Using specific examples, and focusing on a specific
area of digital practice, consider how successful it has been as a means of
representing and/or developing identities? Focus on one area, for example,
gender, sexuality, race, nationality, class.
Written by Sacha Frampton
This essay will be exploring the means in
which Studio Ghibli, and the films of Miyazaki, develops the identities of
child audiences in society. This is possible as they use strong female children
as the main protagonists and represent Japanese culture and upbringing in these
films, outside Westernized upbringing. Due to the use of child and female
character protagonists within the studio’s films, this discussion will use this
ideal as its main conversation point. It is interesting to see the level of
involvement of Eastern culture within the films compared to its more Western
counterparts such as Disney and Dreamworks, whom take a more stereotypical
narrative. A comparison between said studios would indicate the major
differences between their themes and characters; however this essay will be
giving a further analysis of just the studio’s films, with minor references to
other studios.
There are many reasons as to why Miyazaki
uses female role models in the studios work, but it is mainly rooted in the
events of his childhood. Born in 1941, Miyazaki was raised during the end of
World War II but never fully understood the seriousness or danger in the
situation he was in. At the age of three his largest concern was the birth of
his brother ‘a new baby, who immediately took his place, as the
smallest and most loved and protected child of his adoring mother, and the
families evacuation of the war ravaged Tokyo.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web) At the age of six his mother
became terribly ill and was hospitalised suffering with spinal trombiculiasis,
and it wasn’t until he was fourteen that she was fully recovered. Her bravery
and kind nature held a massive impact upon Miyazaki and his admiration for
women, which is where his strong feminist roots began. Helen McCarthy, an
established writer of Miyazaki’s work, stated that ‘His heroic ideal draws from his own life, and his observation of the
society he lived in and the world that society functioned in.’ (McCarthy,
2011, Web)
As previously mentioned, a parent or
guardian’s effect upon their children will always be a great force in the
child’s upbringing and development of character. Miyazaki holds great
importance to his mother as a role model, which has influenced his films and the
way that his female characters are portrayed. This being said, parents today
are having increasingly less time to spend with offspring, due to outside
pressures of money and work. These factors are affecting the way children are
being raised, as many are left to occupy themselves, often resulting in them watching
excessive amounts of TV or films. Ghibli has noticed this and by creating films
with strong protagonists, it begins to compensate for the heritage and moral
values which Miyazaki feels children lack in today’s society. What is saddening
is Miyazaki was not able to give his children the treatment which he feels
every child deserves, and says in his autobiographical book Starting Point 1979~1996, 'I tried to be a good father, but in the end I wasn't a very good parent.
I thought I hadn't demanded that they study or insisted on what path they
should take, leaving it up to them. But from my children I hear, "Father
didn't scold us with words, he scolded us by showing us his back."’ (Miyazaki, 2009, Page 204)
Role models in films and games are becoming
increasingly significant, as these mediums are taking a stronger importance in
the society we live in. Under the Oxford Dictionaries definition, a role model
is ‘a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated’, (Oxford
Dictionary, 2013, Web) showing the importance they have on society,
as children will want to replicate their behavior.
