hill some people have chosen to die on-a water-coloured picturesque hill, mind you, probably with a whimsy tree, and a fluffy catbus zooming by. Apparently, some folks believe that letting ChatGPT generate images with a Ghibli-inspired aesthetic is a personal affront to Hayao Miyazaki himself. Yes, because a man who famously said, 'Anime was a mistake,' is dead against AI giving a meadow too much pastel glow.

Whiners argue it's cheapening the legacy of the beloved animation studio. Then there are Caravaggiosts who insist that Ghiblified images 'can't replace real art'. Er, why on earth would an AI app want to do that? It's just another filter through which recognisable images-whether it's the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid or iconic film scenes-are turned into the iconic, recognisable 'animation' images. Studio Ghibli itself has rebutted a fake 'cease and desist' letter making rounds on social media. In sooth, this isn't about respect for art. It's about people needing to feel superior about something, anything (read: 'I love/know Ghibli' that you don't understand).