Hayao Miyazaki Gender Roles

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The films of Hayao Miyazaki: Representation of (alternative) gender

“The child is the inheritor of the culture adults have created…” (Beeck 2009, 280). These words are used by Nathalie op de Beeck to describe the common theme of many of Hayao Miyazaki´s animated films. It is also a theme true to the reality of many young boys and girls living in todays society in a number of ways.
What we are going to be looking at in this paper is the inequality of how gender is represented in popular culture today (specifically, film) and how the works of Hayao Miyazaki contributes to this issue. Before that I will briefly explain the definition of gender I will be using and the concept of social constructionism which allows this definition. Social constructionism …show more content…

Here we learn that culture (the way we think, talk and act) can be shared and passed down through generations via powerful (popular)media institutions such as television or film. It is a way of mass social learning and is especially influent on young people who consume an overabundance of these types of media. Through popular films and television, they are being shaped by the messages they communicate. One of those messages is how you should think and act depending on your biological sex. Cultural values and beliefs regarding gender, that is (Samowar, Porter & McDaniel 2016, 52-54; Jackson 2009, 26). Samowar, Porter & McDonald continue to mention how some cultures are gender-biased. Many cultures are patriarchal meaning that they are male dominated. As a product of this ideology, the stories that are passed down (through films) portray women unequally compared to men. Women are commonly portrayed as passive and submissive whereas men are portrayed as powerful, active and in …show more content…

When watching Totoro, you are introduced to two young sisters as the main protagonists. They are noisy and have booming laughs. The girls happily destroy a rotten piece of wood holding up a roof, gleefully announcing that it´s collapsing. They are adventurous, confident and curious. They do not fear the supernatural (soot spirits) that resides in their new house and even challenges the spirits to show them self. In Spirited away the main protagonist is a young girl. Throughout the movie she proves herself extremely capable and flexible to conquer the challenges in front of her. She also exhibits enough courage to go against No-face, saving everyone else in the bathhouse. In the end she has become a confident and independent warrior of this spirit realm. Miyazaki also do not deny the role of “antagonist/villain” to be cast by women. In Spirited away, the manager of the bath house Yubaba is a fearful powerful woman that controls men as well as women working for her and whom the protagonist Chihiro is pitted

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