THE ANIMA IN ANIMATION:

MIYAZAKI HEROINES AND POST-PATRIARCHAL CONSCIOUSNESS

A dissertation submitted

by

LESLEY ANNE SHORE

to

PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE

in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the
degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
MYTHOLOGICAL STUDIES
with emphasis in
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

This dissertation has been

accepted for the faculty of
Pacifica Graduate Institute by:

Dr. Ginette Paris, Chair

Dr. Patrick Mahaffey, Reader

Dr. Gilles Zenon Maheu, External Reader

i
 UMI Number: 3645282

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LESLEY ANNE SHORE

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ii
 ABSTRACT
The Anima in Animation:
Miyazaki Heroines and Post-Patriarchal Consciousness

by

Lesley Anne Shore

This dissertation explores how the heroines in Hayao Miyazaki animations

subvert the antiquated, patriarchal models of the conquering hero that predominate

Western literature and cinema. As unifying agents of change, such heroines use

communal solutions to conflict by rejecting militarism, refuting stereotypical gender

roles and reversing environmental destruction. Five Miyazaki animations are reviewed:

My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The protagonists in these films undertake a voyage

of balance inspired by Shinto animism and Japanese mythological traditions that reflect

the heroines journey schema and the individuation process that is the zenith of depth

psychology. I argue that Miyazaki heroines are not solely aligned with Jungian theories

of the anima as a contrasexual projection of a male, but rather as the spark of life that

ignites the storyline.

The intention of this work is to examine the role of the anima rich heroine by

drawing upon the depth psychological theories of James Hillman, Hayao Kawai, Marie-

Louise von Franz, Ginette Paris and Christine Downing. At the same time, Miyazaki

heroines are contrasted with the Disney princesses that reinforce traditional

heterosexual norms and other pop culture protagonists that support androcentric order.

To attain a holistic vision of the world, the Miyazaki heroine must overcome the

patriarchal constructs of her society that would otherwise disempower her. Such

heroines exert their strength of character through compassionate understanding of the

oppositional characters within the film story rather than viewing them as foes to be

destroyed. Miyazaki heroines discover equilibrium of self by meeting their unconscious

shadow aspects and positively integrating them instead of projecting them negatively

onto others.

The anima rich, complex heroine in Miyazaki animations is a transformative

protagonist that represents an emerging heroic and mythic model for a global community

in transition. Drawing from soul more than ego, she contributes to an evolving collective

psyche that bears the potential to heal and reshape this nascent post-patriarchal world.

viii
 Acknowledgements:

For her warmth and brilliant archetypal depth: Dr. Ginette Paris
For his gentle heart and sharp pencil: Dr. Patrick Mahaffey
For his cinematic understanding of Miyazaki: Dr. Gilles Zenon Maheu

Loving gratitude to Dr. Christine Downing: a true beacon in the night.

Appreciation to Dr. Maureen Murdoch for identifying the story cycle of the heroine.
Remembering Dr. Walter Odajnyk for his belief in this work.

Fond appreciation to our caring Pacifica cohort, especially Deborah Wilday.

For our many exchanges over philosophies regarding anima,
war and humankinds future.

To fellow students who helped formulate the original thesis:

Kathie Greenwood, Tasha Palmaer, Anne Taylor and Ed Uzumeckis.

Gratitude to Prof. Tomoko Hirai, The Evergreen State College, for inviting me to lecture,
translating texts and generously sharing the rich cultural imprints of her homeland.

To our extraordinary children who inspired this dissertation:

Anne who sees through,

Annika who heals,
Ben who animates,
Teal who illuminates.

To my touchstone husband Stan. His unwavering, loving support

and editorial endurance helped make this work a reality.

In honor of my unique ancestral matriarchs:

Maren, Anne, Ruby, Lillie Dael, Dixie, Dona and Roni

Finally, to Sheri Mila Gerson: for knowing.

This dissertation is dedicated to the memories of two beloved souls:

Grant Johnson who died of AIDS at 33 after suffering the patriarchal wound,
Jess Spielholz M.D. who served 101 years on earth, trying to heal it.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii

Acknowledgements: ............................................................................................................ v

Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 8

Topic of Study ............................................................................................................. 1
Quaternity of Inquiry ................................................................................................. 18
Japanese Mythologies: Legends, Folklore and Fairytales. ........................................ 20
Depth Psychological Heroines: The role of Anima in Animation. ............................ 22
The Miyazaki Heroines Journey to Wholeness ........................................................ 23
Miyazaki Film Analysis............................................................................................. 26
Chapter 2: The Anima in Mother Goddesses as Pre-Patriarchal Consciousness .............. 34
Spirited Away: Kamikakushi and the Journey of Chihiro ......................................... 46
Reflecting Shintoism in Changing Times .................................................................. 48
Japanese Fairy Tales in Spirited Away ...................................................................... 52
No Faces Quest for Self ........................................................................................... 55
The Sea Railway of the Unconscious ........................................................................ 58
The Psyche of Nature In Spirited Away .................................................................... 68
Chihiro to Sen to Chihiro: the Heroines Journey Cycle ........................................... 70
Chapter 3: The Anima in the Triple Goddess and Matriarchal Consciousness ................ 73
Profiteering from the Sexualization of Girls: the Media and Disney ........................ 76
Madame Suliman as Terrible Mother ........................................................................ 86
Sophies Journey Through Howls Unconscious ...................................................... 88
The Transformation of the Shadow Witch ................................................................ 91
Howls Androgynous Nature and Japanese Cultural Consciousness ........................ 94
Chapter 4: The Anima Inspired Return to Primal Feminine Consciousness ..................... 98
Syncretic Mythologies of Japan and Greece.............................................................. 99
Ashitakas Shadow and the Anima Bridge to Consciousness ................................. 100
Mononoke as Embodiment of the Wounded Earth .................................................. 105
The Lost Wolf Deities of Old Japan ........................................................................ 107
Lady Eboshi: Vengeful Daughter of the Patriarchy ................................................ 110
Mononokes Personification of the Earths Unconscious ........................................ 115
Ashitaka and the Wounded Sons of War ................................................................. 118
The Spirit of the Forest, Nightwalker or Deer God ................................................. 126
Quest for Consciousness Apart From Nature .......................................................... 127
The Demon Boars in Japanese Myth and Stories .................................................... 129
The Anima in Ashitaka and the Soul in Mononoke................................................. 131
Androgyny in Princess Mononoke as a Redress to Misogyny ................................ 133
Severing the Divinity from Nature .......................................................................... 139

viii
Chapter 5: The Anima Role in Transcendent Matriarchal Consciousness ..................... 147
The Wise Woman and the Prophetic Tapestry ........................................................ 153
The Princess who Loved Insects.............................................................................. 156
Miyazakis Scale: Nausicaa Integrated with Nature ................................................ 160
The God Soldier as Monstrous Atomic Child ......................................................... 166
A Return to Darkness from the Light ...................................................................... 170
Gun Control in Japan and the Shadow of American Violence ................................ 174
Divergent Heroines in Dystopian Worlds: Katniss and Nausicaa ........................... 180
Nausicaas Hard Choice in the Last Installment of the Manga Series ..................... 186
Chapter 6: Conclusions: Anima Rich Heroines and Post-Patriarchal Consciousness ..... 190
Archetypal Psychology and the Anima Rich Heroine ............................................. 194
A Brave New Heroine: Pixars Merida ................................................................... 196
Miyazaki Heroines on Land and Sea: Haru in The Cat Returns and Ponyo ............ 200
Accepting Other in Ponyo, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke ....................... 203
Miyazakis Artistry of Feminism............................................................................. 205

The style used throughout this dissertation is in accordance with the MLA
Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd Edition, 2008) and
Pacifica Graduate Institutes Dissertation Handbook (2012-2013).

viii
 Chapter 1
Introduction

I believe that children are the inheritors of historical memory from

previous generations. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down
to that level (Hayao Miyazaki qtd. in Brooks).

Topic of Study

In todays mercurial world of cultural transition, films bear the potential to tell the

mythic tales our ancestors once told in dimly lit caves as they carved petroglyphs onto

stone. The need to tell archetypal stories is as profound today as it was in the earliest tribal

communities, for humans are eternally compelled to understand their place in the world.

Screen storytellers are powerful collectives who can reshape the mythic journey of the

protagonist toward a worldview that exceeds gender confinement and promotes global,

communal harmony and ecological balance. They can conjure a heroines story that

subverts the patriarchal entrenchment that has blocked the wholeness of both women and

men. One archetypal storyteller who represents this new, emerging mythology is

Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, the animation director who created such films as:

My Neighbor Totoro, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley

of the Wind and Spirited Away, which garnered Japan its first Academy Award for Best

Animated Feature in 2003 by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and

Sciences. Miyazaki films portray heroines as progressive role models who peacefully

solve problems by restoring a harmonic equilibrium within the storys framework. His

heroine-centric features are a contrast to Hollywood blockbusters that often characterize

heroines as inferior, over-sexualized and incapable of intellectually solving the storys

central problem. Syncretistic in nature: this female protagonist is a blend of old Eastern
 2

mythological traditions with new global ecological principles that transcend patriarchal

limitations. The anima figures may seem feminist in the post-modern tradition but actually

characterize a uniquely balanced heroic model. One that represents the quest for

completeness through a multi-dimensional anima character that exceeds stereotypical

gender roles. The Miyazaki heroine as anima transcends political genderism, for her all

consciousness cannot be confined to an us versus them polarity.

In this dissertation, I argue that the anima rich Miyazaki heroine is a psychic

unifier who heals patriarchal gender wounds, rebuilds communities through peaceful

cooperation and reverses environmental destruction. While the old world militaristic hero

is stuck in the tug-o-war of the ego, the Miyazaki heroine is led by psyche. The character

arc of this heroine culminates in a mythic journey that begins at a juncture where four

differing paths of study merge: depth psychology, Shinto religious ethics, Japanese

mythological traditions and the heroines journey schema as outlined by Maureen

Murdock. These intersections comprise a multi-faceted approach rooted in the theme of

balance.

The Miyazaki heroine is a sharp divergence from the standard and extreme

militaristic hero model that inspired such classic works as Beowulf, The Odyssey and The

Iliad, the Sinbad stories from the Arabian Nights, The Arthurian Legends and other

canonical tales which glorify a male hero who advances through physical prowess,

trickery and military might. That archaic model also frequently requires heroes to prove

their virility and bolster self-confidence by subduing females. At a time when

mediascapes are constantly redrawn through video games, virtual worlds, graphic novels,

films and television, it is ironic that such obsolete narratives are still projected onto our

psyches, albeit through more sophisticated media containers. As our mythic bearings are
 3

in flux, it becomes all the more vital to pay close attention to the images we feed into the

collective psyche and those we identify with as individuals.

As we understand the fundamental importance of images in shaping psychic

realities, we also note how permanent imaging forms a girls view of self. It is with this

concern in mind that Miyazaki films are chosen to offer a counterbalance to a dominating

androcentric American mindset. It is the intent of this dissertation that, in focusing on

anima images as counterweights to the patriarchal bias, we consider how rebalancing a

collective vision can create a manifest reality.

This societal dynamic is explored through the ways the Miyazaki protagonist

alleviates damage to the psyche of the child through engagement with mythic stories that

nourish the imaginal realms of the psyche. All too often, todays child gazes in the mirror

and sees an image of self that is filtered through powerful media screens. Instead of

shaping the originality of their own imagination, the child is lured by a sea of

consumerism: from toys to cyber games and networks, as well as television and film.

Instead of seeing a world of limitless possibilities in the shaping of self, the child focuses

on confusing role models in the overt sexualization of dolls and hyper-masculinized

superheroes. This commercialism turns the young psyche into a commodity vehicle driven

by limiting stereotypes that ensure profit and undermine individuality.

We live in an era that bears some similarities to the pre-literacy age when the

image was paramount. Surgeon Leonard Schlain articulates, in The Alphabet Versus the

Goddess, that the hidden costs of literacy led to the devaluation of sacred images of

goddesses and females as a whole. The patriarchal warrior-dominator that plays so

prominent a role in all Western history books succeeded because of the invention of books

themselves (39).
 4

As modern media de-emphasizes textuality and images are re-emphasized,

humankind has an opportunity to realize a more balanced understanding of the images that

we unleash upon the collective psyche. Shlain hopes that our era will create: . . .a new

Golden Age, one in which the right-hemispheric values of tolerance, caring, and respect

for nature will begin to ameliorate the conditions that have prevailed for the too-long

period during which left-hemispheric values were dominant. Images of any kind are the

balm bringing about this worldwide healing (432). Healing through the image is possible

in Miyazaki films due to the organic nature of his artistic process: he draws storyboards of

the entire film before plotting out the story or writing the script.

In fact, fellow director Isao Takahata who co-founded Studio Ghibli with

Miyazaki said the master animator stopped writing screenplays altogether, relying instead

on images to compel the story: Even if he does incorporate his astute observations into

his artwork, he remains possessed by, and fuses with, his charactersto the point where

the heightened fireworks of Eros that result, actually transform his ideals into flesh and

blood (qtd. in Starting 456). By creating storylines from embedded images, Miyazaki

taps into the soul level first, liberating him from the mechanics of Logos that are later

used for story development and production. As such, the animator connects with mythic

elements and archetypal patterns that propel the maturation journey that ultimately shapes

the heroine. As Takahata observes: Hayao Miyazaki is a person with deep feelings. You

can easily sense this in the work he creates. Those close to him all know that he feels

things in an unusually powerful way. In fact . . . while drawing storyboards, he was so

overcome by emotion that he began shedding tears on the artwork (456). Miyazakis

creative method draws us closer to the original ways humans expressed stories: through

images. Cave paintings dating back 40,800 years have been recently discovered in
 5

El Castillo, Spain and show rudimentary images that likely date back to the Neanderthal

Era (Appenzeller 302).

More sophisticated cave paintings dating back 32,000 years can be found in Chauvet,

France where . . . lions and horses all painted with an individuality and dynamism make

them masterpieces (Curtis 16). The famous Lascaux cave paintings in France that depict

such animals as aurochs, horses and deer date back at least 17,300 years. The archetypal

story writes Robert McKee in Story, unearths a universally human experience, then

wraps itself inside a unique, culture-specific expression. A stereotypical story reverses this

pattern: it suffers a poverty of both content and form (McKee 4).

By trusting the images to comprise a visual narrative before literal scripting,

Miyazaki creates heroines that hearken back to authentic, less filtered psychic experiences

which lends, fundamentally, to their depth: Let us imagine archetypes as the deepest

patterns of psychic functioning writes Hillman, the roots of the soul governing the

perspectives we have to ourselves and the world. They are the axiomatic, self-evident

images to which psychic life and our theories about it ever return (Revisioning xi).

Hillmans study of archetypes values the way that behaviors, images and consciousness

also provides: the advantage of organizing into clusters or constellations a host of

events from different areas of life and these constellations compel the heroine stories that

Miyazaki enacts through his animated tales (Revisioning xii-xiv). Such personal

resonance enhances mythic elements so that Miyazaki creates a soulful, compassionate

concern with the dignity and welfare of those liveshuman and nonhuman alikethat

comprise the community within the story. This anima abundant character learns to

approach the central problem in the story through unification and reconciliation. Such a

character does not destroy enemies, but rather renegotiates the framework of the problem
 6

turning challenges into opportunities for positive, communal change. She is not a

stereotypical heroine who exists solely to propel the male hero forward or a mere animus

reflection of the omnipotent male heroshe is an anima character who stands on her own

in both personhood and individuality.

Even the highly praised American film Avatar by James Cameron that explores

similar themes such as pacifism, environmental reverence and female empowerment

remains stereotypically rooted in the patriarchal heros story. It features an erotic female

warrior who serves the hero, Jake, in a limited wifely, or maternal role. But, as Matthew

Kapell point out: When the time comes for Jake to accomplish his heroic acts, Neytiri

steps back and allows him free rein (158). In comparison, the Miyazaki heroine animates

her own action thus embodying the consciousness of the storyline by earning the right to

peacefully resolve conflicts through creative means. In these animated films we

experience depth psychological resonance through an immersion into the unconscious

where her wounds and those of others are identified through psychic experiences. The

Miyazaki heroine works toward: the healing of gender wounds, positive matriarchal

emergence and an ecologically balanced global community. In her heroines descent and

eventual ascent, this heroine re-emerges with the knowledge necessary to restore the

equilibrium within her community and resoul those most lost inside that collective. In so

doing, this heroine shows us how the frayed world soul, the anima mundi can be healed

and rewoven into a vibrant psychic fabric of collective human consciousness.

The Animus Problem and Revisioning Anima

To explore the archetypal anima, I employ depth psychological methods that

illuminate shadow characterizations of complex antagonists as a contrast to superficial

heroism and villainy in Western film storylines. Additionally, I examine some of the
 7

pitfalls of the animus concept by presenting the case for the anima to be considered

through a wider framework beyond Carl Jungs initial preoccupation with the notion of

opposites and contrasexuality.

To Jung, a man was drawn to a woman through the feeling side or inner feminine

that he characterized as an anima projection. In turn, he then inferred a woman must be

automatically drawn to a man through her thinking side or inner masculine as an animus

projection. Jungs work was an outgrowth of the Victorian Era repressive customs that

could not predict how such depictions may lead to genderizing or the reduction of humans

to their most basic biology. To be fair, Jung could not have known at that time (in early

stages of psychological history) that this assumption would later become a tool of a wider

patriarchal, Western bias. He also could not have predicted how this gender wound can

cause both an internalization and externalization of the patriarchal ego. This overreaching

shadow seizes psyche by the throat, cutting off the breath of anima thereby halting

psychic maturation at the very time the soul engages in the tender dance of the emerging

self amid the powerful, protective ego. The anima-animus polarity can snare those seeking

individual personhood in both women and men as it curtails evolving gender identities

and expressions. Christine Downing reminds us that, If the longing is to be whole in

oneself, complete and if being gendered means being limited, finite, then gender is

wound (Mysteries 46). Complicating Jungs rather simplistic view of womens

psychology is the reality that the new millennium challenges tidy assumptions of

mandatory heterosexuality as more same sex relationships become culturally normalized.

These bonds compel us to reconsider the animus theory, especially the idea of a

compulsory, masculine principle that is viewed as necessary for women to feel whole. As

Christine Downing points out, When this understanding of female psychology is

 8

combined with the Jungian notion that men have an inner feminine aspect there is a subtle

insinuation that individuated men can be as feminine as women, that women exist

primarily to help men toward their femininity, that ultimately men dont need women

(66-67). Downings point is dramatically illustrated by Claire Douglas in Translate this

Darkness: the Life of Christiana Morgan, an in-depth study of one of Jungs more pivotal

patients, Christiana Morgan who kept records of her sessions with her analyst. Jung

proceeded to reduce his patients inner feminine figures and her blossoming sense of

herself to nothing but neuroticism. A subsequent session appeared to be equally

embattled, reports Douglas, . . .with Jung whipping his patient with her animus and

calling an image of heaven in her vision ludicrous and finally, he suggests she drop

therapy and have another baby (166). One purpose of this dissertation is to encourage a

more creative view of the anima thereby emancipating it from the dynamic of Jungian

contrasexuality that limits our potential to relate to the elusive phenomena as an

inspiration for soul expression and development. As such, I focus on the anima as a spark

of life, or an animating life force more akin to Aristotles idea of anima as breath and

soul in de Anima as well as James Hillmans exploration of anima. In the guise of

anima development, there takes place a rich trade in smuggled hypotheses, pretty pieties

about eros, and eschatological indulgences about saving ones soul through relationship,

becoming more feminine and the sacrifice of intellect (Anima 7). Attaching the core of a

womans intellect to the function of animus (or the masculine principle in a female) is a

concern of several contemporary depth psychological scholars. One of the more

provocative critics of the animus mystique is Lyn Cowan who deconstructs the

compulsory animus in her essay Dismantling the Animus by challenging masculine

principle assumptions:
 9

As we go on, it will become clear that the content of Jung's concept of the
animus derives far more from cultural stereotype than from a priori
archetype, and that the concept is so one-sidedly skewed to reinforce
hierarchical genderization (not to mention misogyny) as to be useless in
understanding women's psychology. It also will become increasingly
apparent why "animus" must be separated from its assumed connection
with sexuality. And eventually we will remove the term "animus" from
our psychological vocabulary. With all due respect to Jung, it is time to
consign the animus concept to a museum of old psychological ideas. (2)

Cowan continues in her critique of the animus by pointing to Claire Douglas

tome, The Woman in the Mirror: Analytical Psychology and the Feminine that isolates

only three positive views of animus in Jungs body of work. Those include: discernment,

discrimination, reflection and self-knowledge as well as heroic divinity. Overall, however,

Cowan calls for a deeper, broader understanding in her essay:

As long as our perception is determined by the lens of the gender

archetype, and as long as our languages perpetuate the singularity of this
perception, we will see and think of ourselves first and most essentially as
masculine and feminine beings and only secondarily as human beings. (2)

To transcend genderizing, I argue that the application of being drawn to the other is

less realized by creatureliness and more a vehicle of soul. In keeping with the style of

using Latin such as anima and animus and in searching for more specific nuances of the

experiences of other, I will sometimes use the word alius that infers more than just

other amid the dimensions of: another, different, separate as well as: a changed

person or thing (Oxford 10). Murdock refers to the closing circle of a heroines journey

as the sacred marriage that helps a woman actualize wholeness by finding the inner man

with heart (155). While she is careful to note her belief that archetypal recognition is

genderless, I feel more comfortable, for the purposes of this dissertation to choose an

overt phrase that obviates gender neutrality. In this regard, instead of the idea of an inner

man with heart I use the concept of a trusted other to expand the potential of what

unifying relationships can mean for women. We might find such companionship in
 10

friendship, romantic love or a mentoring relationship that exceeds the gender dynamic,

liberating soul to then achieve balance without societal overlay. Trusted is a word that

honors Murdocks idea that soul unions encompass the unfolding of our most tender,

inner psychic experiences. A trusted other also seems fitting because Miyazaki films

feature relationships that are not exclusively romantic or sexual, but often intellectual,

emotional and spiritual. In the Miyazaki story universe, the gender wound is alleviated by

reimaging the anima as an expansive soul consciousness personified by the heroines

themselves.

Miyazaki heroines do not reject males as much as they exist whole without them.

Sometimes their growth coincides romantically, but mostly their maturation arc maps a

journey concerned with the development of self. When Nausicaa's storyline ends in the

final manga installment, she may live with the man of the wood or stay in the village as a

single parent to care for a motherless child. Chihiro faces young adulthood on her own

terms and fearlessly embraces a new school community. Princess Mononoke remains in

the forest to live within her own community and does not commit to Ashitaka.

Poet and social commentator Adrienne Rich penned a now famous essay,

Compulsory Heterosexuality which was later published in her 1986 book: Blood, Bread

and Poetry: Selected Prose. The essay explores what Rich called a lesbian continuum

that advocates for revisioning womens experiences with other women, sexual or not, as

experiences within a continuum in which womens relatedness enrich their lives. Rich

asserts how "societal forces wrench women's emotional and erotic energies away from

themselves and other women and from woman-identified values (35). Part of this theory

is that women deny themselves more nuanced relationships with other women based on

the shadow created by heterodominance: Heterosexuality has been both forcibly and
 11

subliminally imposed on women. Yet everywhere women have resisted it, often at the cost

of physical torture, imprisonment, psychosurgery, social ostracism, and extreme poverty

(57). In limiting womens experiences to prescribed social boundaries that benefit

androcentricism, females are forced into an artifice that prohibits an otherwise richly hued

individuating experience. The concept of the animus is merely a tool of Jungian

heterosexism, writes Claudette Kulkarni in Lesbians and Lesbianism. She explains how

lesbian experience reflects engagement with . . .the same other and of feeling free with

women to withdraw certain projections or to take down walls (217). Kulkarni builds

upon her concerns by asserting that it is not the animus that women are projecting, but

rather, it is the selfa genderless sense of the core (217). Resisting the compulsory

responses that Rich and Kulkarni underscore, Miyazaki draws heroines who forge their

own self-definition through diverse interactions with their entire community. These

exchanges do not reinforce the power of the males in the animations, but rather inform the

heroines inner understanding of self thereby generating knowledge that enhances her

psyche through varied life experiences.

In keeping with the concept of the anima in animation we examine how

revisioning the anima through fluid states of consciousness stimulates soul engagement.

In this regard, the dissertation looks beyond the concepts of anima as a static or linear

state. The Miyazaki heroine uses her creative intellect to solve the problems that other

heroines, struggling under the patriarchal wound, cannot address progressively. These

characters are conscious of their evolving roles in their clan or community through

encounters with their own shadows. As such the heroines transformations are made

visual through flashbacks, dreams and psychological immersion into mysterious realms.
 12

As Miyazaki storylines suggest, we develop as humans through psychic

fulfillment and soul healing which is a more complex approach than reliance on pat

contrasexual simplicities. I argue that these assumptions support a patriarchal mindset

that locks in heterodominance that is regressive, rather than progressive. In a telephone

interview, Christine Downing suggested that Just because there is an anima, does not

mean there has to be an animus and she advocates for a more fluid, cyclic conception of

anima. One that doesnt view soul as a contrast to patriarchal ego or a projection of a

mans struggle with his own masculine sexuality, or is valued as the intellectual alius that

balances out womens emotional health. Downing theorizes that the dual approach of the

anima-animus paradigm might be the natural outgrowth of how bicameral brains

automatically work. She advocates that humans become more consciousness of how

limited modes of thinking inhibits soul development, while a pluralistic relationship with

the world actually works to the souls benefit by shaping individual personhood through

expansive experiences.

The Miyazaki model of heroism invites us to consider the anima in distinctly

animated terms thereby encouraging audiences to visually experience life in all its

movement through varying dimensions of characters and their personalities. This

approach dramatizes James Hillmans concern that anima not be identified by a

description of the anima in a rigidly patriarchal, puritanically defensive, extravertedly

willful and unsoulful period of history with her definition (Anima 13). Hillman

continues, that even as the anima exaggerates and mythologizes, her influence upon

emotional relationships today when interiority of soul and contrasexuality are de riguer

will appear differently and be governed by other myths and he closes with the

admonition to . . . discover what descriptions suit her in this time and how she is
 13

mythologizing today (13). The Miyazaki heroine is an archetypal figure that suits an

emerging global mythology of reconnection with unconscious stirrings that, without

recognition, can unleash hell upon the psyche and eventually, on earth. Susan Rowland,

in speaking to Hillmans view of the anima as soul, advocates that animas true position

manifests as consciousness-in relationship-to-unconsciousness in both sexes. The anima

in this particular role resembles not a linear character, but a heroine that offers spiral

movement: taking outer elements of consciousness inward to the mythic, mysterious

realms of the unconscious. Now the anima could fully inhabit the role as relatedness, as

the bridge to the unknown psyche, and not be associated with real people in their literal

genders (Humanities 141). As Hillman reminds us in Animal Presences: Animating the

imagethat is our task today. If the animas role within the unconscious is one of

relatedness to consciousness, then it plays a critical role in decentering the ego foundation

of consciousness. By tracing the elevation of the ego back to the culture of the masculine

hero myth, we see how the life spark of anima can be dimmed or extinguished by the

subduing and conquering ego. Anima-relatedness is found more in Miyazaki films since

Japanese consciousness is often viewed as more matriarchal than patriarchal thus

honoring plurality and diversity, according to Japanese Jungian therapist and professor

Hayao Kawai. Patriarchal consciousnessbacked by the one absolute Godinsists on

absolute universality, using abstractive methods which cut if off from objects, while

matriarchal consciousness related to the unconscious, maintains a bond with objects. It

depends on them and becomes relative (Japanese 179). In a patriarchal society, the

anima often needs reconnection and reintegration for women (as well as men) due to

suppression or disconnection. For instance, although much of Emma Jungs theoretical

explorations of anima are distilled through the press of masculinized development, her
 14

insights remain relatable to women today. In her book Jung and Feminism: Liberating

Archetypes, Demaris Wehr asserts, that while much of her framing of anima ideas are

based upon male projection, Emma Jung does not confuse actual women with anima but

rather touches upon the animus as invalidating:

First we hear from it a critical, usually negative comment on every

movement, an exact examination of all motives and intentions which
naturally always causes feelings of inferiority, and tends to nip in the bud
all initiative and every wish for self-expression. (Jung qtd. in Wehr 123)

Wehr believes that if Emma Jung had identified these remarks within the context of the

patriarchy she would have . . . added the dimension needed to heal womens self-

images more fully (123). Furthermore, Wehr suggests that Emma Jungs concerns about

womens polarity of self that fluctuates between negative and positive evaluations

replicates mens images of women in patriarchy (124). Wehr emphasizes how this leads

to a reflection of self in which girls and women internalize the male projection of females

as either: the good girl (the Madonna archetype) or the bad girl (the whore archetype).

However, as I have pointed out, these images need to shed the potential they now carry

for legitimation of patriarchal societys fear and devaluation of women (124). In her

Animus and Anima, Emma Jung makes sense of the anima as that which . . .represents

the connection with the spring or source of life in the unconscious. When no such

connection exists, or when it is broken, a state of stagnation or torpor results. . . all of

which prompted her to realize that soul disturbance causes symptoms of emotional

sickness that are then projected against others thereby perpetuating such illness through

other people (67).

 15

Complex Protagonists and Antagonists

Several of Miyazakis most aggressive antagonists are female, such as Lady Eboshi in

Princess Mononoke who represents industrialization against nature or Princess Kushana

who leads an the assassination of Nausicaas father while he withers away in his bed. In

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the titular heroine is an accomplished pilot and gifted

scientist trying to heal the earth after robotic God Warriors scorched it for seven days.

Miyazaki characters are representative of the complexity of human nature in all its

extremes through exploration of the tensions that fuel behavior. He believes in purity

versus impuritynot in a moralizing sense, but rather as expressions of the purity of

balance and the impurity of imbalance found in Japanese Shinto traditions. If energies are

to be constant, yet flexible, Miyazaki understands them to be a continuum of positive,

neutral and negative energies in constant flux. Here the anima and animus concepts

become less Jungian in polarity and instead, are aspects of points of view that reverberate

within individual psyches. Human violence and environmental destruction are conveyed

impure because they are outgrowths of ego imbalances and hatred ignited by superficial

assumptions. Miyazaki shows us in Spirited Away that such imbalances are driven by

hostilities toward the alius, as when young Chihiro finds herself thrust into the world of

the greedy witch of the bathhouse, who assumes she is a stinking, useless weakling

merely because she is human (Spirited Away 106). While other anime directors depict

young women with exaggerated hips and breasts, Miyazaki heroines are adolescents

whom he chooses not to sexualize, opting instead to explore the interiority of his

characters. Miyazaki questions, how anime can be so sexualized at a time of talking

about human rights for women . . . its difficult. They immediately become the subjects of

rorikon gokko (a play toy for guys with a Lolita Complex). But now, there are too many
 16

people who shamelessly depict (such heroines) as if they just want (such girls) as pets,

and things are escalating more and more (Murakami).

Miyazaki stands apart from many anime filmmakers and manga artists that feature

females with disproportionate physiques. Yet there are sexual undercurrents in Princess

Mononoke that are rare in Miyazaki films, except Porco Rosso (literally red pig, in which

a pilot loses his pig head and transforms into a complete human when he stops being

piggish in his dealings with women). While that film is not analyzed here because it is not

a heroines storyline, Miyazaki often draws Porco Rossos pig face next to his signature,

suggesting the animator sees him as his alter ego. Creating heroines to consciously focus

on psyche over the physical creates protagonists who experience an arc of inner character

rather than serving as a pet for a teen boy. This kind of approach is akin to what

psychologist Patricia Berry suggests when she advocates for the retirement of the single-

minded monotheism of gender that curtails the promise of deeper connections with

others. Berry advocates for polymorphous imagining of ever changing, multiple states of

consciousness that liberate our misconceptions of others: Usually one is free to enjoy

perceiving persons as they are, each in a style of individual complexity. Then gender

categories and schemes are an interference (47).

Multiple states of consciousness are explored in Howls Moving Castle after teen

Sophie is cursed by a witch that forces her to assume the body of a 90 year old. Sophie

experiences life as the triple anima: mother, maiden and crone. In this polymorphous

state, Sophie learns much more about herself and womanhood than she could have

envisioned from merely an adolescent sense of self. Establishing depth of character also

gives Miyazaki the opportunity to take viewers on odysseys of the unconscious that are

rife with archetypal symbolism. For instance, Sophies descent into Howls unconscious
 17

where she discovers a tunnel littered with broken toys that represent his wounded

childhood and broken psyche.

At least two other titles, Spirited Away and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

make vivid use of fantastic daydreams or immersion into the unconscious that reaches into

soul disturbances. In Spirited Away, Chihiro remembers her childhood encounter with a

River Spirit that helps her recall the identity of the spirit. In Nausicaa, she tumbles into

quicksand and is literally sucked into a cavernous paradise under the toxic jungle. It is

here that Nausicaa slides into an unconscious state and remembers the father wound that

helped shape her empathic relationships. She also discovers that the toxic jungle, long

viewed as a poisonous organism, actually purifies the soil and water to restore the earths

health.

In the five titles examined, Miyazaki hints at romance in some of the storylines

and in Howls Moving Castle, a permanent pairing does develop between the principle

characters. But, that is the only instance where a young woman commits to a relationship

in the films examined here. Princesses Nausicaa and Mononoke have friendships with

males and Chihiro becomes infatuated with the human incarnation of a river spirit, but all

three heroines go on to develop their own personhood through societal commitment to a

greater good and responsibility for a larger community.

If an adolescent learns Nausicaan values, the messages are that wars are never won

and that hatred among human factions is eternally victimizing. Through Mononoke, the

child understands how damaging it is to the soul of the world, the anima mundi, to be

dominated by machine and gun at the expense of nature and harmonious communalism.

The young adult learns how the mindset of tyranny dishonors and dismembers the soul.
 18

By meeting Totoro, Mei and Satsuki, children are transported back to pre-

gendered states where play and fantastic friends help the young souls cope with the

anxiety of maternal separation and how to cultivate a community. In Spirited Away

Chihiros newfound confidence, earned through her hard work encourages the child to

integrate into a community of strangers as she negotiates the liminal realm that teems

between the earth and sky. A child realizes that soul and spirit are not fed by the illusory

reward of gold but by the priceless ethic of loving compassion. In Chihiros adventure,

the childhood soul is warmed by the care taken to help a displaced river spirit finds his

way home.

Finally, through Sophie and Howl, the childs heart is led aboard a roaming castle

that spins between worlds as Howls authentic identity hinges between war and peace.

Sophie leads the child through the psychic realms of the shadow where the split soul can

be healed through the restoration of self. For Miyazaki, todays world is one that

undermines the innocence of childhooda concern that is at the forefront of his films. If

as artists, we try to tap into that soul level Miyazaki explains, If we say that life is worth

living and the world is worth living in, then something good might come of it." In his

September 2005 interview in The Guardian, Miyazaki concludes: "Maybe that's what

these films are doing. They are my way of blessing the child.

Quaternity of Inquiry

Miyazaki heroines represent the emerging consciousness of the anima in post-

gendered consciousness through varying levels of analysis. In peeling back the layers of

each Miyazaki film we identify mythic roots by employing a quaternity of inquiry within

the larger framework of myth, religion and psychology:

 19

1. Miyazaki scripts are inspired by Japanese mythological traditions;

2. Miyazakis animations exemplify Shinto animistic convictions of purity

imbalance, informing his heroines relationships with the natural world;

3. Miyazaki storylines invite depth psychological analysis of the heroine as

anima who promotes post-gendered consciousness through healing

wounds;

4. Miyazaki heroines exemplify the Miyazaki model of heroism through an

integrated whole being committed to benefit the emerging global

community.

Review of Literature

To understand the personal history and events that inspired Miyazakis work, I

turn to Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation by Helen McCarthy and two

books compiled by Miyazaki himself: Starting Point, a collection of essays, interviews

and memoirs that chronicle his theories on animation and story formed earlier in his

artistic career. Its sequel, Turning Point, concentrates on the second half of Miyazakis

life in animation and the Studio Ghibli years in which his greatest body of work came to

fruition. Unfortunately, the English language version of the book was not available at the

time of this dissertation. While these titles are specific to Miyazakis life and work, other

films are situated under topical segments that pertain to his artistry. These stories also

inform the analysis of his films within the auspices of the case for heroines as protagonists

that represent both a balanced personal psyche and a global consciousness. Very little, up

to this point, has been written about the psychological and mythological underpinnings
 20

that reinforce the creative foundation of Miyazakis work. This dissertation is designed in

part, to address the mythopoetic themes that cultivate the heroines journey to wholeness.

Japanese Mythologies: Legends, Folklore and Fairytales.

Miyazaki animations are layered with levels of metaphor from Japanese cultural

traditions that include fairy tales and Shinto storylines. The Kojiki: The Record of Ancient

Matters harbors the fundamental myths that comprise the Shinto pantheon. Among these

stories are the origins of cosmic parents Izanami and Izanagi as well as the personification

of the seasons mythologized by the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Righteously angry with her

destructive brother Susanowo the goddess shuts herself off in a cave in mourning and

refuses to emerge bringing darkness to the islands. This story reflects the universal motifs

of the Demeter and Persephone myth of Ancient Greece. To illuminate aspects of

Japanese folklore, Japanese Tales by Royall Tyler retells the story of a demon boar and

his relationship to death that resonates in Miyazakis Princess Mononoke. Somewhat

indicative of Western fables, Japanese stories do explore morals, not from the threat of an

authoritarian God, but rather to honor the virtue of personal integrity and responsibility as

qualities that balance the psyche. To understand the Samurai ethic and the decline of that

subculture, The Bushido: the Soul of Japan, is essential. Translated by Izano Nitobe, his

publication discloses the honor code that had once been restricted to oral tradition.

Additionally important is Pandemonium and Parade, by Michael Dylan Foster that

explains the complex dance between shadow and light in historic Shintoism through the

identification of Yokai (negative spirits) and Kami (positive spirits). This book is

especially integral to the study of the wolf princess Mononoke and her mystical

relationship as guardian of the Forest Spirit.

 21

One story Miyazaki that has been the most pivotal for this body of work is the

Legend of the White Snake that inspired the 1958 animation, The Tale of the White

Serpent. The animated feature is identified by Miyazaki as the key story that influenced

his future. The tale is about a boy who keeps a beloved pet snake until forced to give her

away and later reunites with the serpent-girl in her human princess form. The fairytale

flourishes in its adventures with dark forces and reveals the dimensions of Miyazakis

interest in attempting to reconcile love from different worlds. Especially instructive is the

way in which the serpent is viewed as a positive feminine power rather than an evil,

masculine tempter as evidenced in the Old Testament.

Miyazaki stories reflect the Shinto spirituality of old Japan that honors the natural

world as ensouledfrom rocks to water to the elements of the earth. To gain deeper

understanding of Miyazakis unique worldview, I delve into the study of Japanese Shinto

religion to examine the concept of non-human ensoulment. Such books under study

include: Shinto by Paula Hartz, J.W.T. Masons The Meaning of Shinto and Motohisa

Yamakages The Essence of Shinto: Japans Spiritual Heart. Other books that inform this

study include William Astons early theories of Shinto: the Way of the Gods and

Encounter with Enlightenment by Robert Carter that delves into Shinto as a framework for

Japanese ethics. A Japanese Mirror by Ian Buruma uses Shintoism to reflect the ways in

which Japanese cultural traditions impact Western ideals.

I draw distinctions between a Westernized view of animation versus the Eastern

idea of anime by drawing upon the writings of Hayao Kawai. His books include: The

Japanese Psyche: Major Motifs in the Fairy Tales of Japan; and Dreams, Myths and

Fairytales in Japan. One of the central tenets in Kawais analysis is that the Japanese

psyche is matriarchal rather than patriarchal and he emphasizes the role that aesthetics
 22

play in the oldest stories of his people. Kawais understanding of Japanese fairy tales

reflects a non-linear approach that spirals in and out through a more cyclical design. The

various types of women appearing through out. . . explains Kawai in The Japanese

Psyche . . .should be recognized as always changing positions, not as developmental

stages. These protean female figures express the Japanese mind: multiple layers creating a

beautiful totality (ix). This view is taken into consideration to help us understand how the

mythic Miyazaki heroine is ever shifting, symbolizing the anima as eternally alive.

Depth Psychological Heroines: The role of Anima in Animation.

To consider how the anima and shadow materialize in Miyazaki storylines, I refer

to psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz and her detailed analysis of fairy tales. Since von

Franz understood how such tales compensate for repressive societal norms, her work

offsets archaic traditions that disempower girls and women in the collective. Von Franz

books that bring cohesion to this aspect of the study include: The Feminine in Fairy Tales,

Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales, Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Shadow and Evil in

Fairy Tales, Individuation in Fairy Tales and The Problem of Puer Aeternus that explores

the archetype of the eternal boy.

I use the poetic examination of the mythological triad or triple Goddess archetypes

found in Ginette Paris collections of essays published in Pagan Meditations: The Worlds

of Aphrodite, Artemis and Hestia as well as Pagan Grace: Dionysus, Hermes and

Goddess Memory. Especially insightful is Paris understanding of female deities of

antiquity that still resonate with psychological states of being in todays cultural milieu.

