{"id":816,"date":"2024-09-26T00:37:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T00:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/glare\/?p=816"},"modified":"2024-09-26T00:37:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T00:37:57","slug":"to-be-a-princess-language-womanhood-social-status-in-studio-ghiblis-the-tale-of-the-princess-kaguya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/glare\/to-be-a-princess-language-womanhood-social-status-in-studio-ghiblis-the-tale-of-the-princess-kaguya\/","title":{"rendered":"To be a ‘Princess’: Language, womanhood & social status in Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026 Then a noble princess is not a human!\u201d \u2013 Princess Kaguya<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As several other GLARe posts show<\/a>, gender stereotypes are reflected in animated characters. When you place a Disney princess next to a prince, the differences are stark (take Sleeping Beauty<\/em><\/a> below, for example). Traditionally, the princess might be polite and beautiful, taking a submissive role in the narrative whilst the dashing prince fights for her rescue. On the other hand, there are princesses like Mulan<\/a>,<\/em> who attempt to hide femininity by changing her appearance, behaviour, and manner of speech. Linguistic features are a part of how gender identity is constructed<\/em> (see Vicky’s post on hegemonic masculinity for a good discussion on this matter).<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Prince
Prince Charming & Sleeping Beauty \u2013 Cr: Disney \u00a9 1959<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People have long held the belief that men and women speak very differently. There are models like Lakoff (1975)<\/a>, who claimed women use more tag questions, politeness, and avoid aggressive or threatening language. Such beliefs have recently been called into question by linguists. However, natural speech is far different from scripted dialogue. Animated characters are constructions of gendered discourse and can either adhere or flout conventions. We see this in Mulan<\/em>. Whilst Mulan is the unconventional \u2018warrior princess\u2019, she also reproduces stereotypes with her male persona\u2019s presentation (Glassmeyer, 2013)<\/a>. Shrek\u2019s<\/em> Fiona<\/a> is also criticised for similar reasons and remains \u201cproblematic\u201d interdiscursively with respect to \u2018female warrior discourse\u2019 (Unger and Sunderland, 2007<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It is with this in mind that I want to discuss another \u2018unconventional\u2019 heroine: that of Kaguya-hime<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (hime<\/em> is the Japanese honorific suffix for \u2018Princess\u2019) from the Studio Ghibli<\/a> film Kaguya-hime no Monogatari<\/em> \u2018The Tale of The Princess Kaguya\u2019<\/a>(Takahata, 2013).<\/p>\n