To be a ‘Princess’: Language, womanhood & social status in Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’

“… Then a noble princess is not a human!” – Princess Kaguya As several other GLARe posts show, gender stereotypes are reflected in animated characters. When you place a Disney princess next to a prince, the differences are stark (take Sleeping Beauty below, for example). Traditionally, the princess might be polite and beautiful, taking a … Continue reading To be a ‘Princess’: Language, womanhood & social status in Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’

Amzad Hossain & Fu (2014) Young Girls and Flying Images: A Semiotic Analysis of Hayao Miyazaki’s Animations

Uses semiotics to analyze meanings in nine Miyazaki films (1984-2008) - Nausicaa, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. Studies recurring images and representations and how they connote meaning in regards to female characters, as well as proportions of speech … Continue reading Amzad Hossain & Fu (2014) Young Girls and Flying Images: A Semiotic Analysis of Hayao Miyazaki’s Animations

Finley (2023) Defamiliarizied Gender in the Works of Hayao Miyazaki

Argues that Miyazaki’s films portray unconventionally strong female protagonists through defamiliarization, stating that the films Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service borrow from and rejects elements of Japanese culture to create characters and settings that evoke the defamiliarization of gender, e.g. in genderbent references to folklore and historical figures. Contains close analysis of the original … Continue reading Finley (2023) Defamiliarizied Gender in the Works of Hayao Miyazaki