The works of Christine Downing explore the significance of womens mythology as the

reflection of an evolving continuum of female experiences. The Long Journey Home,

Myths and Mysteries of Same Sex Love and Womens Mysteries: Toward a Poetics of
 23

Gender explore motherhood, sisterhood, daughterhood, lesbian love and friendship by

revisioning our relationship with Greco-Roman mythological traditions.

This inquiry is supplemented by the theories of Carl Jung, specifically: Modern Man

in Search of a Soul as well as The Earth Has a Soul: C.G. Jung on Nature, Technology

and Modern Life by Meredith Sabini. Similarly, I rely upon the archetypal psychological

perspectives outlined by James Hillman in such works as The Dream and the

Underworld, A Terrible Love of War, Animal Presences, Insearch, The Souls Code and

Revisioning Psychology. Hillmans work on the role of the anima in ancient myth and

psychological modernity are invaluable to the analysis of the Miyazaki heroine. His fluid

study of the anima as a bridge between consciousness and unconsciousness places anima

as necessary to soul development for all human beings. Anima: the Anatomy of a

Personified Notion is Hillmans amplification of Jungs original ideas on the anima

toward the unfathomable depths of the unconscious.

The Miyazaki Heroines Journey to Wholeness

Close parallels are drawn between the heroines paradigm outlined by Maureen

Murdock in The Heroines Journey: Womans Quest for Wholeness and the odyssey of

Miyazakis female protagonists. I sometimes refer to Joseph Campbells theories of the

universal monomyth in Hero With a Thousand Faces as a contrast or a contributor to the

Miyazaki and Murdoch story models. Murdock recognizes the importance of female

integration that compliments how Miyazaki characters reflect the pursuit of balance, thus

creating the protagonist of global consciousness in Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Murdocks work is also central to the methodology

used to interpret the character arc of the Miyazaki heroine. Among those aspects of the

journey that Murdock identifies, feature the daughters separation from her mother to
 24

identify with her father in patriarchal societies. Hence, the heroines journey requires

reconciliation to heal the maternal wounds that Murdock believes are often experienced in

androcentric cultures. She further explores how the heroine descends into her own

darkness to reconnect with maternal authenticity and embrace those aspects of her shadow

that revitalize her ascent and ultimate reawakening. Murdocks work is essential to the

study of the Miyazaki heroine because his storylines feature aspects of a girls maturation

adventure in a non-linear fashion.

To emphasize the attributes of the Miyazaki heroine in contemporary animation,

this dissertation highlights feminist concerns about some Disney heroines such as Good

Girls and Wicked Witches by Amy Davis. Religion reporter Mark Pinskeys

contemplation on Christian themes in Disney films, The Gospel According to Disney

shows how a long tradition of such heroines has impacted contemporary views of female

identities. Pinskey points out how such protagonists are often created to permeate

monetary markets based on international demographics to enforce Disney prominence as

a global entertainment empire. Mulan, for instance, depicts a Chinese heroine who

masquerades as a male soldier to uphold family honor and prevent her ailing father from

forced military service. Pinksey believes Mulan was created as a media vehicle to

infiltrate the lucrative Chinese market rather than serve as an expansive role model for

todays girls (184). In an attempt to understand how holistic protagonists can contribute to

a more balanced society, the Bem Sex Role Inventory is an incisive method developed by

Dr. Sandra Lipsitz Bem in 1977. The BSRI was published in 1993 in Bems book, Lenses

of Gender and has since been used by researchers to understand gender dynamics and

trends. Now retired from Cornell University as the Director of the Department of

Feminist and Gender Studies, Bem created the first androgynous index to gauge gender
 25

biases in American culture. Bems final analysis is that the more balanced person, less

reliant on Western gender stereotypes, provides the most adaptable behavioral response to

a complicated situation and complex cultural dynamics.

Finally, a pertinent book that delves into damaging stereotypes for children is:

So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect

Their Kids by Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne. Polarizing gender dynamics as well as

sexualized messages are both dissected by Levin and Kilbourne. Among their concerns

are rigid gender roles splashed throughout youth entertainment and in particular, heavy

commercial emphasis on sex appeal aimed at little girls as consumers.

 26

Miyazaki Film Analysis

While Miyazaki has made or been artistically influential in at least (as either

producer, director, writer or animator) some 17 feature-length films to date, only five

animations are chosen for study. The selected titles are the most representative of the

anima rich heroine for the purposes of this dissertation and all were written (or adapted

for the screen as in Howls Moving Castle) and directed by Miyazaki. Additionally, all of

them bear his signature style of magical realism as well as hand drawn artistry. My

Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind feature strong, independent heroines. In his early film,

My Neighbor Totoro, the healing heroine comes in the form of a giant rabbit to reassure

two daughters worried about the health of their ailing mother. Spirited Away depicts a

young heroine who saves her parents from a devouring witch and restores her own

identity in the process. Howls Moving Castle involves a love story that demonstrates how

the anima reunites the split self thereby epitomizing how psyche or soul can be healed.

Princess Mononoke features animas role in the struggle between the Shinto adherents of

old Japan, the forest spirits and the encroaching industrial human tribe of the West.

Princess Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind depicts the regenerative qualities of the

anima in a princess who rejuvenates plant life after a toxic war poisoned the environment.

In all of these film stories, the antagonists are shadows of the protagonists who are not

rewarded or punished for their morality or immoralitybut rather portray complex

characters of human natures light and shadow. Howls Moving Castle, in particular,

reveals how Miyazakis animations illustrate unconscious elements that emphasize the
 27

alius. By accessing this dream state, hidden memories identify the psychic wounds that

are fundamental to the storys central problem.

Engaging interpretive strategies from depth psychology, I document how

Miyazaki has historically been most drawn to pacifist humanitarian storylines with strong

female characters by relating two major events in his life. The first came in the reign of

fire unleashed by Allied Forces against Tokyo during World War II, compounded by the

subsequent atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was not only the

intense human suffering that left an impression on Miyazakis psyche; it was also the

radioactive fallout that ravaged the natural world around him. His pacifist and

environmental views led Miyazaki to boycott the 2003 Academy Awards when Spirited

Away was honored with an Oscarthe same year the Bush Administration launched a US

invasion of Iraq (Midnight Eye).

The second event of the animators childhood that shaped Miyazaki stories

occurred when his mother was sent to a sanitarium to treat a rare form of spinal

tuberculosis and would not return home for eight years (McCarthy 39). Such an absent

mother relationship suggests the animators motivation to create a nurturing, giant rabbit

as a maternal substitute. My Neighbor Totoro, released in 1988, is the film that Miyazaki

credits as the mythopoetic work that opened up his own unconscious.

To examine the ways in which Miyazaki films such as Howls Moving Castle

represent the anima and the shadow, I consider the separation of the feminine, the descent

to the Goddess and the emerging consciousness of wholeness as elucidated by Murdock.

Miyazaki films feature female characters that gain confidence without resorting to warfare

or conquering the natural world. To further focus on Miyazaki, feminist cinema is

 28

represented by heroines that defy Western convention by promoting social change through

a more complex archetypal understanding of girls and women.

Organization of Study

Chapter 2: The Anima and Mother Goddess as Pre-Patriarchal Consciousness

In this chapter, dual themes of the Great Mother are explored uniquely in My

Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. In the first animated feature we explore the

separation from the mother aspect of the journey of the heroine. We meet Satsuki and

Mei who moved with their father to the country to be closer to their mother in the

hospital. Additionally, we look at Spirited Away, which tells the story of a spoiled girl

literally spirited away to an old bathhouse where the kami or spirits are cleansed.

Chihiro is separated from her mother inside the spirit realm after her parents are turned

into pigs, as punishment for gorging themselves at a caf reserved for the spirits. Similarly,

we examine the dark mother, Yubaba, who appears as a greedy witch and purveyor of the

bathhouse for the spirits, who steals the childs identity.

This chapter represents the cyclic sages in the heroines journey emblemic of the

separation of the heroine from her mother. The archetype of the Great Mother appears in

the form of a huge rabbit-shaped kami or spirit, Totoro, a maternal substitute and ancient

forest spirit who engenders new plant life in the countryside where the girls have

relocated to be closer to their mother in the hospital. Totoro grants the girls magical

acorns that culminate in a lush stand of corna golden ear from the garden serves as a

metaphoric get-well card for their mother. Totoro plays a fertility role in the gift of the

acorns that, as James Hillman reminds us, in The Souls Code, symbolizes individual

destiny and the souls calling: The myth of the hero calls from within his own acorn

(Code 16).
 29

Chapter 3: The Anima of the Triple Goddess and Matriarchal Consciousness

Howls Moving Castle is a love story about a quiet, dutiful teenage girl named

Sophie who is literally swept off her feet by a mysterious flying wizard named Howl. The

jealous Witch of the Waste, who harbors feelings for Howl, casts a curse on Sophie that

prematurely transforms her into a 90 year-old woman. Throughout the course of the film,

Sophie experiences the stages of the Triple Goddess: maiden, mother and crone. In her

wizened role, Sophies helps Howl outgrow his puer persona to accept the responsibility

of his destiny. We learn that Howls heart has been stolen and that soul disconnection is

what prevents the wizard from maturation and hence, from wholeness.

This aspect of the journey of the heroine centers on awakening feelings of death as

Sophie begins to understand her own mortality. Similarly, Howl faces literal death in his

mercurial, split self as symbolized by his transformation into a raven conscripted into

military service by Grand Sorceress Suliman. Sophie finds him near death after an air raid

and descends into his unconscious to discover what is needed to heal his soul fissure. In a

powerful scene, Sophie plummets into an underworld realm where Howls trauma is

exposed and the heroine learns that restoring his heart is the only way to bring him into

the light. Eventually, Sophie regains her youthful appearance but maintains the shock of

gray hair that accompanied her aged incarnation, marking the heroines inner maturation.

Exploration concentrates on character traits earned in the initiation and descent phases of

the heroines journey.

Chapter 4: The Anima Inspired Return to Primal Feminine Consciousness

In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past,

dwelt the spirits of the Gods, for those were the days of Gods and of Demons, and so

begins the story of Princess Mononoke. She is the last human guardian of the Spirit of the
 30

Forest, a phantom-like embodiment of earths reproductive energy. He is so aligned with

regenerative magic, that leaves and flowers sprout up under his hooves with each step

taken. Mononoke, raised by a wolf goddess, possesses a wild psyche so connected to

earth magic, mystery and misery that she has trouble integrating her human side.

Mononokes shadow appears in the character of Lady Eboshi who rules iron town and the

miners devoted to her industrial cause. Eboshi will not give up her violent ways for she is

obsessed with killing the Spirit of the Forest to exact human dominance and harvest

natural resources. Mononoke stands in her way more than the gods and goddesses, for she

is the most formidable of all forest beings. We see through the eyes of Mononoke, the

degree to which Miyazaki uses diverse multi-dimensional characters to illustrate

ecological messages.

This film signifies the time in a heroines journey in which she feels the need to

reconnect with the feminine, according to Murdocks model. This reintegration requires

grieving over Mononokes disconnection from positive human experiences. In this phase,

the wolf princess is vitally connected to the anima energy that sweeps like the wind

through the forest. She embodies the natural life force as creatrix personified and fierce

preserver of anima consciousness, understanding the precious balance that has been

ruined. Princess Mononoke is a strong, wild girl, who mythically carries the qualities of

Artemis of ancient Greece and ardently protects the last vestige of virginal wildness. She

wears animal skins, paints her face like a warrior, wears a primordial mask and is a

formidable archer. Mononoke rides an enormous white wolf, San, the queen of the wolf

clan who raised the orphan girl to become her successor. The untamable princess of the

wolf tribe and the aggressive boar gods are at odds with a mining operation that is

stripping habitat. As the two sides vie for territory, Prince Ashitaka appears on the scene
 31

after sustaining a near-fatal wound to his arm that is infected with hatred. Whenever his

anger gets the best of him, Ashitakas arm swells under the pressure of teeming, black

worms that threaten to spread to his heart and kill him. To heal, Ashitaka and Mononoke

reconcile their anger to become ambassadors of peace by striking a truce between all

forces. Fittingly in keeping with the mythology of the virginal Artemis, Mononoke

chooses her life in the wild forest over a shared domestic partnership with Ashitaka at the

films conclusion.

Pagan Meditations by Ginette Paris provides a meaningful interpretation of the

Artemis myth with regard to feminism and ecology. Let those wild women, writes Paris,

also be multiplied who know of the art of preserving within themselves a force that is

intact, inviolable and radically feminine (Meditations 115). In the study of Princess

Mononoke, we embrace the feral feminine as a vital aspect of a womans reconnection

with her authentic sense of self.

Chapter 5: The Anima Role in Transcendent Matriarchal Consciousness

Princess Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind features a teen heroine who becomes

the redeemer of her people after an apocalyptic war left the earth scarred. A toxic forest

grew from the carnage introducing a species of mutated, giant insects that threaten the last

pockets of humanity. Nausicaa does not know she is the so-called messiah because the

prophecy claims the savior will be a man clad in blue, in fields of gold. The princess is

an ace pilot, spunky, intelligent and magical in her power to empathize with other humans

and all life forms. Nausicaa reads them with a sixth sense that reveals the degree to which

her compassion serves as her source of strength.

Huge beetles known as Ohmu who represent the psyche of the earth are caught in

the middle of clan warfare as humans struggle to survive. The princess creates magical
 32

charms to hypnotize the beetles into peaceful retreat and she alone can calm their tirade

against human beings. When the monolithic insects sense her with their antennae, they

read her soul and discover that as a child she attempted to save an Ohm baby from

extermination. Nausicaa is the only human being the insects trust. In the final stages of the

cyclic journey of the heroine, the healing of the wounded masculine (father) helps to

promote integration with the alius or trusted other. In this Miyazaki epic, the alius is not as

evident in human beings as it is with the Ohmu as their healing of Nausicaa is only

achieved through mutual understanding. Illustrative of the earths unconscious, Nausicaa

falls into quicksand and is sucked down into caverns that reveal the earths regeneration.

She engages the anima as a guide to the father wound inflicted upon Nausicaa as a child

that, although painful, galvanized her crusade to unify a fractured world.

In the films climax, Nausicaa sacrifices her own life to save an Ohmu baby from

the clutches of a violent clan and in turn, the creatures resurrect her as dystopian earths

healer. Nausicaa is an example of the ways in which Miyazaki heroines, rather than resort

to the victim-victor cycle, use compassion to peacefully bridge hostilities and cultural

differences.

Chapter 6. Conclusions: Anima Rich Heroines and Post-Patriarchal Consciousness

In Murdocks journey of the heroine, the dual nature of divinity is held within the

reverence of the circle of living as opposed to the linear, patriarchal Homeric model. The

final chapter touches on how the merging self facilitates the healing of the monumental

fissures within the psyche. The task of todays heroine, writes Murdock, . . .is to mine

the silver and gold within herself (Murdock 184).

Two other titles are briefly discussed in the concluding chapter: The Cat Returns,

produced by Miyazaki based on his original story and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,
 33

written and directed by Miyazaki. The Cat Returns is a whimsical tale that mirrors Alice

in Wonderland, in which a teen heroine is reduced to a miniature size to enter the cat

kingdom where she must to marry the Cat King against her wishes. Harus journey is the

heroine empowerment cycle to heal herself as part of her own integration. Ponyo on the

Cliff by the Sea is a eco-sensitive twist on the Hans Christian Andersons Little Mermaid

fairy tale where the mermaid is not required to suffer because she falls in love with a

human. Ponyo falls in love with a sweet preschool boy named Sosuke who signifies life

on land. They are allowed a union only after Ponyos mother, the Sea Goddess is assured

the boy will respect Ponyos true self as the embodiment of the ocean. Together, as sea

and land the natural balance is restored and the waters recede. Hayao Kawai explains in

The Japanese Psyche, The transformation of animals into humans who marry, expresses

the recovery of a relationship to nature or reintegration (123). This is an example of the

unifying role that heroines demonstrate in Miyazaki animated films by embracing the vital

importance of all life forms on the planet.

Finally, I argue that an anima rich, complex heroine is a transformative

protagonist that represents an emerging heroic and mythic model for a global community

in transition. Drawing from soul more than ego, she contributes to an evolving collective

psyche that bears the potential to heal and reshape this new, post-patriarchal world.
 34

Chapter 2.
The Anima in Mother Goddesses as Pre-Patriarchal Consciousness

I have sometimes even defined the anima as the stimulus to life

(Marie-Louise von Franz, The Cat 116).

My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away are both Miyazaki films that depict

heroines struggling with maternal separation and the need to reinforce their identities

against oppositional realities outside of their control. All three heroines depicted: Satsuki

and Mei of My Neighbor Totoro; and Chihiro of Spirited Away, are girls who find their

center without direct involvement with their mothers. Satsuki (age 10) and young sister

Mei (age 4) relocated to a country house closer to the hospital where their mother has

been convalescing. Chihiro (age 10) is literally spirited away from her parents after

stumbling across an abandoned theme park that led to a bathhouse reserved for kami or

spirits. Chihiros parents are turned into swine after they steal the food of the gods and she

must earn their release by working for a dark, maternal witch named Yubaba. In these

two films, Shinto motifs are vivid undercurrents of the type of anima energy and creative

forces that help the girls find their way. Before analyzing both films in more detail, it is

useful to first understand more about the role Shinto plays as a cultural unifier and how, as

an outgrowth, matriarchal consciousness is present in Japanese culture.

Shinto is a form of animism that honors the interrelatedness between humans and

the natural world that seeks to balance opposing energies to create a harmonious whole.

As the spiritual essence of nature, Shinto inspires sacred respect thatat the risk of over

simplifyingthe natural world is ensouled and animated by the energy represented by

kami or spirits. Adherents may pray at altars at home or at shrines in their neighborhoods

and each ritual observance requires four elements as outlined by Sokyo Ono in Shinto: the
 35

Kami Way: Purification (harai), an offering (shinsen), prayer (norito), and a symbolic

feast (naorai). It is a distinctive feature of Shinto that kami-worship is expressed not only

from the depth of ones heart, but in a concrete act of religious ritual (51). In this

particular way, the natural energy of the kamienacted by spiritual ritemakes visible

the mystery of nature. Similarly, Miyazaki is also making visible the mystery of nature by

bringing animism to life in his films. Ideally, in a nation of adherents, Shinto works on

the collective psyche to integrate darker aspects of humankind thereby creating a balance

of energies rooted in consciousness and mindfulness. If we view Shinto this way, we can

see how societal growth represents wholeness that can be achieved by bringing anima into

the light to offset patriarchal imbalances.

Shinto concepts were corrupted, however, in the Second World War when the

collective anima became anemic and seized by patriarchal opportunism. Yet, even then,

the archetypal anima manifested itself through maternalism. As Ian Buruma writes in his

book A Japanese Mirror, that just before their suicide missions, kamikaze pilots were

supposed to shout out Long Live the Emperor! However, Buruma explains: But most. .

.simply shouted at the top of their terrified voices: Mother (18). While Shinto was

denationalized following World War II, the practice of reverence for the kami has not

waned, according to Ono, because . . . while from ancient times shrines have had a very

close relationship with the state, the sponsoring of shrine rites has always been the

responsibility of the people themselves (78). While the West is dominated by

monotheistic worship of an omnipotent and omniscient God, the Japanese celebrate both

goddesses and gods that work together in a communal, spiritual relationship. Hayao

Kawai points to how Japan is a country that conveys matriarchal consciousness and is

distinctly different than the patriarchal ego dominant west. Kawai asserts that Japanese
 36

fairy tales often feature willful, individualistic heroines as protagonists that can . . .

compensate for a cultures formal attitude and that they thus predict the future of the

Japanese mind. If we notice further that the Western ego is moribund, this heroine could

be presented as a meaningful symbol not only for Japanese, but also for the people in the

world (181). The heroines in the five Miyazaki films under review are all girls of will

and active leaders who enter a special world of mayhem and mystery, only to right an

imbalance that has snared them and others. Their liberation is earned through their

relationship with the matriarchal, anima figures in the storylinessome of them positive,

some negativeall of them instructive.

Totoro, Acorns and the Regenerative Anima

In My Neighbor Totoro, the girls are anxious about the condition of their mother and

concerned about a new home and new school. They have a kindly, loving and strong

father who is mostly working while Satsuki (Dakota Fanning) and Mei (Elle Fanning)

seek adventure. But, they have been caught in anxiety over losing their mother and to

soothe their longing, Miyazaki creates an ancient forest spirit named Totoro. Shaped like

a big rabbit that gives acorns to the girls and promotes growth, Totoro carries much of the

symbolism of the Great Mother (though hes nominally identified as male) especially with

regard to fertility aspects. This is suggestive of the primordial goddess of earth that for the

Greeks, Gaia represented, as Chris Downing allows: For Gaia is not simply mother, she

is earth mother. Indeed she differs from the later goddesses in that she isand remains

earth, earth recognized as animate and divine (Goddess 140). Miyazaki honors Totoros

earthen mystery while also inviting humans to see into that realm as a manifestation of the

maternal. The giant spirit also lets Mei play on the spirits big belly in much the same

way toddlers bounce on their moms. The fact that Totoro is aligned with acorns supports
 37

the creative, soulful pursuits that James Hillmans acorn theory symbolizes. To Hillman,

acorns represent the calling of the childs soul that manifests throughout developmental

stages and serve as cues misread by adults:

The entire image of a destiny is packed into a tiny acorn, the seed of a huge
oak on small shoulders. And its call rings loud and persistent and is as
demanding as any scolding voice from the surroundings. The call shows in
the tantrums and obstinacies, in the shyness and retreats, that seem to set
the child against our world but that may be protections of the world it
comes with and comes from. (Souls Code 13)

Miyazaki draws the acorns as symbolic unifiers for the girls that Totoro uses to encourage

growth as seeds to the soul thereby granting the girls a clearer understanding of life

regeneration. This is especially key to their character arcs inside this special world as the

acorn houses the spark of anima: of growth and fecundity. The acorn to Satsuki and Mei

are reminders that their mother will return and grow past her illness phase. In this way,

Totoro is a ready maternal archetype that hearkens throughout the collective: We have in

our psyche. . .the archetype of the mother which is beyond our personal experiences.

When it becomes conscious, we grasp it as images of the Great Mother (Japanese 33).

Totoro is an unusual character in that he is both the Great Mother and carries traits of the

androgynous god Dionysus. In her study of Dionysus in Pagan Grace, Ginette Paris

refers to the god as a liberator of women. She points out that he was raised secretly in the

forest (like Totoro) and that he was True to his childlike nature he is both gentle and

wild, cuddly and violent, brutish and witty, perverse and innocent, generous and

demanding. Like a baby he is androgynous, feminine as much as masculine (31). Similar

traits can be found in Totoro who jumps up and down like thunder, roars like a gigantic

child and yet is both cuddly and generous. Totoro is as much a Miyazaki heroine as

aspects of Dionysus were viewed as divinely feminine and masculine. Since these
 38

divinities shift between earth and the spirit world they serve as a type of psychopomp

who bridges liminal thresholds. In terms of Shintoism, Totoro represents the balance of

masculine and feminine, earth and sky as well as sustenance and harmony.

As the story opens, their father is driving them to their new home near a thick forest

in which a majestic, enormous tree spans the land as a silent sentinel. The girls run into

their new home and a neighbor boy warns them that the house is haunted. While Mei and

Satsuki play a wise woman explains there are ''soot sprites,'' that like old houses but will

vanish when they hear the sound of laughter. We also learn from the friendly crone that

only children can see them and we sense that adults have lost their vision to see magic.

In American films, such a strange house might harbor ghosts or ghouls but in this

story, the spirits are friendly and inspire the girls to explore. This is apparent when a

cheerful parade of tiny totoros that resemble small rodents more than supernatural guides,

lead Mei to adventure. Little Mei finds the first baby totoro, scurrying around their yard

and follows their call to adventure. Her father is home alone and absorbed in his work, so

he doesn't notice Meis absence. The baby spirits lead her down a leafy green tunnel and

then Mei falls down to land gently on the stomach of a vast slumbering creature: Totoro,

himself. As Mei stretches out on his belly, she playfully tries to wake him from his

slumber by pulling whiskers and snuggling with his furry, softness. As the Greeks would

remind us: we know we are in the realm of soul when we see the blue butterflies that

hover around Mei as she descends. This womblike enclave is lovingly drawn as a safe

haven of flourishing plants, leaves resplendent in emerald hues, arching vines and massive

tree rootsall of which create a nest of entwined nature for Totoro. Yet, these are not

static images, they are alive in soulful breath and as the essence of anima they inhale and

exhale their living presence: the butterflies flutter their wings, the leaves rustle as they
 39

reflect sunlight and shade, the mushrooms tilt in all manner of sizes and Totoros fur

shifts, ripples and gleams. These images are metaphoric of the soulful wonder of the

forest and Totoros acorns are seeds of destiny for the girls. This reflects for us the ways

in which the spirit serves as their daimon or divine guide as James Hillman imagines in

The Souls Code where he outlines his acorn theory:

The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born, and it
has selected an image or pattern that we live on earth. This soul-
companion, the daimon, guides us here; in the process of arrival, however,
we forget all that took place and believe we come empty into this world.
The daimon remembers what is in your image and belongs to your pattern,
and therefore your daimon is the carrier of your destiny. (8)

The aforementioned daimon scene in Totoros hideaway deepens Meis

relationship with herself and helps guide her into the larger, adult world. It is a scene that

tells us, without reducing the images to logos, that this is an anima connection with the

ancient mystery of life itself. In Shinto, this relationship is honored through the natural

reverence for life, even seemingly inanimate formations such as: rocks, mountains and

cliffs stand as the wonder of spirits at work. Shintos scripture is Nature. The original

Shinto shrines were sacred groves of trees. An area was purified, and through ritual

chanting the kami were entreated to descent to the sacred site, alighting on the tops of

trees and creating a connection between Heaven and Earth, between sacred and temporal

(Evans xviii). It is a soulful experience that will forever inform Meis sense of self and

exemplifies James Hillmans understanding of soul that harbor key qualities: . . .the

unknown component which makes meaning possible, turns events into experiences, is

communicated in love, and has a religious concern. He continues on in this same

passage to refine his soul theory to indicate how it relates as psyche and anima:
 40

First, soul refers to the deepening of events into experiences; second, the
significance of soul makes possible, whether in love or in religious
concern, derives from its special relation with death. And third, by soul I
mean the imaginative possibility in our natures, the experiencing through
reflective speculation, dream, image, fantasythat mode which recognizes
all realities as primarily symbolic or metaphorical. (Revisioning xvi)

As Hillman defines the soul within the realm of psyche and anima, Miyazaki

produces dreamlike images within the realm of fantasy in which image is metaphoric of

soul identification and expression. In anima development, in the case of Meis meeting

with Totoro, her descent is also one of the first independent actions the young daughter

assumes at as part of her heroines journey. Maureen Murdock deems this separation as a

necessary outgrowth of being a girl in a patriarchal world in which her development

strengthens her exclusive identity as a female: The separation from the personal mother

is a particularly intense process for a daughter because she has to separate from the one

who is the same as herself. She experiences a fear of loss characterized by anxiety about

being alone, separate, and different from the same sex parent who in most cases has been

her primary relationship (17).

When Satsuki and her father go looking for Mei, they find her sleeping on the

ground, because Totoro has disappeared. As Miyazaki demonstrates in nearly all of his

films, forests hold the magic of universal renewal, death and rebirth. When Mei takes her

big sister and father back to Totoros tree to show them the great woodland spirit, he is

nowhere to be found. Mei, her father and sister bow in Shinto prayer to the great tree

where Totoro sleeps and humbly thank the tree for protecting the forest and promoting

life. It is a scene that stirs a connection with nature that Miyazaki emphasizes: We cant

afford to be cut off from the earth. Totoro shows us a way of living that is not like that

(Starting 361).
 41

One of the regenerative scenes in the second act reveals the depth of divine fertile

energy Totoro displays when he appears in the night to help the girls acorns grow by

moonlight. The children dash out of bed and find him at the acorn patch where he pulls up

to the sky and dances by crouching down like a seed and then jumps high to signify a

sprout. In this fertility dance, Totoro emulates the spirit of Shintoism that daily life is

regarded as service to kami: In Shinto all life is lived in communion and in accord with

the mind of the kami, which afford the devout constant protection (Ono 50). The girls

mimic him and in this way, they too become fertility familiars and understand their role in

natural renewal. This endearing scene also conveys an important message within the

framework of the story: that the girls have their own regenerative powers and their

mother does too and because of this, they believe in her healthy return.

It is important to note that in Japanese mythology the moon is aligned with

masculine energy, while the sun is parallel to female energy. The Great Sun Goddess

Amaterasu is one of the most revered of the all deities in Japanese mythology and her

story parallels the cosmic nature of winter and spring as told in the extant text, The Kojiki

(Chamberlain 69-70). Like Demeter, she assumes darkness when her heart is broken and

in the case of the Japanese stories, Amaterasu is heartbroken over conflict with her

brother Susanowo, the violent and chaotic storm god. According to The Kojiki, when the

brother goes too far by killing one of her sacred ponies, Amaterasu retreats to a cave,

hides and falls into a great depression. Darkness envelopes Japan and only the kami spirit

of merriment, Ame-no- Uzume, can coax her out of the cave by dancing nude at the

mouth of the cave. Uzume is wily and places a bronze mirror on a tree at the opening so

that when Amaterasu peeks outside, she can see a stunning goddess in the reflection. As

the Sun Goddess peers outside, a glint of sun escapes and that light is dubbed dawn and
 42

thus Uzume is also associated with the kami of mirth, laughter and of dawn. Kawai

provides an interesting psychological perspective to this myth that stems from the

Japanese word for mirror, kagami. Kage means reflection or shadow, and mi means to

see: The Sun Goddess must face, be surprised, and accept her reflected image, the dark

side of the spiritual virgin. From this we can see that Heavenly-Frightening-Female

(Uzame) who performs the indecent dance is actually an aspect of the Sun Goddess

herself (Dreams 75). When Amaterasu finally emerges, there is so much merriment and

laughter from the male gods at Uzames bawdy dance that her depression disappears and

she returns to the light and, in turn, the light returns to her and spring dawns anew.

The Kojiki refers to Uzame as, Her Augustness Heavenly-Alarming-Female who

made the heavenly spindle-tree her headdress which also suggests a regenerative aspect

(68). In keeping with Kawais theory that Uzame and Amaterasu may be different aspects

of an overall goddess, we see how Uzame reminds Amaterasu of the body and of the

dawn of spring fertility, as the Kojiki suggests: . . . stamping till she made it resound and

doing, as if possessed by a Deity, and pulling out the nipples of her breasts, pushing down

her skirt-string uesque ad privatas partes (69). This is very close to the Goddess Demeter

and daughter Persephone storyline who was abducted to the Underworld by Hades, when

Baubo danced Demeter out of her depression and darkness. Although cosmological, these

twin myths also represent the responses to feminine mourning as Chris Downing points

out in her essay on Persephone in Hades: All of us who are mothers know the truth of

this, know how intimately the cutting fear of loss, the searing pain of loss, are interwoven

with our mothering (Journey 222). When we see Mei and Satsuki we quickly learn that

they have literally been separated from their mother because of her lengthy hospital stay.

In this regard, it is Mei and Satsukis mother who was whisked away from them when
 43

illness came knocking, so like Persephone, it is the mother whom has been taken and the

girls are left behind like young Demeters stuck in mourning. In either case, the girls and

their mother are also one in the same way Demeter and Persephone share archetypal

maiden and mother aspects.

Totoro can sense that the girls are dealing with maternal separation woes and while

Murdock explains this detachment prompts girls to identify with the masculine archetypes

in their lives, in Japan, there is more of a matriarchal consciousness at work inspiring

nuanced characters. Totoro is referred to in the masculine form, but assumes maternal

aspects in his relationship with the girls. In Murdocks analysis of a womans

development and integration, she isolates a different journey than Joseph Campbells

monomyth first published in 1948 as the Hero with a Thousand Faces. While there are

many similarities to these paradigms, a significant difference in Murdocks design is that

while the male hero returns victorious and receives the ultimate boon of his quest, the

heroines journey cycle is one of a return through the reconciliation with parentsan

integration of these aspects of ones psychic experience (156). In this return, the daughter

begins building a family on her own mature terms while she also enlarges her family to a

community as a larger whole. For Satsuki and Mei, this integration will take time due to

their age, but they are grappling, even so, with a mother wound. Murdock believes that

when a girl or young woman seeks to heal that split, she recovers the relationship from a

broader context, often through myth. She will look for goddesses and heroines. . .[She]

will ultimately find her healing in the Great Mother (Murdock 27). As a healing, ancient

forest spirit that regenerates growth and flies on a spinning top, Totoro is also reminiscent

of the positive aspect of Baba Yaga, the witch of Russian folklore. An old crone, she

glides through her forest on her pestle and is believed to have, at one time, represented a
 44

grain or fertility goddess (Phinney 10). Long ago, in old Japan, a rabbit sacrificed himself

to feed Buddha and to show his appreciation he sent the rabbit up to live in the moon for

all eternity. In the moon, the rabbit still works to feed his people by grinding sweet

confections with his mortar and pestle (Kroeger 24). With this tale in mind, Totoro

resonates with the Japanese psyche for he too is a cosmological entity of sweet foods and

he flies upon his top like the mortar and pestle of the lunar rabbit. Rabbit motifs are

prevalent in Japan where the old cosmogony story of the rabbit in the moon is a beloved

story. Where the Totoro goes, sustenance follows and the girls quickly learn to identify

the forest spirit with nurturance as he provides them with shelter from the rain, comfort

from sadness and finally, ensures they have food to eat.

In Totoro, the use of play helps children process difficult emotional manifestations

and yet his concern is primal and instinctive as Miyazaki explains He may not even be

conscious of being of service to the girls and yet he intuitively bridges their unconscious

yearning of mother through engagement with their conscious anxieties (Starting 361). To

alleviate the worry over their mothers condition, Totoro calls for the flying yellow cat

bus that is shaped like a feline with a Cheshire grin that doubles as the grill. When the big

cat bus pulls to his stop, the sides open up and to the girls delight, they are able to get

cozy on a fur bench. Totoro directs the bus to fly to the hospital so the girls could see their

mother. Toward the end of the film, Satsuki and Mei light in a tree outside the hospital to

watch their mother through the window. From the tree, they overhear that mom only has a

cold that came on the heels of her major illness and can leave the hospital within a few

days. Before the cat bus departs for home, Mei leaves a golden ear of corn for her mother

with a message scratched on the husk: For Mommy (Art/Totoro 143). Miyazaki, who

talks about the animated girls as if they are real girls, explains: Whats more, this corn
 45

was picked by Mei, whom Mother loves so much and he reasons Satsuki must have

engraved it with her fingernail as she sat on the branch of the tree next to the hospital. Mei

is still too young to be able to write (Starting 376).

The spiritual nature of the film My Neighbor Totoro is one of family unity,

compassion and managing fear, maturing from childhood fantasy to adolescent realities

and exposure to Shinto animism as a healing ecosystem that resonates internally as well as

externally. Satsuki and Mei are conceived as independent girls who work to restore, in

terms of Shintoism, the purity of balance to their worlds. In Shinto there is no separation

between the universe and divine creative spirit. The universe is divine creative spirit

extending itself as matter and as life (Evans xviii). Totoros role as daimon for the girls is

manifested through this agent of anima that gently nudges them onto the joyful paths of

an unworried childhood. Ginette Paris writes in Wisdom of the Psyche of the importance

of joy as an anecdote to anxiety: . . . finding joy in the middle of struggle. Joy is a better

teacher than pain, always. Totoro sparks a return to joy for the girls: joy in life and for

life and this ethic alleviates the anxiety surrounding their mothers absence.

We cannot know what happens to Mei and Satsuki as grown women, for we only

visit their lives for a short period but we understand that Totoro constellates in the girls

their reassurance in the act of embracing eartha central value of Shinto. Gaia reminds

us that the divine is transhuman and pre-humantherefrom the beginningnot simply

human projection Downing points out. Because of this she is source as no humanlike

mother can be. She is the answer to that deep longing for homecoming which no mother

can assuage (Goddess 140). It is this personification that Totoro serves for the sisters and

the audience alike, an opportunity for psyche to honor the earth connection that bears the

promise of transformation. Totoro lives in the hearts of all children throughout Japan,
 46

and when they see trees now, they sense Totoro hidden in them. And this is a truly

wonderful and indeed a rare thing (Takahata qtd. in Starting 457).

Spirited Away: Kamikakushi and the Journey of Chihiro

Amid post-modern skyscrapers, industrialization and suburban sprawl, ancient

Shinto idols and shrines dot the cities and country towns, revealing the depth to which the

Japanese cherish Shinto. Stone idols are visually prevalent in Miyazakis Spirited Away,

but he shows us the transitory reality of contemporary Japan against the spiritual constant

of Shinto. The films title is from Japanese mythology: to be spirited away, is to be a

victim of "kamikakushi," which was often the reason given for the sudden disappearance

of children in old times (Knappert 146).

Spirited Away tells the story of ten-year old Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) who finds

herself in the realm of the spirits when her parents are transformed into swine for eating

food that didnt belong to them. Like Circe in The Odyssey, who turned the Trojan War

heros crew into pigs, there is a witch at the helm who is a formidable sorceress capable

of altering or destroying anyone in her path. Chihiro experiences an odyssey of her own

that transforms her from a sullen girl to a respectful one who faces challenges with

confidence. Central to Chihiros character arc is Haku (Jason Marsden), a mysterious

bathhouse employee engaged in a struggle of his own who becomes Chihiros ally. She

must work with the witch to save her parents and in so doing she learns the true identity of

Haku that releases him as well.

One of the overriding themes in Spirited Away is identitythe witch named Yubaba

(Suzanne Pleshette) can steal an identity thereby enslaving those who have lost their way.

It echoes Miyazakis larger concern that the nation has lost its unique Japanese identity,

customs and values: . . a people that forgot its past will have no choice but to disappear,
 47

like a shimmer of light or to lay eggs endlessly as a hen and consumed (Art/Spirited

Away 16). While Shinto is a basic belief system for Japanese adherents, there are varieties

of Shintoism that spread over the centuries influenced largely by socio-political changes.

Shrine Shinto arose from the ashes of World War II after State Shinto was ended during

the reformation under United States, as explained by historian Paula Hartz: There were

more than 80,000 shrines maintainedthe sacred structures where people went to worship

the kami, spread, and with their country ravaged by war, people felt the need of faith

(Hartz 14). In old Japan it was believed that emperors were direct descendants of divine

Shinto kami, in much the same way pharaohs were aligned with the gods and goddesses

of ancient Egypt. Sect Shinto attracted charismatic followers who drew their teachings

from Buddhism and other Japanese traditions. Worship was often conducted in meeting

halls where a large focus was on mountain reverence. Folk Shinto is commonly supported

by the principles of personal worship of the kami within ones humble home.

While Shinto embodies basic tenets that include the worship of ancestors, reverence

for the sacral essence of nature and ritual cleanliness or purity, Hartz states plainly that

Above all Shinto is family centered (14). The family continuity of Shinto is an

overriding principle of Spirited Away as Chihiro or Sen must face great challenges to save

her parents and restore her family unit. The story is set in a bathhouse that serves a very

unique clientele: the spirits who want to become cleanseda central tenet of Shintoismfor

one cannot communicate with the kami unless one is pure. The bathhouse is run by the greedy

and relentless Yubaba who shape shifts like a harpy into the body of a bird to travel to and from

the bathhouse. Yet, like all Miyazaki characters, Yubaba is more complex than she appears; she

is not all badthe witch recognizes hard work and sticks to her word. Yubabas distorted

personality traits are a culmination of imbalances over greed, domination and control. She is the
 48

twin sister of an even more powerful witch named Zeniba who weaves in her forest hideout thus

representing the positive aspect of the Great Mother archetypea duality to be explored later, in

greater detail.

Reflecting Shintoism in Changing Times

Chihiros story begins when she and her parents are driving to their new home, a

move that requires her to leave school and friendships behind. Sullen and insecure,

Chihiro is resentful of this big change and argumentative with her parents. Yet, also

customary of a Miyazaki storyline is the child who is prophetic in an adult world that

often misunderstands the instinctive truths of children. When Chihiros father takes a

wrong turn in the countryside, the girl pleads with her father to turn around as she

intuitively senses something is wrong. Soon the car seems to be spirited away as it

increases speed on its own, sending scores of dead leaves spiraling into the air. The car

abruptly stops at an eerie abandoned theme park that sets the adventure in motion. While

Chihiro wants to leave, her parents are eager to explore and soon advance on the strange

park despite their daughters concerns. The family passes an old torii gate that represents

the spiritual separation between the sacred and the profane. We see that Chihiro and her

parents depart the mortal world and cross the threshold into the realm of the spirits. The

torii leans against an old tree surrounded by numerous spirit houses that are discarded and

heaped atop one another as if they had become garbage. To Miyazaki, this scene mirrors a

contemporary Japan that has forsaken its rich heritage for the transitory culture of

materialism and consumption. Chihiros parents set out to explore the park, cross a dry

riverbed, and to their surprise, find a food stall open but unattended. Dad and mom eat

voraciously without the unknown owners permission, but Chihiro refuses to join them,

knowing that crossing such boundaries is not without consequence. She cautiously
 49

explores the grounds and eyes a huge, colorful bathhouse that looms in the distance

separated by a wooden bridge. In Spirited Away, the separation from mom is especially

traumatizing as the young heroine must witness her parents engorge themselves and

transform into pigs. Not only does she feel this concrete form of separation, Chihiro is

also divided from the old world as she encounters the special world run by the witch who

is a dark maternal force. To accomplish this split from the mother, many young women

make their mothers into the image of the archetypal vengeful, possessive, and devouring

female whom they must reject to survive (Murdock 8). The witch represents the fears in

Chihiros unconscious that she will never be able to stand apart from mom.

