Week 5 – What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime?
Hayao Miyazaki, born January 5th, 1941 in Tokyo, is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, screenwriter, author and manga artist. His work has acclaimed critical and popular success not just in Japan but in the western world and is thought to be one of the most influential animated filmmakers. His first major success in the film industry came when Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) was released, a story about a reluctant female warrior on her journey through an ecologically ravaged world. Nausicaa is a type of “eco-fable” telling the story of the collapse of the industrial world, with a premonition type narrative. Its themes include anti-war and anti-pollution, taking a stand against the industrialization and war fueled tendencies of the 20th century.
Connecting to Nausicaa, one of Miyazaki’s most other acclaimed works is Princess Mononoke, which is 1997 anime epic historical fantasy animated by Studio Ghibli. It is a period drama set in the late Muromachi period of Japan, with incorporated fantasy elements. The story follows a young female warrior; Ashitaki, and her involvement in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of the forest and the humans who consume its resources. Princess Mononoke is considered to be a prequel/sequel to Nausicaa in terms of thematic setting, and according to Miyazaki Princess Mononoke portrays the intended message in a more concise way.
One of the most important defining features of Miyazaki’s movies is the role of the shojo. Most of his stories are built around independent, strong willed female characters who possess a lot of agency and usually are only adolescents. These female characters take on the traditional male roles in storytelling and embody the qualities of a heroine, redefining the ideal of the hero’s journey. Example of the shojo in Nausicaa is Nausicaa herself, who is a young warrior who must defend her homeland, the Valley of the Wind, and has to exercise diplomacy between other kingdoms in order to avoid the outbreak of a full on war. She faces war, death, deforestation and environmental issues along with the uncertain fate of her people. In order to resolve these issues, she must use her diplomatic skills and rely on her scientific knowledge, something that up until that point wasn’t prominent for female characters. Another important point is that there is no romance involved in her story; Miyazaki allows for her to remain a strong female character who is oriented by their career, beliefs and leadership.
Because of how women are portrayed in Miyazaki’s storytelling, strong willed and in charge of their own fate, he is considered to be a feminist. His female characters are often in a position of power and engage with serious issues, along with possessing the tendency to save the ecosystem or the world. He has compared to Walt Disney in terms of being a prolific and celebrated animator, but the way female protagonists are represented is vastly different. While Disney created infamous princesses, whose existence revolved around meeting prince charming. According to Toshio Suzuki, the president of Studio Ghibli: “Miyazaki is a feminist, actually. He has this conviction that to be successful, companies have to make it possible for their female employees to succeed too. You can see this attitude in PRINCESS MONONOKE. All characters working the bellows in the iron works are women. Then there’s PORCO ROSSO. Porco’s plane is rebuilt entirely by women.”
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Good job Lilla, just remember you need to regularly post (as in weekly) as part of your grade. I seem to be missing a week six from you.
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