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Reality Subtext - Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea

Hayao Miyazaki made Ponyo partly as an apology to his son Goro, who he had publicly feuded with during the production of Tales from Earthsea, Goro’s first movie. Word of Miyazaki is that Sosuke is modeled after young Goro and his mother after his wife, which by logic would make the father who’s always away Miyazaki himself. The Morse code messages the father sends them from his ship when he tells them he’s not coming home yet - “I’m sorry and I love you” - are thus meant for Miyazaki’s family.