At nightfall, Chihiro meets a mysterious boy, Haku, who warns her to leave

immediatelyit turns out that the spirits can smell humans and hate them. Puzzled, she

runs to get her parents, but they are still eating and to her horror have turned into pigs.

Chihiro is helped by Haku, who guides her through the bizarre spirit realm where

wondrous and monstrous creatures come to bathe. In one scene, Haku advises Chihiro to

eat a berry from the magical realm so she doesnt fade from view.

This exchange reminds us of the union of Izanagi and Izanami, the original divine

couple of Shinto mythology. Izanagi and his sister-wife, Izanami established a fertile

union that produced the eight islands of Japan resulting in Izanamis birth of the major

kami, the gods of sea, wind, trees and mountains. The two were separated when Izanami

died giving birth to the God of Fire, Homu-subi. Like Persephone of ancient Greece,

Izanami could not leave the Underworld after she had eaten from its soil. When Chihiro

meets Yubaba for the first time we see that her identity will come into question as one of

the central themes of the film. Yubaba steals the characters that comprise Chihiro's name

and gives her the new name of Sen by magically lifting the characters from an employee
 50

contract to conceal them in her pocket. By stealing their identities, Yubaba controls her

subjects.

As a witch character, Yubaba is closely aligned with the Japanese Yama-uba, the

mountain crone who carries the devouring characteristics found in the Baba Yaga stories

of Russia who lives amid skulls and bones. However, Baba Yaga also rides a mortar and

pestle (as discussed in Chapter 2) thus associating her with sustenance as in the ancient

world goddesses related to grain production and fecundity. This dual personality exists in

Yubaba who is a formidable slave driver of the bathhouse, yet as a mother she is doting to

the point of spoiling and smothering her baby, Boh who is drawn literally as a big baby

stuck in his crawling stage. The witchs identical twin Zeniba is a kindly weaver (but an

even more powerful sorceress) who became estranged from her sister over the theft of a

powerful, magical seal. Returning the seal to Zeniba helps to reset the strange and

imbalanced world by returning harmony to the spirit world. From the perspective of

Shintoism, Yubaba and Zeniba do not represent fixed opposites of good versus evil but

represent an impure and pure reality that has caused the severe disharmony.

Sen is given a difficult job cleaning the bathhouse, but is befriended by a woman

mentor named Lin (Susan Egan), and a kindly old man with spider-like arms named

Kamaji (David Ogden Stiers) who toils day and night to supply hot water to the kami.

Kamaji represents the wise man archetype found in mythology and while many spider

tales from Japan tell of frightening chthonic arachnids, other tales depict spiders as

industrious and productive (Knappert 274).

Themes of lessons learned through hard work permeate Miyazaki films and are

especially paramount in Spirited Away when young Chihiros liberation is attained by

laboring as a servant in the bathhouse. Even the seemingly omnipotent Yubaba is

 51

powerless against a little girl who demands that she be given a job. Miyazaki repeatedly

conveys the idea that in order to learn how to truly be heroic and a heroine of merit, one

must earn that right. This points to a larger societal context that reveals a difference in

attitude between Japanese and American teens.

In The Self-Esteem Trap, Young-Eisendrath points to an unsettling reality in todays

American teens: that wisdom and knowledge are considered entitlements, not levels of

mastery one must earn. As one college professor puts it: They want the grade, not the

process of mastery (102). Young-Eisendrath further describes how differently American

and Japanese high school students perceived a certain picture during cross- cultural,

psychological testing. The picture depicted a young boy contemplating a violin on a table

in front of him. The respondents (seventeen or eighteen year old students from public

schools in America and Japan) were asked to use her or his imagination to tell a story

about the scene. When eighty-five stories from each country were compared: . . . themes

of achievement and creativity characterized the Japanese stories, while themes of parental

pressure and opposition were dominant among the U.S. teens (Young-Eisendrath 97).

American teens groused about the hard work required to achieve mastery of an instrument

and resented the pressure of being asked to practice the instrument. In sharp contrast:

The Japanese themes did not emphasize the negativity of hard work, but the reason or

motivation behind it, and the ability to succeed. Typically, the stories combined the

childs own desire to achieve with a feeling of positive regard for the family (98). Here,

the cultural reverence of ancestors washes over the picture and is matched by an ethic of

effort, as one Japanese student stated: Hes looking at the violin which is a memento

from his grandfather. Hes thinking about this grandfather, and talking to his spirit. He

will practice and will succeed greatly as a violinist (98).

 52

Everyone works hard and earns their way in Yubabas bathhouse, especially Kamaji

who toils in the boiler room where bath tokens are stored. They are exchanged for herbal

remedies in the waterthe tokens resemble the blessing tablets that grace Shinto shrines

throughout Japan. In her role at the bathhouse, Sen learns to be a hard worker and an

independent, resourceful problem solver as part of her maturation journey. Kamaji as an

arachnid-esque human reinforces this process, as Marie-Louise von Franz points out with

relation to spider women motifs: Within the psyche of a woman, she represents the Self

and the hard work it takes to develop a sense of self (Feminine 127). These traits are also

indicative of Japanese values of purpose within a community as well as the idea that hard

work (whether inner or outer) honors ones heritage and ancestors.

Jungian analyst Polly Young-Eisendrath points out a disturbing trend among youth

in America that she has named The Self-Esteem Trap. In her titular book, Young-

Eisendrath details how todays media driven themes of selfishness, narcissism and self-

importance undermine the healthy maturation journey of American kids by creating a

false specialness and negative self-consciousness. In Young-Eisendraths work, the

greatest casualty is the loss of a compassionate, inner voice. Compassion, not only for

peers or family members but also for people from other cultures and the natural

environment, as a whole. In order to refine the inner voice that can guide us, we have to

cultivate a gentle, mindful self- acceptance. . .that permits us to see ourselves realistically

in the context of others who help us and compete with us (Young-Eisendrath, 136).

Japanese Fairy Tales in Spirited Away

Miyazaki uses fantastical worlds as a form of realism to mirror cultural issues of the

day and believes that such creations open up the unconscious where psychological reality

lives (Starting 79). In this way, fantasy is much more real, than the reality of this
 53

world. He states that Spirited Away was inspired, in part, by the Japanese fairy tale, The

Swallows Innthe story about a humble woodcutter who saves a swallowraising ire

from his selfish wife who cuts out the birds tongue after the creature feasts on starch

from the kitchen. The woodcutter searches for and finds the injured bird at the swallows

inn where his compassion is rewarded in the form of a basket of his choice. The man

chooses a small basket while his avaricious wife chooses a large basket. Her husbands

generosity is rewarded when the small basket reveals a large treasure and the wifes

gluttonous nature is equally rewarded when her large basket unmasks hundreds of tiny

ogres and serpents and demons. Here, a compelling message unfolds about greed,

selfishness, compassion and community that is also preeminent values in Spirited Away.

Sen continues on her journey through the magical world, encountering a myriad of

weird creatures, including three bouncing body-less heads, ghosts, frogmen, slug women,

water spirits in the form of dragons and a shadowy, amorphously transparent spirit

dubbed, No Face. Sen eventually helps Haku, whose shadow form is a white dragon, to

remember his true identity as that of the ancient river spirit. She also encounters kami of

animals and vegetation, such as small baby chicks and a huge radish kami, reflections of

the Shinto notion that all beings can bear the promise of inner kami. Not all spirits are

merely positive, however, as some possess mischief and mayhem thus representing the

negative side of spirit life known as yokai or monsters. In his book Pandemonium and

Parade Michael Foster distinguishes between the kami and yokai of Japanese fairy tales

that counter Western clichs: Yokai defy definitive categorization, writes Foster they

are ambiguously positioned beyond or between good and evil (15). Whether a

phenomenon is kami or yokai depends largely on point of view as it is cast against a belief

system. A nearby lake may be an important habitat that provides nourishment to a

 54

complicated ecosystem of wetlands creatures. That lake can be viewed as one of kamia

sacred life source. To others, however, annual flooding from that same lake could be a

source of trouble for humans living under its watershed. In that respect, the lake may be

viewed as possessing yokai, for the flooding can bring drowning and destruction.

The difference between being present in the state of the kami, as opposed to the

yokai, is made vivid when a Stink Spirit comes to Sen to be purified. He resembles a

muddy haystack that is transformed into his original form as a beautiful River Spirit who

had become filthy after being damaged by human pollution. This character is inspired by a

river clean up effort that Miyazaki witnessed in Japan in which an old bicycle was pulled

from the deep muck (Art /Spirited 15). In the film, the Stink Spirit is ailing from the thorn

in his side, which Sen identifies as the handle of a bike protruding from his form. Sen sees

through the impure appearance of the Stink Spirit as yokai and reveals the pure essence of

the kami trapped inside by contamination. In this way, she inspires us to clear out the

emotional toxins that have poisoned us so that we may return to an untainted state of

being. This is an interesting metaphor that also suggests that Miyazaki is working

transformative magic of his own: what we first believed was a yokaithrough the process

of cleansing and revealingreturns to a state of pure kami. In removing this thorn Sen

earns credibility among her peers and curries favor from Yubaba. Sen earns an earthen

medicine ball that is heavy with healing magic as a gift of gratitude from the River Spirit.

When a holy spot is created the gods drop down into it Miyazaki reminds us and it is

the restoration of the sacred that Sen enacts and in this rejuvenation, the god is

reciprocating life granting magic (Starting 358).

In a dramatic turning point in the film, Sen attends to serious wounds sustained in

his dragon form when Haku returns from one of Yubabas dangerous missions: to steal
 55

Zenibas powerful golden seal of magic. However, Haku was wounded internally after

razor sharp paper cranes were animated as weapons against him and as Sen asks: Is he

dying. . . we see drops of blood have splattered against the drawers of the room. While

she is, at this point, still unsure of herself, Sen gathers courage through her compassion

for another being in pain. Sen helps Haku in the boiler room where Kamaji cautions the

girl about the dangerous magic that lurks within Haku in the form of a black slug. Sen

uses a portion of the magic medicine given to her by the appreciative River Spirit and

forces it into his mouth, clamping on his snout to swallow it.

The boiler room scene carries several Miyazaki messages: the first regards the

Shinto principle of balance and imbalance as the putrid slug carried poison or toxins of

impurity that caused an imbalance within the dragons body. The second, represents

gilded greed and power from capitalist magic of sorts. In this we take note that the seal

represents the degree to which humans choke on gold, the degree to which greed can

sicken a system.

By removing the poison and the greed, Sen cleanses Haku. A third message grows

from a depth psychological tradition regarding the reintegration of nature. While we dont

find out until the end of the film that Haku is a displaced River Spirit, we see the healing

effect of the natural medicine ball that reunites him with his old, authentic world.

No Faces Quest for Self

A haunting figure in the film is No Face who exhibits the consuming appetite but is

a transparent figure, distinguished only by his Noh mask found in traditional musical

theater in Japan. The Noh characters are often found in the dramatic world of ghosts and

goblins that arise from Japanese myth, while at the same time existing in time shifting

realities. No Face is so lost and lonely that he tries to bribe Sen to become his friend by
 56

offering her glistening golden nuggets left behind in the tub when the river kami was

cleansed. Scores of other workers in the bathhouse take the gold and greedily beg for

more but, when Sen generously refuses the gold, No Face throws a tantrum that nearly

destroys the bathhouse.

No Face is visually sheer, in part, because his life represents a thin stage, for without

a healthy development of self, possessions are hoarded and in turn they consume the

health of the psyche. Here we have an idea that without a healthy inner core, No Face

resembles Western misplacement: materialism replacing the soulful foundation that

actually imbues the psyche with true wealth. Materialistic goods are false soul conduits

and Miyazaki helps us to envision this through No Faces gluttony. What is hollow inside

ones soul cannot be filled from the outside, it requires the balance and gravity that self-

development creates. From the perspective of Shinto, this is an imbalance that causes him

to attach to Sens journey that he does not yet undertake on his own.

Sen stops No Faces rampage by giving him the last cleansing bite of the River

Spirits magical ball, even though she was saving it to restore her parents to their human

aspects. This causes him to vomit up all the other beings he consumed thus symbolic of

the purging and purifying ritual that Shinto encourages. Miyazaki illustrates the extent to

which natural medicine is restorative by expelling an unnatural sickness. Yubaba

blames Sen for his presence in the bathhouse as the girl welcomed him when he seemed

lost outside. Here we understand the role of the bathhouse from the point of view of soul

maturation: it is a cleansing domain that clears the spirits of worldly, ego attachments to

encourage clarity of psyche that ameliorates soul development. For No Face, the house

promises a center of consciousness that can emanate into selfhood. Some spirits exit the
 57

house with flourishing identities but those unable to shed their shadows, are forever

stalled at the cusp of soul. For these stagnated spirits the bathhouse is a prison.

No Face has yet to develop a personal identity so he is persona-less and gobbles up

the masks of others to assume any identity that can ground him. No Face eats an assistant

manager and little green frog that cant die but speak for him. At this point we see how

such rootlessness creates a lack of individuality and hence, No Face cannot develop his

own voice. Sen asks No Face, during his fit, Where is your home? Dont you have any

friends or family and assistant pipes up No, no. . . and the little green frog croaks from

the belly: Im lonely. . .Im lonely. . . again No Face holds out gold to the girl and she

refuses it. Here we see a consuming ego consciousness that acts out when self is not yet

developed enough to hold it in check. Sen helps No Face return to a receptiveness that

will help him flesh out his own identity.

During his acting out madness, Sen asks him what he wants and he cries out that he

wants Sen and then, she tells him If you want to eat me, eat this first, I was saving this

for my parents, but I think you better have it and he devours it. In this scene we observe

an interesting act: in all of No Faces interactions he offered gilded lures to others, but this

is the first time the spirit has been gifted with an aid to promote wellness and wholeness.

Sen actually offers him something to eat, thereby inviting No Face to a sustenance that he

could not possess by grabbing it. Immediately, No Face rages at Sen for making him sick

Sen, what did you do to me? Sen runs out of the bathhouse to lead No Face away and

as he rushes after her, the frog voice cries Ill get you for this Sen. Forcing the spirit

back into his own growth phase makes him angry, it is difficult psychological work, but

Miyazaki demonstrates in this episode of gluttony, there are no short cuts. One must

establish and continue to improve upon ones own self-identity and not borrow, beg or
 58

steal from others. In terms of soul development, this is an opportunity for No Face to

create his own gravitas, rather than be weighted down by false masks and stolen selves.

Sen dashes out of the bathhouse to the waiting boat where Lin will take her to the

train station that leads to Zenibas home. An even stronger sorceress, Zeniba has placed

curses on Baby Boh (forcing permanent infancy thus encasing the baby in his mother

complex) and Haku for stealing her gold seal, an act orchestrated by Yubaba through

mind control. Sen wants to explain this truth to Zeniba in an effort to save Hakus life

and lift the curse that is killing him. No Face follows Sen to the boat, but Lin protests

because he has cause so much trouble in the bathhouse. Lin does not possess Sens ability

to evolve within her self, nor does possess the same degree of generosity because she too

has not yet matured. She was as hungry for gold as the others and while she yearns to

escape the bathhouse, she remains stunted. Sen insists to Lin I think being in the bath

house makes him crazy, he needs to get out of there which helps us to understand that No

Face seeks an escape from the ethereal province that cannot help him grow corporeal

roots. Miyazaki shows us that Sen cannot stay in the bathhouse either, for she too must

find her way home and in so doing, free her parents from the pigpen of their overtly

dominant egos.

The Sea Railway of the Unconscious

The sea railway is indicative connecting to the depth of soul as the train will pass

through deep waters to symbolize unconscious immersion. Kamaji as threshold guardian,

steps in with supernatural aid in the form of a train ticket to Swamp Bottom where Zeniba

resides. This is essential to Sens journey inward, that Murdock explains as a space where

Women find their way back to themselves not by moving up and out into the light like

men, but by moving down into the depths of the ground of their being and Kamajis
 59

ticket is the passage needed (89). Kamaji offers a word of caution as compassionate

guardians often do in these adventures: that the train only runs one way and the mentor

believes in Sens ability to find her way back. In other words, Sen has earned her

opportunity to find her way back to her core. To help Sen reconnect with her identity as

Chihiro, a haunting and beautiful scene transpires on the Sea Railway that is worthy of

rumination because of its singularity in animation and because of its soulful illumination.

Sen invites No Face to accompany her to Zenibas, but only if he behaves himself. This

descent to the goddess realm of Swamp Bottom is one that Murdock personifies through

self-reflection: I know the swamp, this isnt new. Ive been here before and have felt

protected. The swamp, the woods: they are my mother. I feel connected to the trees, to the

mud, to grasses and leaves. I never felt alone. I take back that connection. It runs deep

(93). The impending engagement with Zeniba as the goddess archetype will provide the

guidance Sen needs to take her journey full circle. It is the stuff of murky depths and

paradoxically the clarity of ascent that von Franz emphasizes to exist as: The creative

kernel at the bottom of the human psyche is nothing more or less than the presence of

divinity (Feminine 128). We realize, in time, that the most obscure provinces buried

inside us are also the places where light shines the brightest. When Sen and No Face

travel the mystical train together we feel his need to become tangible as a longing that is

all the more poignant. This is a visually compelling and quiet scene that evokes an

emotional sensibility the Japanese refer to as: mono-no- aware, or the pathos of things,

thus honoring the transient nature of life that elicits wistfulness.

The composition of the music by Joe Hisaishi (who scored all Miyazakis major

films) strikes melodic harmonics that reverberate with minor notes to reflect the soulful

nature of the images. As classical composer Claude Debussy once said, the music is the
 60

space between the notes and in those spaces the anima can be heard for those who

listen. Anima is perhaps the most present within psychic stillness after the cacophony of

hectic life fades away and mindfulness returns. There is no dialogue here, only natural

sound and music as the kami ebb and flow like phantoms that walked before us and

imbued us with imprints upon the unconscious. Miyazaki brings us to terms with these

bittersweet moments by allowing us to be present in this ubiquitous void without telling us

how to feel. He counts on the images to do their magicto conjure feelings unique to us

as individuals and emotions that unite us collectively.

The train moves past islands and gently pulls in and out of stations seamlessly, as

blue waters ripple beneath the train. Luggage sits in car corners and at least one case

bears eye symbolism that nudges us to see the metaphoric images that reinforce Sens

necessity to envision her emerging self.

Sen and No Face seem to regenerate here in this liminal realm that is neither

comprised of spirit or soul. Miyazaki made Spirited Away to focus on 10-year old girls

because they are at the in-between stage when a girl is no longer a child and not yet a

quite a young woman. This scene helps illustrate the sense of wonder and expectation

adulthood promises, as well as the mourning that coincides with the loss of childhood.

This space for Sen is not as much a threshold as it is boundless gap that Tibetans might

refer to as a bardo. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead there are four distinct bardos: of life,

of dying, of dharmata (after-death experience of Clear Light manifesting in sound, color

and light) and eventually, the karmic bardo of becoming. What distinguishes and defines

each of the bardos is that they are all gaps or periods in which the possibility of

awakening is particularly present (Rinpoche 103-104). Sen and Chihiros epic cycle can

also be interpreted as one of separation from life because the spirits pull her to the other
 61

side. As such, the bathhouse is metaphoric of death where specters appear as monsters

personifying unconscious fears. In this mystical train scene Sen and Chihiro negotiate the

dharmata phase when confusion subsides and clarity rises. For this heroine, the bardo of

becoming transpires as she crosses the threshold to rejoin her ordinary world with

confidence earned by surviving her ordeal.

Here too, the anima is regenerating as Miyazakis images work their transformative

power: functioning less through informative aspects of the psyche, but rather by

developing fluency through imaginative engagement. It is akin to what Hillman describes:

The gulf between consciousness and the unconscious narrows as we . . . are able to live

with it as a friend. The continued absorption with ones own inner world leads to

experiences within that world, and for that world (Insearch 63). While this is Sens story,

it is also ours and this scene lasts a total of two minutesa relaxed sequence of film time

that does not exist in American animations today.

Miyazaki states in a 2002 interview with Tom Mes of Midnight Eye (an Internet site

dedicated to Japanese cinema) that the film ended for him after the train scene, because it

worked for him unconsciously as opposed to logically:

But, you can't make a film with logic. Or if you look at it differently,
everybody can make a film with logic. But my way is to not use logic. I try
to dig deep into the well of my subconscious. At a certain moment in that
process, the lid is opened and very different ideas and visions are liberated.
With those I can start making a film.

In the States, animations are a barrage of rapidly edited, action packed, frenetic

images. There is no expansive time for the unconscious to experience images and engage

with them to honor their transformative nature. The goal in studio driven American

animations is most often to produce addictive adrenaline rides that sell video games,

action figures and draw millions to theme parks. These are not films that engender a
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meaningful, soul inducing experience for children or adults. USA Todays Claudia Puig

echoes this dilemma in her review of Spirited Away:

Director Hayao Miyazaki. . . treats his audience as imaginative and

intelligent human beings, rather than catering to kids with rote displays of
silliness, stunts and scares. . . [Even] though Disney released this film,
Spirited Away points up just how by-the-numbers the studio's fare can be.
But perhaps most striking is the way this fanciful tale creates an alternate
reality along the lines of a vivid childhood dream or a detailed rendering of
a classic fairy tale.

As Jack Zipes underlines in his study of the shaping of childhood behavior, Fairy

Tales and the Art of Subversion, he shares insights as to how fairy tales work on the

young psyche . . .the classical fairy tales have not retained their appeal among children

and adults simply because they comply with the norms of the civilizing process. They

have an extraordinary power . . . [Magic] is used paradoxically not to deceive us but

enlighten us (171). Zipes cites Freuds 1919 essay The Uncanny in which he calls

attention to how we respond to what is familiar and strangely foreign, at the same time.

Freuds thesis helps us understand how such interaction plays upon our consciousness and

within our unconsciousness. In essence, our attraction to an object that carries experiential

resonance (due to the uncanny resemblance of that which stirs emotionally charged

recognition) is often rejected by our conscious minds through repression or in Jungian

terms: cast to the shadows. To manage this disturbance, Freud theorized, we use cognitive

dissonance or emotional distancing which manages the conscious stress but conversely

amplifies the deepening anxiety:

. . . among instances of frightening things there must be one class in which

the frightening element can be shown to be something repressed which
recurs. This class of frightening things would constitute the uncanny; and it
must be a matter of indifference whether what was uncanny was itself
originally frightening or whether it carried some other affect . . .for this
uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien but something which is familiar
and old-established in the mind and which has become alienated from it
only through the process of repression. (Freud qtd. in Zipes 171)
 63

The train scene in Spirited Away works to reverse the dynamic Freud isolates as it

travels through repressive realms to deliver Senand ultimately the audience, to the

station of emotional emancipation. To pronounce the image of this fantasy sequence as a

dream journey, two stowaways that hitched a ride with Sen, fall fast sleep in the safety of

her lap. A bird that was once a bodiless head and Yubabas baby Boh, that the maternal

witch unwittingly turned into a mouse found freedom with Sen. Having been trapped in

the bathhouse, the head was stuck in the box of detached reason while baby remained

paralyzed by the immobilizing grip of a smother mother. An interesting change occurs at

the end of the film for Boh when Sen breaks Yubabas hold over her parents, for he is

equally changed by this venture. Baby Boh returns as a walking toddler and no longer a

crawling baby. The head stays in his new aspect as a bird thus enjoying his liberation from

the burden of imbalanced reason. So, here we understand how the head/bird and

baby/mouse regenerate themselves alongside Sen/Chihiro.

As Sen stares outside the train window, in somewhat serene apprehension, her

reflection is mirrored and we see two aspects of this one young character: both Sen and

Chihiro in the dual reflection of one girl. Dionysian consciousness understands the

conflicts in our stories through dramatic tensions and not through conceptual opposites;

we are composed of agonies and not polarities (Hillman qtd. in Marlan 142). Chihiro has

met her agonies thus her conflicts no longer chase after a little girl, but rather find a home

within a young woman ready to accept the wisdom that they offer. In recognizing the

pearl that comprises the center of her own struggle, she understands that No Face, like

Sen, yearns to gather the grittier aspects of the self. In this scene, more than any other in

Spirited Away, we see how the anima awakens the budding young woman yearning to

blossom inside Chihiro. Her facial features are more mature now and her manner more
 64

contemplative as she no longer responds to outside crisis, but begins to realize the

synthesis of soul. Hillman suggests: Thus psyche is mainly a result of the instinct of

reflection, which in turn is intimately tied with the anima archetype (Anima 87). In

quoting Jung, Hillman relates: Through reflection, life and its soul are abstracted from

Nature and endowed with a separate existence (CW 11, 235). Chihiros bearing now, is

not that of a child clinging to anxieties, but a young woman reaching out to welcome her

unique agonies, to realize they too make up this complex portrait of womanhood. The

archetype of both life and soul as distinct from only Nature (procreative, biological

Mother Nature) is anima, so that she would be that archetype which both performs the

abstraction through reflection and personifies the life and soul in reflected form. Anima is

nature now conscious of itself through reflection (Anima 87).

No longer will Chihiro see the yokai monsters hidden in that dark void under her bed

as this transcendent scene indicates that Chihiro will now view them as the wizened kami

of her future and in this shifting point of view comes the transformation of self. Jung

remembers in his autobiography, Memories, Dreams and Reflections, an encounter with

the unconscious that he understood as separate, inner personality that contrasted with his

outer persona: . . .there existed another realm, like a temple in which anyone who entered

was transformed and suddenly overpowered by a vision of the whole cosmos, so that he

could only marvel and admire, forget himself (45). In this respect, we see how the

bathhouse, akin to the temple of Jungs childhood, is also a teeming sanctuary where

transformation is realized. It is difficult to feel explains Miyazaki, that we are working

to survive in this world. Children can only enlarge their fragile egos. Chihiros skinny legs

and her sulky face are their symbols (Art/Spirited 16). The animator creates, through the

struggles of Sen and Chihiro a tale for contemporary children that cherish the struggle and
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that in this struggle swims the promise of maturation, as Miyazaki continues: In a

dangerous world, Chihiro began to come alive. The sulky and languid character will come

to have a stunning and attractive facial expression by the end of the film. The nature of the

world hasnt changed in the least. But, our heroine has changed.

As we enter the second to the last phase of Miyazakis animated fairy tale we see

just how critical the encounter with Zeniba is to augment this transformation. Even more

powerful than her cranky, controlling sister, Yubaba, is the grandmotherly spider woman

that spins Sens way home. In Zenibas home she makes Sen, No Face and the others a

pot of tea and the bird, mouse and No Face help her spin yarn suggesting arachnid motifs

that Marie Louise von Franz points out: The spider woman is a symbol of the Self for a

woman. . . and as such, Zeniba promotes this weaving of self by reintegrating the

shadow maternal. This interlaces Sens psychic threads with the material of the maturing

self (Feminine 199). At the same time, Zeniba refuses to do the psychic work that Sen

must accomplish and explains that while she is sorry her parents were turned into pigs, she

does not bear the power to transform them: . . . that is just the way things are. Zeniba

rightly advises Sen that this is a problem that the girl must work out on her own. The

goddess figure does grant Sen a hint to unlock the mystery by suggesting that Sen use

what she remembers about them: Once youve met someone you never really forget

them and tells Sen that while she is thinking her helpers will make her a gift and then,

delightfully asks that Sen call her granny from now on (Art/Spirited 232-233). They

then weave a magical hair tie that Sen twists into her ponytail to reinforce her struggle to

self: It will protect you. Its made from the thread your friends wove together

suggesting the integration of Sens own aspects for these alliesthese supporting

characters also embolden the protagonists growth. Sen is grateful and exclaims that it is
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beautiful and in this transformative scene, Sen is enveloping and accepting the

fragments of her self.

Zeniba praises No Face for his weaving skills and this is a hint to us that he will also

begin to secure his own fraying sense of self. Soon the winds rattle the windows and

Haku arrives outside as a majestic dragon and as Sen stares in disbelief that he is healed,

Zeniba says thats love for you and forgives him for stealing the magic seal, in turn for

protecting Sen on her journey home.

As Sen is about to leave, she hugs Zeniba and tells her: I want you to know my real

name, its Chihiro and the good witch replies . . . what a pretty name, you take care of

it hence Chihiros re-emergence and newly woven sense of self is nearly complete. It is

now time to reconnect with Chihiro and spiral back to an identity that eluded her before

crossing to the unconscious. Zeniba invites No Face to stay with her as a helper and when

his life becomes productive, his body grows more solid and yet when Sen leaves, the

spirit is again translucent suggesting impermanence and ambiguity. In trying to grasp

consciousness, No Face reminds us that such effort reveals a thickening and a thinning

paradigm that is cyclic and symbolic of the soulful journey that spirals in and out.

As Chihiro, mouse and bird fly home on Haku, she helps him remember his former

identity by, as Zeniba advised her, to recall her original memory of the spirit. The girls

unconscious (no longer blocked by the terrifying maternal Yubaba) opens up and Chihiro

recalls an incident from early childhood when she lost a pink shoe in the Wahaku River

and nearly drowned in an attempt to retrieve itbut was swept to safety by the water's

kami. This is Hakus true identity and she tells him that it is not surprising he doesnt

remember his original self because the river was paved over by development and

apartments were built where the water once flowed. As Chihiro helps Haku remember his
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authentic self as the white dragon of the river, he realizes he cannot truly return because

his world has changed. There is no place for the spirit in the material reality of post-

modern Japan. However, Haku reassures Chihiro that he will be okay because she helped

him remember his name. Miyazaki helps current and future generations manage the

cultural amnesia experienced in the new Japan. Both Chihiro and No Face represent the

convergence of old and new Japan in these years of cultural transition. In remembering

our past, ancestors and homesteads, Miyazaki reminds us that solid futures are contingent

upon the foundations of yesterday.

When Chihiro lands back at the bath house with Haku to reclaim her parents, Zeniba

paces back and forth before a large pig pen and frantically clutches her big baby: Did

they traumatize you? She is surprised to notice that he is now walking, having gained

independence along with Chihiro. He defends the girl and insists that his mother restore

Chihiros parents. Yubaba tells him that she has to give Chihiro one final test and while he

protests, Chihiro calls her out with confident voice: Hey granny! While Yubaba is

surprised by the outburst, we see that Chihiro converted her fear of the dark witch by

having embraced Zeniba. Now, Yubaba is no longer a devouring maternal figure, but a

liberating one. She tells Chihiro that the curse over her parents will be broken once she

identifies them among the countless, anonymous pigs. This final test is a tense one, as the

witch tells her she gets only one try. Chihiro, having integrated herself, has developed a

vision of the soul that is transmutablebeyond skin, pig pens and dust: None of these

pigs are my mom and dad (237). Everyone cheers because Chihiro chooses correctly.

Even when Yubaba grumbles and tells the girl to get out of her sight, Chihiro still thanks

her, refers to her as granny and the old witch in turn, cheers the girls re-entry into the

land of humans. In terms of Shinto, this reuniting of forces that brings kami to harmony
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with humans is called: shinjin-gouitsu, a state that can only occur when one is pure of

heart and mind (Sullivan 28). At this moment in Spirited Away, it is apparent that

although Chihiro and Haku can never share a life together, there is a knowing in their

eyes that reflects mutual affection. Miyazaki presents us with two different and yet

intertwined perspectives: that of humankind and that of naturea relationship cherished in

Japan.

The Psyche of Nature In Spirited Away

Hayao Kawai points out in The Japanese Psyche that the Japanese ego is not

detached from nature in the same way that it is in the West. . . by its nature, the developed

ego must know. Thus, the ego knows that it is a part of nature. When its function of

knowing becomes too discriminating, the ego must detach itself from nature (124).

Kawai is one of the few Jungians to have studied Japanese fairytales and mythology

that prompted him to explain how the journey of the protagonist parallels individuation as

it comprises a delicate balance. Wholeness bears a dilemma: if you try to seize it, you

lost completeness; if you try to catch completeness, wholeness becomes vague. Human

consciousness cannot recognize clearly the God of wholeness (189).

After crossing the threshold of return and walking back through the tunnel of rebirth,

Chihiro finds her parents unchanged. Yet the car is dusty and covered with leaves and

reflects the span of time that actually did occur in the spirit world. As the family drives

away to find the road leading to their new home, Chihiro is self-possessed and assures her

parents that she is no longer worried about her new chapter. Calm, balanced and in

control, Chihiro has found her equilibrium: the essential harmony created by the inner

reverence and knowledge that underscores Shintoism. At the end of Spirited Away, the

Western version has an audio dub that does not exist in the Japanese version. When
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Chihiro is asked about managing the challenges of a new home and school she replies: I

think I can handle it. While for the Japanese, this dialogue line is unnecessary for they

already know that her soul has been transformed by her ordeal.

Similarly, Miyazakis two earlier films: Princess Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

and Princess Mononoke, engage in Shinto motifs and themes where kami heal an earth

scarred by warfare and encroaching industrialization. In several interviews Miyazaki has

answered questions with regard to his use of heroines over heroes and pacifism over

aggression. The story of a man gaining independence is always told through some events

in which he defeats an opponent in battle, or fights his way through a difficult situation.

But, in the case of woman, its to feel, to accept or to cradle . . . Miyazaki closes with a

simple statement: Such character is woman rather than a man (Archives 68). Kawai

sums up his theories as to why male and female principles might represent different

spiritual energies: Patriarchal consciousness tends to aim at perfection. It cuts off the

evil with a sharp sword, while female consciousness tries to accept whatever comes and

aims at completeness. To admit whatever comes, means to accept even imperfection,

including internal contradiction (Japanese 187). To Miyazaki, the restoration of the

balance for humans and the natural world is contingent upon the heightening of feminine

consciousness. Like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away is a lush and richly drawn

animation that enchants audiences with its tapestry of Japanese traditional beliefs that

enmeshes with magic, mystery and myth. While the latter story is formally a maturation

tale for a young woman, Chihiro, it is informally a poignant homage to a more reverent

Japanese lifestyle that connects humans with nature. This is paired with Miyazakis

warning about artificial fantasy that nearly mirrors a Hillmanian discourse on the anima:
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I believe that fantasy in the meaning of imagination is very important. We

shouldn't stick too close to everyday reality but give room to the reality of
the heart, of the mind, and of the imagination. We need to be open to the
powers of imagination, which brings something useful to reality. Virtual
reality can imprison people. It's a dilemma I struggle with in my work, that
balance between imaginary worlds and virtual worlds (Mes).

Chihiro to Sen to Chihiro: the Heroines Journey Cycle

It is helpful to take a moment to identify how our heroines pattern (one of

integration rather than elevation) brings us to a closer understanding of Murdocks work

on the cycle of the heroine. One of the greatest differences between the Heroines Journey

circle and Campbells monomythic pattern is the way that the heroine moves through her

growth pattern by integrating with a larger community. Several heroic story models are

fixed on the path of a young mans isolation, conquest and return that results in the booty

or plunder that elevates him in the eyes of his people. This is especially vivid in

Hollywood blockbusters that end with the returning hero as the central star in their galaxy,

rather than an orbiting soul in a larger, complex universe.

In Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Princess Leia presents Luke and Han with heroic

medals as they stand before rebel legions atop a lofty platform. It is also true in Star Trek

Into Darkness direction by J. J. Abrams, when a more mature James T. Kirk addresses the

federation as a leader declaring a new world order. In a Miyazaki storyline, the heroine is

most functional as an enterprising citizen within society. When Princess Mononoke

resolves to work with Lady Eboshi the industrialist and Ashitaka the diplomat, the wolf

princess doesnt yield to the new human world as much as she makes peace with it. In

Howls Moving Castle, Sophie does not return to her younger aspect, because she does not

adhere to such superficial measurements of a woman. Sophie created a family of loveable

misfits to function within the ebb and flow of a greater world tide. Likewise Sen
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resurfaces as the integrated Chihiro, ready to handle any change that come her way.

Murdocks schema is one of beginning in a family, separating to earn independence,

descending into the darkness where regeneration and knowledge is gleaned, to finally

emerge as a whole citizen ready to responsibly share her contributions with a diverse

community.

In being split from her mother, Chihiro identifies with the masculine and gathers

the allies that help her withstand Yubabas force of will. Then, she survives the road of

trials that Sen finds in the spirits and monsters of the bathhouse. Some of these comprise

the ogres and dragons of the psyche that Murdock details that also results in the final

test. Next, Sen rejects the illusory boon of success because she knows the gold nuggets

from No Face are mere illusions of a deeper reward: the development of self. Sen

awakens to feelings of spiritual aridity and death as she tends Hakus wounds and

realizes he will die unless she intercedes with the medicine ball. Sen is initiated and

descends to the Goddess in Zenibas swampy realm of Swamp Bottom where in her

yearning to reconnect with the feminine, the two have tea and talk. Zeniba helps her

remember her past and trust in her ability to solve her own problems thereby healing the

mother-daughter split that once stinted Chihiro. Finally, Haku as the restored river spirit

does not truly represent the man with a heart as much he reconnects with the anima rich,

natural world (Murdock 5). As her trusted other, Haku is essential, not as a unifier of

masculine and feminine, but rather one who heals the spirit-soul merger that the kami

inspires in the liberation of Chihiro. She returns matured by enduring the cycle that many

adults cannot even handle as Miyazaki points out: Those people will be erased or eaten

up in the situation in which Chihiro finds herself. In fact, Chihiros being strong enough

not to be eaten up is just what makes her a heroine (Art/Spirited 15). Chihiro is a an
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inspiring example of how one benefits from the heroines journey because she endures,

adapts, learns and returns wholeinto and unto herself, despite it all.
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Chapter 3.
The Anima in the Triple Goddess and Matriarchal Consciousness

What's wonderful about the story is that the happy ending,

isnt that the spell is broken and the girl is young again.
It's that she forgets her age
(Miyazaki qtd. in Gordon).

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the heroine in Howls Moving Castle is named

Sophie for she embodies the wisdom of Sophia in all her faces: maiden, mother and

crone. Miyazaki adapted Sophies story from the original book written by Diana Wynne-

Jones that focused more on the heroines relationships with her beautiful sisters than the

Wizard Howl and their budding community. Miyazakis animated rendition however, is

the story of a young woman and mans maturation journey as they ride his rusty tin castle

through shifting worlds and realms of consciousness. The 2004 film begins with Sophie

Hatter (Emily Mortimer/Jean Simmons) a young woman living out a quiet, simple

existence as the daughter of a hat maker who left her the family store when he died. She

doesnt feel pretty like her frivolous step-sisters and step-mother who, though not cruel,

do not understand her intelligence and soulfulness. The young woman lives a lonely life.

Howl (Christian Bale) is a young wizard who has literally lost his heart to the Wicked

Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall) a vain and selfish shadow mother archetype

responsible for devouring his essence. Howl is immature, reckless and irresponsible yet he

is also colorful, liberating and magical. The wizard sweeps Sophie off her feet one day

and allows her soul to feel flight and experience freedom for the first time. Howl carries a

rock star persona that bends gender styles. He flies through the sky in his charismatic

cape, drop earring and romantic, sensual clothing. While Howl is a magician during the
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day, at night he transforms into a giant raven forced into air raids by Suliman. The raven is

Howls shadow side that embodies his fears of commitment and anxiety over his

aggressiveness in the war. Howl shuns responsibility and as such, he is a young man who

cannot integrate because his wings are clipped by maternal issues. Central to Howls

integration is the grand sorceress, Madame Suliman (Blythe Danner) who is the most

powerful maternal in the film and puppeteer to the king, causing a war that, while violent

and costly, is nothing more than a chess game to keep Howl under her control.

The Wicked Witch of the Waste is nearly as formidable as Suliman because she

once lured Howl's heart into her romantic lair. But, when Howl saw her inner cruelty, he

broke her heart which then transmuted her adulation into hatred, inspiring her to send ink

blot minions to stalk him. The blobs also suggest that Howl cannot run from his shadow

for it always lurks in the background, leaving spots on the psyche as it skulks about in

unresolved states. When the guards eye Howl whisking Sophie away to flit across the

rooftops with his airborne powers, the witch arrives at the girl's hat shop, hell-bent on

revenge. It is in the hat store that the witch, inflamed with jealousy, curses Sophie with an

aging spell. The shop is an intriguing symbol of the hat maker's past for it was her father's

baby and Sophie refuses to abandon her responsibilities in reverence to him. Here we

also meet her gorgeous, vain stepmom as well as a sister who is a mirror image of her

mother. These women represent anima figures that are far from groundeda sharp

contrast to the level, intelligent Sophie. At the film's outset, Sophies responsibility is

foreshadowed and we see how she and Howl complement one another: while he flies from

adult duties, Sophie assumes them with confidence. While Sophie is perhaps too

"grounded" in her rut, Howl urges her to soar, thus answering a psychic need in Sophie

whose inner anima has been stalled. Sophie overhears a conversation between several
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girls including her step-sister Bessie. When a girlfriend warns the others that Howl tore

her heart out another girl retorts: Dont worry he only preys on pretty girls and while

another girl chastises the comment for being mean we sense that the superficial and the

soul are at odds (Art/Howls 211). Sophie must progress (to mature) beyond the simplistic

gender roles personified by her step-mother and step-sisters to assume her individuation.

