Ashley Vargas
JAPN 3170
Jordan Bledsoe
September 27, 2017
Miyazaki Females (Intro) Throughout his many years in the film industry, Miyazaki never fails to show his portrayal of a strong, female lead. His representations of the female identity in films like Laputa: Castle in the Sky can show examples of different types of feminist and antifeminist elements. Many of his works seem to reflect to the viewers on the ideals role of women. Despite widening the gap of following traditional roles and values in Japanese society, Miyazaki through his films wants us as the audience to question the legitimacy of these roles by stepping on stereotypes and bringing up questions about issues that surround the female body and place in society (Gelb 21). These
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There is also the sense of assertiveness and self-growth within each character which develops into by the end the films (note: not static). Lastly, the romance that is shown through films vary between platonic and romantic but instead of it being something to be filled in the story line, relationships intergrade themselves into the narration and helps grasp a connection to the character. Even the secondary characters have their own characteristics. So, it is not necessarily a negative aspect in regards of a possible romance in a movie. Watching Miyazaki films, you can see how he likes to represent girls and women. It is real and attainable, female characters who were vulnerable and independent, who confronted gender norms in the way they looked and worked. He supports that being girl isn’t about …show more content…
My two personal favorite films of Miyazaki’s are Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away. Though I personally resonate more with Kiki’s character. One of the many enjoyments of watching his films is how the female characters can grow. The change throughout the film and doesn’t make them someone who’s just kind of there. Kiki’ Delivery Service shows a thirteen-year-old young girl who moves to a seaside town with her pet cat Jiji to spend a year alone in continuing with her village's tradition for witches in training. After figuring out how to control her broomstick, she opens a flying carrier service. Her troubles come from questioning herself and eventually her self-doubt makes her lose the magic abilities she has. In the film, Kiki also expresses interest in a romance and has fears of being alone, but the movie focuses on her relationships with her female boss and her older female friends as well. When she moves into town she struggles to find a place of her own that’s when the lady baker who eventually becomes her boss offers her a place to stay while Kiki sets up her own business. Throughout the movie Kiki has her own struggles but resolves them herself with some help along the way. Her interest in the boy is shown and though they clearly like each other, they are not officially ‘together’ at the end of the
The film had nothing to do with the male characters. For once Disney made the male characters the bystanders as the females took center stage. The film is not about finding your one true love and living happily ever after. Surprisingly no one in the film ended up getting married. The female characters stood their ground and remained strong independent women. Instead it is about two sisters in a coming of age story and reconnecting as sisters. Little things like the death of their parents and the catchy songs live up to the Disney formula, but the film as a whole is something new and refreshing. While Disney is not quite on Japanese director, Hayao Miyazaki’s level of producing strong female characters, this movie was a move in the right direction. Instead of a movie with girls this movie is about girls.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
For the past few decades, women’s positions improve significantly due to feminist movements, which can be presented through contemporary films. Instead of focusing on male-only heroes, an increasing number of filmmakers tend to create female heroines. Nevertheless, women have not yet achieved reproductive rights. In other words, different from men, who can freely express themselves, female’s actions are still limited by societal norm. Thus, female characters, as a reflection of contemporary females in society, demonstrate the fact that females are attempting to challenge gender stereotypes under societal pressures. Katniss, the heroine in Hunger Games, is presented as a role model. However, Marieme, the working class girl in Girlhood, seems
...ic to think the mind set of past sixty years can alter in the blink of an eye. Our patriarchal society will always push unrealistic body image on women, and it is highly doubtful that it will change anytime in the near future. Disney has made some developments in a new direction by taking the initiative to adjust the role of their heroine characters. Although they are still unrealistically thin, leads like Pochoantas, or Mulan step way from the redundant model of the “Disney Princess”. Majority of the responsibility now falls on parents to teach children how to become independent females relying on their hard work instead of looks. The hope is that children can learn and realize that the character in their favorite movies, or even their beloved dolls are not real women and with the correct mindset and encouragement these young girls will become confident young girls.