Ghibli chose to rewrite what we expect role
models to be in popular culture’s films, and ‘moved
gradually, further away from a model of heroism that had worked in popular
culture for decades, but that fundamentally dissatisfied him.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web) In David Gauntlett’s
book ‘Media, Gender and Identity’, the definition and categorisation of role
models is explored. He has managed to split them into five categories, with
Studio Ghibli’s women protagonists fitting under the category of ‘The ‘challenging stereotypes’ role model:
These might be successful black, female, gay or disabled people in the public
eye, who counter traditional or prejudiced ideas about the limitations of
certain groups.’ (Gauntlett, 2008, Page 226)
The main difference between
using a male or a female character in usual stereotypical Western animations,
is that ‘If you’re a boy you are a dopey
animal, and if you are a girl you should bring your warrior costume.’ (Stokes, 2013, Web) However Ghibli steers away
from this, and allows the characters stories to evolve. Helen McCarthy
reflected on this matter, and believes that she now fully understands the
difference in female characters and states that ‘The story of a man gaining independence is always told through events,
he defeats an opponent in a battle, or he fights his way through a difficult
situation. But in the case of women, it’s to feel, to accept, or to cradle,
something like that, not this.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web)
Miyazaki wanted to start to
create strong female protagonists before he created Studio Ghibli, and Panda Go
Panda was his first attempt in doing so. He soon realised that he wasn’t able
to give the characters enough depth in personality and strength, as ‘they’re constantly surrounded and
protected by adults, and even by setting up an artificial situation… he
couldn’t introduce the level of jeopardy that heroism requires in a show for
small children.’ (McCarthy,
2011, Web) He later decided that he was unable to create a
strong character in Panda Go Panda, as although in a situation where she is
left alone, she was unable to ‘express
their heroism most completely and thoroughly, through service to others.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web)
Colin Stokes, during his TED
Talks, discussed the importance of women role models, fundamentally comparing
The Wizard of Oz, his daughter’s favourite film, to Star Wars, his son’s. He
does however go on to discuss Studio Ghibli along with other studios, but the
key themes and elements which make these female role models so significant is
the same; ‘1939 with The Wizard of Oz,
how’s Dorothy win her movie? By making friends with everybody and being a
leader, that’s kind of the world I’d like to raise my kids in, Oz right, and
not the world of dudes fighting which is kind of where we have to be.’ (Stokes, 2013, Web)
During this talk the Bechel
list was mentioned, which is a simple list of assessed movies, created by the
famous feminist comic book artist Alison Bechel. She measures films and it’s content
by three simple questions, ‘Is there more
than one character in the movie that is female who has lines? So try to meet
that bar. And do these women talk to each other at any point in the movie? And
is their conversation about anything other than the guy that they both like?
Two women that exist, and talk to each other about stuff, it does happen, I’ve
seen it, and yet I’ve very rarely seen it in the movies that we know and love.’ (Stokes, 2013, Web) If all of these are met the
female protagonists may still lack in depth, not particularly giving them the
chance to develop as a character. The difference with Ghibli’s work is that
they allow females to ‘be more than a
sidekick or a love interest. Who can in fact make her own journey, from primal
innocence to mature self-determination, without requiring the assistance of a
man.’ (McCarthy,
2011, Web) Which
makes a startling contrast to statistics shown from 2011, where only eleven of
the hundred most popular films of that year had female protagonists. Some argue
that ‘We're supposed to have just
lived through a new golden age of animation, but clearly it has been one where
boys are better than girls,’ (Rose, 2011,
Web) which is due to large companies such as Pixar only using female
characters to be ‘token love-interests,
stay-at-home mums and other stereotypes bent on spoiling the boys' party.’ (Rose, 2011, Web) It has been mentioned that
every Pixar film is about ‘the journey of a boy, or a man, or two men who are
friends, or a man and his son or two men who are raising a little girl. Until,
as many of you are thinking, this year when they finally came out with Brave.’ (Stokes, 2013, Web) As strong and visually enriching that Brave is, like
Diney’s latest princess film Tangled, it tells the story of a female who’s fate
is to be ladylike and marry, even if the story allows them to have a wider
freedom to earlier princess animations. Unfairly, Studio Ghibli is ‘often lazily dubbed Japan's answer to Disney, but the
comparison only holds true in terms of box-office sales... In terms of content,
Studio Ghibli is a world apart,’ (Rose, 2011,
Web) as they value their female roles and completely let them have a free
reign on their own stories.
When talking about his own
children, Colin Stokes during his TED talks stated that male children need to
be taught ‘how a real man is someone who
trusts his sisters, and respects them, and who wants to be on their team, and
stands up against the real bad guys, who are the men who want to abuse the
women,’ (Stokes, 2013, Web) and uses Ghibli’s Spirited Away as one of his
main examples of films which do this.
This being said, ‘Miyazaki does
princesses, too, but the first time we see his eponymous Princess Mononoke,
she's sucking the gunshot wound of a giant wolf and spitting blood into a
river,’ (Rose,
2011, Web) a very different kind of
princess that we are used to in American popular culture. Ghibli’s films,
although primarily aimed at children, are not afraid to break the stereotypes
previously discussed, with Princess Mononoke being one of the most domineering of
his female protagonists. In this film in particular
Parents often believe that the difference in
language will be a barrier for their children when watching foreign films, in
this case Ghibli’s Japanese spoken films. The studio however has opened up
their audience, by producing subtitled and now dubbed over versions of each
film. What is most interesting, is that some parents are choosing to show their
children the Japanese version without either subbing or dubbing as ‘the
narrative drive of Totoro is so powerful, and the imagery is so eclectic that
it is possible to follow it without any understanding of language,’ (McCarthy,
2011, Web) which could also be argued the case for any of the other films produced
by the studio. Proving once again that the studio is outstanding in the
animations they produce.