In the patriarchal and oppressive culture that the witch perpetuates girls mostly proceed in

lock- step: from beautiful teen to angry crone. If she adhered to the same pressure, Sophie

would be condemned to a similar superficial progression. But Sophies journey shows us

that when one grows in soul, they age gracefully and wholly with the tide of time. Later,

as a counterpoint, Suliman strips the Witch of the Waste of the magic that made her face

appear young despite her advancing years.

In a patriarchal society, girls and women are often seduced by the thrall of youth

fixated, sexual objectification and as a result: aging is a curse. Sophie breaks out of this

paradigm by spiraling inward to develop her soul rather than adhering to the illusion of

the beauty mystique validated by men. Although cursed to look old, she seeks her inner

strength and eventually admits that Howl is immature and a coward, but his core is that of

a good person. The curse is powerless against Sophie because she is a whole woman

and restores Howls heart not by sexuality, but by love; the aging curse turns out to be a

blessing. By not participating in the sexualized beauty contest that snares teen girls,

Sophie is not victimized by shallow standards. When Sophie is turned into an old woman,

she makes the best of her situation choosing to be a Great Mother who tends to Howl's

psychic wounds. This tending is not always sweetness and light, for, as a strong mother,

Sophie takes Howl to task when he throws a temper tantrum after she inadvertently
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dumps out his hair dye in his filthy bathroom. Sophie also insists that Howl face Suliman

and assume the responsibility of challenging the kings militarism.

It is necessary for Howl to learn to trust Sophie in order to earn back his heart. In

this process Howl must gather the conviction of self to face the patriarchal shadows that

harm him. Sophies shadow antagonists do the bidding of a male dominator system. The

narcissistic witch with her greedy, consuming heart locks Sophie into a prison of

objectification while the sorceress is a supreme dark goddess who trained Howl through

blurred boundaries of protg and son. Suliman also feels bitterly scorned by the

apprentice as an omnipotent father archetype who would force a son into dangerous

militarism as punishment for rebelling.

Profiteering from the Sexualization of Girls: the Media and Disney

There is wisdom and magic in Sophies multi-aged existence as she shifts

throughout puer (youth) and senex (elderly) phases rapidly throughout the story, reflecting

a complex emotional range. Her wizened appearance in the visage of a kindly, 90-year-

old-woman makes her less Aphroditic and more Hestian through the distorted eyes of an

age-phobic culture. Sophie is a heroine of depth, rather than a sex symbol worshipped by

the Kardashian culture of reality television and the Disney Empire.

Dr. Stacy L. Smith of the Annenberg School of Communication at USC and Crystal

Cook from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, conducted the study: Gender

Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV. In their section on female leads in

G-rated films, seven animations by Disney were examined: Snow White (1937),

Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the

Beast (1981), Pocahantas (1995) and Mulan (1998). Other films included: The Wizard of

Oz, Ferngully, Anatasia, Princess Diaries I and II and the Ice Princess. The team
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announced that the heroines were valued for their appearance, their aspirations were short

sighted and that most often the heroines longed for one-dimensional love. Another

conclusion of the team touched on negative body imaging: Many of the females in

animated fare are depicted as hypersexualized and thin and even these females . . .

appear much less frequently than do males. Smith and Cook point to: . . . the need for a

shift: away from creating females as adornment, enticement, or with inclination to

romance as the main or exclusive personality trait or motivator (12).

Coontzs incisive examination of the cultural response to Friedans book, Strange

Stirrings: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s,

reports that nearly five decades after the book was published, her students still respond

viscerally to the chapters that deal with sexual marketeering: Almost all testified to the

pressures they felt not only to buy consumer goods but to present themselves as objects to

be consumed (177). In the Witch of the Waste, we see this same type of distorted picture

of adolescent girls and how damaging it can be to the psyche of a young woman striving

to realize her emerging self.

The extent to which sexual objectification of young girls in the media fosters

unhealthy risk factors is further reported by the American Psychological Associations

Task Force that shows how overly critical body judgments lead to eating disorders and

internalized genderizing that narrow female experience to the pursuit of male approval.

These declining self-esteem issues have extensive ramifications: encouraging girls to

underperform in school and set lower career goals on their future horizons. Coontz

summarizes the 2007 task force findings: . . . an early emphasis on being sexy can not

only push a girl into initiating sex before she is emotionally ready but can also stunt the

full development of other interests and competencies (Task Force qtd. in Coontz, 177).
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Studies conducted in Fiji, in 2004, link sexualized television images of girls to

damaging behaviors that had not been experienced in the culture until television became

widespread:

Before television, traditional Fijian culture emphasized a robust body

shape and based notions of identity not on the body but on family,
community, and relationships. Three years after television was introduced,
girls eating behaviors and attitudes about their bodies had shifted, and
rates of disordered eating had increased. Research also links exposure to
sexualized female ideals with lower self-esteem, negative mood, and
depressive symptoms among adolescent girls and young women. (24)

In their book, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents

Can Do to Protect Their Kids, Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne point out how Disney

commercializes gender stereotypes in their Princess lines that include such characters as:

Jasmine from Aladdin, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle of Beauty and the Beast;

Pocahontas and Mulan. The latter two films depict Native American and Chinese

heroines. While Disney has shifted from offering only generically white heroines as they

once did with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, their ethnic diversity offers

little individuality or cultural richness beyond what is skin deep. Levin and Kilbourne

relate how one mother became concerned when her four-year old daughter mimicked how

the Prince will save the princess and, when mom suggests that the princess save the

prince, for a change, the little girl protests Oh, No! The Prince HAS to rescue the

princess, he loves her. Shes pretty so he wants to marry her (49). Aside from the

obvious gender role stereotypes and heterosexism the Disney stories constantly convey,

there are concerns about how the sexualization is used as marketing for the Disney

Empire.

Levin and Kilbourne explain that these stories are not designed to sell children on

sex but they are designed to sell them on shopping. They quote ZMag.com (dedicated to
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promoting social justice) commentator Cynthia Peters: Teach seven-year-olds that sexual

expression is a matter of accessorizing and youve secured a lifetime of purchases in the

lingerie department. Disassociate sex from non-market feelings (pleasure, desire,

intimacy) and associate it instead with consumable superficialities, and youll not only

keep the rabble in line, youll have them lined up at the mall (50). Or, lining up to buy

Disney products on the official princess website: The Official Disney Princess Website

that draws in web users the world over. Visiting the site is an eye-opening experience as

graphics depict the entire array of princesses that emulate body perfection and

heterosexual-only girls who fall in love with princes. A princess takes visitors to

storybooks that summarize the theatrical stories that reinforce Disney products through

stereotypical images and stories.

The Princess franchise is estimated at $4 billion and Andy Mooney (who left Disney

for a sports merchandising empire) told The New York Times that he got the idea watching

girls line up at a Disney on Ice event. The little girls wore princess costumes that they

assembled themselves, so rather than honor individuality or creativity, Moony rode in on

Disneys horse and hijacked their imaginations:

Clearly there was latent demand here. So the next morning I said to my
team, O.K., lets establish standards and a color palette and talk to
licensees and get as much product out there as we possibly can that allows
these girls to do what theyre doing anyway: projecting themselves into the
characters from the classic movies. (Orenstein)

Mooney told writer Peggy Orenstein that he wanted to preserve the sanctity of the

princess mythologies by never having them look straight in the eye of a consumer.

Orenstein explains that the princesses trigger the bigger question of how she can help her

own daughter cope with: . . . the contradictions she will inevitably face as a girl, the
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dissonance that is as endemic as ever to growing up female. Maybe the best I can hope for

is that her generation will get a little further with the solutions than we did.

Disney works very hard to market against solutions that would otherwise support the

evolution of a girls own imaging and unique identity. Parents are pressured through

shrewd marketeers to bow to the Disney patriarchy to reward these overlords for

enslaving them (and their daughters) in the first place.

All of the Disney princesses featured on the lucrative Internet site have flowing,

long hair, small waists, shapely hips and breasts, symmetrically designed facial features

and submissive or amiable personalities that hold up male messages of supremacy. A

lovely womans voice encourages visitors to Choose a princess and experience her

magical world. When choosing Arabian princess Jasmine, a storybook icon comes up

that reveals the title: The Princess Who Didnt Want to Marry. We learn in the course of

the magical storybook that, like the film depiction, Aladdin had lied to her after luring her

into his life by asking Jasmine if she trusts him as he subsequently passes himself off as a

rich prince named Ali. When the fake prince finally owns up to being poor, Jasmine

admits she loves him for being himself and that her father, the Sultan felt Aladdin was

worthy. Girls are not encouraged to trust their instincts or seek out truth in their mates,

they are motivated to internalize the need for their fathers approval while externalizing

the role the patriarchy plays as marionettes that control their future. As the title reveals,

Jasmine was transformed from a girl who didnt want to marry to a girl who eventually

was handed off from the omnipotent patriarch to a shape-shifting boy, and then they: all

lived happily ever after. Visitors can choose Jasmine merchandising where her costumes

sell for $44.95 (in 2013 prices) and when adding her slippers, jewelry and tiara, a parent

can spend nearly $100 to be like Jasmine, all the while receiving messages that
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undermine a girls individuality. Each princess has her own line of clothing and

accessories and the Store icon is situated right next to the Disney Parks button that links

consumers to eleven different destination options including travel packages, resorts and

cruises.

Ariel of The Little Mermaid is situated as her fathers daughter and who is

independent and impulsive. . . and while the mermaid is depicted as a feisty spirit the

site suggests that her pairing with Eric will make her dreams come true. Of course, in

both the popular Disney film (that rebooted the animation division for the empire) and the

princess Internet site, the mermaids storybook text reads: Oh what I would give to stay

here beside you from the lyrics she sang to Prince Eric. What she gives up of course is

her identity and natural marine beauty, but most of all: her voice. Ariel presents girls with

a double-binding message: leave your authoritarian father and worship a statue of a prince

as his replacement. Then, Prince Eric only falls in love with a submissive red-head who

cannot challenge his supremacy. Ariel can only regain her voice (after submitting her

symphonic tones to the sea witch for human legs) if she gets the kiss of true love from a

man. Ariels happy ending is that Eric . . . kissed his bride under a rainbow colored with

joy!

Belle, of Beauty and the Beast, is the only princess who promotes knowledge

through reading and yet when we first meet her, Belle does not greet visitors with her own

intelligence, but beams excitedly about her fathers invention fair and guides us to an

interactive game where she gushes to young visitors about what a genius her father is

and how everyone wants to look their best to attend his fair. Little visitors are directed

to help dress a replica dummy of Belles perfect hourglass figure in matching attire.
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Amy Davis asserts in Good Girls and Wicked Witches that Belles father . . . puts

his work first and allows Belle to take care of him and assist him rather than recognizing

that, as her father, it is his duty to put her first (194). Belles revered selflessness by

ignoring her own self-development, is reinforced by material on the Disney website. The

fact that Belle warms to the Beast even though he holds her captive is troubling and while

he introduces her to his vast library and adorns her in pretty dressesthe Beast holds all

the keys of access to such knowledge. Belles images merely reflect a societal norm of

disempowerment that American girls internalize and that the Disney Empire so often

promotes. Of the characters in the film, Belle, in her constant selflessness and care-

taking has more in common with the Beasts servants than she does with the other major

characters in the film. Davis shares an interesting reflection that points to the bi-polarity

of heroine portrayals: the year that Beauty and the Beast was released (1991) is also the

year that the feminist darling, Thelma and Louise hit the theaters. Both films were

nominated for Academy Awards that year and both screenwriters were women: Linda

Woolverton scripted the adaptation of Beauty and the Beast while Thelma and Louise was

based on an original screenplay by Callie Khouri (IMDB).

Princess Pocahontas carries more of the Miyazaki heroine traits of Mononoke and

Nausicaa. She is environmentally sensitive, tuned into earth magic, honors Grandmother

Willows advice to listen with her heart and chooses to stay with her people, despite

falling in love with John Smith who invades her land. We all know how well white

explorers treated Native Americans and how empowering it was for indigenous people to

be converted to Christianity and lose their resources. To be fair, Pocahontas helps stop

violence among the warring factions, but even as she takes a higher road with altruistic
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purpose, she continues to be an appointed princess also marketed by Disney with an hour-

glass body in a revealing buckskin shift.

The 2010 American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of

Girls points out that the Disney heroines in The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas ". . . have

more cleavage, fewer clothes, and are depicted as "sexier" than those of yesteryear . . ."

(7). The studies explain that animated female characters often "portray girls as domestic,

interested in boys, and concerned with their appearance" (Thompson/Zerbinos, 1997),

suggesting an overemphasis on the self as a romantic object, if not necessarily a sexual

one. Presenting animated girls as overly romantic objects is, however, only the beginning,

for as girls mature as viewers, their self-identification transforms into an adolescent vision

of self in which sexualization becomes the norm. This norm then becomes reimaged

through their interactions with other media vehicles such as Facebook and other social

networking sites that encourage objectification of their own bodies through an

international media platform. Coontz refers to this heightened sexualization of adolescent

girls as the hottie mystique our culture propagates that undermines the equality and

harmony. . . in our society Friedan once envisioned in The Feminine Mystique (177).

The book, published in 1963, sparked a national and international womens movement in

much of the world that led to such publications as the groundbreaking Ms. Magazine

founded by Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Yet half a century later, the

societal backlash against progressive roles of women is still fanned by angry daughters of

the patriarchs who work aggressively to support the male-dominated culture, claiming that

. . . feminists have very successfully waged war against the traditional family, in which

husbands and the principal breadwinners and wives are primarily homemakers (1). In her

book, Domestic Tranquility, conservative attorney-turned-housewife Carol Graglia rails

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against liberating options for girls and women. She throws various societal ills squarely at

the feet of feminists: divorce, illegitimacy, teen pregnancy, poverty and crime while also

asserting traditional values against collectivist child rearing that Graglia believes causes

feminists to undermine the traditional family so that . . . women can be fully

competitive with men in economic and political arenas (274).

With such blame-fixed abuse launched against a womans individuality, it is not

surprising that teen girls are confused by their identities within the current dysfunctional

state of American culture. Graglia claims that women are now stuck in the same grind as

their male counterparts with stress and exhaustion through male dominated career choices

that have consumed men as well as women. Graglia, of course, doesnt explain how the

patriarchy created an unhealthy, unbalanced marketplace that women inherited, but did

not originate. We do see in Miyazakis shadow antagonists, Lady Eboshi of Princess

Mononoke and Princess Kushana in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (explored in

chapters 4 and 5) the harsher side of women assuming what Lyn Cowan names as the:

animus mantle without working for a better balance through anima development.

Kushana has become bionic through her militarism and aggression while Eboshi carries

the deep wounds in her psyche from being too bound by capitalism, propelling her to

value domination of the natural world above all other human activities.

Graglia goes on to attack Jewish women for coming from a socio-religious

subculture that devalues women unless they are competitive in the marketplace and claims

that such feminists are secular and wealthy, hardly a fresh scapegoating approach.

Graglia, a Christian, explains how she hailed from a religious doctrine that features the

role of the self-sacrificing, martyring archetype Mother Mary, as the ideal of the feminine:

We have instead, been shaped by cultural and religious traditions that glorify the
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feminine, and we have found that it is our femininity that affords us the greatest

satisfaction in our lives (43). One suspects that Graglia may not be altogether satisfied

with traditional motherhood and wifedom. In projecting her own buried frustrations

against feminists, Graglia stands out as a woman who seems far from tranquildespite

her highly touted domestic world. While Mary is indeed an eternal maternal that gives

solace to literally millions of people, she is hardly a realistic role model that all women

can emulate.

The Good Mother is only one aspect of a feminine spectrum and one that Graglia

and other anti-feminists hold up as the only right and absolute role for a girl to assume.

This confinement places women at a disadvantage and closes off the pluralistic, nature of

anima rich figures that represent a more holistic, soulful and varied vision of complex

womanhood. It also leaves out girls and women who see through the shroud and ask: how

can she be both a virgin and a mother? The pat answer that she was the vessel for the Lord

our Father to create his only son to absolve humankind of sin, requires a suspension of

reality that forces intellectually challenging girls to put their brains on hold. This narrow

feminine idealism is part of the socio-cultural undermining of girls that feminists have

long suspected was actually the deeper and more insidious goal, all along. This societal

dynamic pressures girls to be subservient to . . . a culture whose deity is male, a culture

than can only imagine spirit in male forces, in the masculine gender (Cowan

"Dismantling"). While Graglia attacks feminism, she fails to see that she perpetuates a

patriarchal definition of womanhood long designed to keep girls under control. These

sexist female rants dance to the patriarchal tune and Miyazakis heroines are melodic

counterpoints of independence and complex personalities that encourage diverse

opportunities for girls.

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Madame Suliman as Terrible Mother

To understand how these patriarchal norms influence Sophie, we need to examine

Suliman, the Terrible Mother who has dominated Howl. Though she is not seen until the

second act, Sulimans domineering presence overshadows the entire film. She was Howls

tutor and master, and much of the action of the film is driven by his attempt to break away

from her. In response, the oppressive sorceress is determined to destroy her protg for

abandoning her tutelage For instance, it was Suliman who banished the witch to the

Wastelands and turned her magic around to become a force of jealousy, possessiveness

and greed. Howl is an airborne creature that flies by night as a raven and walks by day as

a wizard. His raven shadow is the darkness that Howl represses by shirking the

responsibility of adulthood. Devoid of the gravity of an integrated shadow, Howls

wizard identity is thin, creating a divided psyche tantamount to a split personality. His

duality is the outgrowth of a mother complex derived from the dominant Suliman. Here is

the Terrible Mother who is angry with her son for rejecting her by seeking his own

independence. The omnipotent Suliman takes the concept of maternal clinging to new

heights with perceived betrayal wedded to calculated revenge. Since we are told that all

wizards are bound by eternal contract to serve the empire in times of warfare, Suliman

keeps the country constantly at war to draft Howl into harms way and keep him under her

rule. When Howl is summoned to the castle by Suliman (a similar invitation went to the

Witch of the Waste), he is too frightened to go on his own, so the aging Sophie agrees to

attend in the role of his mother. However, while she takes the long ascent up the steps to

Sulimans palace, Howl is nowhere to be found. The witch also hikes the stairwell, is

exhausted by the climb and claims the only chair in the parlor as her own. It turns out to

be a trap. Suddenly, the curtains withdraw and levers ignite huge flash bulbs illuminating
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tiny shadow dancers that encircle the Witch and drain her of her powers. The witch

becomes unimaginably enfeebled. Meanwhile, Howl shows up in disguise as the king

riding an ingenious flying machine. Because Sophie is a grounded person we note that

most all her energies are expended on the arrested development that propels the

adolescent Howl. While she is a role model for girls to work beyond the sexist confines of

Westernized beauty, one cannot help but root for Sophie to grow beyond Howls need to

position her as Wendy to his inner Peter Pan.

In her treatise on eternal youth, The Problem of Puer Aeternus, psychologist

Marie-Louise von Franz defines the neurosis of the mother-bound man: There is a

terrific fear of being pinned down, of entering space and time completely, and of being the

singular human being that one is (8). Von Franz suggests that such men are prone to

aerial dangers such as flying . . . to get as high as possible. . .to get away from reality,

from the earth, from ordinary life. If this type of complex is very pronounced, many such

men die young . . . (8). As von Franz imparts, Howl does tempt death later in the film

when he is gravely wounded from aerial combat in his raven form. The feathered

incarnation completely overshadows Howl when negative emotions surface, thus the

raven takes flight at the expense of the man. The aerial battles are spectacular as Howl

encounters a variety of symbolic monsters that plague his psyche for, at a certain level,

the war is within Howl. His shadow integration is crucial to his development, as Ginette

Paris points out in Wisdom of the Psyche: It is as if these virtual beings want to live in

our imagination, want us to acknowledge them, to give them a temple in our inner city, to

include them in the psychic community (70). There is rich symbolism in the film tied to

Howls aviation, for, as von Franz tells us, birds represent a nearly bodiless entity, an

inhabitant of the. . .wind sphere, which has always been associated. . .with the human
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psyche (Interpretation 67). In such stories, von Franz views the animal side as the

divine side creating tension between the two realms tantamount to an epic struggle: . .

.if there is an attempt to draw the divine into the human realm, there can only be

catastrophe (Animus, Anima 64).

Howls wandering psyche is his magic castle that walks on chicken legs as inspired

by the Russian fairy tale Baba Yaga. In the classic story, the old crone Baba Yaga and her

house of skulls represent the Goddess of Death, yet she also rides her mortar and pestle

thus symbolizing grain, nourishment and reproduction (Shadow 197). So, Howls castle,

like Baba Yagas house, represents both the life and death of Howl as a portal between his

two personifications. A sub-character within Howls drama is a one-legged scarecrow

who is representative of the imbalance the magician is suffering. Eventually we find that

he was also cursed and returns to his original self as a member of a royal family when

Howls heart is restored. The scarecrow is aligned with the castle throughout the storyline.

Early in the film the castle is a heaving iron fish (an animal symbol often aligned with

fertility and fecundity in many cultures) comprised of rusty junkyard parts, which it is

splintered late in the film as Howl nearly dies in shadow form. After Howl unites his

opposing selves the castle morphs into an agile, thriving estate with gardens and a home

for his newly created family. The castle reflects Howls evolving psyche: what was once

a rusting magnet for his confused spirit becomes a haven after he confronts his shadow

and assumes the fullness of individuation.

Sophies Journey Through Howls Unconscious

In one dramatic scene toward the films midpoint, Sophie dreams she is walking

down an earthen tunnel littered with the broken memories of Howls lost childhood.

Hundreds of broken toys surround the tunnel emphasizing Howls shattered psyche. Each
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step reveals more symbols of Howls inner fears including amulets to intercept black

magic or, more cogently: the dark maternal. As Sophie descends, the Underworld aspects

become darker and darker. Sophie is accomplishing what Ginette Paris refers to in

Wisdom of the Psyche as the development of night vision because the suffering of the

psyche is an invisible one (Paris 173). Miyazaki uses such vision to manifest the

suffering into images for the audience. At the end of the shadow tunnel, Sophie finds

Howl in a nest wounded by a reckless aerial battle. Sophie compassionately tells the

wounded Howl that she will help him break the spell, to which he replies: You cant

even break your own spell as Sophie counters . . . I love you, Howl flies off and cries:

Youre too late. Howls last flight is a strong indication that he cannot go on living in

his current split state. When someone dies in a dream, it shows that specific

personification is coming to an end (Feminine 78).

Another insightful scene that exposes Howls interiority comes at the end of the

second act when Sophie travels back to Howls past and into his psyche where she

witnesses the star episode of Howls youth. Miyazakis visual canvas is at its peak as

rainbow star sprites dance across the lake of Howls unconscious. While the adolescent

wizard stands at the edge of the lake, shooting stars cascade down around him. Howl

cant muster the courage to dive into the depths of his unconscious at the threshold of his

own maturity and the price he pays for cowardice costs Howl his heart and soul. Sophie

runs symbolically through the mud, dredging the murkiest aspect of the shadow fears and

at one point nearly sinks in. As we know, shadow projects can mire down those around

us. Previously, Howl had given her a magic ring that animates symbolically as she is led

to his most tender places. Sophie nears the lake as an unseen observer and she watches

Howl catch one bright star that glows brilliantly in his hands, illuminating his face. Howl
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swallows the heart star and the radiance dims to darkness. The star is transformed into a

cheeky fire demon named Calcifer (Billy Crystal), an unwitting victim of the curse bound

to the castle as its power source. Howls detached heart creates a dynamic metaphor: a

soul without integration is a heartless one. Von Franz reminds us that the star itself is a

symbol that can reflect the terror of ones own singularity. In The Way of the Dream she

refers to the Gilgamesh epic and the warrior kings dream in which a star descended and

landed on his back only to become the sole magnet of worship for his people. It is that

star upon you they worship. Its your necessity to become a unique individual. Thats

what they worship in you not you. And that is your heaviest load (Dream 50). So, here

we have Howl, such a gifted wizard that the greatest sorceress in all the kingdom

welcomes him as her prize pupil, and yet he will not rise to the challenge of his vast

potential. By swallowing the star, Howl is essentially consuming his own self and eating

his own destiny. The magician's most intense fear is not that he will be powerless, but that

he will be too powerful and burdened by the encroaching weight of responsibility. In

devouring his own star, Howl guarantees an arrested state of adolescence despite the

pitfalls and traps that such suspension creates in his psyche.

When Calcifer emerges from Howls chest as a fire demon and the fracture is born,

Howls opportunity to become whole fades away like a falling star lost to the atmosphere.

Witnessing this fissure, Sophie gasps at this moment of epiphany. The magic ring shatters,

the earth beneath her gives way and she free falls down into the abyss of his psyche,

calling out to him: I know how to help you now. Find me in the future. Sophie

continues to plummet, passing through a black hole that delivers her to Howls present

day psyche symbolically rendered as puffy white clouds in a blue sky. Finally, Sophie

emerges at the other side of the portal where Howls castle has now crashed into pieces.
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Moved to tears, Sophie knows this is a watershed moment for Howl and soon, she knows

what must be done: Howl cannot survive unless he is made whole. The girl sees Howl in

his raven incarnation where he is wheezing and wounded from battles, his raven side has

grown to an enormous size compared to Sophies small stature. His own self-destructive

behavior is literally killing him and the wizard is at risk of being entirely consumed by his

shadow. Sophie kisses Howls face, buried deeply in his midnight blue feathers and asks

him to take her to Calcifer, if he can. Large talons emerge, blood oozes forth but Sophie

bravely climbs on one talon and the arduous journey to individuation is set. Howls giant

wings make one last flight as he carries Sophie to the castle. Now, all that is left of the

castle is a large wooden platform, propelled by the scarecrow who, symbolically, hops on

one leg which reminds us how difficult it is to maneuver through life without a psychic

foundation. Literally unconscious on the platform, the wizards shadow side loses its

dominance as the feathers simply fall away like tiles released from a rotting roof in a

windstorm.

The Transformation of the Shadow Witch

An interesting development surfaces in the film when the witch, having already been

stripped of her dark powers, assumes a grandmotherly persona. Even though the witch

seems like a scattered matron without her powers, she imparts the most important wisdom

to Sophie. The shadow witch and the teen girl share one thing in common: they both want

to engage with Howls heart. But, Sophie wants to restore it while the witch wants to

possess it, until the witch finally releases her grip when Sophie hugs the witch

sympathetically. Pleading for Howls restoration, the heroine asks for his heart: Wont

you please give it back? Sophie explains that Howl will die without it and the witch, in

her new crone aspect responds: Okay, if you really want it, but take good care of it.
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This scene occurs toward the end of the film after Sophie has journeyed through Howls

psyche to witness him swallowing the star. Now that Howl is ready to mature, the witch is

no longer the dark mother figure, for her negative influence has been muted. Howl is

revived when he realizes his love for Sophie as his soul counterpart, thus it is her positive

anima energy that ensouled him and saved the witch, as well.

In Disney animations, however, the same dark maternal is characterized as a villain

thereby warranting a violent resolution to the shadow mother. In creating an extreme

heavy as the dark aspect the heroine, such as Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid,

Ariels dark twin must be truly evil. So, Ariel cannot become an integrated heroine; she

can only comprise the light, sweet, and positive. Such a pale female is never wholly

individual in romantic unions with heroes. Ursula takes the form of a dark vixen to steal

Prince Erics heart and then is inflated into a sea monster slayed by the prince who claims

Ariel. The confusion is an even more intense bind for the mermaid when the witch drains

her father, King Triton of all his power. It creates within the heroine, a split consciousness

that perpetuates a phobia of the shadow as other. The same alter ego that manifested as a

projection of self is too frightening to comprehend making integration all the more

threatening and rendered even more deeply to the abyss. Also, it sends a message to Ariel

that she had better never rise up against the waves like her villainess aspect, because if she

does, the girls will is certain to kill her father and earn a strike down by her prince.

Disney films have a propensity to slice heroines right down the middle and in that cleft

many relationship problems take root. The same can be said for the dark sorceress in

Sleeping Beauty, the step-queen in Snow White and the step-mother in Cinderella. What

Miyazaki compels us to remember, however, is that antagonists reveal the shadow of the

ideal within and as such, the villainess cannot inform the heroine. So the dark force of
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psychic nature in Disney films cannot be integrated with the positive heroine and as a

result young viewers cast their shadows onto others, modeling a split between good and

evil, Ariel and Sea Witch, Snow White and Maleficent, Madonna and whore.

In Miyazakis version of the fairytale, however, by accepting the witch, Sophie

integrates herself and given her charge to take care of it becomes not only a literal

allusion to Howls heart, but also a metaphor that Sophie identifies with. When Sophie

holds Howls heart in her hands she whispers that it flutters, at which time Calcifer

reminds her it is the heart of a child (Art/Howls 252). After Sophie redeems his heart,

Howl feels grounded for the first time in his life: theres a weight in my chest he

manages, prompting Sophie to respond: A heart is a heavy burden (252). In the end,

love prevailsnot only Sophies love for Howl, but also Howls inner love for himself

because he finally realizes that he is worthy of love and of loving. As the witch represents

possessive, sexual and romantic forms of love, Suliman represents controlling and

domineering love. It is Sophie who connects with the loving nature of the soul of Howls

inner anima and shapes his destiny.

Without Sophies love, Howl would have surely become one with the ether or died

in the war. When Suliman realizes that Howls hard earned wholeness leaves no more

room for machinations, she declares an end to the war. As Howl establishes inner peace

after reclaiming his anima heart, the conflicts of the psyche that had reaped carnage in the

outer world, simply dissolve. Hillman explains the power of the heart connection:

Loving is a way of knowing, and for loving to know it must personify.

Personifying is thus a way of knowing, especially knowing what is
invisible and hidden in the heart. In this perspective personifying is not a
lesser, primitive mode of apprehending but a finer one. It presents in
psychological theory the attempt to integrate heart into method and to
return abstract thoughts and dead matter into their human shapes. (Blue 47)
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Howls Androgynous Nature and Japanese Cultural Consciousness

Howl is androgynous in his duality as both male and female, as well as bird and

man, but he remains broken and incomplete. Androgyny is also the grounding concept in

art historian Lanier Grahams book: Duchamp, Androgyny: Art, Gender and Metaphysics

in which Graham believes the span of androgynous iconography relates to the pairing of

both sides of the brain. Graham points to Stone Age paintings that depict a being with

breasts and an erect phallus, which he believes is an early representation of the

psychodynamics of androgyny. Graham continues: His/Her left side (which actually is

controlled by the right side) is always female. His/Her right side (which actually is

controlled by the left side) is always male (Graham p. 28). This assertion, according to

Graham, is . . .an appropriate metaphor for the Perennial teaching of integrating our

rational and intuitive faculties in order to attain Enlightenment (28).

Howl is drawn with long hair, colorful capes, and a drop earring; he shifts between

domestic realms and outer ones in his moving castle. While Sophie clears out the cobwebs

of Howls psyche, the young wizard also cooks for Sophie and recreates the castles

environment to reflect a home alive with anima consciousness. Howls bedroom is

cluttered floor to rafters with mythic and magical symbols from peacock feathers (often

aligned with goddesses and queens) as well as eye iconography that serve as talismans

against the evil eye. A dripping chandelier, teapot and scores of mobiles surround his bed

along with spheres, triangles and seashells. While there are elements of both masculine

and feminine associations, the more prevalent alignment is with a feminine sensibility.

One does not, for instance, see most of the dcor we would find in the bedrooms of young

Western males. In America, cars or trucks, erotically charged female pop stars,

professional sports icons and weaponry (especially swords and knives) often serve as
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primary themes in teen male lairs. In other words: the young American male environment

is by and large representative of more strict gender roles. Miyazaki does not depict a male

conquering through strength but rather earning shared power, contingent upon balance

and wholeness of self.

Balance is the key finding that Sandra Lipsitz Bem uncovered in her research on

gender dynamics in which she created new criteria to gauge socio-cultural trends. Known

as the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), the index details Western stereotypes of gender.

Among those traits studied: mature, rude, lazy, and arrogant as masculine (by men) and

spiritual, generous, religious, and hesitant as feminine (by women). Bem regarded the

index to reflect contemporary stereotypes. This index was used to test subjects in Japan

and the findings were unique, as published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly:

Only 12 masculine and seven feminine items were endorsed as gender

stereotypes in Japanese people. Men scored signicantly higher than
women on the Masculinity scale, but there was no signicant difference
between men and women on the Femininity scale. The ndings also
showed that both men and women scored slightly higher on the Femininity
scale than on the Masculinity scale. (Sugihara and Katsurada 443-452)

Throughout her study, Bem found that feminist gender polarization was a natural

outgrowth of reorienting the American culture away from androcentricism and into a

feminine reorientation, but one that ultimately could lead to greater polarity. As Bem puts

it: a modern tradition within feminist theory, sometimes known as the woman-centered

approach. . .is itself gender polarizing (Lens 4). Balance is also the grounding principal in

Shinto mindfulness and the perennial patterns found in Miyazaki animations.

When the shadow aspects of a persons sexuality cannot find outward expression, it

can easily turn to misogyny and homophobia. Even gay men are not immune in America

when compensatory psychodynamics are at play. This issue is thoughtfully discussed in

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Nico Langs web article published in the January 15, 2013 edition of The Huffington Post

entitled, Gay Male Misogyny Goes Viral: College Humor and the War on Womens

Bodies. Lang calls attention to a viral college video that promotes the stereotypic notion

that gay men had a special relationship with women due to their refinement and cooking

abilities. The video jokes that if straight men dont support marriage equality, then gay

men will marry their girlfriends: So, if you continue to be close minded, we will take one

for the team and marry the crap out of them. Straight women posted their frustrations in

response to the video articulating how gay men often objectify women, touch their bodies

without permission and feel entitled to do so, despite the reality that it is a form of sexual

assault. . . .few have challenged its central idea, that gay men have privilege over

women's bodies. Langs awareness casts light on an incident that occurred several years

ago when fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi . . .unexpectedly grabbed Scarlett Johansson's

breasts on the Oscar red carpet. Johansson took obvious offense to her breasts being

treated like silly putty in front of the entire countryas Issac Mizrahi was casually

assaulting her. To Lang, such abuse is rendered invisible when gay men refuse to see

their own hand in perpetuating, . . . a rape culture that silences assault but also a society

that tells women that they do not own themselves. Lang illuminates a gay-male-

dominated fashion industry where . . . casual misogyny is too often ignored. He then

further explains it is not, just this individual behavior alone that's the problem, but a gay

culture that legitimizes assault by labeling it as harmless. This misogyny also reflects the

extent to which such behavior overcompensates for the heterosexism so firmly set by

patriarchal dominance. This system often encourages gay men to compensate for their

own disinterest in female sexuality by joining their straight counterparts in treating

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womens bodies with contempt. Lang thinks that many gay men need to become aware of

and assume responsibility for, Yet their own blind spot biases:

But if queer men truly want to celebrate women's bodies and love women
in the right way, we must hold ourselves accountable to dismantling a
system that marginalizes and abuses them. [And] work to create a culture
that affirms women's rights to their bodies. As our straight allies stand by
us to make marriage equality a reality . . . we must also ask how we can
stand by them.

Howls Moving Castle is one of the rare instances in Miyazaki films in which

traditional roles may be attached to the heroine. But Sophie is not a creation of the

Miyazaki mind, however, but of British author Diana Wynne-Jones, born in 1934 who

graduated from Saint Annes College at Oxford University and began writing while

raising her family (Art/Howls 208). Yet the film also presses the boundaries of

conventional gender stereotypes more than most American films do. Sophie is the agent

of the action that brings about the changes that heal the community as a whole. She insists

Howl face the problems that he created, stares down Suliman, wins over the Wicked

Witch of the Waste, stops the war and restores Howls anima connectionthe life spark

he lost through selfish immaturity. Sophie breaks the spell not by the kiss of true love

but by demonstrating the actual act of soul and anima restoration. Howls heart healing

does not happen by merely lifting the curse, but by actually demonstrating how to be a

whole human being. In turn, Sophie is no longer the quiet hat seller, but the head of a

family that she created on her own terms.

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Chapter 4.

The Anima Inspired Return to Primal Feminine Consciousness

From birth it has screamed with all its ego shouting itself hoarse:
I exist, I am, dont come near, I have teeth, I have claws.
Shouts itself hoarse and has a sore throat and sore shoulders and
sore eyes and would like to stop dressing in steel
(Helene Cixous, The Book of Promethea 9).

Princess Mononoke is an epic story depicting the clash between the balance of the

natural world and the imbalance created by human industrialization. The titular character,

Mononoke, is wildness personified, resembling the Greek goddess Artemis in her

primordial connection to nature. Everything about Mononoke is untamed, for her home is

the mystical forest of the gods where humans are forbidden. Mononoke does not hide

from her instincts, nor does she apologize for them. She is a member of the wolf pack and

fiercely protects the forest beingspredominantly the Spirit of the Forest who embodies

the miracle of life itself. Miyazaki explains that his inspiration for the princess came from

the prehistoric, Neolithic pottery figures from the Jomon period, which spanned thousands

of years, into 8th century A.D (Art 20).

To fully examine the archetypal depth of the warrior princess Mononoke, it is

important to first understand the Japanese definition of her name. Mono means thing

and ke means something uncertain or unstable as Michael Foster explains in

Pandemonium and Parade: mono-no-ke evokes both the danger and the mystery of this

powerful and unpredictable thing . . . (7). Like Artemis before her, this princess is

untouchable and protects both her virginity and the virgin forest so intertwined that one

cannot exist without the other.

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Syncretic Mythologies of Japan and Greece

In Japanese culture, Mononoke also resembles Yama-No-Kami who also resembles

aspects of Artemis as a deity of the hunt, forests and vegetation. Yama-No-Kami, like

Artemis, carries fertility undertones but the virginal Artemis is also the deity of childbirth

due to her painless birth from Leto (Graves 83). While Artemis is clearly female, Yama-

No-Kami carries both male and female aspects and is more of an androgynous force.

Yama-No-Kami (like Artemis) is also affiliated with mountains and both carry life and

death capabilities in the same way fertility deities bear twin aspects.

One major difference, however, is the wild aspect of Artemis that underscores her

quest to roam free and is embodied in the symbolic stag. The most common story told

about Artemis is that when Actaeon was hunting in the forest, he saw her bathing naked in

a stream and did not avert his eye to respect her chastity. The goddess, angry at this

violation, transformed him into a stag and with his own pack of 50 hounds, tore him to

pieces (Graves 85). Mononoke is also aligned with canines in her role as a wolf princess.

Like Artemis, a stag is a central symbol to Mononokes story. However, in Miyazakis

storyline, the stag is the Spirit of the Forest, as opposed to a punished human voyeur. In

Japanese mythology, the stag also represents the vision of a return to primeval purity

especially in the Nara region, situated in northern Japan (Chevalier 922).

The film Princess Mononoke begins as an angry boar attacks a village. The hero,

Ashitaka, kills the rampaging boar but is infected with the same violence and rage that

possessed the boar. He goes on a quest that takes him deep into the forest where he meets

a pair of powerful women: Princess Mononoke and Lady Eboshi. They personify the

opposing forces of the forests natural order and the encroaching industrialization

destroying it. Princess Mononoke takes place during the era of vast cultural shifts known
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as the Muromachi period (circa 1392-1573) when Japan was undergoing the prolonged

social upheaval and political unrest that gave birth to many traditional arts and institutes

from the tea ceremony to the military dictatorship of the Edo period (Art/Mononoke 4). It

was a time when Japan was moving away from the animism of antiquity and struggling to

accept economic progress while also trying to hold fast to cultural constants. Edo is now

modern day Tokyo that has been a thriving cultural and economic center for hundreds of

years.

Miyazaki chose this medieval period for its richness of cultural differences that

included: samurai, feudal lords and peasants that usually appear in Japanese period

dramas and while there are tiny cameos, such characters comprise the backdrop of the

film and not the foreground (20). He explained: We used these settings to escape the

conventions, preconceptions and prejudices of the ordinary period drama. . .[T]he poverty

of imagination in our period dramas is largely due to the influence of clichd movie

plots. Miyazaki then adds that the timeframe he chose presented daring action, blatant

banditry, new art forms, and rebellion against the established order and an era that

separates Japanese culture from the earlier Kamakura period (1185-1382) when the

strong willed samurai of the period fought each other for domination.

Ashitakas Shadow and the Anima Bridge to Consciousness

Prince Ashitaka possesses several of the traits revered in samurai knights who

pledged to serve the shogun or emperor until their death with honor, loyalty, bravery and

dedication. When the demon boar Nago storms the village covered in writhing snake-

worms and crawling like a spider, the prince tries to stop Nagos rampage honorably:

Calm your fury, oh mighty lord, whatever you may be, God or Demon, please leave us in

peace! This line gives us a sense of Miyazakis reluctance to vilify and judge a character
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that does not follow a predictably good path. For, in the backstory of the great boar, we

will learn the reasons behind his carnage and while his bloody, infested visage is repulsive

to audiences, Miyazakis larger goal is to reinforce pacifist messages. He does not turn us

away from the gritty reality of violence. We depict hatred in this film, but only to show

that there are more important things. We depict a curse but only to show the joy of

deliverance (Art/Mononoke 20).

