According to Napier (2005), Princess Mononoke problematizes archetypes and icons, ranging from the notion of the emperor's untouchability to the traditional iconization of the feminine, to create a genuinely new vision of a Japan at the crossroads of history. In some ways one might characterize the film as a violent, indeed apocalyptic, elegy for a lost Japan at the same time that it offers an alternative, heterogeneous, and female-centered vision of Japanese identity for the future.
I do agree with Napier with the way he said that it really differs as how people think. Different people think of different things, this is why I believe that we should observe from different angles. Not only Princess Mononoke, many heroines of Miyazaki's other works have bold characteristics. They are all strong and brave young girls and have a boy beside to support them. I haven't done any research about this before, but in my own opinion it looks like Miyazaki is a feminist. That is because Japan is a typical country that people usually treat women inferior than men. It seems like he feels that there are a obvious inequality in Japan Society, and he is trying to push people a bit?
References
Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
I like your use of language
ReplyDelete"problematizes"
Winny, you are right!!
ReplyDeleteMiyazki has been called a feminist
by Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki.
Even in lighter films, all of the leading characters are professional women.
(I've searched it through internet..^^)