One of the main ideas acknowledged in this cartoon is that a woman’s job is cooking, cleaning, taking care of her husband and kids. It reveals Western gender ideologies at that period and demonstrates how society idealized gender roles. Feminist critiques by Gifford-Gonzales, explain that the perspective on women and men in the society and how women’s place is at home is cumulative. In other words, she demonstrated how women’s stereotypical image concerning their role in societies is spreading even in cartoons. Moreover, the cartoons represent two different ages so we have a combination of the past and the present. For example, people did not exist at the time of dinosaurs and telephones weren’t created until the nineteenth century. In addition, some fictional elements are added such as the elephant vacuum cleaner. Therefore, confusion between eras but also between fiction and reality is created. That affects how children apprehend issues represented in this cartoon. Growing up watching this animated series, youngsters develop the idea of gender stereotypes until the belief of women as background objects. Especially that these simple characters, with whom children identify, have a great impact on them and make it easier to convey a certain message
In the article Construction of the Female Self: Feminist Readings Of the Disney Heroine, Jill Birmie Henke, Diane Zimmerman Umble, and Nancy J. Smith are looking at the female self and how it was developed based on two theories: Standpoint by Parker Follet and the psychological development of girls by Gilligam. That by examines gender identity especially girls and how media exposure affects them through analyzing five of Disney movies: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Pocahontas. They segmented the article into three titles: The Oxymoron of Power and the Perfect Girl where they introduced the two theories in which they built their critic on, Construction of the Female Self where they talk about the evolution in the female character from Cinderella to Pocahontas, and Construction of Self in Relation to Others where they talk about the evolution of the self in relation to others from power-over to power-with until power-to. Finally they concluded that even if the female character in Disney’s movies was changing to become more
This article discusses the illustration of females in Disney’s animated films between 1922 and 1948. The author’s main claim is that Disney films between 1922 and 1948, such as Snow White and the Sven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo, all play a part in stereotyping females. Even with the strong women characters, these movies still provide inaccurate portrayals of females. The author deals with problems that can be seen easily in Disney films in
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
...characters are not depicted as strong as the male leads. Hermione Granger becomes emotional during high stress battle scenes. Elizabeth Swann shifts to mainly a love interest for the male lead. Queen Amidala becomes emotional and a love interest for Anakin Skywalker. To some, the illusion of strong women signals how far we have come as a society in the last half-century. In reality, however, the film industry has only progressed enough to be able to give off an illusion of strong women. The lack of female directors in Hollywood gives way to a male-centric ideology that eroticizes and demeans women in films – often just subconsciously because the director is male. It is time to welcome more Kathryn Bigelows. More Julie Taymors. More Sofia Coppolas. Only when a balance among film directors is reached can many films finally break out of traditional gender stereotypes.
Under this gender work they tend to explore the influential aspect of fairytales on youngster’s i.e. girl’s formational identity. It explains how fairytales help to the upbringing of gender stereotypes, the gender ideology formation, and the patriarchal values reification. They also explain the purpose of female assistance in action of the stereotypes offered in most of the tales. These fairytales present thorough study to the fact that the role help in making, taking care of and offering standards for young women cultural.
Manga and Anime, as inviting and open as they may seem, are at heart the products of Japan's culture. Despite its technological advancement, Japan somehow manages to retain much of its historical character, in addition to blending in the overwhelming influences of the West. The Japanese treatment of gender and gender relations has taken many turns over the last millennium, and manga and anime reflect those changes. Still, at the core of the culture lies certain fundamental beliefs that are proving difficult to change.
Some people might say that these movies provide entertainment and transport families into the lives of princes and princesses. Many critics have said that the films have amazing soundtracks and have detailed and interesting plots. Still, however entertaining the films may be, the way women are viewed and treated outweigh any enjoyment that a viewer could have. The subliminal lessons young women learn from these films have lifelong repercussions and negatively affect the female
The Disney movie, Mulan, is a fantastic movie that depicts gender-stereotyped roles, socialization of gender roles, and consequences of over stepping one’s gender role. Both males and females have a specific role in the Chinese society that one must follow. Mulan made a brave choice pretending to be a man and going to war against the Huns in place of her father, risking serious consequences if she were to get caught. She broke the socialization of gender roles and could have been faced with very serious consequences of her actions. The Chinese society in Mulan exemplifies the typical gender roles of males and females, the consequences of displaying the opposite gender role, and showed what the society expected in males and females in characteristics and attitudes.
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
Women have been in movies since they first started playing on the big screen, they have played an assortment of roles, the damsel in distress, the first one to die, the poor scullery maid who ends up a princess, the evil witch, etc. While some of the roles have shed bad light on women, for example being a femme fatale, other movies have set positive examples for the future generations. As time has changed, the Disney princesses have evolved with it, each princess becoming more outspoken and independent, influencing the young women of today to want to grow up to be just like them, “They enact a shift from the "princesses" of ballet to the "heroes" of sport. Heroism, egalitarianism and autonomy are slipped into the conventions of Disney princesshood” (Do Rozario, R.,C., 2004, para. 34). In Mulan the movie, Mulan saves her father by disobeying him, and taking his place in the war by doing that she ended up saving her whole country. Disney isn’t telling young women to disobey their parents; they’re showing them that while you may be a girl, you can be brave and succeed.