Miyazaki depicts Nago drowning in blood lust, so blind to compassion that he

cannot see reason and instead, charges three village girls, motivating Ashitaka to ride

ahead to quell the violence. Again the prince pleads with the demon boar to leave the

village in peace. The three little girls run, but one stumbles and a second child pulls out a

knife to protect her friend, but poses no challenge to a demon boar. To save the girls,

Ashitaka shoots an arrow into one of Nagos eyes and this discharges snake-worms from

Ashtaka, similar to the ones consuming the boar. They form a dark, twisting limb that

seizes Ashitakas right arm. As the warrior pulls back to release another quill, we see his

arm covered in teeming snake-worms. Nevertheless, Ashitaka shoots a second arrow into

Nagos forehead and that is the kill shot that finally stops the boar. As the warrior begins

to pull back his arrow a third time, the arrow falls as the pain in his arm intensifies. With

the demise of the boar, the worms turn to sludge and slide off Ashitakas arm. But, the

contagion of rage left a curse in the warriors arm that, like a cancer, will spread. The

snake-worms drop off and slide out of the boars body, leaving the once majestic god in

his original form. As the boar god dies, we see many bullet wounds that weep from his

hide and the fatal wounds from Ashitakas arrows.

As the boar draws his last breaths, the wise woman of the clan arrives and warns

everyone away from the dying god. She tends to Ashitakas wound and turns to Nago
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with grave reverence: Oh nameless god of rage and hate, I bow before you. A mound

will be raised and funeral rites performed on this ground where you have fallen. Pass on

in peace and bear us no hatred. The god, clearly in excruciating pain parts with spiteful

words: Disgusting little creatures! Soon all of you will feel my hate and suffer as I have

suffered. Then, the boars flesh disintegrates from his frame and all that is left is a

skeleton, surrounded by a pool of blood.

As Ashitakas shadow embodimentthe boars physical death exposes in Ashitaka

the dark side of a warriors honor: killing always leaves a mark. In this case, causing the

death of a boar god leaves two scars: one physical and one that permeates Ashitakas soul.

He was once a warrior who could justify violence as defense and killing as protection

Ashitaka learns, however, that even the most righteous kills are still murder. Nagos

skeleton visualizes the concept of baring ones soul for like the bones of the great boar,

Ashitaka is also stripped bare of his tougher skin, revealing the murky forces within his

own psyche. The wise woman of the village, an oracle, casts stones to divine Ashitakas

fate. She explains that the curse will consume his body and eventually kill him. She

advises the young warrior to rise to accept his fate and to ride west where shadow forces

are at work: It is your fate to go there and see what you can see with eyes unclouded by

hate and the oracle suggests that Ashitaka might find a way to lift the curse. Here we see

again, as we viewed in Howls Moving Castle and in Spirited Away, how eye symbolism

and motifs continue to infuse Miyazakis animations. In Nausicaa of the Valley of the

Wind, the oracle is blind and yet can see the future as it unfolds. Since Ashitaka shot Nago

in the eye, it is cruelly ironic that the warrior must learn to see through eyes unclouded by

rage and vengeance. It also indicates, from a psychological view that these motifs

reinforce the idea that the boar did not learn to see past the ego artifice that confined him.
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In other words, Nagos refusal to accept death transformed him into a bitter creature.

Ashitaka learns that by facing his encroaching death with an open heart, humans can

perceive such pain as a guide that shapes the psyches journey to soul. It is as if Miyazaki

suggests our fate in the world and the health of our vision is dependent on our abilities to

reframe such trauma.

In considering the animated worm-snakes that encircle Ashitakas arm we might

think of the wound as more than a shadow virus but also as a magnet that attracts anima.

If one of the roles of the anima relates to the extraction of unhealthy unconscious elements

to enlighten us in consciousness, it can assume a wider role within the maturing psyche.

In this regard we can envision the anima as a conveyer, somewhat akin to the nerve

pathways of the body that send messages of symptoms to the brain when disease is afoot.

In Princess Mononoke, Ashitakas wound is a symptom of a greater illness that resides in

the hearts of humans: that of violent, unchecked aggression. When the crone insists that he

see the wound a different way and learn from the consequence of his actions, the anima is

kindled as souls mediator. Hillman reinforces this theory by pointing out: Nothing

mediates unconsciousness and collectivity better than confusion, rage, and suffering.

Harmonia in myth is the daughter of War, and harmonia in philosophy . . . is inseparable

from strife and discord (Anima 135). He warns against the tidy assumption that anima is

merely a positive guide to the known but also works her magic by drawing the known into

an even more opaque and deeper space of mystery. As nerve pathways send information

to the cells of the brains, they also send signals back to the wound that marks illness. By

ruses of lunar or matriarchal consciousness, psychologists sometimes suggest that the

obscurity of anima states is not real menace, not real darkness, but a light of another kind

(135).
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In this case, anima takes on a more complicated charisma in Ashitakas soul

development: As mediatrix to the eternally unknowable she is the bridge both over the

river into the trees and into the sludge and quicksand, making the known every more

unknown (Anima 134). For Ashitaka, the anima leads him not only outside himself to see

his wound manifest, but inside as well, for he embarks on his journey of soul searching

to see his role in the world in a different way.

The oracle advises the prince to journey to the West where the boars wound was

first inflicted and this marks his quest toward anima. As he sets out on his path, Ashitaka

has no idea what he will encounter, how he will respond, what he must learn and with

whom he must share knowledge. She mystifies, produces sphinx-like riddles, prefers the

cryptic and occult where she can remain hidden: she insists upon uncertainty. By leading

whatever is known off from off its solid footing, she carries every question into deeper

waters, which is also a way of soul- making (135). Ashitaka must examine all facets of

his selfhood and his past, including his identity as a samurai.

It was fallout from the age of the samurai that Miyazaki also shows in Princess

Mononoke, for he chooses to create Ashitaka from the culture of the fading Emishi

people. In fact, one of the villagers at the outset of the film laments that Ashitaka is the

last of their princes and when the wizened crone identifies his twist of fate, he is told he

must sever ties. Symbolically, Ashitaka cuts off his long hair and then ventures out into

the large unknown, alone. The Emishi, Miyazaki reminds us, mostly disappeared in

ancient times and in the film, there are only a few survivors left after years of warfare

staged against them by the Yamato (Ashkenazi 27). In his poem about the Emishi,

Miyazaki expresses his admiration for the people who revered the gods of the forest,
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listened ever closely to the forests still breathing and offered to the forest their songs

(Art/Mononoke 14).

Ashitaka adheres to the Bushido, the code of the samurai that was a set of defined

ethics practiced for centuries that elevated the knightly ideals of rectitude, courage,

benevolence, politeness/respect, sincerity, honor and duty, as outlined in 1900 by Inazo

Nitobe in Bushido: the Soul of Japan. Remarkably, the bushido, which literally means

the way of the warrior was not recorded during the high samurai years but rather was

taught as a sacred, oral tradition that prompted Nitobe to express in awe, More frequently

it is a code unuttered and unwritten, possessing all the more powerful sanction of veritable

deed, and of a law written on the fleshy tablets of the heart (35). Yet, as we witness later

in the film, many samurai have lost their way. Because the knights fell into disarray both

economically and emotionally when the shogunate system declined, the warriors found

themselves without master or mentor. Without a home or a homeland some samurai

succumbed to bloodlust and pillaging to survive. As Ashitaka rides his red elk out of the

village, he leaves behind an old era and gallops off into a new role in a new world.

Mononoke as Embodiment of the Wounded Earth

Clad in a fur cape, Mononoke rides atop her giant wolf mother with her spear poised

high and mouth smeared in blood. The fierce princess is the last human protector of the

infinite life force known as The Great Forest Spirit, who walks through nature as a stag,

(akin to the animal familiar of Artemis) with a face resembling an indigenous mask with

characteristics of a human being. The Spirit is such a powerful force of creation that new

life sprouts under his hooves each time he gently steps down onto soil. It is this feral

nature that arouses the interest of Prince Ashitaka who curiously watches the Princess
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from afar. He has never seen anyone like the wolf princess and their destiny will forever

alter the forest of the gods and goddesses.

Mononoke unabashedly wears her shadow as her ego armor to protect her heart. As

a human raised by wolves, the princess wears her shadow to block her inner light. What

most people commonly associate with inner shadow emotionsinstinct, rage, revenge

and psychic torment are instead, turned outward. If anything, Mononoke sublimates what

most associate with civilized society: love, compassion and a propensity to trust. A poem

that Miyazaki wrote about Mononoke to help articulate her character suggests that only

those beings unknown to humans can truly know the wolf princess: Those who know

your true heart, hidden in grief and anger, only the spirits only the spirits of the forest

(Art/Princess 12).

Ashitaka stirs in her the possibility of stepping into the light and casting off her

shell. At the end of the story, Mononoke does not choose to cast off her forest

personification entirely for her responsibility remains with nature.

Her persona is reinforced by the literal red, round mask that she wears as she rides

her giant mother wolf, Moro, through the forest. Moro found Sans parents in the woods,

defiling her forest and to the wolf goddess, there could be no greater affront than to

enter a sacred place with such degree of disrespect. Moro refers to her foundling human

child by her given name San and treats her with the same love and loyalty that she would

extend to her own cubs. Arnold Van Gennep said in The Rites of Passage, . . .a stranger

who sets food on it commits a sacrilege analogous to a profane persons entrance into a

sacred forest or temple (16). To add insult to injury, the humans didnt only commit one

crime against the sacral forest; they then proved themselves even more unworthy by

demonstrating cowardice. When Moro challenged them, the parents threw baby San at her
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feet and ran away, so the giant wolf (capable of eating a baby in a single bite) chose to

raise this human daughter not only because she was orphaned, but because San appeared

in this numinous space. Since Moro is a goddess, she is supernaturally large, all white and

capable of reasoning with wisdom that is experienced and strategic. Moro is so connected

to the forest that she can hear the trees cry out in pain when they are cut down.

Miyazaki writes of Moros character: Gentleness is her true nature, but people have

taught her to hate (Art/Princess 16).

During her martial maneuvers Mononoke pulls down her war mask and wears it

fiercely into battle. In Japanese culture, masks are used in Noh theater and have

historically been used in the elaborate dance drama Gigaku. But, for Mononoke the mask

is used when she enacts her outrage and anger. During the Japanese student and feminist

movements in the 1960s and 70s, facial coverings of all kinds were used. [W]e can add

here one more critical, if usually overlooked, symbolic association of the mask: it is a

mark of protest. It can conceal the identity of a wearer engaged in behavior that deviates

from sociocultural standards (Foster 200).

The Lost Wolf Deities of Old Japan

Much of the tone of Princess Mononoke evokes compassion for those indigenous

peoples of early Japan and especially the mountain Ainu people, who engaged spiritually

with wolf packs. It is against this history that Mononoke was born. In the Lost Wolves of

Japan, author Brett Walker tracks how these wild canines once served as divine

messengers at Shinto shrines only to become vilified by colonialists and ranchers. People

of the indigenous Ainu communities believed that . . . their people were born from the

union of a wolf-like canine and a goddess (21). The wild canine father, Horkew Kamuay

(literally howling god) mated with a human woman who produced the Ainu people. In the
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Hidaka region of southeastern Hokkaido a folktale explains how Retaruseta Kamuay

(White Wolf God) summoned his divine powers to peer to lands across the seas, spotting a

mate in a distant country who returned in a small boat to marry the wolf deity (83-84).

Members of the indigenous Ainu communities conducted a ceremony where

adherents literally bored into the skull of a wolf to honor Kamuay who protected crops

from other wild predators (21). The Shakushain Memorial Museum in Shizunai exhibits a

wolf skull, complete with fragments of flesh and fur . . . that the Ainu drilled to free the

unconscious energy from the trappings of the physical:

In the ritual use of skulls, Ainu believed that the spirit of the animal, its
very kamuy, resided in the cranium between the two ears and so during the
iomante [sending away from the physical world to the spiritual realm] they
bored a hole there so that the spirit might be released to kamuy moshir, the
land of the gods. Ainu ritualists knew this part of the iomante ceremony
as unmemke, to make up or to arrange the skull, and ritualists
considered it to be among the most important parts of the ceremony. (93)

One of the fascinating aspects of this ceremony is the way in which the Ainu people

seem to have identified very early left and right brain functioning by gender. In the case of

a male wolf, the left side of the brain was drilled and if the sacrificial animal was a

female, the right brain was drilled (94). Obviously, this was hundreds of years before

neuroscience and psychology provided the scientific background for such a distinction.

There are many accounts of the howling god story throughout Ainu folklore and several

tales depict female wolves that shape shift into women and marry human males. Some

tales depict white wolves that remain canines in marriage and at least one folktale depicts

a white wolf concubine (84).

There are eighteenth century reports of Japanese imperial colonizers punishing the

. . . Ainu by binding the legs of their prized dogs and tossing them into rivers to drown

(Skabelund 67). More abuse occurred when colonists turned the myth of reverence to one
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of ridicule: Many Japanese settlers and officials made the most of this myth to

dehumanize the Ainu, claiming that they had a common cur for a father and a woman

for a mother, thereby justifying their mistreatment and exploitation (67). While wolves

were selectively sacrificed in ceremonial rituals in the earlier days, the industrial age

brought massive slaughter to wolves as their sacred aspects became dishonored and

instead, they were demonized as one of the noxious animals that competed with human

ranchers:

[The] Japanese transformed from a people who invented natural and

supernatural realities in an attempt to understand and control wolves,
revering them as divine messengers or as deities at shrines, to a people
focused on eradicating them with the industrial technologies of strychnine
and modern policies of bounty systems. By the late nineteenth century,
Japanese no longer imagine control over the natural world and in the
post-Darwin world, Japanese, for the first time in their long history,
viewed themselves as the alpha species of their islandsthe fittest on the
struggle of the survival of the fittest and no longer subordinate to Japans
myriad animal deities. (21)

During the Meiji modernization efforts from 1868 to 1912, agriculture became a

central focus after shoguns lost their power to Imperial rule. This timeframe paralleled the

capitalist expansion in the United States where the railroad and mining interests as well as

cattle and horse ranchers forced American Indians onto reservations and denigrated their

nature myths. In fact, one of the most draconian efforts to exterminate wolves was

launched by horse ranchers on the island of Hokkaido who adopted the practices of Edwin

Dun, an Ohio cattle rancher. Under the title foreign advisor Dun arrived in Japan in

1873 at the invitation of the Meiji government to spread cattle and horse livestock

programs. Part of the colonization efforts on the island included forcing a directive on the

Ainu villagers that all their dogs be slaughtered and then, organized dog-killing sweeps

were initiated (Skabelund 65).

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One of the more hideous campaigns was the spread of meat laced with strychnine

that painfully destroyed wolf populations. It was against Aimus religious views to kill

wolves with a poison arrow because toxicity was believed to prevent the spirit from

resurrecting. So, not only did these clans see their sacred animal slaughtered before their

eyes, they also lost any reassurance of an afterlife for the wolves they mourned.

Lady Eboshi: Vengeful Daughter of the Patriarchy

Princess Mononoke also represents the stage of the heroines journey when a girl is

striving to reconnect with the feminine and heal the mother and daughter split. Lady

Eboshi, representing the traditional male role of hierarchical order, has caused the

wounding of the feminine force of nature, just as she herself is similarly wounded. In

Lady Eboshis mind, she personifies the age of reason, when the imaginal, the magical,

the ethereal are no longer believed. She is the progressive woman of industry and her

psyche bears no room for superstitions. It is this mindset that causes trouble, because once

the forest loses its sacred role in the human psyche, then every tree and every animal

becomes expendable in the name of intellect and ego inflation. As Jung reminds us: it is

the intellect that makes darkness because we have lent too much power to reason:

Consciousness discriminates, judges, to a point. But analysis kills and

synthesis brings to life. We must find out how to get everything back into
connection with everything else. We must resist the vice of intellectualism,
and get it understand that we cannot only understand. (Sabini 209)

Lady Eboshis name is descriptive of her persona as her name comes from the

pointed eboshi hat worn by Shinto priests. Yet Eboshis own hat resembles the Samurai-

style volcanic shape. Mononoke and Eboshi are depicted as polar opposites in appearance

and style. While Mononoke wears a skirt, Eboshi tromps through her world in billowing

pants. Mononoke smears red war paint on her forehead and cheeks as Eboshi possesses
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striking red lips against porcelain skin. As Mononoke rides through the trees in a white fur

cape, Eboshi wears a longer, dark fabric robe. There is an age difference as well;

Mononoke bears adolescent features while Lady Eboshis face is adult. One gets the sense

that Mononoke is pre-sexual while Eboshi bears the sophistication of an adult woman who

has had sexual experience.

The headwear is also a contrast: Eboshis hat is red and when her head is bare, she

wears a tiara while Mononoke sports the white, fur hood of a virginal, wild maiden.

While Eboshi succumbs to her dark side frequently with her monomania about the Forest

Spirit, she also protects the militia and laborers from the wrath of the deities that she

provoked. Both females possess feisty spirits and unyielding resolve that is nearly

unparalleled in Western animations. Their use of weaponry is also distinct: Mononoke

uses a dagger and more primitive spear and, while Eboshi is refined in swordplay, rifles

are her overall weapon of choice.

Eboshi hails from the clan of Tatarathe word for the old Japanese furnace used for

smelting iron and steel. Among the most famous metallurgical creations of the tatara

process are the customary Japanese teapots and traditional swords. The symbolism of the

tatara sword is worth elaborating as it hearkens back to mythological Shinto origins.

According to The Kojiki, the tempestuous, storm god Susanowo (brother of the Sun

Goddess) killed the enormous eight-headed and eight-tailed water serpent named Yamata

no Orochi. Susanowo came to slay the serpent after hearing an elderly man, Ashinazuchi,

crying because Yamata no Orichi had killed seven of his eight daughters each year and

was surfacing to eat his last daughter, Kushinada-hime (hime means princess in Japanese).

In the Japanese ancient text the slaying of the serpent included the trick of getting the

serpent drunk on powerful sake so that all the heads fell asleep. Susanowo cut the tail off
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the serpent with this sword, thereby turning the river waters blood red and then, in the

center of the serpent, was yet another sword, this one of even greater purity and power

(72-76). It is believed that the storm god presented the sword to make amends to his Sun

Goddess sister, Amaterasu. The slaying of a polycephalic creature is a common storyline

in mythological traditions, including the Herculean slaying of the multi-headed hydra.

Susanowo later married the princess after saving her life and they had three children:

Itakeru, Oya-tsu-hime and Tsuma-tsu-hime. According to the ancient Nihongi, all his

children were deities that helped sow seeds in every corner of Japan. As retold in Shinto in

History: Ways of the Kami, Susanowo used his bodily hair to create cedar, cypress, black

pines and camphor trees. He then designated their uses: cedar and camphor for ships,

cypress wood was to be used for splendid halls and palaces as the black pines were to be

used for coffins to bury the dead (Breen, Teeuwen 40). Notably, the mountains of Izumo

are where the slaying of the serpent was to have taken place. The first iron and steel

industries of the country developed there and tatara steel is made of iron ore found

abundantly in those mountains which were then fired in the furnace, fanned by large

bellows that laborers worked with their legs (Joya 54). In Princess Mononoke, the bellows

are powered the same way. This could place the story near the Izumo Mountains, about

four and half hours drive north of Hiroshima.

Lady Eboshi rules Iron Town behind a spiked, timber fortress wall where inhabitants

mine iron ore and unquestionably follow the lady they respect for her martial skill. She is

an unyielding businesswoman and a formidable fighter. Ashitaka learns that it is Lady

Eboshi who led the militia that wounded the colossal wild boar Nago (who turned his

rampaged out of the forest and turned his wrath on Ashitakas village). Eboshi wants to turn

the sacred forest into an iron ore strip mine. Eboshi and her soldiers now have turned their
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violence to the princess Mononoke, and the giant wolf pack that comprises her family,

along with the remaining boar tribe and the ape clan. Lady Eboshi is a complex woman,

who on the one hand cares for her people, but on the other, is greedy and immensely

power hungry. One of the lepers who crafts guns for her, jokingly told Ashitaka, "you'd

better watch out young man, my Lady Eboshi wants to rule the world!" Her greatest

desire is to kill the Great Forest Spirit, rendering the giant animals of the forest into

brainless beasts so she is free to mine iron and build a city. In so doing, Eboshi doesnt bat

an eye at leveling the natural world, stripping the earth of its minerals, metals and burning

down the trees in the process.

Miyazaki shows us the extent to which the natural world is an archetypal character

in and of itself and as such, like the desertion of Demeter, the forests and valleys become

emotionally depressed. In such environments, one cannot find a single splendid object,

and everything that is nice, gracious or fragile is sooner or later broken, tarnished, or

ridiculed (Pagan 32). When Ashitaka tells Eboshi that his fate is to see with eyes

unclouded by hate, Eboshi chortles and laughs at him. She levels the mountainside and in

doing so, turns the once enriching, living forest into a wasteland of stumps and jagged

snags, smoking slash and gray mist. The land so sacred to the Forest Spirit, the nature

gods and Mononoke is now ravaged. There is a certain threshold beyond which

ugliness and desolation threaten psychic survival (Pagan 32). It is reminiscent of Ernest

Hemingways confession about trophy hunting: I spend a hell of a lot of time killing

animals and fish so I wont kill myself. When a man is in rebellion against death, as I am

in rebellion against death, he gets pleasure out of taking to himself one of the godlike

attributes, that of giving it (Hotchner 121). Hemingways admission underscores

Eboshis intense refusal to face mortality and cling to life in a greedy way.
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In her distorted ego attachment and arrogance Eboshi believes she can erase death

by killing the deity that creates it and as such, she gives death rather than protects life.

Like a monarch, Lady Eboshi has her own fort, army, industrial center and armory while

at the same time demanding loyalty. The only power dynamic Eboshi understands is

hierarchical, that which values conquering over cooperation and has only two possible

outcomes: that of victor or victim. Eboshi battles the Spirit of the Forest, the greatest

power in the film, with Promethean hubris, believing that she possesses the firepower

needed to topple a god. She aims to cut off his head to subdue the land for strip mining.

The Lady is multi-layered in that she is both destructive and compassionate as she

employs such societal outcasts as prostitutes and lepers. The prostitutes power the

furnaces that smelt the ore and turn it into cast iron while the lepers craft the rifles Lady

Eboshi and her male soldiers use to protect Iron Town and conquer the forest. Lady

Eboshi works with the lepers in her quest to create a rifle powerful enough to slay the

forest god. While it is tempting to view Lady Eboshi as kindly to those who serve her, she

could also be viewed as exploiting those shunned by traditional society. This makes both

groups inexpensive and devoted to Lady Eboshi but blind to the destructive power they

also perpetuate. Miyazaki gives them the dignity of their own distinct characters: from the

feisty, cheeky brothel workers who chide their men, to the resolved and articulate leprosy

patients who appreciate Lady Eboshis sympathies they are far from background

fodder. These laborers show Eboshis contradiction: a woman who cares for her people

and is loyal to them despite their warts and yet, she cannot see the destructiveness of

her own actions.

When Eboshi meets Ashitaka, Eboshi and her gunmen have already turned their

violence towards Princess Mononoke, the giant wolf gods that comprise her family, the
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remaining boar tribe and the ape clan. Such military tactics target the lesser gods and

goddesses knowing that they stand between Eboshi and her goal. Despite her jaded

response, Eboshi also extends her sympathy to Ashitaka when he shows her the curse that

Nagos rage cast upon him and confesses that the brainless pig should have turned his

anger on her. It was Eboshi and her men who mortally injured the great Nago and drove

him away. In fact, the lady apologizes for Nagos displaced rage for cursing an innocent

stranger. It was Eboshis greed and destruction that-backed up by gunscaused him to

lose himself in a tide of revenge so powerful that the god in him died and the demon

became alive and corrupted his soul.

The central relationship in the film is the one between Ashitaka and the titular

character. Things dont start out simply, however. At first meeting, a fascinated Ashitaka

is rejected by the princess. They each struggle to respect the ethics of one another: his

quest for peace and her desperation to protect the pristine forest. As a maiden, Mononoke

resists confinement of all types and while she is adolescent, her commitment is not only to

protect her own body, but that larger earth body in which the forest is both spirit and soul.

She, in essence, gives the Forest Spirit a voice for she is both its empath and advocate.

Mononokes Personification of the Earths Unconscious

Miyazakis understanding that Mononokes heart her anima soul is only known to

the sacred kami, prompts the conception of Mononoke as an agent of earths unconscious.

The wolf princess is the walking, human incarnation of the earths fathomless soul: her

soul is the earth and the earth is her soul. Ashitaka represents consciousness as his journey

to see with eyes unclouded which also means to see through the trappings of the

mundane, through artificial power struggles among ego soldiers, to the unconscious. Hate

is a screen that prevents true psychic vision. Because the unconscious realm cannot ever
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fully be known, the dance between the conscious and unconscious is one of eternal

awakening. But, if we consider Mononoke as unconsciousness and Ashitaka as

consciousness, we see how their relationship becomes instrumental of the world soul, the

anima mundi and the earths return to a state when humans and nature worked together in

in balance. What we can also understand about Mononoke is that her fierce

protectiveness, her rage and abysmal wounds are her way of reaching her core where she

is (in her own feisty way) tending the soul of the world. When Eboshi shoots her wolf

mother Moro, the young princess sucks out the poisoned blood caused by the iron slug. In

Japanese, Moro means: complete, absolute and altogether (Nakao 160). When Ashitaka

sees Mononoke, her mouth is smeared with blood, as she tends the wolf goddess who is

altogether with earth so that her daughters nursing of the wound symbolizes the

tending that the earth, the balm needed to alleviate the soreness caused by human abuse.

Ashitaka is transfixed by her rawness, her authentic self because his consciousness

journey must link to this girl of the unconscious, this instinctive manifestation of all that is

sacred to the earth herself.

Moro, Mononoke and Mother Earth are all as intricately linked as the kodama, the

tiny white beings with their cockeyed eyes and round mouths. The sprites make the

shaking sounds of castanets as they rattle and quiver when the Spirit of the Forest nears

and when Mononoke is present. Miyazaki views them as little children whose forest is

a place of wonders (Art/Princess18). The forest sprites as kodama rattle and shake

when life is in balance and sound out the presence of the kami, reflecting vibratory action

of divinity. In Shinto the kotodama is the vibratory connection to the divine and is

literally translated as world soul, experienced in the taiko ritual drums, priestly

chanting and ceremonial clapping that awakens the spirits and engages humankind with
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divine energies (Evans xix). Hillmans idea of the anima mundi or the world soul also

is alive within the vibrations and energies of the kotodama. Anima, as soul and anima as

animated sources of life are communicated and made manifest through these vibrations.

The kodama disappear when the Spirit of the Forest is decapitated. They mourn this

profound death and their own presence recedes when that life is silenced. It is not until

the great life forces head is restored and reanimated that the sprites return and the forest

vibrates once again with life.

The kodama not only signal the Forest Spirits presence, they vibrate with

Mononoke as well and their silence after Eboshi attacks the Forest Spirit also signifies the

psychic split that the princess herself experiences. Jung recognized this link between the

women, the earth and the unhealthy, detached, split that we experience in civilized life:

Of course we cannot understand these things now, because our women are uprooted.

They are no longer identical with the earth. . . (Sabini 201). The problem for Mononoke

is that the mining, logging, slash burning and overall rape of the earth is ripping her

psyche apart. This disassociation, as Jung reminds us, occurs when the unconscious and

the conscious are not integrated: If they are split apart or dissociated, psychological

disturbance follows (Sabini 205). Mononoke is experiencing this chasm to such a degree

that she is at the very edge of a psychic break. This is why she is so enraged and so deeply

wounded-it is also why the princess needs engagement with another. Dream symbolism

and active imagination are pivotal message carriers from the instinctive mind to the

rational parts of the human mind, and their interpretation enriches the poverty of

consciousness so that it learns to understand again the forgotten language of the instincts

(205). Because the psyche speaks to us through images, and gives expression to instincts,
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that which we derive from the more primitive levels of nature are in many ways the most

authentic of messages.

Ashitaka and the Wounded Sons of War

Ashitaka displays the bushido heart in most cases, except at the outset of his travels

when he causes the outright amputation and decapitation of two samurai ronin which

means literally, wave menhighly trained soldiers were cast adrift without a job or

master (Baruma 153). These ronin have fallen away from the high ethical standards of a

samurai warrior as they raid and cruelly attack an unarmed village. The sight of

defenseless innocents being slaughtered strained Ashitakas bushido heartstrings but he

had not yet witnessed the strange outcome of the demon wound: it also transformed his

arm into a supernaturally unstoppable weapon. When Ashitaka released the arrows that

had once flown straight and on target, they erratically flew through the air as

uncontrollable projectiles: one sliced the arms off a samurai, a second decapitated another

warrior. Ashitaka immediately recoiled and seized his arm to control it but it had already

taken on a life of its own. This scene suggests a metaphor that cautions us to consider the

extent to which arms become weapons in a culture of militarism. In the arms race for

advanced weaponry, these arms take on a demonic life of their own that cannot be

controlled by human restraint.

Ashitaka realizes the horror of his actions in the killing of the ronin and vows to

never repeat such a deadly mistake. When he meets up with the films trickster monk, Jigo

(Billy Bob Thornton) whom we later learn was sworn to deliver the head of the Forest

Spirit to the Emperor-Ashitaka confesses his guilt and regret over the two deaths. The

monk shakes it off fatalistically, because after all, he reminds us that death comes to

everyone: whether one is human, god, animal or demon. Yet to Ashitaka, causing the
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carnage and, ultimately, the end of human life are unforgivable mistakes. It is in the

searing light of this epiphany, after he claimed three lives, that Ashitaka begins his

relationship with Mononoke. All the while, his arm pulses as a painful reminder of his

violence and sets the stage for Ashitakas quest to see with unclouded eyes. This focus

helps him to comprehend not only the challenges that beset both human and deity in this

clash but also to see more compassionately into the wounded psyche of another. His

engagement with Mononoke and Eboshi help him to become more deeply aware of his

shadow depths and darkness. While the arm wound helps him to physically articulate his

inner anger and vengeful impulses, it is in seeing the clash of creative and destructive

forces as archetypal enactments in these two women that brings into sharp relief, the

futility of their embattling attitudes.

Ashitakas wound is a visible metaphor of the cyclic, multi-generational scars of war

and Miyazakis ethic of pacifism. As a child, the animator escaped the firebombing of

Tokyo during World War II, but he didnt escape the images of dead bodies and innocent

children crying out in agony and in abandonment. The reality of war is forever burned in

Miyazakis psyche as he lives with what he refers to as guilt, for having survived while

so many of his fellow citizens perished. Miyazaki chooses to live a life of pacifism. In an

LA Times article written by Alex Pham, Miyazaki disclosed why he was absent from the

Academy Awards ceremony the night that Spirited Away won the Oscar. Miyazaki

refused to travel to America, citing the war as the reason: I didn't want to visit a country

that was bombing Iraq.

The demon worm-snakes that attack Ashitaka help audiences visualize a harsh

reality: violence has no surgical precision. Hatred and rage cast ripples from one people to

another, regardless of whether or not that civilization claims victory or defeat; regardless
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of whether or not that culture precipitated the bloodshed. Ashitaka learns that he must first

meet his own outrage, his own inner understanding of the unfairness and his own anger

directed at Eboshi for starting the bloodshed. As he holds himself back from taking his

sword to Eboshi, the exchange is revealing:

Eboshi: Does that right arm wish to kill me, now, Ashitaka?
Ashitaka: If it would lift the curse, Id let it tear you apart.
But even that wouldnt end the killing now, would it?
Eboshi: No, it would have to kill all of us to be at peace.

Miyazaki chooses to pronounce the reality of how these deaths are visited upon the

psyche over and over again. Testimonies from soldiers in the book by Kathleen Barry,

Unmaking War, Remaking Men point to such soul trauma as one soldier discloses:

I could be killed in more than one way. It wasnt just the physical death; it
was also the many deaths of the soul every time you kill a human being . .
. We die, little by little, each time someone gets killed until there is no soul
left, and the body becomes but a corpse, breathing and warm, but void of
humanity. (46)

In trying to understand the effects of de-humanization, Barry interviewed a military

police officer who guarded prisoners in Iraq and eventually turned in his weapons. I was

not able to make the jump to turn those men into sub-humans. The act of treating them as

sub-humans creates atrocities. I just felt my vital spirit bleed out of me (47).

Many Japanese World War II era kamikaze pilots depicted as gung ho fanatics

ready to die for their motherland, felt similar stirrings of guilt and futility. In his poem

Odyssey, student soldier Matsunaga Shigeo wrote in 1938 while stationed in China: Due

to some fate, we foolish soldiers are fighting an eternal war without a name. For us,

without a map, is it glory or shameWaiting at the end of our road, and in the middle of

the verses, the student reveals . . . Exposed are thinly disguised lies, Soldiers realize they

are but clowns (Ohjuki-Tierney 140-141).

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In returning to Ashitaka, we see how he deals with this issue of dehumanization by

refusing to submit to the tyranny of his growing rage. At the moment he chose not to

slay Eboshi, Ashitaka understood how his own humanity wavered in the balance. Not

only was he staring at death from the temptations fueled by his own anger, Ashitaka also

faced the reality that in killing Eboshi, he would also be killing himself. The heated

exchange between the two continues when Eboshi asks Ashitaka to stay and join her in

the killing of the Forest Spirit. When Ashitaka asks how she could possibly kill the heart

of the forest, Eboshi answers Without that ancient god, the animals here would be

nothing but dumb beasts once more and in that line we see how oppressors work to

sever soul identification with another.

The anima, the soul of the forest and Eboshis claim to desoul it and render her

enemies as nothing but dumb beasts is an example of how aggressors systemically

demonize those they wish to defeat. Barrys book cites the writing of Jean Amery, a

Jewish Holocaust survivor who studied the 1935 Nuremburg Laws introduced by the

Nazis that prevented Jews from becoming citizens or marrying other Germans. He

observed that in that original denial of citizenship, the death sentence for Jews had

already been issued and the desouling campaigns that were unofficial became literalized

and legally sanctioned (157).

It is helpful here to consider the ways in which themes of dehumanization lead to

inhumane war policies fueled by our fixation with the wrongness of others. Policies

become nationalist tools of propaganda to fan patriotic fervor and foment enemyzing as

we remember from the Japanese internment camps. More than 110,000 Japanese

Americans were rounded up, herded onto buses and forced to live behind barbwire-fences

following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Only What We Could Carry: the
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Japanese American Internship Experience by Lawson Fusao Inada how separatist

attitudes against the Japanese had been growing for many years.

The devastation at Pearl Harbor inflamed an already pronounced

resentment against Japanese immigrant communities. Initiatives and
legislation throughout the first four decades of the twentieth century had
restricted or prohibited Japanese immigration, land owners and US
naturalization. (ix)

He tells the story of a man who recalled that who was going to be four years old

and have a party. But instead, I was taken away with my family and his beloved dog

Jimmy was left behind with a friend but starved himself to death. I got lost. . . I could

not comprehend why I was there, I remained lost for the duration of all the camp years

and then he remembers the stunning, numbing current that had raged through my brain,

my body, must have had a lingering effect on my system, for I evolved from a robust

child to a frequenter of infirmaries . . . beset by infections, diseases, nightmares. The

pattern was set (19).

Lady Eboshi may be not be the equivalent of such a depth of desouling, but her

mindset is indicative of how dehumanization begins. Eboshis attempts to rule the world,

desoul her so-called enemies and crush the forest deities to rob the land of natural

resources is an example of how shadow possession can grip men and women alike. The

breadth of Barrys study, as her title suggests, focuses on men as soldiers and it was

written before U.S. women were allowed to serve in combat. Because the directive is so

new, the idea of remaking women who have collectively experienced combat has not

yet been comprehensively studied in America, but Barry points to the way women in the

United States are seduced by nationalist security ideals to enlisting in the military. By

elevating male soldiers as war heroes and by relying on the protection mystique, women

serve as enablers in the addiction of warfare. Girls and women have been forced into
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stereotypical gender dynamics in which they have been fed societal delusions about male

omnipotence If we are to understand the possession of shadow that rationalizes the

process of creating enemies and advancing militaristic aggression, it is important to see

women in their own shades of gray.

This American way is especially destructive for young boys who are not drawn to

competitive athletics or military games because they are soulfully sensitive and would

rather choose another way to express their individual personhood. In his careful

observation as therapist of sensitive and feminine boys, Boyhoods: Rethinking

Masculinities, Ken Corbett explains how we can benefit from addressing gender issues

humbly. He isolates concerns with, what Corbett refers as a theory of masculinity that

is forged solely through competition with paternal authority, with little regard for the

interplay of identifications, desire, and mutual recognition that seek to establish relations

with others outside a dynamic of domination, a theory of phallic narcissism-qua-

masculinity (49). He advocates working towards a way to detach boys from the negative,

dominator stereotyping that, essentially hijacks a male childs ability to grow a healthy,

masculine sense of self, under the guise of hyper-masculine judgment:

The fantastic underbelly of masculinity is pinched and policed. The

complexity that is masculinity goes largely unrecorded; the variety the
makes for complexity is only recorded as pathology. The spectrum of
masculine bodies and minds is underestimated; how they evolve or how
they come to matter is patrolled, and the margins are deemed pathological.
(8-9)

In his unpublished dissertation: The Warrior Turned Inward: Recovery of the

Returning Veteran, Eduard Uzumeckis points out: As the needs of the military change

and the opinions of our society become more acceptant to women actively engaging in

combat Basic Combat Training will inflict its psychological wound on the psyche of

all recruits, regardless of their gender (Uzumeckis 13). In his examination of combat
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veterans, informed by his own experience in battle during the Vietnam War, Uzumeckis

cites the deconstruction of the individual as a central instrument in the manipulation

programs used by the military to turn the individual into a fighting tool which disrupts

the process of individuation and create[s] a significantly altered identity. The veteran

explains how this de-programming and, ultimately, re-programming of the human psyche

works to undermine ones individuality and individuation:

Psychologically, the process disrupts the individuals sense of ego-self

unity, creating a void with in the psyche, which the unconscious side of
the personality will begin to fill. The primitive impulses of killing,
conquest, and survival buried deep within the unconscious begin to assert
themselves creating an imbalance between the forces of light and dark
within the personality of the new recruit. At the moment when the dark
aspects of this new personality are recognized as real, the trainee
experiences an alteration of his ego-personality. (18)
What Uzumeckis reveals here is precisely the conflict between inner forces of light

and dark that plagues Ashitaka as he works to reverse the curse and restore his soul. As

Uzumeckis suggests, the incisive recognition of such darker aspects creates the emotional

innerscape where Ashitaka now must wander. It is one thing to choose pacifist ethics

during peaceful times where threats do not exist and yet another to cleave to such a moral

principle in times of great conflict, bloodshed and collective confusion.

How does Miyazaki help Ashitaka find his way through the maze of shadows? For

one, he compels the character to really see through the rage of polarizing factions to

seek true understanding of the psychological condition of those in conflict, as opposed to

losing ones self in the fog of war. Ashitakas immersion in both the realm of the forest

gods and the human industrialists helps him to understand the struggle that exists between

the two warring factions. In so doing, the young man does not live separate from the

wounded, but comes face to face with those in pain and reeling from loss.
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In James Hillmans study of humankinds addiction to battle blood, A Terrible Love

of War, he retells a story from Studs Terkels Pulitzer Prize winning oral history of World

War II, The Good War. A nurse in 1946 California cared for soldiers who needed plastic

surgery after immeasurably painful injuries: Blind young men. Eyes gone, legs gone.

Parts of the face. It was a burn and blind center. The 21-year old nurse explains that she

would change the dressings on the boys without anesthesia which was terribly painful

as she recalls:

Ill never forget my first day on duty. I was so overwhelmed by the time I
got to the third bed: this whole side of a face being gone. I wouldnt know
how to focus on the eye that peeked through these bandages. Should I
pretend I didnt notice it? Shall we talk about it? [There] were many,
many, many more with stumps, you couldnt tell if there was a foot there
or not, an eye, an arm. (Terrible 49-50)
The nurse said that as soon as she returned to the nurses station, she went to the

bathroom and threw up. This young woman, who entered the medical profession to care

for the sick and wounded and dedicated herself to the ethic do no harm defines the

reality of this carnage with five simple words: Thats what war really is. The nurse

closes her story with the cultural clash she felt when, in Pasadena, the fashionable did

not want to see the wounded on the streets, prompting such callous letters to the editor:

Why cant they be kept on their own grounds and off the streets? Which made the nurse

claim: The furor, the awful indignation: the end of the war and were still here (51).

Miyazaki does not shy away from showing wartime realities - even if they are

symbolically portrayed as giant boars and ronin, for to sanitize these struggles would be to

impersonalize the cruelty. His own experience as a child during World War II Japan

compels him to a grittier truth. What Miyazaki witnessed after the nuclear destruction of

Nagasaki and Hiroshima cannot let him take a detour from the true costs of war that

include not only the countless human deaths, but also a grave environmental toll.
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The Spirit of the Forest, Nightwalker or Deer God

In the original Japanese version of Princess Mononoke, the infinite natural energy

force, both the diurnal and nocturnal aspects are known by a single name: The Deer God,

who represents the dying and reviving aspects of the wildland forest: where nature

still existed in an untouched state, with distant mountains and lovely valleys, pure, rushing

streams, narrow roads unpaved with stones and a profusion of birds, animals and insects

(20). However, in the English release of the film, the screenwriters rewrote the deitys

name. The diurnal aspect of the god is known as The Forest Spirit and his nocturnal

presence is named The Nightwalker. It confuses English-speaking audience members who

misunderstand the god to be actually two different beings. In reality, he is twin aspects of

one god. But, Western monotheistic audiences are less likely to understand a natural deity

that carries dual aspects. Westerners cannot quite comprehend how one god morphs into a

second god, but they can understand two different gods.

