In the extensive debate over the portrayal of women in movies, top Japanese animators have long created more layered and complex heroines than many American animators. They have weaknesses, weaknesses and temperaments, as well as strengths and talents. They are not property or franchises. They are the characters that filmmakers believe.
Like many teenagers, Mamoru Hosoda’s “Bell” bell (released here this year, Major digital platforms) I am living an online life that obscures her daily life. Her alter ego, her title character, is U’s predominant pop diva in the cyber world. In real life, Suzu is an introverted high school student in the town of Flyspec. She even calls her “Country Bumpkin” even her best friend. But she still has a sophisticated listener because her music reflects her love and pain she has experienced, especially since the death of her mother, who drowned to save her child from a flooded river. I have won.
Suzu misses her, but is also angry at sacrificing herself for “a child who didn’t even know her name.” The bell was encouraged by her mother, so she went to the point of throwing away an impressive musical gift. The American heroine may express her longing for her disappeared parents, but does not express the deep and complex emotions of this “Beauty and the Beast” remake. The Disney version of the protagonist misses her father when she agrees to be a prisoner of the Beast, but does not mention her mother. So is Jasmine in “Aladdin”.
Mamoru Hosoda said in a video call that he believed that a major change in animation had taken place when Disney artists made Bell a more independent, intelligent and contemporary young woman than her predecessor. She wanted a more exciting life than her “poor rural town” could offer — a desire that Snow White and Cinderella never expressed. “When you think of animation and female leads, you always go to the fairy tale metaphor,” Hosoda said through an interpreter. “But they really broke that template. I felt it was very new. Similarly, what we tried to do with” Bell “was not building characters, but building people. That is. A person who reflects the society in which we live. “
The beast that Suzu meets in U is not a fascinating prince, but adolescent Kay who has been abused struggling to protect his younger brother from his brutal father. To save her boys, Suzu throws away Bell’s fascinating trap and reveals that she is a normal schoolgirl. When she sings herself, she also touches the boy and condolences she wants to help.
Japanese animation features are made with less crew and less budget than major American films, allowing directors to present a more personal vision. American studios hire story crews. Authors such as Mamoru Hosoda, Hayao Miyazaki, and Makoto Shinkai draw the entire movie in storyboards. Their work is not subject to previews, executive approval, or advisory board gauntlets.
Shinkai updated Japan’s box office record with “Your Name” in 2016 (currently Digital platform). It begins as a teenage romantic comedy that swaps bodies, but develops into meditation about the trauma that many Japanese still suffer after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Mitsuha is tired of living in the rural town of Itomori. Taki, a student in Tokyo, wants to be an architect. One morning they have to wake up in each other’s bodies and navigate their daily lives without knowing where they are or who they are.
With repeated changes, they learn about each other through their surroundings and establish physical distances and timeless bonds. Mitsuha enjoys the sophisticated attractions of Tokyo. Taki depicts Itomori as seen through the eyes of Mitsuha, which leads him to a devastating discovery: the town was destroyed by a catastrophic meteorite impact three years ago.
Desperate to warn Mitsuha, he reaches out to her through Shinto-influenced magic. They meet easily at dusk when Japanese folklore infiltrates the boundaries of the world. Like other nasty teenagers, they laugh, quarrel, weep, and vow to be together again, But they also develop plans to save the people of Itomori.
When Taki disappears, Mitsuha acts. She is not the princess of quest to maintain her territory, like Moana and Poppy in “Trolls 2”. She is a frightened girl trying to save her family and friends from a deadly threat. She goes against her father, her gorgeous politician, and uses her intelligence and her determination to overcome her fears and save hundreds of lives. But any competent schoolgirl can do what Mitsuha does: she doesn’t need her psychic powers to save the day.
