Week 5/6 Miyasaki's representation of a princess

Miyazaki gives us a film that is an epic struggle for survival, an environmentalist argument and a critique of a patriarchal and industrialized society.The director shows that Japan is capable of putting the animation a step above to the point of making the viewer forget they are watching a movie in which the characters are drawn on paper and aren't flesh and bone actors.

Miyazaki’s representation of a princess is shown in the scene where Ashitaka, the protagonist, sees her for the first time, with a bloodied face, she cleans the wound of her mother, a wolf goddess, sucking the blood and spitting it away. Napier (2005) explains that Miyazaki changes the female stereotypes from Japanese culture and even from the anime world, accentuating masculine power and authority. 

The role of women in the Western has historically been very strong, while the role of women in Japan has been submissive and passive. Interestingly, the opposite happens with this animation. Western movies show princesses that are submissive whose aim is to marry the prince, while Miyazaki shows independent heroines.

Another aspect that stands out when comparing typical princesses with Miyazaki’s is the physical appearance. Usually princesses are drawing beautifully in detail, with bodies of Barbie and whose beauty was envied by other women. Miyazaki by contrast, draws a more human princess, who is young and with a realistic body, and her beauty has nothing to do with her physical appearance, but with her interior.

The matriarchal organization seen in the film is quite different of what you would expect from a Japanese director.  it shows an advanced society where there is equality for all regardless of gender or social status.