Hillman highlighted this cultural difference in a lecture before the Mythic

Imagination audience, at their national conference in 2007. He pondered answers to the

question: Why have gods fled? In these post-modern times, for Westerners, the sacred is

almost entirely the father god of the monotheistic, Abrahamic religions:

Who wants them gone? Asked Hillman. And, with their absence, all
Pagan feeling, all Pagan style of consciousness, gone as well. One thing is
sure: both historically and logically, the absence of the gods allows the
world to become res extensa as Descartes called it, a mathematical space,
calculable in forces adrift, with the litter of soulless objects. All soulall
mindall consciousness, condensed inside the human brain, putting nature
at the disposal of the human will.

Descartes soulless res extensa is precisely the type of world that Lady Eboshi wants

to create one where the gods have been killed or fled so that she can plunder the

mountainside. Either way, this story is set at the very time when superstitions and gods
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are being replaced by reason and industry. In the same lecture, Hillman issues this

concern:

The absence of the gods is not only an efficient secular convenience, an

industrialist opportunity for exploitation, a hubristic inflation of mortal
humans . . . [T]heir absence is much more: the declaration that the gods
having fled, is also a Christian convenience. Their absence leaves the
world open with plenty of room for Jesus to give his redemptive,
apocalyptic answer to the needy times. The gods have become diseases,
Zeus no longer rules Olympus, but rather the solar plexus and produces
curious specimens for the doctors consulting room.

At night, the Deer God spirit rises up on two legs and transforms into a mysterious,

translucent blue creature called The Nightwalker. Shaped much like Godzilla, the

Nightwalker is steeped in varying shades of dark blues and violets with white spirals on

his skin that represent the cycle of life. As a dual force, the Forest Spirit and Nightwalker

represent the diurnal and nocturnal aspects of life. While this is a powerful deity, the Spirit

is also as fragile as life itself. Lady Eboshi is unyielding in her belief that the forest exists

only for human use, as monomaniacal as Captain Ahabs pursuit of Moby Dick. In true

Miyazaki style, darker elements of human nature are not represented as evil, but rather as

a measure of human complexities.

Quest for Consciousness Apart From Nature

Some of the more interesting characters in Princess Mononoke include the ape tribe

that lives in the mountains near Iron Town. They talk with deep voices and enunciate

slowly as if representing a more primal stage of human development. The apes confess a

deep curiosity about humans: they want to eat them and absorb their power. This

translates to the quest for consciousness that the apes have not yet been able to access, as

Jung points out: The ape is naturally in possession of the wisdom of nature, like any

animal or plant, but the wisdom is represented by a being that is not conscious of itself,

and therefore it cannot be called wisdom (Sabini 84).

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These primates represent an engagement with an inverted type of animism that runs

parallel to the development of psyche within the human species. Instead of humans

projecting their drive for supernatural prowess onto another species, it is the other species

conveying a collective quest for consciousness onto the humans.

One of the earliest forms of spiritual expression among humankind was extended

onto deer, lions, eagles and salmon based on what humans observed as exceptional

physical prowess of the species. Humans wanted to run as swiftly as deer, to pounce like a

lion, to see the world from the superior vantage point of an eagle and to breathe

underwater and swim as effortlessly as salmon. These were physical marvels of survival

that humans emulated by external connection: by wearing their skins, creating talismans

of talons and feathers, or by consuming their flesh as in the case of salmon.

This is also a form of admiration in much the same way ancient Egyptians donned

leopard skins to symbolize superiority and priestly classes. In Mononokes case, the

princess loves her wolf tribe so much that she wears a pelt to literalize her membership in

the clan that saved her life as an orphaned infant. Not only does the princess literally run

with the wolves, in her mind she is a wolf and prefers to identify with that authentic force

of nature rather than identify with her own species and all its horrors. Eating the flesh of

another is an ancient form of seeking to embody knowledge; of internalizing aspects of

their psyche.

In the book Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism, the Wari Amazonians

perform a mourning ritual that is centered on the consumption of the flesh of the deceased

to extend compassion to the dead. This is literally feeling the life and death of another;

for that particular culture, it is a loving expression. Even though the Miyazaki apes are

ambivalent about humans destructive nature, they also feel passionate about the
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opportunity to embody such power. It is a twisted form of loving but it is a fascination,

nevertheless. The apes see the power of humans but, like their primate cousins, do not

sense all the dangers arising from a consciousness separated from Nature: the shadow

indulgences: destruction, sexual objectification, war and murder.

The Demon Boars in Japanese Myth and Stories

In Princess Mononoke, vengeful, demonic, giant boars rage war against humans

because humans are systematically destroying their sacred forest and exterminating any

form of animal life that blocks human superiority. The choice of the wild boar by

Miyazaki is not arbitrary. He has an affinity for swine and in many ancient cultures the

sow goddess embodied fertility and abundance.

A demon boar at the threshold of death figures prominently in a Medieval Japanese

tale, The Funeral as retold by Royall Tyler in Japanese Tales. In this story, a courier

enroute to Kyoto needs shelter for the night and finds a large field and hut where he beds

down to sleep. In the middle of the night, the courier awakes to the sound of bells,

flickering torchlight and ritual chanting. He remains concealed but stares outside to see a

strange sight: a funerary rite with no grave set aside for the deceased. When the ceremony

finishes, laborers packed dirt into a tall mound and the funeral party dispersed. The

courier was horrified to be so close to a new grave and kept his eye on the mound. Soon,

the mound began to move and a naked human form rose from the grave completely

covered in flames. The chthonic creature charged the hut and the terrified courier who

realized it was a demon, drew his sword and cut off its head. Horrified, the courier raced

to a village and told his story to the locals. The most courageous young villager

accompanied the courier back to the hut to investigate the scene. There was no evidence
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of a mound or grave marker. Instead, they found the decapitated body of a huge, wild boar

that had created the illusion of a funeral to draw out the courier and eat him (203-204).

The burial mound practices originate from the Kofun era-kofun means burial

mound or ancient tomb and hails back to the Yamato period, 250710 AD (Secrets

142). Yamoto was a historic province and the original seat of the Japanese ruling house

where Jimmu Tenno, the first emperor, founded his kingdom in the central region of

Japan. He was also the first emperor to commission the Kojiki: Records of Ancient

Matters (circa 712 CE) an extant text that tells the mythological stories that comprise the

Shinto pantheon (Ashkenazi 66). The Sun Goddess Amaterasu origins are chronicled in

the Kojiki as are those of her husband, the Sky God Takami-Masubi. The other ancient

text of the Shinto canon is the Nihonshoki, known as simply the Nihongi. While both

books extol Japanese Shinto mythologies, the Nihongi reflects a more Chinese influence

. . .and borrows terms and explanations from that source, whereas the Kojiki is more self-

consciously Japanese (66-67). As a result of such influence, the Nihongi offers a

Buddhist introduction which is not as pronounced in the Kojiki. Since the focus of this

dissertation is on Shinto rather than Buddhism, the Kojiki is a more useful text. It also sets

the stage for the coming of the Heavenly Grandson, originator of the lineage of the

Imperial branch of self-proclaimed demigods.

Ame-No-Wakahiko was sent by the other deities to make the earthen realm ready for

the descent of the Heavenly Grandson by Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and her husband,

the Sky God, Takami-Masubi. His supernatural aid came in the form of a magical bow

and arrow gifted to the emissary by the Sky God. But, Ame-No-Wakahiko did not

communicate with the heavenly court for years, so the gods sent down a pheasant to find

him. Some reports indicate that Ame-No-Wakahiko attempted to trick the deities by
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making plans to rule the earthen realm himself. The pheasant perched in a tree outside

Ame-No-Wakahiko's house, where a mortal woman, unable to comprehend sacred

messengers, told Ame-No-Wakahiko that it was an evil omen. Ame-No-Wakahiko shot

the pheasant, but his arrow passed right through the bird and soared onto heaven, where it

fell at the feet of Amaterasu and Takami-Masubi. Takami-Masubi recognized the arrow

and, angered at the betrayal, threw it back to earth where the arrow killed Ame-No-

Wakahiko. The boar was somewhat parallel to a yokai or monster of Shinto traditions

while oni or demons are often associated with Buddhism (Japanese Mythology). In any

case, the folktale describes the demon-boar in monstrous, otherworldly terms. Later in the

Kojiki, a wild boar is a death-causing figure. One of the more prominent folk heroes that

still resonates in modern Japan, Yamato-takeru, comes across a formidable white boar that

rivaled a large bull in size and scope.

Psychologically, a wild boar represents the shadow of human consciousness where

the bestial aspects of our psyche lurk in the subterranean unconscious. In this folktale, the

couriers fear of death is apparent in his revulsion over believing that he had chosen a hut

near a burial site, although it turned out to be a demon charade.

While Ashitaka feels physical pain as the dark worms spread from his arm to his

chest, a much deeper pain permeates this warrior: the pain that comes from guilt at

causing the death of another.

The Anima in Ashitaka and the Soul in Mononoke

As Emma Jung points out in Animus and Anima . . .in the development of the

masculine-ego consciousness the feminine side is left behind and so remains in a natural

state (Animus 57). It is this very natural state that bears such artistic promise, for to tap

into that reservoir-untouched by cultural overlay-is to be centrolineal-at one with the

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anima elements of human instinct. The inner anima is faceless to the outer world and as a

result, her features can be shaped from within.

This femininity is reflected in Mononokes rustic persona, for she is raw femaleness,

utterly devoid of the culturization that would seek to limit her power through societal

conformity. This naturalness in its rough edges and impulses allows Mononoke to be

instinctively present without the risk of shadow compulsions. She does not sublimate her

anger, passionate maternality or psychic pain - Mononoke is so connected with these raw

instincts that she does not apologize for them, nor does she elude or evade them.

Princess Mononoke is filled with compassion for the forest beings and possesses

deep reverence for the Spirit of the Forest. What Mononoke must learn, however, is how

to engender a measure of compassion for those who do not live within the forest, but draw

from its resources. Kawai points out that the Japanese ego is not detached from nature in

the same way that it is in the West. by its nature, the developed ego must know itself.

Thus, the ego knows that it is a part of nature. When its function of knowing becomes too

discriminating, the ego must detach itself from nature. (Japanese 124). Through the

course of her battle with Eboshi and her allies, Mononoke learns from Prince Ashitaka

that all forms of hatred upset the balance and the health of the entire ecosystem, even the

aspect of the spectrum that Eboshi represents. In turn, Eboshi learns, after causing

profound destruction, that when human arrogance dwarfs concerns for the animal other

then a compassionate balance to ensure coexistence will be lost. It is a message that can be

applied to our current global community in which cultures compete for limited resources

and struggle to understand the cultural differences.

Miyazakis message about compassion, in this film, is predicated upon the

acceptance of ones own light and dark characteristics so that a balance develops that
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clears the way for both empathy and sympathy. Ashitaka must learn to see with eyes

unclouded by hate, Mononoke must redirect her passionate protectionism to accept a

broader balance even among those who reject her idealism, while Eboshi understands

through acts of mercy how to relate to the world compassionately, rather than the old

patriarchal model of conquering.

Mononoke represents the Japanese ideal of truly working at a problem until it is

solved - polishing the rough edges until they are smooth. Mononoke earns her own

liberation (and that of her natural allies) from the oppression of industrialization by

adapting to the changing forces at the forests edge. Eboshi vows to create a better city

thereby shifting her values to a balanced polis rather than being obsessed with personal

greed. Eboshi also learns a very hard lesson that is applicable today: declaring war against

a power that cannot be matched by mortals can only result in extreme losses.

Androgyny in Princess Mononoke as a Redress to Misogyny

Questions about gender existed in earliest consciousness of human beings. June

Singer writes in her book Androgyny that this wholeness archetype is second only to the

absolute mystery of life, which is beyond human grasp. The archetype of androgyny

appears in us as an innate sense of a primordial cosmic unity, having existed in oneness or

wholeness before any separation was made. The human psyche is witness to the

primordial unity; therefore, the psyche is the vehicle through which we can attain

awareness of the awe-inspiring totality (5).

A book that underscores the damage done by the shadow of misogyny is Misogyny

the Male Malady by anthropologist David Gilmore who examines some of the more

entrenched social structures that bind women. Front and center are monotheistic religious

doctrines that are literalized and followed blindly by orthodox sects in Judaism, Islam and
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Christianity. In most of the worlds messianic religions-in which Gods revelations are

set down in writings by prophets-sin is brought into the world by women. It is always

First Woman, never First Man, who because of innate character flaws, capitulates to the

devils blandishments (79). Gilmore goes on to point out that other socio-religious

constructs, even polytheistic ones, can fall into the same trap that leads to the

demonization of women: . . .but Eves role as the devils gateway is played by female

surrogates in practically all other origin myths, such as the Greeks Pandora. So, in a

sense, one can say that the malevolent-maiden motif finds expression in the guise of First

Woman, the premium mobile of evil.

Gilmore centers on several issues that he believes incite male rage at female

reproductive promise and sexuality, identifying the approach-avoidance theory as well as

the dichotomy between sexual attraction, polyamorous mating compulsions and frustrated

boundaries to contain their sexual urges. In some Muslim factions, such as the extremely

oppressive policies forced upon girls and women by the Taliban, there is unrelenting

social confinement and schizoid misogynistic puritanism pressed against women to

sexually imprison them because such Islamic men refuse to control themselves. As long as

womens bodies in these cultures are placed behind the bars of a full body burqa then

the men never have to learn their own boundaries. This gender apartheid has extended to

everything that might promote a girl or womans self-confidence and actualization

including access to education, health care, employment, free assembly and displays of

even the most innocent affection. In many parts of the world, monotheism fosters a

shadow atmosphere tantamount to what could be casually be called a form of macho-

theism. In this analogy, hyper-masculinized behavior is touted as superior to feminine

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traits, while violence and aggression are justified as necessary to dominate females under

the auspices of one true, male God.

The Islamic extremist culture, which separates the genders, is an example of this

reality. Brutality against girls and women are grisly enactments of the relentless

campaign that the Taliban uses as a means by which to kill, rape, maim and oppress any

female who steps outside their rigidly holy misogynistic mandates. On October 9, 2012,

Pakistani student, 15 year-old, Malala Yousafzai suffered a bullet to the brain at the hands

of Taliban enforcers who targeted her for committing the crime of advocating for girls

education. Yousafzai continues to heal from the shooting which miraculously only grazed

her brain and yet doctors predict some level of brain damage. This type of violence,

aimed at wiping out female intelligence through extermination, is a form of gendercide.

Islamic extremists use religious deflection in their unrelenting campaign to demonize

women who hunger for knowledge as they seek economic independence and above all

else: individuality. The assassination attempt on Yousafzai serves as an example of the

violence against women that grows from profound fear. In Womens Mysteries: Toward a

Poetics of Gender, Christine Downing imagines a new psychology that is . . .inspired by

a love of the human raceby a love of women and of men, by a real sense of our shared

fragility and of our beautiful but also destructive human pull to achieve, create, change

(77). Downing insists that we must exorcise the fears that caused men and women to

objectify one another at the outset and that ultimately . . . helped shape the old

psychology of women-for unless we do, those same fears may destroy our planet (77).

Gilmore, returning to his studies on misogyny, recognizes the highlanders of New

Guinea in the South Pacific: These men believe not only that women are inferior to

men.. .but that women are also polluting to men, actually dangerous to mens health, both
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physical and moral (2). Gilmore quotes Thomas Gregors work on the Mehinaku Indians

of Central Brazil, in which he designates the males there as notoriously misogynistic

and yet paradoxically obsessed with sex and that the consensus among the tribesmen is

that women are stingy with their vaginas and cruelly witholding (Gregor qtd. in

Gilmore 168). Gilmore responds with Following the sour grapes theory, it is probably

not surprising that these same men vilify the hard-to-get vagina as dirty, uncanny, and

polluting. Furthermore, Gilmore points out that misogyny was rampant in ancient Rome

where Ovid, Hesiod and Juvenal wrote long treatises heaping scorn and abuse upon

women and everything pertaining to them and urging men to avoid sex and marriage

completely (4). He also points out the way the myth of Pandora, . . . who opens a box

and admits evil into an innocent world presages, in equally gynophobic terms, the

Christian parable of the Fall. Both myths, of course, provide pertinent scriptural

justification for centuries of sexist reproach leveled at women who it in inequity through

their sex.

An interesting correlation between gender politics and nationalist economic

dynamics show the extent to which the wounded masculine overcompensates through

capitalist and materialist drive. One scale of personality traits was used to survey some 40

countries. It used traditional gender classifications with masculine words listed as:

assertiveness, money, and things while feminine identifiers were listed as: nurturance,

quality of life, and people (Whaley, Samter 88). The results pointed to Japan as one of

the five most masculine countries (in addition to Austria, Venezuela, Italy and

Switzerland); while nations that presented more feminine-related values were Nordic:

Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland. It also shows that in countries

that flex capitalism or materialism, masculinity is rated higher. Miyazaki supports that
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designation as overcompensation for Japans defeat in World War II: After the war,

Japan built an artificial and unnatural better world, thinking that post-war democracy

could alleviate pain. So instead of guns, we built a high-growth economy (ComicBox).

Further evidence of the masculine wound can be found in Japans declining birth

rate. Whether it is because of economic pressures, or an unusually high emphasis on

virtual relationships through technology, or some other reasons, Japan is now seeing its

child population drop by 1 child every 100 seconds. Tohoku University professor Hiroshi

Yoshida, who led the survey reports that by May of 3011: If the rate of decline

continues, we will be unable to celebrate [the] Childrens Day holiday, as there will be

one child . . . 100 seconds later there will be no children left, he said. The overall trend

is towards extinction . . . (Oliver). Similar though less dramatic trends are reported in

Germany, where a shortfall of 190,000 exists between the number of people who died

and those being born in 1990 knocking the average number of children born per mother

from 1.5 children to 1.38 children. Germany's birth rate is well below the level required

to keep the population stable (Connolly). Both of these nations defeated in World War II

report plummeting birth rates.

In neurobiologist Pierre Karlis study, Animal and Human Aggression, some

findings suggest that the collective psychic wound from the defeat of the Japanese in

World War II has longer lasting effects. In the macaque, an old world, highly socialized

order of monkey species: . . . [testosterone] levels drop following an experience of defeat

by a fellow creature. In the rat, too, a marked fall in plasma testosterone level is noted in

the loser following an aggressive interaction involving some degree of violence, while

the same level in the victor remains unchanged (113). This suggests to us that the

massive defeat continues to resonate in the Japanese psyche as varying degrees of

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masculinity shift, thereby causing population reduction. Karli goes on to highlight other

findings that support the same . . . selective breeding between the aggressive and less

aggressive lines can be concealed or even reversed, if the aggressive animals are

repeatedly made to experience defeat and the less aggressive animals to experience

victory (144). So, we can see that if defeat has an effect of tamping down testosterone,

then a correlation can be made that this can impact the population for generations to come

and relay an endangerment for the future of specific societies, as a whole.

The 2011 Arab Spring signaled the type of clash that will become more prevalent

throughout the world as women seek equal rights and liberation. This reality is vividly

described by Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy in her August 2012 Foreign Press

article: Why Do They Hate Us: The Real War on Women is in the Middle East in which

Eltahawy calls for an unyielding humanist movement:

When more than 90 percent of ever-married women in Egypt -- including

my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in
the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme. When Egyptian
women are subjected to humiliating "virginity tests" merely for speaking
out, it's no time for silence. When an article in the Egyptian criminal code
says that if a woman has been beaten by her husband "with good
intentions" no punitive damages can be obtained, then to hell with political
correctness.

News photographs of Eltahawys arrest posted in the worldwide web lifted the

relatively obscure journalist to an international example of oppression when riot police in

Cairo dragged her away from covering the rioting in November 2011. Eltahawy asserts

that Egyptian police: beat her, broke her left arm and right hand, sexually assaulted her

and then the Interior Ministry and military intelligence held her for 12 hours against her

will.
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While this misogyny is externalized violent, brutality against women, there are

other efforts, throughout the West in which overt and covert messages of

disempowerment are launched against girls and women in daily media, cyberspace web

sites, television and film are among the most indelible. This creates a subliminal but

persuasive campaign against female empowerment that holds women back in their careers

and private lives in thousands of ways, and has thus far prevented a woman from being

elected President of the United States, as Eltahawy also points out.

Severing the Divinity from Nature

By far the most intensely powerful scene in Princess Mononoke is the decapitation

of the Forest Spirit. The spirit is the dual force and face of natureas Miyazaki envisioned

the deity to convey day and night, light and dark, life and death. At the touch of the Deer

Gods hoof, grass grows, trees revive, wounded animals regain their strength. At the

touch of the Deer Gods breath, grass withers, trees rot and Life ends without fail

(Art/Princess 19). And, at that very source rests the faces of growth, death and regrowth.

What Miyazaki hopes to convey in this creatures existence is that the mystery of such

depth of life and death is too vast a power for humans to have any bearing tossing their

fixated logic on it. Humans are not ready for the soulful depth and spirited ascent that the

very essence of creation conveys because homo sapiens still, by and large, rule their

worlds through the shadow: fears and intolerance and where the protective and defensive

posture of ego trap us in shells. We are too adolescent a species to comprehend something

so vast. The forest where the Deer God dwells is a world where radiance beckons and

humans are not welcome. The only human welcome here is Mononoke because she is not

civilized in her understanding and admiration for this creative and destructive essence of

Mother Earth. As the manifestation of the earths unconscious and because it is not to be
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tampered with in a reckless way, Mononokes spirit dances within the nuanced nature of

nature itself. As the Promethean myth helps us to understand: trying to grasp this

radiance made humans so dangerous, because as we have seen over the many millennia,

humans have created more sophisticated modes of destruction than any species on the face

of the earth. What Miyazaki has experienced is the phenomenally destructive nature of

human beings trying to harness radiance. From the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to

the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, we know that such forces are not to be meddled with by

human hands. Mother Earth is still the all-powerful: she opens her skin when her

earthquakes thunder, she washes clean when her oceans flood.

One of the most powerful and colorful mythological deities in the Shinto tradition is

the great catfish Namazu who is in a restrained balance with the kami or god Kashima

who uses a stone to pin down the enormous fish. When the catfish erupts, Kashima pulls

the god back to harness, but if Kashima lets down his guard, then the catfish stirs and

swims through the bowels of the earth, causing earthquakes. A lesser deity of the ukiyo-e

the pictures of the floating world refers to a vanishing world, fleeting and impermanent

(Ashkenazki 110).

The struggle between Namazu and the god Kashima is a balancing act between the

two species: the non-human, catfish deity bucks and brays while the god in human form

helps the creature to stay in balance. Kashima does not take the catfish apart to use the

fins and scales for his own purpose, nor does he destroy the subterranean rivers that

course through the earth. Kashima and Namazu work together to enhance a balanced

world and prevent an imbalance.

Humans, Miyazaki reminds us, are not welcome. And, yet, here we are. So, while

Miyazakis work suggests to us that the harsh glare of reason may not work within the
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realms of the imaginal, the poetic, he also realizes that there is no undoing the reality of

humans. We are here to stay, for better and worse. So, here he gives us an idea: Strange

animal, body of a deer, face of a man. Horns like the tangled branches of a tree. A terrible

and beautiful god (Art/Princess 19). The diurnal face of this god is humanwe are part of

this deitywe are the persona, the personality-if you will-of this creative force. But, we

are only one part, the rest of the diurnal aspects are hooves, a stag body, ears of a deer and

the deep, penetrating eyes that could be the eyes of any soul-human or non human. If one

wanted to measure the mass of the creature, the face compromises a very small portion of

a much larger life force. We are supposed to be part of this powerful life essence, not

commander of it.

The nocturnal aspects of the god are much different: moon and spirals, walking tall

above all else, shades of violets, blues and dusksthis is the regenerative nature of life.

And, humans have no face here. Neither do animals for they are not really represented

either, except that the force bears a Godzillan, giant body shape. While the diurnal aspect

of the god is smaller and more the size of a large elk or moose (all members of the deer

family), the nocturnal aspect is much larger, towering over the trees and dwarfing the

mountain.

In Ricard and Thuans The Quantum and the Lotus it is explained that there is a dual

aspect to nature, revealed in physics. In the scientific world, Janus, it would seem, has

risen. Sometimes some processes appear as particles, but they can also appear as waves.

Even stranger is the finding that what makes the difference about whether a particle is in

the wave or particle state is the role of an observer-f we try to observe the particle in its

wave state, it becomes a particle. It is in separating the identities of Janus, the whole of

nature becomes trickier. But if it is unobserved, it remains in a wave state which makes
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one consider a more mythopoetic simplification of this theory. If the natural state is one of

waves, but invasive observation separates it. As one scientist explains, . . . light (and

matter too) has a dual nature (Ricard, Thuan 65).

In the Miyazaki world of dream images and metaphor, the Deer God is such a

creature: waves of life but divide the nature of this god, and you kill its ebb and flow,

its wavelike essence. To Miyazaki this is more primordial than the taproot of nature, it is

the very well that has no beginning and no end. The god is A forest existing since the

birth of time. Deep and dark, filled with a radiant spirit. Full of creatures that have long

since vanished from the world (Art/Princess 19). The creatures that have vanished are

from a more unconscious time, when humans understood themselves to be aspects of the

elements, who benefit and suffer with the seasons and who are at one with the natural

rotations of the earth. The minute we dumped an unconscious connection with the

collective energies of the earth is the time that we lost the imaginal and the sacral.

If we can kill another being, does that not make us a god? This is where Lady

Eboshi dwells, she seeks not only to rob the earth of her riches, Eboshi wants to be the

bearer, grantor and the generator of life. Her ego is far too uncontrollable to allow

something to thrive near her presence that cannot submit to her force of will. Eboshi is the

great offender of balance, driven by the chill of her unsouled reason. Mononoke is viewed

by Eboshi as part god and part animal, so she wants to conquer the wolf princess by

killing the greatest force in her world, a force Eboshi fears imbues Mononoke with her

creatrix nature. Eboshis self-defeating obsession is somewhat akin to the beta fish who

fights with its own reflection and in so doing, the lady ravages herself.

The decapitation of the Forest Spirit reflects some aspects of a fecundity myth of

Japan from the eighth century Kojiki. In it, the rice goddess Ukemochi is referred to as the
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Deity-Princess-of-Great-Food who provided a safe haven for the storm ocean god

Susanowo following his exile for having skinned alive a pony sacred to his sister, the

great sun Goddess Amaterasu. In the Kojiki, Susanowo is referenced as His-Swift-

Impetuous- Male-Augustness who begged food from Ukemochi (71). Compassionately,

the goddess provided a feast for Susanowo in her customary way: by pulling the food

crops from her body: . . . in her head were born silkworms, in her two eyes were born

rice-seeds, in her two ears was born millet, and in her nose were born all beans, in her

private parts was born barley, in her fundament were born large beans which were then

used as seeds. The storm god had never seen how Ukemochi produced the food of the

gods and, because it came from her body, Susanowo claimed the food was impure. The

Kojiki passage explains that the storm god . . . considered that she was offering up to

him, filth and the raging god killed her. Many accounts explain that Ukemochi was

decapitated yet her head and body continued to spread life even after death: As her

body joined the earth, new life sprang out of it which was so lush and fertile that she still

feeds the people of Japan (Randall 53).

The second extant chronicle, the Nihongi, tells a different version of the beheading

of Ukemochi in which the moon god Tsukiyomi killed the goddess. This infuriated his

sister, Amaterasu, who banished him to the world of lunar kami and refused to see him

again, thereby separating night from day and moon from sun, for eternity (Ashkenazi,

277).

Like Uke-Mochi, the Spirit of the Forest is such an immortal kami of abundance that

this entity cannot be killed simply by decapitation, but unlike Uke-Mochi, the god

searches for his head and natural disasters ensue. The Forest Spirit as the essence of life

itself, cannot truly be killed. Mononoke is saddened that the spirit eventually dissipates
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into the unconsciousness of the earth and she believes nothing will ever be the same. She

is right in this mournful realization. This decapitation and restoration, causes the Forest

Spirit and Nightwalker to vanish into the unconsciousness of the earth. No longer is this

energy source embodied in the gods, no longer does this energy walk the earth, it is sent

below, down to the most profound level. Mononoke refuses to relinquish her feral nature

her ancient wildness because in so doing, she would risk losing her core connection to the

deepest well of soul.

Think about how the personalities of Miyazaki characters Mononoke and Ashitaka

are flipped compared to Western films that depict the boy as the aggressor and the girl as

the peacemaker. The animator turns that stereotype on its ear by wounding the warrior

first to show him the error of his ways . . . delivered by fate into the midst of the last

desperate battle between humans and the rampaging gods, on a journey to cleanse from

his body a scar and escape its slow curse of death (Art/Princess 11).

In the end, Miyazaki decides not to have them both go off in a pat, happy romantic

ending. Instead, he leaves them their individuality and Mononoke, as heroine, stands

strong within herself but she opens up her heart to the boy (20). However, being open

and submitting are two different things. Miyazaki does not ask the girl to submit to the

boy, just as he does not draw Ashitaka as a hero that must conquer Mononoke to prove his

masculine prowess. Instead, he understands, accepts and respects Mononoke. It is a

mature view of young love without demeaning their respective individuality which brings

both characters closer to an individuation goal due to the mutual understanding that they

are both earning after meeting their respective shadows. Their relationship has helped

them both to temper their relatedness to the world and to the alius nature of life

separate from their own.

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At the films end, Mononoke admits that she cares for Ashitaka but that she simply

. . . cannot forgive humans. Miyazaki does not ask her to, because he doesnt forgive

humans either and as such he leaves us with a warning of sorts: that the imbalances of

industry over environment, consumption over conservation and fury over friendship have

led humans and non humans alike to a tenuous place. Still, Miyazaki admits to an

optimism that bears promise for the two as he honors Mononokes wild nature: At the

end. . . the boy smiles and says, Thats alright, lets live together in peace (Art/Princess

20).

In the end, Mononoke and Ashitaka accept one anothers distinct roles in the world.

When Miyazaki tells us: Lets live together in peace, a psychological fusion of self and

ego seems to say: lets work together in psyche. What the ego and self can say to one

another is: let us take one anothers hand and walk this difficult road together - you

shield and Ill explore we will dance together amid this chaos - we will take care of one

another. In the end, neither can venture into the vast unconsciousness without the other

and in that dance rests the promise of liberating, individuation for both. Ashitaka and

Mononoke stay true to their independent destinies because such vast unconsciousness, as

deep as the mysterious wolf girl herself, can never fully be known. But, the conscious and

unconscious, embodied by Ashitaka and Mononoke, are now communicating with one

another and in their gathering energies of individuation; such awareness helps to heal the

anima mundi. The soul of the world that Hillman speaks of is critical in redirecting the

balance, by releasing the entrapment in human subjectivism and this is precisely the

message that Miyazaki conveys in Princess Mononoke (Animal 161).

When Mononoke says that she cannot forgive humans it is because the earths

agony is linked to her emerging consciousness and in that realization the princess is able
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to bring forth from her unconscious, the wailing of the earth. James Hillman understands

this depth of agony the earth feels and as Mononoke cries out, she does so for all the of

sore, tender and dismembered natural world: Nature is no longer adequately imagined as

the Great Mother who sustains us; instead, she has become a very fragile, endangered old

lady. . . who has to be protected and preserved. The twentieth century seems to have

ended the rule of Nature and replaced it with the rule of Technology (Animal 162). It is

as if humans handed out a death sentence to the earthen mother for her crime of

regeneration. That healing, after all, defies human industry and reminds the human animal

that it really does not have dominion over the earth. Lady Eboshi, in her blood lust to kill

the Forest Spirit, strides forth with bullet and blade, unleashing her wrath for all humans

who have forgotten their place in the web of living and dying. After Eboshis aggression

rebounds and causes her own arm to be severed, the Forest Spirits natural wonder

restores it, even though that limb was an extension of human destruction. The earth

forgives, even if Eboshi cannot.

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Chapter 5.

The Anima Role in Transcendent Matriarchal Consciousness

In the twenty-first century, humanity must learn to use its forward-seeing imagination
not only for its own sake but for he sake of all other species as well
(Nature and the Human Soul, Bill Plotkin 17).

Perhaps no other film represents the interiority of Miyazaki more than Nausicaa of

the Valley of the Wind. The epic animation is based on Miyazakis manga series about a

teen princess who sacrifices herself to end bloodshed and in achieving peace, is reborn

through natural forces. Miyazaki reflects upon his heroine: Nausicaa is not a protagonist

who defeats an opponent, but a protagonist who understands and accepts. She is someone

who lives in a different dimension. Such character is a female rather than male

(McCarthy 79). Miyazaki emphasizes in Nausicaas story how contemporary society can

change from the patriarchal to the communal with a rising matriarchal consciousness. This

reformation of the world society offers the opportunity for a zoetic renewal that stirs a

backlash but will ultimately withstand the changing tides. Impatient patriarchal

consciousness tries to fight and overcome, Kawai advises, but matriarchal

consciousness waits without struggle. It endures and waits however long the tragedy

continues (Japanese 187).

The 1984 animated film, normally referred to merely as Nausicaa is an enactment of

the original two volumes (approximately 16 chapters) of the seven volume manga series

by the same title that culminated in 59 chapters ten years later in 1994. The inaugural

volume of the Nausicaa manga was published in 1982 and the financial success of the

series helped secure production funding for the film. The extensive graphic novel series
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provides deeper, more mature narrative nuances and richer character development than the

film. While some aspects of the manga series-especially the God Soldier symbolism and

the controversial ending of the seriesare mentioned in this dissertation, but the majority

of the material is focused on the film that was written and directed by Miyazaki.

While Princess Mononoke takes place in a sacred paradise threatened by profane

industrialization, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind depicts a post-apocalyptic Hades

caused by war-faring humans. The film begins one thousand years after the God Soldiers,

(monolithic bio-robots, originally created for good) scalded the earth during the reign of

terror known as the Seven Days of Fire that nearly wiped out all of humanity. In its wake,

the once natural world became unnaturally mutated and the organic transmuted into a

deformed shadow of itself. However, even in Miyazakis dying and reviving world order,

there are surprises that the earth has in store to ensure survival.

The name Nausicaa originally appears in The Odyssey and Miyazaki took her

name from Homers epic feeling that she was a character aligned with nature, given her

presence at the river as an aid to Odysseus. In book six of the epic poem, Nausicaa is

visited during her slumber by Athena who wafts into her unconscious through a dream.

Floating through Nausicaas opulent home she permeates the fortress as a mist. The

goddess whispers into Nausicaas ear that there is an urgent need to take her laundry to

the river for washing, as she knows that Odysseus will drift ashore in need of help.

Later that afternoon Nausicaa and her maids are washing clothing at the river and

playing with a ball as they wait for the clothes to dry. When she fails to catch it, the ball

rolls into the reeds where Odysseus is sleeping, naked, hairy and covered in brine. Athena
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entices Nausicaa to aid Odysseus by transforming the warrior into the ancient Greek ideal

of a perfectly sculpted warrior with a powerfully build and handsome countenance.

Here the ball is a symbol of self. It is interesting to note that this spherical

symbolism occurs in the chapters that precede the scene when Odysseus blinds the

Cyclops. The Trojan tricks him with the nobody identity and then, after he has defeated

Polyphemus he impulsively cries out I am Odysseus, that sets the stage for the phase of

self-identification that has become so prevalent in Western civilization. The ball motif

foreshadows the Odyssean emergence of self and represents the wholeness of soul. Von

Franz writes about such ball symbolism in The Feminine in Fairy Tales as a materialistic

symbolism of the Self; that is a symbol which refers to the totality of the psyche in an

impersonal way which tends to turn up in moments of dissociation and disorientation

(23). In the story of Odysseus, the ball rolling toward the warrior signifies his

disassociation and disorientation from his former life that marks both a reconnection and

reorientation with civilization. The Nausicaa of Homers vision serves as a rehumanizing

agent for Odysseus and similarly Miyazakis heroine works to return humankind to a

more civilized state. Expressed mythologically, the ego is the instrument of incarnation

for the Self as Von Franz theorizes.

Just as the Nausicaa of Homers time encourages Odysseus to clean himself up, the

Nausicaa of Miyazakis era asks clan members to re-identify with the whole of humanity.

He chose Nausicaa because she is an extraordinary channel that shifts the barbarism of old

wars to the humaneness of a new world in which all life forms are respected and valued.

Miyazaki commented in Empire magazine his theories about why Nausicaa stands apart

from the patriarchy: Women are able to straddle both the real world and the other

worldlike mediums. It isnt the swordplay that Nausicaa is good at, its that she
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understands both the human world and the insect world. Males, they are aggressive, only

in the human spherevery shallow (Miyazaki on Miyazaki 1).

A Toxic Jungle (the Sea of Corruption in the manga version) spews poison into the

atmosphere through enormous spores. In this jungle, monolithic beetles known as Ohmu

have mutated to survive and protect life forms from more human destruction. Resembling

a cross between scarabs and reticulated trilobites, their multiple feet scurry like millipedes

through the dystopian world. When alive, ohmu bugs are depicted as charcoal grey in

some light and nearly midnight blue in other scenes, but when dead, the shells are a pale,

lifeless gray. These beings represent the shadow of earth and as chthonic life forms they

move from subterranean to submarine while they swarm earths surface and soar through

the sky. There are places human beings cannot tread, but there is no place in the

Nausicaan world that the bugs cannot explore. An argument can also be made that these

creatures are the shadows of Nausicaas unconscious anxieties and frustrations with

human cruelty and selfishness. As it could also be theorized that Nausicaa represents the

unconsciousness of the Ohmu through her empathic role as the creatures negotiate the

complex social norms of the valley. Miyazaki shows us the scale of the bugs: one of their

eyes is approximately the same size as Princess Nausicaa. They possess between 10 to 14

eyes (in most images) with orbs that serve as mood receptors reflecting the emotional

tenor of the bugs. When calm their eyes are blue but when enraged their eyes become

bright red. The insects loom large in the films narrativenot only in size, but also as

pivotal guardians in Nausicaas journey by proving that they are both takers and givers of

life.

Nausicaa has evolved as a human being who learns psychic communication with

the Ohmu and mediates between the human and non-human world. This is no longer a
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world dominated by humans; it is an earth that has replaced humans as hierarchical kings

while the ohmu and other giant insects serve as defacto leaders of a new dominion. This

reality mirrors the information age today: a network of relationships now contingent upon

communication and communal interconnection. This is how Nausicaa understands and

adapts to this mutated world and why she prevails while others do not. Three clans still

exist in this shrinking human world: Nausicaas peaceful villagers, the imperialist

Tolmekians led by the power hungry Princess Kushana (serving as Nausicaas human

shadow) and the Pejite, a proud people who struggle to maintain their independence

against the Tolmekians. The Pejite do not want to rule the world, but they still resort to

bloodshed in an attempt to defend themselves, thereby perpetuating the cycle of violence.

Only a few, tiny havens of human health survive amid the encroaching jungle, with

Nausicaas valley situated as the most promising of them all. The valley is on the cusp of

change, as her father King Jihl slowly dies from the fossilization of his body caused by

exposure to the Toxic Forest. It is one of the last remaining oases of new life amid the

wind-swept nuclear winter. Nausicaa (Alison Lohman) is a wind rider who glides

through the jungle searching for answers to the disease that is killing humankind. At the

same time, the princess is on a quest to find ways to heal the natural world that was nearly

destroyed nearly ten centuries earlier by humans. The villagers use enormous windmills to

harness the remaining pure winds to power their homes. It is a place where clean water

flows and pure winds swirl through a tiny village that is sustainable through shared use of

limited natural resources and communal interdependence. Yet, the valley is under threat

by invaders because it is an extremely rare and balanced ecosystem. Those who seek to

exploit the valley, including Kushana and her army, would immediately ruin it through

their antiquated, consumptive way of operating in the world.

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Princess Kushana of Tolmekia has become a bionic warrior (like Darth Vader) and

despite extensive injuries caused by her militaristic nature, she resists relinquishing her

ego armor at all costs. Kushana is the supreme example of cutting off ones nose to spite

ones face as she projects her own darkness onto others. This dark princess lashes out at

others because she refuses to face the loathing within herself. Kushana is described by

Miyazaki in similar terms: The concept of Kushana as a heroine is much more

destructive, a mass of hatred (Art/Nausicaa 152). As Nausicaas polar opposite, Kushana

is abusive, dominating and greedy while the insect-loving princess is forgiving, egalitarian

and generous. Kushana possesses a stingy heart and as the damaged daughter of an

archaic patriarchy, she has lost her anima connection that revitalizes life.

A third female character, Princess Lastelle of the Pejite, has very little film time and

appears in the storyline at the threshold of her death. Lastelles cameo appearance proves

to be essential to the restoration of the earth. When the Princess Kushanas Tolmekian

warship crashes in the valley, Lastelle is found mortally wounded amid the wreckage and it

is revealed that she is a Tolmekian hostage. The young princess carries another one of

Nausicaas shadow concerns: encountering death (which Nausicaa ultimately must do).

