And the elder Miyazaki walked out during the premier of his son's first feature film in an apparent expression of disgust at his son's creation. Not exactly a model father.
Old Hayao was not a good father, even more so for Western standards. He dragged his son into his work, and then effectively threw him under the bus when it became clear he was not going to be particularly good at it. From the outside, it looks like a classic case of a capostipite, the upstart who builds a family fortune and is then disgusted at the fact that his son is of a different breed.
Looking at it from the elder Miyazaki's perspective: Seeing that disaster of a film and realizing that your name was going to be associated with it forever after you spent your entire working life establishing a very high standard was probably a very difficult thing to endure.
I rather think it’s the opposite. It was a decent film, but all the others are masterpieces. It sucks for Goro because it’s basically impossible to live up to the standard unless you’re a once a century genius.
