Summary
July 23rd saw the Spanish general elections, and surprisingly, a quote from aStudio Ghiblifilm made its way into the news as it became part of a campaign slogan. The quote came from the moviePorco Rosso, and thanks to a huge influx in fan art onTwitterrelated to the election in Spain, it went viral. Twitter user and artist Álvaro Ortiz was the first to make the connection and post on the social media sight, and he started a snowball effect that took over Spanish Twitter.
Porco Rossowas originally released in 1992. It follows the story of Marco, a pilot who takes to the skies to hunt down “air pirates” over the Adriatic Sea. However, he is no ordinary pilot - he is the victim of a strange curse which has turned him into an anthropomorphic pig! The movie follows his journey as a bounty hunter, while trying to avoid the threat of war creeping over the horizon in Italy.
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In English, the famous quote used was, “Better a pig than a fascist” (“Mejor ser un cerdo que un fascista” in Spanish).Porco Rossois set during World War II, and like many Studio Ghibli films, isan anti-war message. The main character, Marco, is a veteran of WWI in the story. When his friend Rory warns him that the new Italian government, the National Fascist Party, will attempt to recruit them to fly for him, he counters with this memorable line - made even better because he is, literally, a pig.
It connected with the modern-day election in Spain because it included the central-right party Partido Popular along with the far-right party Vox. These political parties, along with the line fromPorco Rosso, are what inspired theart movementonline.Ten days before the election, on July 10th, Álvaro Ortiz posted the first bit ofPorco Rosso-inspired art. It was a drawing of Marco in his airplane simply saying “vote” in Spanish.
Shortly after the original post, the quote wastrending on Twitter, and many other artists joined in the fun. They all redrew the same picture as Ortiz, with Marco offering a thumbs up from his airplane and encouraging people to vote. What was most interesting was all the different artists remade the picture in their own style, resulting in a plethora of Marcos taking over Spanish Twitter - just in time for the election.
At the time of writing, there is still no clear result for the election in Spain, and a solid winning party has not yet been declared. However, far-right party Vox did lose seats in the government for sure, which shows that perhaps the Twitter campaign had at least a little bit of an impact on the election! Hayao Miyazaki himself, known for hisstrong anti-war beliefs, would surely be proud if he knew whatPorco Rossowas still inspiring even today.