Lastelle urges Nausicaa to burn the cargo and her warning sounds the alarm that

extremely dangerous cargo is about to be unleashed upon the earth. The cargo is later

revealed to be the last surviving God Soldier embryo whose adult ancestors had nearly

caused the full-scale destruction of earth. The Pejites hellish portend hints at Kushanas

refusal to adapt to alternative, peaceful methods of operating in the world. She reflects the

archaic, dominator modalities that have, at great cost, ensured Western imperialism.

Princess Kushana wants to mature the embryo to destroy the Toxic Jungle, despite

warnings that such massive eradication would ignite yet another apocalyptic nightmare.
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The God Soldier symbolism and its cultural resonance in Japan are discussed at length,

later in this chapter.

The Wise Woman and the Prophetic Tapestry

A fourth pivotal female archetypal character is the blind, ancient wise woman who

recites the legendary prophecy depicted on a woven tapestry that is cherished by villagers.

The grandmotherly oracle, Obaba predicts that a man clad in blue and surrounded by

fields of gold will someday save the earth, restoring peace and harmony by reuniting

humans with nature. While Nausicaa also believes this prophecy, she does not yet realize

her central destiny in the unfurling of it. Instead, she assumes the mantle of princess and

bears the weight of the world, striving with intellect and soulful compassion to discern the

mistakes of predecessors. Nausicaa steadies her eye on the horizon where she hopes to

realize a new vision for her people. The single strongest factor in Nausicaas character,

as the protagonist, is the sheer amount of responsibility she has explains Miyazaki.

Even if she had desires of her own. . .she first has to act according to the best interests of

the entire clan. . . [S]he lives under that pressure. That incredible pressure (Art/Nausicaa

148). It is in shouldering this weight that Nausicaa becomes an impressive heroine who

accepts the hard work that necessarily to restore the natural world and rebalances society

as a whole.

The tapestry serves as the mythological entry into the story and is drawn by

Miyazaki to resemble in some ways, figures of old world Celtic origin and in others, the

rounded style similar to ancient Mayan art. My favorite is the one . . . where people are

collapsing. These are going to become myths, so they need some personification

Miyazaki explains in The Art of Nausicaa (131). Yet the inspiration for the tapestry as a

woven narrative and prophecy dates back to the Middle Ages. The style was derived
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from the muddle my head had made of paintings in art history textbooks and the Bayeux

tapestries (Art/Nausicaa 141). The Bayeux Tapestry is a famous story embroidered on

cloth that dates back to the Middle Ages depicting the Norman Conquest of England that

culminates in the Battle of Hastings in 1099. At least one art historian refers to the

embroidered mural as "an epic frieze, historys first cartoon strip . . . that portrays a

continuous narrative (Hicks 3). It is understandable that Miyazaki would remember the

Bayeux Tapestry as an imaginative narrative to inspire the Nausicaan tapestry, but the

Nausicaan piece is far different. While the Bayeux storyline values conquering over

community, the Nausicaan tapestry portrays community cohesion over conquering. The

Nausicaan tapestry that heralds the arrival of the savior of the earth is a narrative based on

matriarchal consciousness. Humans are not elevated here, but rather shown to be facing a

decline, giving way to the monolithic plants and insects that reclaim their land.

The Bayeux storyline glorifies male conquering, phallic prowess (especially the

images of war horses with erect penises readying for battle) and portrays a mysterious

woman named lfgyua that a cleric touches on the cheek by penetrating her sacral space

between columns. A naked man beneath the left pillar, directly below her, assumes the

akimbo position, squatting with knees bent and one arm out, while the other is situated on

the hip. This stance resembles images of old fertility gods such as Cernunnos, the horned

fertility god of the ancient Celts. Regardless of whether or not this woman existed as a

specific person or a composite archetypal maiden, she is at the receiving end of male

action. The maiden is not in a position of action or direction; she is perhaps booty or

temptation. Whatever lfgyuas role, she assumes the submissive pose that supports the

storyline of the conquest thereby reinforcing the conquering hero model of the Middle

Ages. The woman wears a red head covering draped around her face with her palms
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facing up submissively. A female so central to the tapestry of the Norman Conquest can

be seen as reflecting chaste protection or confinementdepending on ones point of

view. The fact that the cleric reaches across a threshold to touch her, suggests a variety of

invasions: from overt sexuality to boundary transgression on a psychological or societal

level.

On either side of the maiden, atop pillars, are severed bear heads. As we learn in

historian Michel Pastoureaus study of the bear in the Middle Ages, the church worked to

eradicate Pagan bear images from public view: fearing that respectful treatment would be

misunderstood as retaining priestly bearing, literally. Cruel bear baiting scenes are

depicted along the margins of the tapestry as a way to heighten the demonization of the

animal. This inhumane act of bear baiting included tying the bear to a post or cage

while the poor creature is systemically pierced with arrows and cut with knives, thus

incurring the wounded animals rage. The vicious sport further reduced the once regal

animal to humiliation as tormentors laughed and cheered.

The bear was once aligned with the virgin goddess Artemis (along with the stag as

mentioned earlier) but it fell from grace when the patriarchy in the church began to target

women (Chevalier 76). It was a calculated plan to annihilate female divinity and the bears

suffered greatly in that horrific campaign. As Pagan worship of goddesses became

forbidden, bears were denigrated merely for their sacred feminine association. The

animals archetype, once a proud and noble associate of fertility goddesses, no longer was

associated with fecundity, the moon and the earth. The bear became a creature of sexual

perversion as the church spread paranoia that the animals could mate with women and

create a type of deformed sub-species. Bears were no longer a sacral aspect of goddesses,

but trained to do tricks at royal courts just like clowns. The Bayeux tapestry reveals not
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only the powerlessness of women, but the victimization of bears as well. In comparison,

the Nausicaan tapestry shows a golden haired messiah floating across a golden sea, the

savior of humankind mirroring goddess aspects and not a woman entrapped by church

elders.

The Princess who Loved Insects

Lord Yupa (Patrick Stewart) is Nausicaas mentor, a Zen-like warrior who trained

the adolescent early in her life and now searches for the mysterious savior foretold in the

prophecy. In the climax of the film, Nausicaa is revealed to be that messiah after she

sacrifices herself to stop the carnage and then is resurrected by the Ohmu after humans

cease their warfare. Yupa is unaware of Nausicaas destiny but adores her like a daughter

and marvels at her use of enchanting charms rather than weapons to subdue the bugs.

In Nausicaa, Miyazaki shows the depth of his anti-war philosophy as he explores

ways in which peaceful reconciliation can be achieved. In many ways, Nausicaa assumes

many of the attributes of a Shinto priestess who work to balance the energies of the kami

with those of the human psyche. In her collection of essays on the divine priestess of

Okinawa, Women of the Sacred Groves anthropologist Susan Sered points to the island as

a rare vestige of sacred female experience: [It is the] only contemporary society in which

women lead the official, mainstream, publicly funding religion as Shinto priestesses, as

Sered explains:

In Okinawan villages. . .priestesses (noro and kaminchu) perform rituals on

behalf of the community. Some of these rituals take place in the jungle, in
the sacred grove, where villagers cannot see. Other rituals take place at the
village square, in full sight of the community and with the assistance of the
village headman (5).

Sered asserts the perception of differences that are believed to be rooted in nature. .

. are a precondition for hierarchyfor systematic, permanent distinctions in access to

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power and prestige. If everyone is the same, there is no basis out of which hierarchy can

develop or be sustained (7). She further describes a manner of Shinto rituals that

Nausicaa also mirrors in her empathy with the natural world. The rituals that Sered

witnessed were performed in Henza on Okinawa and they, like Nausicaa: . . .strive

toward social and cosmic harmony, toward smoothing out or clearing up rough spots, and

toward dramatizing themes of complementarity and balance (6). Nausicaa works within

similar social dimensions as she relates to the Ohmu because she doesnt fear them, nor

does she discount their hive mentality but rather seeks to understand their behavior. By

meeting them compassionately and on their own terms, Nausicaa establishes a communal

strategy: loving kindness extended to one is instantly signaled to the entire family of

insects that comprise a powerful collective. A species that possesses the potential to stamp

out humans also harbor the gift of reconciliation and ultimately serve as agents of

regeneration. Nausicaa is the only human who can work within their complex and yet

simple psychic network. In short, Nausicaa is the only human being they understand and

the reason for their collective trust becomes apparent later in this chapter.

Miyazaki took part in childrens literature circles during his undergraduate years

where he formulating his own ideas about heroines and their stories. He linked Nausicaa

to a legendary insect-loving princess known as The Girls Who Loved Insects from Japan's

Heian period (AD 794-1185). According to a childrens picture book by Jean Merrill, The

Princess who Loved Caterpillars, the young royal was named Izumi and she played for

hours with various butterflies, dragonflies and other insects. When she became marrying

age, her parents sent suitors from all over the country in a bid to win her hand. But, Izumi

wanted to engage in life as a naturalist, studying the beauty of the pupa that would later

transform into a butterfly. Izumi asks of herself: Why do people make such a fuss about
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butterflies and not pay attention to the creatures from which the butterflies come? It is

caterpillars that are really interesting (10). An overarching theme in the storyline is that

the princess, like Nausicaa, sought a depth of understanding beyond superficial

encounters. As Miyazaki wrote about Izumi, he wondered if she could find someone who

could understand her in 1st century Japan when strict female conformity was enforced:

She was regarded as an eccentric. . .she loved to play in the field and
would be enchanted by the transformation of a pupa into a butterfly. As an
aristocrat's daughter, such behavior would be shunned. She never had an
Odysseus wash up on her shores, nor foreign lands to wander in, to escape
society's restrictions. Even as a child, I couldn't help worry about the
princess' fate. (16)

By the time Miyazaki was an adolescent the prevalence of giant insects in Japanese

film lore and American science fiction hit their peak in a genre known as creature

features. As the cultural awareness of atomic weapons stirred undercurrents of anxiety,

Glen Slater explains: Science run amok and arrogant or nave scientists made apt

vehicles for the revenge of nature motif, allowing threatening insects and new

technologies to make for a perfect pairing (Mythic 202).

The post-war science fiction boom in Hollywood, playing off the worries of the

nuclear age became so acute that at one time that era . . . brought more than 500 science

fiction films to American movie palaces, neighborhood theaters, and drive ins between

1948 and 1962 (Tatsui). Them! was one of the highest grossing films in 1954 and the

biggest revenue stream for Warner Bros. studios that year. The film depicts irradiated,

monolithic ants that ate human beings with their crushing mandibles. It was nominated

for an Academy Award for Special Effects and within that genre (that spanned the campy

to the ridiculous) Them! became a science fiction Aesop that critics still admire, today

(IMDB). One of the opening scenes shows an abandoned shack that the ants raided while

howling desert winds circulate through the broken windows. In the background we hear a

radio announcer declare that malaria has nearly been wiped out thanks to public health
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efforts. Since mosquitoes spread the disease, we surmise that the audio overlay reinforces

human angst over insects and why they eradicate them.

Slater believes that As staples of the archetypal imagination, monsters have the

vital mission of carrying deformed, chaotic and boundless parts of the psyche, providing

symbolic containment of the deeply unconscious processes (203). In trying to

understand how such a response to otherness works, Slater reminds us Hence one
axiom of Jungian perspective: the face you show to the unconscious is the face it shows

to you (196). Extending Slaters understanding of such films, we see conversely, that

Miyazaki took his feelings about Izumi and transferred them to Nausicaa. The

compassionate face that Nausicaa shows to the Ohmu and other insects, in turn, causes the

bugs to mirror their face of compassion to Nausicaa:

Shes a strange girl. She seems to regard the lives of insects and humans in
the same way. So, although she couldnt save Lastelles life, she wants to
save the baby ohmu. To Nausicaa, embracing the baby ohmu and
embracing Lastelle are the same thing. Often ecologists and nature-lovers
turn into solitary persons who dislike human beings. They end up negating
human society. Nausicaa is someone who might go over to the insects
world if left alone but who stops just at the last minute; someone who
takes actions that could easily result in death, but opens up a new path.
That is what she is made of (Starting 334) .
In Japan, the name Ohmu is a familiar one as it coincides with the Ohma Nuclear

Power Plant that remains at the epicenter of controversy after two decades. In Japan, one

woman named Atsuko Ogasawara, held up the plants expansion by refusing to sell her

home for development. Though she died in 2006, Ogasawaras family also refuses to sell

the home (despite being offered $2 million yen) in honor of their matriarch. She came

from a generation that knew of the dangers of radiation because of Hiroshima. She didnt

care about the money (Watanabe/Biggs). As a result of Ogasawaras anti-nuclear stand,

the sprawling boundaries of the plant comprise a zigzag of metal fences that surround the

familys log cabin. In the manga chronicles about Nausicaa, Miyazaki attached the name
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Ohma to the immature atomic God Soldier that figures prominently in the final volume of

the series. Popular opinion stands with the landowner in Japan and in his graphic

novelization, Miyazakis own anti-nuclear philosophies are brought into focus. It seems

to me, explains the animator . . .that many of the attributes of the human mind,

including beliefs and convictions we think important, may actually exist in nature. . .

(Starting 395). That statement helps us understand how Nausicaa, as the manifestation of

earths unconsciousness-made-conscious, is also the anima rich human incarnation of a

truly troubled planet. It is Nausicaas complexity and her anima nature, in a desperate

world that prompts her to be so deeply entwined with an ailing ecosystem.

Miyazakis Scale: Nausicaa Integrated with Nature

In the opening scene of the film, Lord Yupa clad in cape, hat and gas mask,

discovers the remains of a village consumed by poisonous plants familiar to science

fiction fanciers. Vines have snared the dwellings as cobwebs cover antiques and we see

how the forest reclaims remnants of a civilization. Yupa, astride a big ostrich creature

known as a horesclaw, is a character of gravity rooted in the past. Despite his noble

bearing and reluctance to use force, Yupa sadly notes the skulls of old warriors and then

spots a tiny ragdoll in a red dress. He attempts to grip the doll in his leathered glove, but it

dissolves in dust. Although a man of great integrity, Yupa still represents the tough

masculinized past: he is too rough to handle the doll delicately.

The little girl doll can be read several ways: symbolizing the crumbling human race,

a signifier of the death of innocence. Psychologically, the ragdoll also helps us to

understand the immaturity of humankind so prone to destruction that it cannot collectively

mature. Themes of immaturity and maturity are especially evident in the realities of the

God Soldier embryo and overt parallels to human beings as an immature species.
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Miyazakis use of scale emphasizes the arrogance of a patriarchal society that considers

itself as dominator of the natural world.

Miyazakis use of scale emphasizes the arrogance of a patriarchal society that

considers itself as dominator of the natural world. Lord Yupa is shown as a man who fills

the screens foreground: he is larger than life and dwarfs the natural world around him. In

contrast, the princess is depicted as the same size as the plant life and in some scenes, is

drawn to appear smaller than the plants. Nausicaas own psychic reality is that she is one

with nature and not above it she is not a dominator who carries an ego mantle of

dominion over nature, but rather as a participant who shares the earth with other beings. I

dare say that the image of the sole ego . . . was born of Western Christian culture

explains Kawai while Japanese can imagine the existence of multiple egos (188). Such

disparate ego images help us to decipher how Nausicaa also relates to death from a

pluralistic perspective versus Lord Yupas more Westernized view.

Like Yupa before her, Nausicaa comes across a symbol of death early in the film,

but it is insect and not human: she finds an ohmu shell (an alloy that would rival or be

superior to titanium) and an eye lens that she embraces as a treasure. The ohmu lens

symbolizes clarity and Nausicaa uses this glassy sphere as both a window and a mirror to

see through and reflect upon humankind. On a practical level, Nausicaa also realizes that

this shell can provide necessary tools to aid farmers and help the villagers maintain their

windmills. Her consciousness is more mindful of the role that all life forms play in an

intricate network. Nausicaa reclines in the poison white spores that fall around her and

marvels at their beauty as one watches snow fall. While Yupas response to death is one

of woe and the distant echoes of wailing winds, Nausicaas communion with death is one

of regenerationshe recycles death into life. Yupa views life outside the self and meets
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death as an outgrowth of distress, while Nausicaa sees life and death as a constant

continuum. This dynamic helps us to understand how Japanese ego consciousness, which

Kawai relates to as a matriarchal one, allows for more integration of varying roles in and

out of nature. This multiplicity may be more effective and flexible vis-a-vis future

society which will include more diversity. Isnt having all consciousnessincluding

senex [elders] and puer [youth], male and femalethe very way to establish wholeness

(188)? In her examination of the flora and fauna of the toxic forest, Nausicaa understands

that the forest is not an enemy, but rather a friend to human beings and large creatures

alike. We eventually learn the forest is cleansing the air poisoned by human warfare and

violence.

One indication of Miyazakis sensibilities regarding light and shadow can be found

in the fifth installment of the manga series. Toward the end of this story, the giant insects

Ohmu are explained to be purifiers of the earth sent to reverse human contamination.

This explanation is given to Nausicaa in a flashback during a fantastic conversation

with a large skeleton that crouches like a vulturethe embodiment of death. When young

Nausicaa challenges deaths assumptions about the state of the earth by pointing out that

he uses the same words as the holy one, the skeleton of death replies What a tiresome

child. Because the holy one and I are the same (Nausicaa Vol. 5, p. 134). To Miyazaki,

life and death are twin faces of the same coin.

Additionally, Miyazaki refuses to create simple cinema opposites: male and female;

light and dark; hero and villainopting instead to depict them as rich characters:

It was hard to make a villain who really deserved to be defeated; at least I

couldnt do it. I must have been much easier when you could just make
them part of a different tribe, or class. But, we cant do that now.
todays villains are aliens. . .terrorists or the mentally disturbed (147).
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Miyazaki explains in The Art of Nausicaa, that he had originally wanted to do a

Beauty and the Beast story, using Richard Corbens (formerly of Heavy Metal Magazine)

Rowlf comic story and style. That storyline centers on a Princess named Yara whose

guard dog and companion, Rowlf, transforms (with the help of a demon) into a creature

who is half dog and half human. Miyazaki was fascinated with the story but wanted to

change it to include suitors who come in, one after the other, and their eyes on the

countrys minimal wealth I was trying to build a secondary theme in which she

preserved her pride while rebuffing these men (148). He went on to say that the

negotiations to purchase the rights to the Corben story fell through, but the way Miyazaki

wanted to articulate the story stuck in his psyche and eventually became the Nausicaan

epic.

An element in the film that works metaphorically with depth psychological

explorations of consciousness and unconsciousness is the Toxic Jungle. Consider how

Miyazaki envisioned this nearly alien forest that mutated out of the ecological carnage

caused by human aggression. Like the unconscious, the jungle is ever present, absorbing

and transforming psyches relationship between inner and outer worlds. In the jungle,

anima is at play, leading the human psyche both into the jungle and outward back into

civilization.

Throughout the film Nausicaa and the human clans struggle to make sense of the

jungle in much the same way people wrestle with the unconscious both collectively and

individually. Nausicaas relationship with the Toxic Jungle affects her engagement with

her outer world: she envelopes it, learns from it and realizes the fertile promise this realm

presents. While other humans burn it down and attack the powerful creatures that live in

the shadows, Nausicaas instincts determine that there is more to the jungle than
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seemingly poisonous spores and devouring giant insects. Again, it is her refusal to view

the jungle as the toxic alius that saves humanity. It is her quest to be within the

unconscious while also preserving mindfulness, that singles Nausicaa out from others. In

the desperation to reverse her fathers terminal condition, she employs scientific inquiry

and creates a greenhouse to study the so-called poisonous spores by nourishing them with

clean water and healthy soil. Nausicaa discovers that the Toxic Jungle is a complex filter

that removes toxins from the atmospherenot the monstrous forest of death that humans

misunderstood it to be.

In Nausicaa, the princess rapidly falls into her unconscious memory of the psychic

wound that she experienced as a very small girl while trying to save an ohmu insect baby

from human clutches. The crucial reveal in this scene is that it was her father who scolded

Nausicaa for trying to save the insect. As she is affectionately playing with the baby, her

father appears on horseback flanked by his male soldiers and insists Nausicaa show him

what she is hiding. Here we see how Miyazakis storytelling empathizes with the

disempowerment children feel when their actions are rendered invalid by a judgmental

parent.

Miyazaki draws the scene from the visual perspective of a child: as Nausicaa tries to

protect the baby, we see enormous male hands coming at her, inked in contrasting hues of

yellow and brown, threatening her protective space. The father is on horseback and this

underscores his regality for he is not a member of the people, but an overlord. Not only

did Nausicaa disappoint her father, she incurred the reproach of a royal in the company of

his subjects. One takes something important away from this scene: Nausicaa feels deeply

torn between the allegiance to her father, to her fellow humans and her maternal need to

ensure the survival of a parallel life form. Nausicaa fails in her efforts to conceal the baby
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from her father who scolds her: Nausicaa you know that insects and humans cannot live

together and the young princess collapses into sobs and cries to her father, as he strides

away: Please dont hurt it! The king roughly holds the baby by the scruff of the neck

away from his body, as if the lowly bug would contaminate him. Of course, we are left

with the tragic reality that her father most likely did kill the baby. Nausicaa feels that she

failed this baby creature with whom she had developed a kinship. This loss constellates a

powerful array of emotions in a child: mourning, failure, shame, humiliation as well as

powerlessness and defeat. In the climax of the film, Nausicaa sacrifices her own life to

save an adolescent ohmu and in so doing, she restores humanity as well. This empathic

ethic stayed with Nausicaa throughout childhood and into her adolescence. In

commenting on the production of this baby ohmu scene, Miyazaki admires the work of

Studio Ghibli animator Makiko Futaki who seems to embody Nausicaas ethic:

[She]. . .is a strange person who often picks up wounded birds and mostly
chicks. Each time she throws aside her work to try to revive them, mostly
to no avail. In Nausicaa. . .Im sure her pain from these experiences
allowed her to render the baby ohmus expression not just visually, but
emotionally. She must have been able to feel the tough shell of the baby
ohmu against Nausicaas body, even its temperature. I think the excellence
in Futaki-sans animation lies in her effort to express not only the visual
but also the tactile effect. [Her] strong caring and keen powers of
observation for creatures other than human. . .make her a valuable asset
(Starting 199).
This painful and honestly depicted episode (drawing from the psychic wounds of an

animators life experience) is paralleled in an interesting juxtaposition at the films

midpoint when her father is murdered by the warring Tolmekien army. Nausicaa erupts in

rage and kills the aggressors after she sees her fathers dead body on the floor of his

bedroom. This vengeful action terrifies Nausicaa and prompts her to cry out in arms of

Lord Yupa: I am afraid of myself. I had no idea that my rage could kill. The killing must

stop. So, instead of the insect infant, King Jihl is killed and Nausicaa is now unable to
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save her father. Not only does Nausicaa painfully regret her actions, she also echoes her

own response to her fathers reign: that the killing of all creatures must stop. When we

meet the king his body is becoming petrified by the toxins that have claimed other human

kingdoms. We kings archaic way of thinking: male superiority, armies and weaponry

however rarely used by Jihl compared to other clansrepresents a fossilized way of

operating in the world.

The God Soldier as Monstrous Atomic Child

The God Soldier is one of the more fascinating, least discussed characters in

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and yet is a militaristic archetype that reflects

Miyazakis pacifist fascination with humans and war. People therefore often ask me,

Miyazaki-san, do you like war? and I respond by asking if they think AIDS researchers

like AIDS (Starting 399). The God Soldiers, thought to be extinct by Nausicaas time,

were impenetrable giant, bio-robot warriors that spewed fire across the earth. As a cruel

irony, they were first created for good, as Miyazaki told e-zine interviewer Ryo Saitani, of

Comic Box, but were reappropriated by anxious oppressors to become mechanical agents

of terror:

When human beings start to lose confidence in what they are doing, they
long to make some kind of agent of righteousness. Humans have decided
that 'intelligence' is something possessed only by humans, and they have
projected their definition of the word on the world at large. But if you look
at a paramecium in the context of its own world, and not the human world,
then even it could be said to be intelligent. Don't you agree? The God
Soldiers were created to be agents of justicethat's why their existence
was so tragic.

We are first introduced to the God Soldiers as a techno-human hybrid species in the

form of a pulsing, gigantic embryo. Kushana wants to mature the embryo rapidly to

defeat all other clans and rule the world. The symbolism of the pulsing fetal egg is

explored later, but first it is worth noting its similarity to atomic warfare. One of
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Kushanas character flaws, as we see toward the end of the film, is impatience. For the

dark mother rushes gestation and launches the God Soldier prematurely which results in

an erratic fire storm. So, instead of the original giants of precision we see in a flashback,

Kushanas child is a colossal melting, uncontrollable mess. Like a raw egg yolk, the soldier

is partially amorphous but it can still unleash enough fire to scald the land. Even so, this

robot warrior is not as effective or powerful as it would have been if Kushana had allowed

the full metamorphosis. In this respect, the God Soldier represents the scope of infantile

rage buried in Kushanas psyche: If we look more closely at this idea psychologically,

the round ball or egg also indicates a dormant self, Von Franz writes It is like an egg, a

mass of possibilities that needs actual conscious life with its tragedies, conflicts, and

solutions to bring the totality into reality (Feminine 22).

The God Soldier, as an archetype of destruction is not yet mature in this dormant

stage, in much the same way that the atomic bombs of the Manhattan Project were

immature, horrific children. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima, August 6th in 1945 was

even named Little Boy (while the one launched against Nagasaki, three days later, was

named the Fat Man). In his book Nuclear Rites: a Weapons Laboratory After the Cold

War, anthropologist Hugh Gusterson documents the culture of the bomb builders: . . . it

goes back to the nuclear age, when scientists as Los Alamos, where the nuclear reactor

was named Lady Godiva, wondered aloud whether the bomb they were about to test

would be a boy or a girl (i.e., a dud). They called the prototype tested in New Mexico

Roberts [Oppenheimers] baby . . . (161-162). When a cable announced to scientists that

the H-bomb test had been successful, the note read: Its a boy. Gusterson further details

how scientists today use such terms as breeder reactors to produce plutonium that does

not occur in earth naturally. After the bomb has been married to the diagnostic canister,
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it couples with the ground. . . (162). He further explains how one scientist referred to

this labor as akin to having a baby and . . . talked about the tense decision at the moment

of the test as being whether to push or not . . . The anthropologist recalls how one

device designer told reported experiencing postpartum depression after his tests.

Gusterson asserts that . . . the gulf between the literal and figurative is great enough that

the metaphor is as dissonant as it is evocative (163). In the aftermath of Hiroshima and

Nagasaki, such dissonance can be understood as an emotional defense mechanism for

researchers forced to study the carnage. However, such dissonance causes a lack of

compassion in scientists that strengthens the bond between ego-attachment and nuclear

weaponry, thereby reinforcing the stranglehold such powerful babies have on the

researchers:

American nuclear scientists did not just create the bomb that made such a
spectacular display of power possible; they also did the follow-up work
that documented, codified, and formalized the effects of the bombing,
distilling those effects into a body of knowledge that was simultaneously
scientific and political. Almost as soon as the bombs had been dropped,
they turned the dead and injured bodies of the Japanese into bodies of data,
converting dismembered, charred, maimed, scarred and atomized humans
into equations. (105)

Gusterson continues in his discourse by pointing out, as Miyazaki illustrates in the

atomic God Soldier characterization, the mythical allusions that the American nuclear

culture uses such as the Polaris and Poseidon missiles. Then, he points out a disturbing

reality But the more striking than the use of explicitly sacred language in American

nuclear weapons cultures is the absence of metaphors of death and the superabundance of

birth metaphors (I61). It is as if the nuclear researchers have attempted to resoul their

work by reversing the nomenclature of destruction with that of creation.

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In Miyazakis film, there are at least two possible ways to view the embryonic,

robotic destructor: one message indicates how immaturity and rashness leads to war, while

the other, suggests how an omnipotent, mature God Soldier would subjugate humankind.

While the atomic bombs destroyed two Japanese citiesa mature nuclear program (allowed

to develop into the Cold War years) could have obliterated most of the world.

The God soldiers are also metaphors of the actual US led firebombing raids against

Tokyo that occurred in spring 1945 preceding the August atomic attacks. As recounted by

one witness, Fusako Sasaki, in the book Whirlwind: the Air Campaign against Japan:

Stacked up corpses were being hauled away on lorries. Everywhere there was the stench

of the dead and smoke. I saw places on the pavement where people had been roasted to

death. At last I comprehended first-hand what an air raid meant (153). In the first

effective fire bombing, the fire consumed so much oxygen that people in the locality who

were not incinerated, literally suffocated. Air and oxygen in general are thematic to

Miyazakis films and especially in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The air has

become poisonous that Yupa and Nausicaa must uses masks to access oxygen in the

atmospheric pollution. When Nausicaa, later in the film, finds the paradisal wellspring and

under-forest, she can breathe freely because the air is clean. She then understands that the

toxic forest is actually refiltering the air and water to heal the earth damaged by human

arrogance and aggression.

The God Soldier like a monstrous, Frankensteinian creation of a patriarchal culture

is the shadow god that symbolizes humanitys quest to control and destroy, recreate and

dominate. Carl Jung lived through two world wars and while fire, in the natural world,

destroys and recreates, the unnatural weaponry of the atomic bomb inspired his lament:

There is no H-bomb in nature (Sabini 21). Gustersons study reveals a shocking lack of
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humility among scientists who likened the power of a nuclear weapon to something as

benign as a vacuum cleaner. Participation in the practices of nuclear weapons design and

testing has led to an experience of technical mastery that provides an internalized

simulation of the reliability of the system of deterrence itself (160). This detachment

leads to pro-atomic orthodoxy and inspired Miyazaki to a controversial ending in his

manga series when Nausicaa orchestrates the destruction of the God Soldier. It is more

psychologically complicated than it sounds and examining this more deeply is helpful.

Nausicaas choice of the God Soldier to destroy the crypt is supported by Ginette Pariss

essay that answers the question of How is Psychology a Mythology? published in

Varieties of Mythic Expression:

Only when a given identity begins to pinch, however, is one provoked to

peer more closely at what its foundation is, only then begins the task of
dismemberment, deconstruction, destruction, and if necessary, to murder
the old myth. In other words, only after having exploded the unbearable
orthodoxies can new identities emerge. (218)

Nausicaa realizes at the end of the series that she herself is also part of the

crumbling, antiquated mythology of war. In destroying the crypt, even when it promises

the restoration of humans in a biological wasteland, she is exploding the old myth of the

repressive, dominator culture. Nausicaa is, in essence resetting the original, natural

balance that humans so violently disrupted. Even though such an action also underscores

the sad reality that in erasing the progenitors, Nausicaa herself will not survive.

A Return to Darkness from the Light

It is metaphorically instructive to take a short detour and turn to the original 1818

science fiction novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein to draw parallels

between the two stories. Frankensteins monstrous son of the 19th century and the God
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Soldier robot of Nausicaas futuristic world parallel the paradoxical relationship between

life and death, and scientific experimentations impact on the organic world.

Born to Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of The Vindication of the Rights of Woman,

published in 1792, Shelley grew up in the shadow of a woman who had challenged

societal norms as they related to womens liberties, opportunities and rights. Would men

but generously snap our chains, and be content with rational fellowship instead of slavish

obedience, they would find us more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more

faithful wives, more reasonable mothersin a word, better citizens (288). It is a message

not unlike Miyazakis views of his heroines who are better citizens within the realms of

their communities due to their intelligence, sensitivity, compassion and strength. Two

weeks after young Mary was born, her mother died of infection and Shelleys father,

Godwin, then raised his daughter around poets and artists. He taught her to read by first

learning to trace her mothers name as inscribed on her tombstone . . . learning her first

four letters on her mothers tombstone granted premature knowledge of the contingencies

of living . . . so that Shelleys first experiences in literacy were imprinted upon maternal

death (Carson 246). It was through Godwin that she met poet Percy Shelley and would

later become part of an inner circle that included Lord Byron. Mary Wollstonecraft

Shelley was fascinated with galvanism or the reanimation of dead creatures. But,

Nausicaas story also reminds us of what happens when the organic interrelated stands of

the web of life are surgically altered, pulling one thread from the web, collapses the entire

structure.

In his book, Frankensteins Children, Iwan Rhys Morus, resurrects excerpts from an

1803 medical journal that details a galvanistic demonstration for Scottish medical men.

The journal recounts how a dead criminals convulsive motor functions were reanimated
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through electrical manipulation in which one eye was actually opened. When the

supraorbital nerve on the forehead was exposed and electrified, a range of emotions were

physically evident when facial muscles were animated: . . . rage, horror, despair,

anguish, and ghastly smiles, united their hideous expression in the murderers face. . .

[At] this period several of the spectators were forced to leave the apartment from terror or

sickness, and one gentleman fainted (129). Compare this grisly scene to Shelleys

original 1818 text: I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a

convulsive motion agitated its limbs. As Morus reflects in his book The laboratory

where the galvanic fluid flowed to make the Creature was an isolated and dangerous

place outside of society. It was a space that others could not (and would not wish to) enter

and from which Frankenstein himself emerged only on furtive midnight raids of

graveyards and charnel houses. The Creature, as a product of that secluded space,

emerged from the laboratory with a disastrous impact (4).

The God Soldier in Nausicaas story is a similar creation that developed outside of

nature and one that, like Shelleys nightmarish creature was designed for good but

became a monstrous manifestation of human darkness. Miyazakis God Soldier is also a

cautionary creature that symbolizes the extent to which arrogant tampering with natural

laws that govern life and death, put the whole of the earth in jeopardy.

Yet, if death holds humans back from mastery of all of creation, its presence also

frees the soul. Nausicaas self-sacrifice reflects an engagement with bodily death that

relinquishes ego to connect with the earths soul. Hillman reminds us that souls

metaphorical nature has a suicidal necessity, and underworld affiliation, a morbism, a

destinydifferent from day world claimswhich makes the psyche fundamentally unable

to submit to the hubris of an egocentric notion of subjectivity as achievement. . .

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(Archetypal 31). Hillman goes on to explain how such a death-dealing move . . . re-

awakens consciousness to a sense of soul . . . so that Nausicaas anima essence becomes

one with the outside world.

At the liminal threshold between breath and death, the Ohmu are metaphoric of the

chthonic realms deep within the earth. When they extend their sensitive antennae to sense

Nausicaas soul, they realize that she has been the savior all along. In doing so, the insects

immediately resurrect Nausicaas body. The Japanese death culture considers the human

soul to be a reikon that enters a holding place to await proper funerary rites so the reikon

can become liberated to ascend to ancestors. Then, the reikon assumes the role of

protector for all living descendants. If the person lived an impure life in which negative

emotions such as revenge and rage; sorrow and jealousy controlled or precipitated the

death then the reikon transforms into a restless ghost or yurei and is burdened by the

physical world (Stone). The yurei can only find peace if the missing rituals are performed

or if the emotional conflict that torments the ghost can be resolved. One major rite

performed by Shinto priests that distinguishes the belief system from Buddhist customs is

the kuzen in which food is offered to the deceased. This is not done in Buddhist funerals

where relinquishing bodily ties are the immediate goal of the mourners. Animals often

serve the spiritual ascent as originally recorded in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki, particularly

the flight of the divine pheasant Nakime (discussed in Chapter 4). I n Kojiki, funerary

rites are performed for the deity Ame-No-Wakahiko who was killed by the sky god

Takami-Musubis arrow that pierced the space between earth and the heavens.

There are two possible ways to further understand this tale within the aura of

Japanese cultural traditions. The first is that the arrow pierced the liminal boundary

between spirit and earth that was not to be punctured by earthen dwellers. In killing the
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pheasant (a familiar of Amerterasu) it signaled to the kami that Ame-No-Wakahiko had

chosen ego attachment over his loyalty to the greater good. When the heavenly Takami-

Musubi threw the arrow back down to earth and killed Ame-No-Wakahiko, the arrow

punctured the inflated ego that Ame-No-Wakahiko had demonstrated by refusing to

prepare the earth for the Heavenly Grandson. In Japanese mythos, only an arrogant,

selfish god would put his own desires above the needs of the cosmos.

From a Shinto standpoint, the myth underscores how humans can become

overwhelmingly enmeshed in egoism, at the expense of the collective soul. Considering

the Western understanding of spiritedness we can understand how spirit can be negative,

positive or represent dynamics that exist between, around, above and throughout the two.

Spirit constellates as soul releases. Soul is richening, significant and meaningful and at the

end of all things, it is in death more than life. Soul grows down and spirit soars. If we

envision a tree, we see how the tree grows down through the roots and grows up to reach

higher to touch the heavens with branches. This is the iconographic metaphor that

Miyazaki imagines for us when Nausicaa falls into the quicksand and grows down into

her unconsciousness that, not surprisingly, brings her into a oneness with the earth,

desperately trying to heal her. In a similar sense, Nausicaa as consciousness and the earth

as unconsciousness, they individuate together. In this scene, Nausicaa literally falls into

earth and she swallows her up, reclaiming her into the chthonic realm of the font of life.

Gun Control in Japan and the Shadow of American Violence

In James Hillmans The Terrible Love of War, he isolates an interesting case of gun

control in Japans history between the years 1543 and 1879 as detailed in Noel Perrins

Giving Up the Gun. It points to the cultural contempt for guns rooted in Japanese

aesthetics that Hillman saw as an example for Americans: We can learn, however, that
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progress in weaponry is not irreversible, and that the weapons we invent may negatively

affect the men who employ them and not only those devastated by them (166). Hillman

emphasizes that outsiders introduced guns to the Japanese in 1543: . . . by three

Portuguese freebooters who shot a duck. A local lord bought the guns and took lessons in

handling and firing the weapons. Within six years, some 500 copies had been ordered . . .

and guns were eventually used in battle by 1575 (160-161). Within a short period of

time, Perrins study shows, the Japanese began to see that guns stirred cultural distaste for

a variety of reasons that Hillman summarizes here:

First, the skill of engagement moved away from the soldier to the
manufacturer, and from the soldier to his commander. . . [The] weapon and
reliance on weaponry dominate the thought and action of war. Before the
gun, people often paired off in close individual struggle and stories
emerged from the battle nourishing the myths of folk heroes. But guns
made fighters all equal. So, equality is a second reason. Suddenly, the gun
elevated a lowly peasant equal to his noble lord. Third, Japan had no
external gun enemies and so they had no need of coastal batteries or
battlefields with artillery as in Europe. Fourth, guns came into Japan from
foreigners and were tarnished by Japanese xenophobia. They were an
outside idea and one associated in Japan particularly with Western
missions and Western business, activating an archetypal feeling of dislike
between merchant and warrior psyches. (162-163)

A close reading of Perrins book details the aesthetics the elite Samurai historically

attached to the sword: For a thousand years, Japanese men of the upper class wore no

signet rings engraved with their coats of arms . . . no jewels, no Order of the Golden

Fleece, no military decorations, no gold epaulets. All that was concentrated into the

beautifully worked handles and guards of the swords they fought with (36). Guns were

not simply dishonorable or devoid of soulful identity, they also required crass and

uncomfortable postures that the Japanese simply could not accept: kneeling, spreading

legs apart and other stances required to steady the weapon. As Hillman reflected: It is

more important for a person to maintain the aesthetic principles that hold the internal
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strength of the bodys force in harmonious balance by posture, place of hands, elbows and

legs than to lose this for the practicality of guns (Terrible 164). Perrin states flatly: And

not only did the Japanese not want to use guns, as the centuries went by they came to

dislike even seeing them (72). Guns then disappeared from the Japanese culture as the

ruling classes and populace turned their backs on them and because the government did

not allow such manufacturing to fall into independent hands as Hillman reveals: The

governments centralized monopoly on firearms and explosives made control of weapon

simpler, so that when the governing power no longer ordered guns, there was no demand

for them and the gunsmiths began making swords again (165).

However, it was involvement with the United States that eventually inspired Japan

to rearm when Commodore Perry sailed there in 1853. Perry encouraged the Japanese to

set up naval guns to protect their shorelines after striking an alliance with the commodore

and the Tokugawa shogunate, through the Convention of Kanagawa. This treaty opened

up trade ports to the United States and established safe havens for marooned American

sailors. Perry in typical American fashion paraded a show of force first and then coerced

the Japanese into negotiation by lining up his ships near the capital of Edo (now Tokyo)

and positioning guns toward the shore without retreat. Perry then attempted to intimidate

the Japanese by presenting them with a white flag of truce and letter that warned that any

defensive action would be met by crushing defeat. Hence, fortifications were built in

Tokyo Bay to protect Edo from American invasion and this literally, triggered Japans

rearmament. Upon his second visit, Perry arrived with twice as many ships and demands

from President Millard Fillmore that eventually represented the textual agreement of the

treaty. Perrys reach over Japan reemerged after World War II when General Douglas
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MacArthur, a descendant of Perrys, ruled Japan and supervised in the rewriting of the

Constitution of Japan.

It is against this complicated history of military aggression between the US and

Japan that Miyazakis work resonates. When Kushanas army invades Nausicaas village,

they assassinate her father by gunfire. Nausicaas honor and self-identity is more aligned

with the old ways of the sword that she also casts aside to stop the killing. It is notable

that Nausicaa does not use a gun in return, but a sword and that difference places

Kushana as character representing Western aggression.

Japans reluctance to adopt the American gun fixations continues into todays

society where gun control is pervasive. American journalist Jake Edelstein who spent a

number of years investigating organized crime in Japan, reports in the Japan Times: Its

almost impossible to get to a gun in Japan, and selling one or owning one is a serious

crime. Fire the gun? Possibly, life imprisonment. Gun-control laws are taken so seriously

that police will pursue a violator all the way to the grave and maybe beyond.

