If there’s one Japanese filmmaker that global audiences will recognize, it’s the grandfather of Japanese animation, Hayao Miyazaki. He has made some of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time, and his films can all be characterized by a strong female protagonist. This is especially important considering that women constituted just “29% of protagonists featured in the 100 top domestic grossing films of 2016” (Lauzen 1).
Just two examples of Miyazaki’s strong female characters are Spirited Away‘s Chihiro and Howl’s Moving Castle‘s Sophie. They are both the main characters of their respective counterparts, a fact made even more notable by the prominent male characters in both films—an aspect which will be discussed later. Notably, both films also pass the Bechdel Test, in which two named female characters must speak to each other about something other than a man.
The narratives of these films follow Miyazaki’s classic “hero’s journey” in which there is “an exile or a relocation of the characters, who are either on the road to accomplish a mission (Princess Mononoke) to prevent an imminent war (Nausicaä) or to grow on a personal level (Spirited Away)” (Leroux qtd. in Bertrand “Themes”). In story alone, Miyazaki’s representation of women affords them more agency than classic Hollywood films: “In American home-leaving narratives, both literary and cinematic, woman as protagonist is rare; woman as protagonist who escapes either redomestication or ruin is rarer still” (Hark 29).
Instead, Chihiro’s journey is used for her to grow on a personal level, developing from an apathetic, self-centred child to a passionate, rounded young woman. Arguably the most important part of Chihiro’s character is the wide range of emotions she expresses. The caveat with “strong female characters” is that they are often prevented from showing vulnerability or negative characteristics. In an attempt to counteract stereotypes of being weak, the Strong Female Character has become a trop that implies that “Of course, normal women are weak and boring and can’t do anything worthwhile. But this one is different. She is strong! See, she roundhouses people in the face” (McDougall). Once again, that is not the case with Miyazaki’s films.
Chihiro cries multiple times throughout the film, both from sadness and happiness—it isn’t a sign of weakness, but rather an expression of emotion. She gets angry and makes mistakes, makes selfish decisions and breaks the rules. Rather than being condemned for these things, they’re a part of Chihiro’s lesson in being held accountable for your actions as a human being.
Chihiro also shows intense bravery and care for others. True representative equality in film calls for “a wealth of complex female protagonists who can be either strong or weak or both or neither, because they are more than strength or weakness” (McDougall). Chihiro certainly qualifies as a complex female protagonist, as does Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service, San in Princess Mononoke—the list goes on and on.
Howl’s Moving Castle’s Sophie is an important character in Miyazaki’s canon not just for her complexity, but because she is one of the only heroines who can be considered an adult. At the age of eighteen, she holds her own job and is sufficiently independent from her family. She is also old enough to have reached sexual maturity, an aspect that would most likely be capitalized on in American media.
In Hollywood films, women are often hypersexualized and mainly in the film to serve as a sex object for the male protagonist. In the top-grossing films of 2008, a “substantially higher percentage of young females, in comparison to young males, are shown wearing sexually revealing attire (39.8% vs. 6.7%), [and] partially naked (30.1% vs. 10.3%)” (Smith and Choueiti 1). The objectification of women in film is a prominent topic in film theory, and with such a high percentage of women in Japanese anime, it should follow that sexualization would transfer there too.
All of these facts are what make the Witch of the Waste’s curse on Sophie—turning her into an old woman—so narratively important.
One of of Sophie’s biggest insecurities is her physical appearance. Sophie’s self-perception that she is not beautiful is one of the major factors preventing her from undergoing the change in self-perception necessary for the hero’s journey.
Though it may seem like superficial reasoning, once again, Miyazaki does not equate “feminine” with “weak” or “superficial.” He also does not adhere to the arbitrary delineations of “masculine” and “feminine.” Sophie’s concerns about her appearance are only mirrored by the main male character, Howl, who falls apart when his hair is accidentally dyed.
Their self-obsession is something both Howl and Sophie lose over the course of the film. As an old woman, Sophie is forced to nurture things other than her physical appearance and discovers her inner strength. Howl learns to care for another person more than he cares for himself and stops running from his problems rather than dealing with them. On those personal journeys, they both learn to allow themselves to be loved each other, a love that occurred when their physical appearance were at their self-perceived worst.
In the end, the importance of Sophie’s physical appearance pales in comparison to the importance placed on her inner qualities, like courage and intelligence. Once again, “In contrast to popular culture’s traditionally accepted idea which denotes the value of a female character on good looks and sex appeal – all viewed through the binoculars of the male gaze – Miyazaki’s choice of strong female characters throughout his work provides an alternative portrayal of women. The ‘weaker’ sex are herein judged on strength of character, integrity and skill alone” (Jones qtd. in Bertrand “Aesthetics”).
It could be argued that films with a strong feminine presence—like Miyazaki’s—negate the possibility of sex and romance. Not only is that a heteronormative perspective (though that’s a conversation for another time), it’s also negated by the fact that both Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle feature a prominent male protagonist—Haku and Howl, respectively.
If a Hollywood film has both a male and female protagonist, it’s most likely to be a romance. Though Miyazaki’s films don’t disregard romance—Howl and Sophie do fall in love, though they are one of few cases—the romance is never the protagonists’ main goal. Haku and Chihiro save each others’ lives, free each other from difficult situations, and mutually inspire each other to lead better lives than the ones they could achieve by themselves. Sophie and Howl, as shown above, help each other overcome their own insecurities and discover lives that make them happier than they were alone.
The feminism in Miyazaki’s films is important not just because he shows complex, balanced female characters, but because they’re right alongside the male characters. They challenge each other, reflect each other, and complement each other in ways that demonstrate true representative equality.
Works Cited
Bertrand, Karine. “Aesthetics in Myazaki’s work.” FILM 303 Module 10, OnQ, https://onq.queensu.ca/d2l/le/content/55373/viewContent/702783/View.
Bertrand, Karine. “Themes Found in Japanese Animation Films.” FILM 303 Module 9, OnQ, onq.queensu.ca/d2l/le/content/55373/viewContent/702764/View.
Hark, Ina Rae. “Moviegoing, ‘Home-Leaving,” and the Problematic Girl Protagonist of The Wizard of Oz.” Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood, edited by Frances Gateward and Murray Pomerance, Wayne State UP, Detroit, MI, 2002.
Lauzen, Martha. “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top 100 Films of 2016.” Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, 2017.
McDougall, Sophia. “I Hate Strong Female Characters.” New Statesman, 15 Aug. 2013, www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters.
Smith, Stacy, and Marc Choueiti. “Gender Inequality in Cinematic Content? A Look at Females On Screen & Behind-the-Camera in Top-Grossing 2008 Films.” University of Southern California.
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