They have opened their arms
and embraced the Western culture, especially in their most recent films, as
they have recognised the massive growth of their fan base outside of Japan. The
most prominent example of this is Arrietty, Ghibli’s take on the English story
of the borrowers.
The Japanese culture and
upbringing of children is much different to Western cultures. They are very
family driven, count themselves at one with nature, respect their surroundings,
and are hard workers; where as Western countries as a ‘generalisation’ are
often seen to be almost at the apposing end of these ideals. These cultural ideals
that Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli portray in their films, and can be seen to aid
children’s personal development in these areas. These films are driven by
family, and have became well respected and enjoyed by all ages, due to the
deeper themes in narrative and astonishing skill that goes into creating the
animation itself.
The making of the animations themselves are
also very different to the way that Western companies produce their work. Miyazaki’s
films are not just a shallow view of women, which doesn’t reflect his real life
values, and actually are his fundamental and deepest of his own beliefs. These
are reflected further in the running of the studio itself as women are given a
completely different experience to the male workers, for instance are given certain
perks. Unlike many studios and workspaces in general in Japan, Miyazaki allows
the women to have a long paid pregnancy leave, allowing them more time to bring
their children up. The architecture of the studio’s building is designed with
women workers in mind, allowing more space and designated areas for women only,
and he purposely hires women to work in the studio. A quote by Colin Stokes
during his TED talk sums up his own personal opinions on women in the work
place, as well as in the animation industry; ‘I want fewer quests where my son is
told ‘go out and fight it alone’ and more quests where he sees that it’s his
job to join a team. Maybe a team led by women. To help other people, become
better, and be better people, like The Wizard of Oz.’
(Stokes,
2013, Web) Much like The
Wizard of Oz, Studio Ghibli have created characters which everybody can relate to
and would want on their team. Regardless of the said characters age, gender, or
nationality, they have the ability to be leaders but are open-minded and show
great friendship with other characters.
In all of the studio’s films you can see the growth
and development in the child characters. Miyazaki allows them to retain their
child-like characteristics, letting them be messy, get hurt and preserve their
wild imaginations, yet they still deal with adult situations such as war, death
and dangerous beast-like creatures. This shows the companies understanding of
the capability that children have to comprehend deeper themes and never
belittles their knowledge or power.
Which leads onto how children, in particular
boys, learn outside of the classroom. In the TED talks by Ali Carr-Cellman, she
discusses how boys learn and develop best when playing on video games, although
this is often condemned by society due to many being believed to be overly
violent. For the first time ever, in 2013 Studio Ghibli released their first joint
game, Ni No Kuni. Unlike many of the Studio’s films, the main protagonist of
the game is a male character, but still only a child. Carr-Cellman in her talk
implied that ‘Most of the educational games that are out there
today are really flash cards, the glorified drill and practise, they don’t have
the depth, the rich narrative that really engaging video games have, that boys
are really interested in.’ (Ali Carr-Chellman, 2011, Web) Ni No
Kuni, differs from more common games, as much like the films, Ghibli has
ensured that the narrative, characters and environments are well developed and that
children are allowed to be children. By choosing a male protagonist, it allows
boys to have their own role model, yet still follows exactly the same path, as
the usual Ghibli women protagonists would take. It is so important that boys
have strong male role models too, especially in education, as ‘93% of the teachers that our young men get
in elementary class are women…. They need male role models for boys, which say
it’s alright to be smart.’ (Ali
Carr-Chellman, 2011, Web)
Noticeably, the major difference between
Ghibli’s work and other companies is his ability to deal with the most
difficult theme of all, especially for child audiences, death. In My Neighbour
Totoro in particular, this has the strongest and most prominent effect on the
viewer as ‘he puts death front and centre, without ever
personifying him.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web) Miyazaki never doubts the capability that children
have to cope with such massive forces of nature, and purposefully chooses to
evoke these ‘adult like’ emotions and thoughts. Due to male protagonists
stereotypical need to be masculine, it would be difficult for Miyazaki to allow
the same depth of emotion that he experienced himself, and has been described
to make ‘Bambi's mother dying look
like a walk in the park.’ (Rose, 2011,
Web)
‘A film as profoundly and life-affirming as Totoro,
says the villain is death, and although he never actually makes an appearance,
the whole story, like the whole of Miyazaki’s childhood, is enacting in his
shadow.’ (McCarthy,
2011, Web)
This appearance of the theme
of death comes in the form of the two main protagonist children’s mother who is
seriously ill and hospitalised. This is Miyazaki’s ‘conventionally flattering reference’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web) to his mother. He even
references real life places and memories from his childhood, from the layout of
the ward, to the actual naming of the hospital, which gives this film a greater
and personal meaning.