“In the end, Mitsuha is still homeless. She will move to Tokyo,” Shinkai said in an email interview. “Since the 2011 earthquake, the Japanese have lived in fear that our city will disappear. But even if that happens, we have to move somewhere. Will stay alive. Meet a special person. That’s what I wanted from Mitsuha and I wanted to be her. “
The tendency towards complex heroines is nothing new in anime.Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” (released in Japan in 2001 and is now HBO Max) Born from his dissatisfaction with the superficial entertainment offered to Japanese adolescent girls. “The protagonist wanted to be a typical girl who could understand herself at the age of 10,” she explained in an interview through an interpreter. “She shouldn’t be an extraordinary person, but she should be a real person in everyday life. It’s more difficult to create this kind of character. It’s not a story of how a character grows, but a specific one. It’s a story she tells of something that’s already in her, brought about by the situation. “
The main character, Chihiro, begins as an adolescent youth. Her “thin legs and moody face” symbolize her overprotective and underdeveloped personality. Her challenges she faces in Yubaba’s bathhouse, a hot spring for natural spirits polluted by human pollution, develops Chihiro her power, courage, and an undeveloped resource of her love. I’m forced to do that. By the end of the movie, the grumpy girl was replaced by a young woman who was more confident and capable than caring for others. Her transformation is shown in animation. Early on, she runs like a noisy kid, half-closed her eyes. Later, when she goes to save her friend, she pumps her knees and elbows and runs out of everything.
Isao Takahata’s “Only Yesterday”” (1991, now HBO Max), Taeko has an exciting job and a small apartment in Tokyo in 1982. However, she was 27 years old and she was single when a Japanese woman was expected to get married before the age of 25. Tired of her mundane presence, she decided to visit her country cousin, who stayed a few years ago.
Teco is surprised that she is traveling with her in fifth grade. The presence of the girl’s spectrum she once had causes a flood of her memories: school friendships, fighting her sisters, the beginning of puberty. By exploring who she is, Teco learns who she wants to be with an inspiring and unobtrusive portrait of a woman at the crossroads of her life.
Like Greta Garbo, Satoshi Kon’s “Millennium Actress” Chiyoko Fujiwara (released here in 2003, Roku Channel) Retired from the screen at the height of her fame. After 30 years of quarantine, she allows the documentary Genya Tachibana to interview. As Chiyoko recalls, Tachibana and his exhausted cameraman find themselves in her tangled memories and movies. During adolescence in the 1930s, Chiyoko fell in love with an injured artist who had fled the horrifying thought police.
Con easily shifts the story from reality to memory to film. In Manshu under Japanese occupation, bandits attack a train running a teenage actress. The doors of a burning railroad car lead to the burning castle in a feudal movie. Chiyoko plays the princess who died and decided to join the Lord. As a 19th century geisha, she protects the artist from the army of generals in Kyoto. As an astronaut, she is on a mission to find him and knows she can’t go back. The visual complexity of the film reflects Chiyoko’s personality. Kon portrays her as an independent woman of her own decision. What profession she pursues, when, who to marry, when to divorce, what role to play, and when to retire.
Most Japanese anime directors are men, but in recent years more and more women are playing important roles as producers, writers, musicians, and so on. Their contributions influence the way girls and women are drawn on the screen.
O-Ei, Keiichi Hara’s “Miss Hokusai” (released here in 2016 and now Digital platform) Is based on a real person who is the daughter of the great print artist Katsushika Hokusai. Sure, there are few of her works that can be attributed to her, but Daiei is an artist in her own right, and many historians say that when her father’s abilities diminished in her old age, she she did. I believe I helped my father.
Rapunzel in “Tangled” covered the walls of the tower’s room with paintings, but when he escaped he had little interest in art. In contrast, O-Ei has definitely walked through Edo in the 19th century and is confident in her talent and her position in vibrant arts and culture. She focuses on her paintings and does not suffer from the traditional female obligations of her household chores. “If the place is too dirty, we move,” she says frankly.
O-Ei reflects the experience of contemporary Japanese women trying to escape gender discrimination in traditional culture, including female artists who worked on films. Mr. Hara explained in an email as follows. “I have never directly experienced O-Ei’s state of mind. I can only guess. However, co-producer Keiko Matsushita, actress Kyou (speaking out of honor), and singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena. Is an ambitious and creative woman who may be pursuing her goals with a strong determination. A more personal level. This film reflects the love and dedication they put into it. increase.”