By understanding these deep
feelings of anxiety and hope, through all stages of childhood, due to
Miyazaki’s mother’s long illness during his childhood, he is able to capture
both Mei and Satsuki’s different responses.
‘Mei can do nothing but rage and weep because four and five year olds lack the
experience to express terror in any other way, but Satsuki’s response is
achingly beautifully written, revealing astonishing depths of artistry from the
whole movie team, as she realises she faces both the loss of her beloved mother
and the loss of her own childhood.’ (McCarthy, 2011, Web)
What is most surprising, is
that My Neighbour Totoro almost didn’t make it into production, and only got
funding if the Studio created another film (Grave of the Fireflies), as they
found the slow narrative too risky, but ‘My
Neighbour Totoro didn’t sink into bargain-bin oblivion but grew, like Mei and
Satsuki’s seeds, and Ghibli blossomed into a healthy, sustainable studio as the
tale became ingrained in the national consciousness.’ (Odell, 2009, Page 76-77)
Through the research
undertaken for this essay, an argument has been developed, questioning Studio
Ghibli and their use of role models. Within this essay, it has been shown that Studio
Ghibli has grown worldwide into a studio loved and trusted by many, and it can
now be said that the Studio has been very successful in developing the
identities of both the characters in their films and the children who watch
these films.
Bibliography
Books
Burger, J. (1990) ‘Ways of Seeing’, 1st Ed. United
Kingdom, British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books (Non Classics).
Cavallaro, D. (2006) ‘The
anime art of Hayao Miyazaki’, 1st Ed. USA, McFarland & Company,
Inc.
Clark, V. (2003) ‘Comic release:
negotiating identity for a new generation,’ 1st Ed. UK, Distributed
Art Publishers.
Gauntlett, D. (2008) ‘Media,
Gender and Identity: An Introduction,’ 1st Ed. USA, Routledge.
McCarthy, H. (1999) ‘Hayao
Miyazaki: master of Japanese animation,’ 2nd Ed. USA, Stone Bridge
Press.
Miyazaki, H. (2009) ‘Starting
Point 1979~1996,’ 1st Ed. USA, Viz Media, Subs. Of SHogakukan Inc.
Odell, C. (2009) ‘Studio
Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata,’ 1st Ed. Uk,
JH Haynes Ltd.
Films
Brave (2012) Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell, USA.
Cinderella (1950) Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson,
Hamilton Luske, USA.
My Neighbour Totoro (1988) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan.
Princess Mononoke (1997) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan.
Panda Go Panda (1972) Directed by Isao Takahata, Japan.
Star Wars (1977) Directed by George Lucas, USA.
Sleeping Beauty (1959) Directed by Clyde Geronimi, USA.
Snow White (1937) Directed by William Cottrell, David Hand,
Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Peasrce, USA.
Sprited Away (2001) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan.
Tangled (2010) Directed by Nathan Greno, Bryon Howard, USA.
The Wizard of Oz (1939) Directed by Victor Fleming, USA.
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[Accessed 20 March 2013]
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[Accessed 20 March 2013]
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Steve Rose
Tofugu, 2012, All
You Need to Know About Studio Ghibli [Online] Available at: http://www.tofugu.com/2011/11/22/the-legend-that-is-studio-ghibli/
[Accessed 20 March 2013]
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Miyazaki Interview [Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3G8PBrwgII&list=PLW0d1kUJ53eOzKsaS2xOBqWPiSaXU7M2z&index=4
[Accessed 20 March 2013]
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