Edelstein cites at least one case of a police officer who eventually committed suicide by

handgun and was charged posthumously that both shamed his surviving family members

and reinforced the message to the greater public, that breaking firearm laws is such an

excessive criminal act that even death does not render one innocent.

Edelstein points out that no civilian is allowed to own a gun and that small arm

possession was banned in 1965. Japan allows for hunting rifles but the restrictions are

unwavering and hunters are regularly tested on gun efficiency and safety, neighbors are

often interviewed to make sure hunters are using shotguns responsibly. Edelstein quotes a

former undercover vice detective in Japan who required anonymity: The fewer guns that

are out there, the safer Japan is. Thats how we look at it. In the article, the journalist
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explains that gun deaths are in sharp decline, as a result. In 2002, there were 158

shootings in Japan and 24 deaths. Last year [2012] there were 45 shootings and eight

deaths. . .33 [of the shootings] were yazuka-related [gangsters]. Even so, Edelstein

explains that gangsters are rejecting gun use because an organized crime soldier will face

an average seven-year prison term for possession alone and that simply firing a gun

carries a penalty of between three years to life imprisonment. Edelstein further reported

that a mid-level gangster told him in an interview that Having a gun now is like having a

time bomb. Do you think any sane person wants to keep one around the house?

Compare the small statistics of gun deaths in Japan to the phenomenal amount of

gun related killings that transpire on American soil where guns are constitutionally

protected and firearm ownership is among the highest in the world. The Center for

Disease Control, CDC, maintains statistics on firearm deaths in America. In the report

Firearm Deaths and Death Rates, 1999-2010 the agency estimates 364,483 people were

killed by guns and especially disturbing is the amount of firearm deaths among youth (1).

The CDC cites firearm deaths and death rates among children between one and 14 years

of age at 4,698 and of those, some 2,851 are listed as firearm homicides and homicide

rates among children (3-4). Of those deaths among American kids the CDC analyzes the

data to show that 916 of the gun deaths were suicides (5). Additional numbers point to the

careless deaths of mishandling firearms as well with the CDC tallying the amount of

unintentional deaths at 785 children (6). However, the number of kids killed by guns in

the United States rises dramatically in the demographics of adolescents in America:

firearm deaths and rates among teens between the ages of 15 and 19 (including legal

intervention) are listed as 30, 940 in the same 11 year period between 1999 and 2010 (7).

Equally troubling are the statistics the CDC tracked in that same time frame in which legal
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intervention was excluded: 30, 668 teens were killed, approximately 272 more gun related

deaths occurred in situations in which law enforcement was involved (8).

According to in-depth tracking of gun ownership statistics in America, Gallup

reports that personal gun ownership is on the rise despite the national outcry against

firearm deaths. Gallup reports that 47% of American adults say they have a gun on their

property with more men than women owning firearms: 52% versus 43%. Yet gun

ownership among women has risen by at least seven percent since 2002. Gallup contends

that: one in three American citizens, owns a firearm in the home. The percentage of

college graduates who own guns in the United States is estimated to be 29% while those

citizens who have never attended college claim higher ownership at 40%. The

Washington Post reports in their 2012 article: How the US Gun Industry Became So

Lucrative that the estimated revenue generated by the gun and ammunition industry is at

. . . $11.7 billion dollars in sales annually and $993 million in profits while gun makers

produced nearly six million firearms in 2011 (Plumer).

In referencing an undercover investigation by New York City public officials, 62%

of private gun sellers agreed to sell a firearm to a buyer who could not pass a background

check. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that in 2011, guns in the United States

killed at least 8,583 people. Since the Newtown, Connecticut gun massacre of 26 children

and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, the Huffington Post reported

that at least 3,835 people were killed on US soil within a mere six-month period.

Hillmans study of gun violence and war prompts him to explain, archetypally, that

this reflects an America firmly in the grip of the mythic realm of Mars, the Roman god of

war, engendering in the psyche an insane red fury in a field of action that reveals an

America rife with anxieties. Since god is in the gun, the passionate love for
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these weapons may express less a love of violence than a magical protection against it.

Handguna fetish or amulet to hold at bay the fear of injury or death, the passivity inertia,

and, in ordinary civilian life, to have in ones hands a charm against the paranoid anxieties

that haunt the American psyche (127).

Kathleen Barry, at Penn State University, speaks of how men in the United States

have been brought up in such a violent, militaristic culture that boys believe they are born

to be expendable and while street, domestic and criminal gun violence may be separate

from the government sanctioned bloodshed on battlefields, it amounts to that similar,

cyclical pattern of victor and victim (Unmaking War 12-13). In their parenting education

book, Whos Calling the Shots? Nancy Carolsson-Paige and Diane Levin point to the

media culture of escalating gun violence and the damage to the development of children.

Many report that their children become obsessed with war play and toys
that the cartoon heroes are on their minds constantly, as are ideas about
what toy to get next. Many parents say their childrens play seems to copy
television shows and is very violent. They often worry that the violence is
spilling out beyond the fantasy play into other situations. (16)

If we consider the violence perpetuated through video games, television and film

one can see an interesting psychological parallel to mythic role-play that adults undertake.

Divergent Heroines in Dystopian Worlds: Katniss and Nausicaa

It is useful to compare the popular young adult series The Hunger Games and

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, due to the unique similarities and disparities of the

heroines. The Hunger Games heroine is Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who is

deeply devoted to her little sister Primrose (Willow Shields). The Hunger Games film

depicts a dystopian society, Panem, a highly advanced media-centric culture where

spectacle and exploitive entertainment are used as both a political carrot and stick. The

carrots are food tokens and the stick is the cost of those carrots: for each token, a child or
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adolescents name must be entered into a lottery for the annual games. As a gladiator sport

that resembles todays popular television show, Survivorthe stakes are raised to death.

The adolescents must fight to the death in a forested thunder dome, artificially created and

controlled by a large studio control room of advanced computerized technology. This

virtual reality includes such obstacles as swift, predatory animatronic beasts that resemble

descriptions of hellhounds that drive Katniss and her district ally Peeta (Josh Hutcherson),

to climb atop a hovercraft to survive. These hounds are controlled in the large studio and

they claimed another tribute from a neighboring district after Katniss shot him with an

arrow to save Peeta.

As a sharp contrast to the technological oligarchy, the Collins heroine is named

after a real, flowering herb as her sister is named after a flower and their mother is a

depressed herbalist and healer. These are women of Mother Nature pitted against Men of

Technology. The opulent, decadent, ruling classes are governed by the ruthless President

Snow, a white haired, bearded, Zeus archetype that suppresses the districts by all means

possible. Sitting in his paradisal haven in the Capitol, above all the mortal citizens, it is

tantamount to Zeus on Olympus. Snow chillingly tells the game maker (Wes Bentley) the

reason the Capitol chose to stage the hunger games as opposed to outright execution of the

rebels after the war, is that hope is more powerful than fear and the hope of survival is

manipulated by the state as a means of containment. Mythologically, the annual tributes

are akin to the fertility sacrifices of old Greco-Roman cults. Food is directly tied to

sacrifice. For every token of food a family requests, the names of the adolescents from

that family are placed in the lottery, one token for one adolescent name to be offered as a

tribute to the elite. Controlled by media spectacle television, the underclasses mirror

Dust Bowl era farmers who can barely survive and food is the commodity controlled by
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the government to keep the rabble in line. Beleaguered, weather worn faces are shown

against a backdrop blanched, rotting wood homes. Children dig in the mud with their

hands for vegetables while the lush forests with their natural resources and wild game are

fenced off by the state. Miners produce coal for the ruling class and factory labor creates

goods for the super rich. Like Nausicaas bleak post-atomic wasteland, Katniss lives in a

world in which food is scarce and the earth feels barren. So, while Nausicaas clan is

confined to a fertile valley that is coveted by invading clans searching for a healthy piece

of earth and sustainable foodKatniss family and community are confined to the

wasteland itself.

Both young women are trapped by imbalanced, industrialized rule in an embittered,

class oppressive, violent and autocratic society. For Katniss, survival is a daily struggle as

starvation is a gritty, harsh reality. Both Nausicaa and Katniss seem only at home in the

natural world, but they engage with their environments very differently. Partially, this is

due to Katniss drive to survive under an oppressive political regime while Nausicaas

village is self-sustaining through farming. This forces Katniss to hunt (especially in

forbidden areas, monitored by hovercraft law enforcers) to feed her family.

Ironically, we get the sense that Katniss herself, despite the closeness of her name to

a feline, has an uneasy alliance with their family cat, named Buttercup. At the very outset

of the film, their first interaction is unpleasant, when Buttercup hisses at Katniss and she

responds Ill still cook you. As von Franz reminds us in her study of cats in fairy tales,

that such images are . . archetypes of the feminine that is rising in the collective

unconscious . . . [The] important thing is that this feminine image wants to come up (Cat

45). Yet, we see in Katniss, a rejection of that anima consciousness and as such, her life

continues to reflect the dystopian autocracy of the patriarchal regime. Contrast that scene
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with Nausicaas response to the fox squirrels bite in which she refuses to react harshly to

the creature. She soothes the animal and correctly senses he only bites out of fear so by

taking the time to gently earn his trust, Nausicaa makes a new lifelong friend.

When Katniss arrow misses a deer, because Gale intrudes and distracts her, she is

frustrated that he interfered with her hunting. As recompense, Gale stirs a pheasant flock,

one of which is deftly pierced by Katniss through her archery skillsand then they both

laugh, far from the reverent, idealized hunter who respects that animal that is hunted.

Compare that callousness to Nausicaa who went to great lengths, as a much younger child

to hide a baby ohmu from her father and his elite guard. These girls are both concealers in

the shadow of overbearing authority. Nausicaa tries to hide a baby ohmu beetle by

cradling it in her arms and forming herself nearly into a ball to protect this young life.

Katniss hides a bow (hewn by her father) and willingly uses arrows to destroy other forms

life.

These are two uniquely envisioned heroines in post-modern and feminist

sensibilities that work to heal themselves and their communities. Katniss resents her mother

who fell into such a deep depression when her father was killed in a mining explosion,

that Katniss had to bear the responsibility for the family. Like Nausicaa, Katniss carries

profound, even crushing responsibility for an adolescent girl. Katniss is the defacto

mother of the family and like Nausicaa, she also carries maternal scars. The mom of

Katniss and Prim is dysfunctional and absent, while Nausicaas mother is dead. Nausicaa

carries matriarchal consciousness differently than Katniss, for she compassionately works

against a violent, barbaric society, while Katniss works within it. They both grieve over

their fathers who are either dead or distantly ailing and yet these heroines heal themselves

in quite dissimilar ways. Unlike Nausicaa who learned the terrible costs of killing others
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and vowed never to kill again, Katniss survives in the kill or be killed dystopian society

with her bow and arrow.

Nausicaa willingly chose to be killed and sacrificed her own life to model the

overarching necessity to stop the killing of others. While Katniss did volunteer to sacrifice

herself, if necessary, to save her sister, she is still a heroine who endures through

violence. Nausicaa is reborn by refusing to engage in it. While Nausicaa clearly forgives

Kushana for killing her father, Katniss tries to forgive her mother, but then reveals Im

not the forgiving type (8).

The Hunger Games is thoroughly locked in the Western ego and is unyielding in its

refusal to identify shadow aspects of the heroines interiority, which by extension, is

metaphoric of the problems that plague their societies. A culture in which kids hunt other

kids reflects a homicidal society unwilling to engage with the inner work necessary to

unlock the unconscious without unleashing the darkness that inflicts pain onto others.

Demaris Wehr mentions the way in which Jung . . . criticizes Western, rational,

technological society in his theory of the individuation process and definition of neurosis.

For example, he observed that socialization in Western society forces almost everyone

into extraversion (59). Wehr further explains that such a force removes the introversion

that is a natural personality trait in many people and that This is one of the possible

causes of neurosisbeing shaped by societys predilections into a person one is not.

In Gathering the Light: a Jungian View of Meditation, Walter Odajnyk cautions that

there are such deep socio-religious differences between Eastern and Western cultures that

Eastern meditative practices may not be effective in Western societies and in some cases,

create a more intense division between the conscious and unconscious. The relative

concern is one of psychic maturity and immaturity compelled by a blocked unconscious.

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In particular, Odajnyk isolates the ways in which Christian ideals repress natural, human

instinct that resulted, according to Jung in a . . .religious practice and morality that were

often violent and reflected self-loathing which Jung, in particular experienced with

patients in his psychotherapeutic role (105). The problem is that repressed elements do

not develop, Odajnyk asserts but vegetate in the unconscious in their original form, or

become unnaturally discharged and distorted.

In quoting Jung, Odajnyk highlights the Faustian split that continues to create

fissions amid the Western collective unconscious that Jung believed represented a

Germanic man still loaded with contents that must first be made conscious before he can

be free of them (CW 11; 825). The danger, of course, is that in peering more profoundly

into the unconscious before the necessary psychological work is undertaken, such a

collective psyche is not yet ready for a healthy birth. In some cases, delving more acutely

into the unconscious enhances receptivity and sensitivity, but also because it builds up

psychic energy that then can activate the drives and complexes which can cause Western

practitioners to get stuck in primary, psychodynamics (110).

Odajnyk explains that Eastern spiritual insights and practices developed across

cultural traditions that are four or five thousand years old. Zen presupposes a cultivated

ego on the part of the practitioner. In psychotherapy, one must often first help a person

develop a conscious ego before he or she can even think of abolishing egohood (109).

Odajnyk underscores several factors in Western attitude that preclude the blind adoption

of Eastern spiritual practices and among them: Over the centuries, they have developed a

science of consciousness and defined certain basic laws and truths of psychic life. We, by

contrast, have turned our attention to the external aspects of existence and developed a

science that defines the laws and truths of nature. Easterners tend to view the external
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world as illusory forms of maya. Westerners tend to dismiss all manifestations of the

inner world as illusions and fantasies (113).

Like Ginette Paris, Susan Rowland suggests that the only remedy is to change the

myth: So a myth of apocalypse needs to be re-framed as a myth of self-creation . . .

(Jung 148). Reinforcing Miyazakis hellish depiction of nuclear weapons, Rowland

reminds us that Hell must be faced, endured and visited as an underworld and the

psyche sends us to the depths to visit and experience it. Hell may be a spatial term: hell

as a place. It may be a period of time. Or it may be death, and the fear of death. All modes

of hell have to be in-corporated into the psyche (168). Rowland concludes her section

about hell as the night sea journey of the psyche by advising integration: We should

imaginatively incarnate those infernal regions in order to stop hurting ourselves by

harming nature. Nausicaa serves a transcendent function as a powerful archetype that

transcends warring forces and reconciles them. In facing and enduring death by

sacrificing her own life, Nausicaa reframes the mythic storyline to one of self-creation that

stops the harm inflicted upon all other life forms. Through the enactment of a revised

myth, Nausicaa transforms a dystopian horror story into a new chapter of utopian hope.

Nausicaas Hard Choice in the Last Installment of the Manga Series

A very poignant struggle for Nausicaa is illustrated in the final installment of the

manga series; it is the assumption of her role as mother to the God Soldier. Here, the

graphic novelization deals more broadly with Nausicaas struggle to work with this

machine of destruction, while at the same time, trying to manage her own emotional

attachment to and detachment from, this deadly unnatural child. Early in the final

volume, the God Soldier (whom has imprinted on Nausicaa as his mother) asks her

Where is Mamas enemy? I want to fight for you, Mama. Nausicaa tells him that she
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does not have enemies and he complains Mamas enemies are not here. I cant kill here

and Nausicaa thinks that he is like a frustrated child whos had his toy taken away and

yet the giant robot is defiant Where are mamas enemies? I dont like it here. Soon,

Nausicaa repeats the mantra that Miyazaki reflects in his films If you divide the whole

world into just enemies and friends, youll end up destroying everything.

Here is where Nausicaas actions and the overt and covert storylines reach an apex.

In the film, it is when Nausicaa is resurrected by the Ohmu (which runs parallel to the

manga series up to the second volume), while in the manga series the culmination of the

extensive storyline (over seven volumes and thirteen years) she is the mother who orders

the unnatural child warrior to destroy the creation of his fathers. The old dominator order

cannot be the one that frames the future, because it has become the extreme, unnatural

master of the natural balance and in so doing, that balance was destroyed.

Psychologically, if we equate the God Soldier embryo in the Nausicaa film as an

immature psychic child that operates not from mindfulness, but rather an unconscious set

of pre-programmed impulses revealing an especially destructive DNA, we see a ball, an

egg, a self that is underdeveloped and as such, unable to mature. . . .it is sheer poison to

suppress his nature which is warped enough as it is, and to make of it a willing robot. . .

said Jung. As a European, I cannot wish the European more control and more power

over nature within and around us (Sabini 108). Jungs words resonate in Miyazakis

archetypal biorobot where Western nightmare of dominion over nature is haunting.

The God Soldier as a premature weapon operates on violence and, as his

unconscious self is stunted by his gargantuan, physical development the bioweapon

develops a consciousness of self-loathing poignantly recognized in the manga series.

Ohma wants to know the answer to bigger questions, such as his role in the world and he
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is, like all children, questioning his own destiny. We sense in this twisted monster that

did not ask to be born, a nearly heartbreaking compulsion to be validated by Nausicaa.

If one imagines for a moment, the anthropomorphic idea that the atomic bombs

dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima could develop their own consciousness as energy

sources, wouldnt they also wonder why they were made? Would they question their role

amongst other machines also engineered by humans? Wouldnt they manifest as tragic

distortions of the stunted, unrealized human psyche, wandering the earth, desperate to

express their own sense of self but crippled by their own programming? The poor

creature wants to please his mother but the only way the God Soldiers programming can

possibly substantiate existence is through annihilation. Like the toddler who wants to

show his mother how high he can jump, the soldier wants to impress mama, to earn her

respect and ultimately her love. Miyazaki personifies nuclear weapons in the Nausicaa

graphic storylines, to help us revision these self-destructive, twisted children as

sympathetic, confused beings who are crying out alone in the darkness. In the case of

Ohma the monstrous child, we realize that nuclear weapons are, tragically distorted and

twisted children of this solar systems most powerful energies.

When scientists assumed their role as parent of this unwanted baby of the Earth

and Sun, the end product is a motherless child, rejected and orphaned that eventually,

unleashes rage upon all living beings. Such a baby does not even resemble the organic,

cyclic nature of the living, dying and regenerating agent of a complex planet.

From the perspective of Shinto, the God Soldier is a baby of impurity, of imbalance

and a tragic harbinger of what is created when tyrannical energies create powerlessness

even among the most omnipotent. Nausicaas final action as Ohmas imprinted mother

causes her to break down and cry at her act of mercy killing. As Ohma, the giant
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bioweapon, the post-modern Prometheus melts into oblivion, his last words are: Mother

dont cry . . . (216). In this moment we are reminded of Frankensteins monstrous child

who, set upon an iceberg, metaphorically haunts humankind to this day through global

warming. There he remains, the soulless fire of hubris, where we cannot help but imagine

the rising oceans as the flooding, saltwater tears of Mother Earth, who like Nausicaa, is

also crying.
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Chapter 6.

Conclusions: Anima Rich Heroines and Post-Patriarchal Consciousness

The focus on integration and the resulting awareness of

interdependence is necessary for each one of us at this time, as we
work together to preserve the balance of life on earth (Murdock 12).

In Murdocks journey of the heroine, the dual nature of divinity is held within the

circle of living as opposed to the linear, patriarchal model: The task of todays heroine,

writes Murdock, . . . is to mine the silver and gold within herself (184). Building upon

Murdocks vision of a melding of the precious psychic aspects of the heroine, I argue that

archetypal psychology works for the Miyazaki heroines as they negotiate the new terrain

(both emotionally and physically) that unfolds within them. What separates a Miyazaki

heroine from standard Hollywood, Western fare (both in live action films and animated

ones) is that the anima is alive and richly working within the psyche of the character. A

non-anima heroine is one that is disabled and disempowered or warlike and rapacious so

that she is either passive or combative throughout the storyline.

Taken together, the five Miyazaki films analyzed, illustrate how the androcentric

ego, astride the world like a colossus, has helped to create a world burdened by gender

division, militarism and overall collective dysfunction. Looking at the Americanized,

global culture we see similarities that parallel the landscape of the psycheas barren as

Nausicaas ailing dystopia, as empty as the abandoned theme park in Spirited Away, and

as ashen as the ravaged mountainsides in Princess Mononoke.

The Miyazaki heroine welds the bipolarity that exists, primarily, in the mind of the

ego when it refuses to see beyond conflict and attachments: we see with both Sophie and

Chihiro, a model of the anima that heals soul disconnection and psychic fissures within
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their communities. Birth and death, as well as peace and war, are issues that are brought

into sharp relief by Nausicaa and Mononoke who work to offset the devastation exacted

against the earth and her creatures. Even the cheerful forest kami, Totoro, carries the

promise of regeneration for Satsuki and Mei who worry for their mothers safe return.

The most profound separation that the Miyazaki anima rich heroine strives to breach

is that integration between the conscious and unconscious that separates our darkness

from our light. Without her ability to bridge the two psychic functions, the heroine is

more likely to model dysfunction for audience members. In projecting complexes upon

others we see how the cult of blame causes negative implications for others, such as:

violence in the home, socio-political polarization and dodge-ball foreign policies in the

larger, global collective. The Miyazaki sensibility is not to divide aspects of the self into

the adolescent spectrum of good versus evil that Americans are wedded to in their quest

for control. As David Mamet writes in his book The Secret Knowledge: on the

Dismantling of American Culture: The bifurcation of Humanity . . . into two identifiable

camps, Evil and Good, is, essentially, a childish act; the notion that one may gain merit

from this division, and that the merit makes one superior of the unenlightened, is the act of

an adolescent (86).

Through their own maturation journeys, the heroines examined in the Miyazaki

films demonstrate a communal shift of refusal to set blame on the antagonists, a departure

from most Disney films. He but chooses instead, to bring the shadow out of the

unconscious and into consciousness, thus realizing the common thread that fabricates the

human condition. In this way, Miyazaki is also a human being who operates from the

unconsciousness as an anima figure in his own right.

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In Miyazakis earliest films, such as we witness in Nausicaa and Totoro, the

struggle seems more externalized and the heroines work to integrate forces that exist

outside themselves. But the later films illuminate a deeper, more internal struggle that

these heroines undertake in a profound way. In Princess Mononoke, it is clear from the

beginning that although Ashitaka must take an outward journey, his real progress must be

internal. It is his deep rage and primal violence that has condemned the warrior to a path

of no return that sets him on a journey to a new world, leaving his village behind. He

assumes the quest of enlightenment and Mononoke helps him to see through eyes

unclouded by hate and Ashitaka helps the wolf princess to understand that humans are

not her enemy but beings in need of learning a better way.

These Miyazaki heroines are counterpoints who serve as fresh role models for a new

generations of independent, smart and strong girls. In a dominator prone society, girls

often suffer from distortions of their inner portrait of self that is equally obscured by

confusing, objectifying images projected against their psyches. In an America where the

conquering hero is a manifest king, a girls psyche is littered by male idolatry that, either

externally conscious or internally cast to the shadows, festers and undermines her self-

esteem.

When the Smithsonian Institute did a survey of statuary and monuments by gender

identification across America in 2011, less than eight percent represented women and of

the 44 publically managed memorials, none of them are exclusive representatives of

womens individual contributions. Of the 5,193 public outdoor sculptures of individuals in

the United States, only 394 were of women as Erika Doss points out in her book,

Memorial Mania: Public Feeling in America: Thousands of war memorials erected in the

late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries paid tribute to Americas soldier dead and
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reified a national ideology of militarism and masculinity (24). Doss further explains that

such idolatry play a vital role in championing collective, national ideals which serves to

frame cultural narratives about self-identity and national purpose (59). WIRED

magazine reported recently on a study by Cornell University researchers that emphasizes

and illustrates such social disparity. According to the article, women repeatedly talk

down their achievements and undervalue themselves when working in a successful group

alongside men, rather than take the due credit and recognition, the womans assumption is

that kudos is due to the male team members (Clark). The study points to this social

reflex: women deserving of hard earned credit and/or promotion, and who assert their

positions are often met with a backlash of self-serving. While their male counterparts take

credit and promotion with ease, expectation and entitlement. The article quotes Michelle

Haynes and Madeline Heilman who conducted the study and found that:

Not only must women contend with the negative views others hold of their
competence in traditionally male domains, but they also have to contend
with their own negative self-views. The lack of credit women take for
successful joint outcomes is likely to affect their competence in
traditionally male domains, they also have to contend with their own
negative self-views. The lack of credit women take for successful joint
outcomes is likely to affect their sense of confidence and self-esteem,
which, in turn, can influence the degree to which they actively seek out
opportunities for advancement.

The researchers isolate a reality that if women are working in a role that was once

identified as male dominant, they undervalue themselves automatically unless positive

reinforcement and proof of individual success is provided. However, there is a key and

interesting dynamic that Haynes and Heilman uncovered: that when given specific

feedback and paired with other women, they actually rated themselves higher than their

team mate. This suggests that the tendency to view the self favorably, far from being

absent, is strong in women when gender stereotype-based expectations are prevented from
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shaping self-perceptions. What the researchers conclude is that there is no such thing as

innate low self-worth among womenjust the opposite but the problem is that self-

perception is highly situational and reliant on exterior factors outside of a girls control.

Archetypal Psychology and the Anima Rich Heroine

The heroines featured in Miyazaki films work to reverse the damages exacted

against the human psyche through the devaluation of girls and women in America. It helps

to encapsulate the ideas of archetypal psychology when considering the anima rich

heroines emulated in these storylines.

In a plain definition, archetypes are prototypes that are copied and patterned within a

culture or particular sub-culture. In psychology, they are the psychic frameworks with

which the patient identifies, both positively and negatively. When an archetype is working

for a person, it helps shape and enrich the sense of self as it is indicative that anima is

alive in that engagement. When an archetype begins to crumble and no longer works for

the patient, the anima becomes suffocated, stagnant, trapped or dismembered and that is

when soul disturbance resonates through health issues. It is in these moments that anima

needs to be resuscitated, stirred alive, reconnected and liberated. It is the psychic breath

that is critical for the soul to progress and mature.

James Hillman developed Archetypal Psychology as a therapeutic tool for patients

that works on the premisehowever simplified in this statement: . . . that archetypes are

the primary forms that govern the psyche . . . (Archetypal 9). To Hillman, archetypal

psychologists are less concerned about psychological pathologizing medical, clinically oriented

positivism, but rather consider archetypes and their images as messages to aid in the development

of soul. Image work requires both aesthetic culture and a background in myths and symbols for

appreciation of the universalities of images (23).

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As such, the way patients respond to archetypal characters and images (especially

what they psychologically reveal) can ultimately bring that patient out of crisis and into

understanding and self-awareness. In this case, the complexes are not buried, but brought

to life to engage with consciousness. Image work restores the original poetic sense to

images . . . Hillman continues in his discourse, . . . freeing them from serving a

narrational context, having to tell a story with its linear sequential, and causal

implications that foster first-person reports of the egocentric actions and intentions of a

personalistic subject (24).

With that understanding comes an ability to be active in ones life and not passively

seized by autonomous psychological complexes hidden in the depths that are exacted

against others. Hillman believed that archetypal resonance was especially profound through

the imaginative arts and poetics, especially as they relate to culture: The source of images

dream-images, fantasy-images, poetic-imagesis the self-generative activity of the soul (14).

In the film arts, images can be archetypal references for the psyche that inspire

expression on the part of the creator while also drawing in the audience through

recognition, engagement and psychic relationship. As such, archetypes are especially

profound in animations because characters are drawn or generated by their creator. So

emotions and responses within their worlds bear the promise of archetypal images that are

ensured, dependable and visionary. As a genre, animations can be more psychologically

useful than live-action films in which the director and audience is at the behest of the

actors ability to enact and sustain the performance of that archetype. Animated

characters, however, are reliable in their archetypal power as long as the creator is re-

creating authentic imaging from unconsciousness and not merely churning out superficial

commercialism.
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Miyazakis artistic process works within the depths of the psyche where he plumbs

the imaginative and the fantastical so that they can come to life in his films. Poor

archetypal engagement by an actor creates stereotypes that do not have the resonance of

anima and are therefore limiting characters and not liberating ones. These are the

powerless princesses of suffering daughter stereotypes that Disney all too often promotes

in classic fare such as Snow White, Cinderella and Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty. Yet,

that heroine continues to be found in post-modern Disney work too: Belle (although

overwritten with a few thin pages of intellect), Ariel (washed slightly with a splash of

rebellion) or Mulan (seemingly remolded by her stint as a man in the army). When girls

and women identify with shallow stereotypes over complex archetypes, there is not the

valuable psychic recognition for a girl or woman to relate to a heroine on a profound

level. What separates stereotypes and archetypes is that the former is simplistic and lacks

soul or anima essence, while the latter is a character abundant in qualities that portray

multiple points of view. In such a fully realized heroine, the anima is rich and multi-layered,

not anemic, trendy or topical.

A Brave New Heroine: Pixars Merida

A pronounced diversion from the stinted, stereotypical heroine is Merida from Brave

created by Pixar Animation and released in 2012. With flaming, curly and wild red

tendrils, a solid body and feisty spirit, ace-archer Merida was praised as a refreshingly

realistic heroine who champions an independent vision and voice for girls. While the

Disney Corporation currently owns Pixar, founder John Lasseter maintains creative

control over content and messaging. Lasseter refers to Miyazaki as the worlds greatest

living animator and helped cement the deal that allows Disney to distribute Miyazaki

films in America (Brooks). Lasseter and Miyazaki maintain a bond that exceeds their
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working relationship and when the Japanese animator made his first appearance at the

2009 Comic-Con in San Diego to promote Ponyo, Miyazaki told the audience that he was

only present due to his friendship with Lasseter (Rich). This is all to say that Miyazakis

complex heroines exceed the borders of Japan, thanks in large measure, to Lasseters

championing of Studio Ghibli animators and Miyazaki, in particular. As a result of such

influences, Merida and the entire animated film Brave carry Miyazaki influences.

Merida is an outspoken heroine who mirrors some aspects of Miyazakis heroine

Mononoke including her sharp eye that enables her to split an arrow in the center of an

archery target. Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a princess of Scotlands King Fergus (Billy

Connolly) and not your typical Disney princess. She follows mystical willow-wisps into

the forest, reminiscent of the kodama forest sprites in Princess Mononoke. Merida refuses

to be the gracious, passive little lady that her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson)

wants her to emulate. There is, like in Nausicaa, a tapestry that is literally torn when the

clashing wills between mother and daughter cause a mythic division that threatens their

family and the future of Scotland. When that tapestry is finally mended by Merida, it

symbolizes the reconciliation of the mother-daughter split. As a rebel, Merida rejects the

suitors that her parents try to pawn off on her and instead mistakenly turns her mother

into a bear when a witchs spell backfires. The quest then becomes one of transforming

her mother back to human form and in so doing, the two develop a closer friendship,

accept one anothers differences and heal their relationship.

The key theme in Brave is one of communication and trying to find common ground

amid Meridas need for liberation in old world Scotland. Yet the empathy that is extended

between the daughter and mother is a model for relationships everywhere. The most

animated vision in Meridas story is her wild, flaming red hair that is literally alive with
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anima. Her hair alone took researchers at Pixar at least six months to figure out if they

could make Meridas hair a type of character in its own right. Eventually, two and half

years into the project, they pioneered a computer-generated simulator to mime the soft

movements of her curly locks (Gross).

Merida is a thoroughly post-modern heroine and archetypally realized in some of the

same ways that Miyazaki heroines are, but animation styles are vastly different and the

pacing of the Pixar film is frantic and frenetic in places, compared to the serene

confidence that Studio Ghibli films convey. In the case of Miyazakis heroines from

Spirited Away in Chihiro and Sophie of Howls Moving Castle, both girls are able to tend

to their archetypal journey of soul, through anima, while other characters in the film have

become enslaved by their archetypes. Chihiro maintains her essence despite the archetype

of slave or zombie that has been shoved down her throat literally. In Yubabas lair, she

must sign a contract and Yubaba takes away her identity by stealing the characters of her

name. When this happened to Haku (formerly the River Spirit of the Wahaku River) he

became the type of obedient (and at times mindless) servant that Yubaba wanted. Haku

lived out that archetype by being a slave to it: he became her henchman, bathhouse

servant and her morally ambiguous thief. In this respect, the animaso profoundly

present in a riverbecame soulfully impure: stagnant and sluggish, shown by Miyazaki to

be a sticky, black slug. Haku became possessed by Yubabas orchestration of this

archetype thereby severing his anima: the life spark essential to the rivers soul and

hence, identity. Chihiro, however, maintains her soul through this arduous adventure by

refusing Yubabas enslavement by demanding work to earn her chance to restore her

parents and transform them back to their natural state.

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For Nausicaa, the anima is alive and remains thriving throughout the film, seized

only temporarily by rage when her father is killed. She quickly restores her connection to

soul by reversing that patriarchal mindset. For Mononoke, the anima is both alive and, yet

suppressed by angry, vengeful actions. Her lesson throughout is in the purifying of anima

energies that, when rebalanced open up the psyche of the princess who learns to see old

conflicts through new eyes. Mononokes soul becomes mended after she learns that the

ethics of empathy and compassion belong not only to the forest, but to humans, too.

While Hillman often makes distinctions about the difference between spirit and soul,

I would argue that such divisions may be more a function of the Western propensity. In

Shinto, for instance, spirit is not willful but cooperative, working with the kami is not a

function of working against them, but in a collaborative relationship. In this regard,

Miyazaki films reflect spirit through the soulful engagement with anima energies. When

this life source is cut off, spirit takes on a very different role as it does in patriarchal

societies, because anima has been suppressed.

In the Shinto ideal, psyche works reverently within the spirit world because such a

belief system doesnt require enslavement to a sole, higher power, but rather a working

relationship within a sacred community. It is pretty difficult to force a spirit to come to the

aid of a human being if that person is ordering the spirit around disrespectfully. That is

why adherents begin their engagement with the kami through gestures of gratitude and

humble requests rather than the demands of dictatorship. Hillman is right to point out that

spirit can often mute or overpower psychic development in Western cultures, because

spirit has become entwined in America, in particularly, with ego as well as dominator

power dynamics. In the Japanese culture, however, the opportunities afforded by Shinto

concepts of balance and imbalance are enacted by engagement with the spirits in a
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communal ethic. There is not one holy spirit but rather many sacred spirits animated

and brought to life through animism.

Miyazaki Heroines on Land and Sea: Haru in The Cat Returns and Ponyo

While all films under study culminate in the synthesis of the anima archetype, two

other titles are worth mentioning in this concluding chapter. The Cat Returns, produced by

Miyazaki based on his original story and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, written and

directed by Miyazaki. The Cat Returns is a whimsical tale that mirrors the Alice in

Wonderland, in which a teen heroine is reduced to a miniature size to enter the cat

kingdom where she is tricked into marrying the Cat King (Tim Curry) against her wishes.

Teen heroine Haru (Anne Hathaway) meets various threshold guardians that direct the

heroine on her path, including mentor The Baron (Cary Elwes) who is a dapper feline that

frequently reminds Haru that her liberation is reliant upon her ability to: Believe in

yourself. The message that belies the film story is repeated in 20 minute intervals

throughout the feature length animation. Sometimes the words are different, but the ethic

remains consistent, as evidenced toward the end of the film when Baron tells Haru:

Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing

to fear (Cat). As she is swept along by the cat culture, Haru begins to loose her human

form and sports the ears of a feline. Like Nausicaa, Harus closeness to animals sets her

apart from her peers, but now she must learn that her soul is uniquely hers and hers alone

to avoid entrapment by others. Haru begins the film unsure of herself and clumsy

literally tripping over her undeveloped psyche. The teen girl has a crush on a handsome

boy at school but cannot summon the courage to speak to him. At the end of the film,

however, Haru no longer cares about the boy for in her newly integrated self, the young

woman stands on her own with the gravity of confidence.

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Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is a gentle, imaginative twist on the Hans Christian

Andersons Little Mermaid fairy tale and is equally quite different from the Disney

animation of the same name. Ponyo (Noah Cyrus), the goldfish princess is willful,

intelligent and endowed with sea magic so powerful that her displacement causes an

imbalance that sends a tidal wave to engulf the land. (This is not a scary tsunami such as

the real one that hit Japan in 2011, but rather the ocean reclaiming a presence on land.)

Ponyo is an anima character symbolic of the unconscious and of course, the oceanic

dimensions of nature and of nurture. She falls in love with a sweet kindergarten boy

named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas) who as human signifies consciousness and life on land.

They are allowed a sacred union only after Ponyos mother; the great Sea Goddess (Cate

Blanchett) is assured the boy will respect Ponyos true self as the embodiment of the

ocean. Together, as sea and land, their lasting friendship restores the natural balance and

the waters recede. As Hayao Kawai explains: The transformation of animals into humans

who marry, expresses the recovery of a relationship to natureor reintegration (Japanese

123). As the two children are reintegrated they create a soul union and their life together

even washes waves of regeneration over the elders in a nursing home where Sosukis

mother works. While some seniors were stuck in wheelchairs and others depended on

walkers, the ceremonial union that the Sea Goddess enacts magically revitalizes the

psyche of the elders who retain their wizened exteriors. They jump to their feet, run, skip

as still others race up the hill with a renewed lease on life.

Miyazakis film features hand-drawn animation and he chose to personally draw the

swelling waves that Ponyo runs across in her jaunty red dress. Ponyo featured 170,000

frames, which is a record for a Miyazaki film, and a lost art within the computer and

digital industry that is the standard in animation. As Miyazaki told New York Daily News
 202

reporter Ethan Sacks The world might be going high tech, but I would like to have [my

animation company] Studio Ghibli to be like a wooden boat that journeys with sails.

The vivid but soft watercolor images show how Sosuke and Ponyo float about in his

little boat and visit others also floating softly by the children. They even share a sandwich

with other voyagers who have a baby to feed. Metaphoric of the ageless unconscious, the

ocean imagery flourishes with prehistoric, enormous fish and as such, this vision reminds

us of a more authentic, natural time when earth and sea were less separated than today.

The Sea Goddess is drawn with a more Westernized face including aquiline features

and copper, wavy hair. She is depicted as an expansive deity that ripples under the sea in

comparison to her formerly human husband, the Sea Wizard, Fujimoto (Liam Neeson).

Ponyos father is frustrated by the goldfish princess reluctance to stay with her marine

family, but even more upset by human caused pollution that harms the ocean habitat. In

his undersea laboratory, the wizard sends resplendent colors into the ocean that maintain

the beauty of the undersea world. He also works against the human tide of toxins with an

eco-ethic that Miyazaki holds in the consciousness of all of his films. But, Ponyo is not a

dramatic film even though the children are mildly concerned for Sosukes mom who

couldnt make it through the waters and stayed behind to help the seniors at the care

center.

Sosukes mother, Lisa (Tina Fey), is a no-nonsense kind of mom who gets frustrated

with her husband (away serving in the coast guard) but is creative enough not to brood

over Ponyos magical aspects and tells her son that life is wonderful and amazing. The

Miyazaki story doesnt get caught up in realism but sways with oceanic magical images to

tell a simple, honest love story grounded in friendship.

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The Sea Goddess is especially glistening and compared to her husband (who calls

the goddess my love) she is such a figure of the unconscious that she is more ethereal

than not. As Lee Edwards eloquently remarks in her study of psyche in heroic female

characters: From the ruins of our civilizationpatriarchys worldshe summons us to

come with her and promises humanitys rebirth and the Sea Goddess represents this

psyche that is one of ebb and flow that Edwards has described as: . . . the nodal points of

an entirely new kind of social order, an alternative to the repetitions and rigidities of

patriarchy (149). As Global Comments Kirsty Evans writes on their international

newswire, Ponyo as a film . . .is another perfect illustration of why he [Miyazaki] may

well be the most quietly influential feminist filmmaker out there right now. And, Evans

caps her comments with: If youre looking for an alternative to the quietly poisonous

Disney Princess industrial complex, this, like all of Miyazakis movies, is a way to give

your kids beauty and magic and a sense of wonder without leaving them feeling

inadequate. What could be a better message for children than: that friendship can save the

world?

Accepting Other in Ponyo, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke

The Ponyo storyline also shows how a fish/human can become close friends with a

human boy despite the obvious differences in their cellular structure. But, fantasy has a

way of flowing past the boundaries of species separateness and as such, acceptance is also

a theme found in Miyazakis films in which the strangeness of another is muted. In both

Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke there is a cultural interface that illuminates the

dichotomies of speciesism in which a dominant species either overpowers, discriminates

against or bullies another. Certainly pertinent to this discussion is the underlying fear of
 204

the Other or alius, that compounds the consequences of cultural misunderstanding and

miscues.

In Mononoke, when she has placed the wounded Prince Ashitaka in the rebirthing

pool of the sacred Forest Spirit, she leaves the water to give the deity clearance to work.

The wolf princess comments that she "smells like a human" and that disturbs her.

However, it is interesting that after closeness to humans, Mononoke no longer kills them

even in battle.

In Spirited Away, the kami world doesn't like to smell the stench of humans. In

essence, the smelling becomes a way of "knowing" the other and becoming acquainted

with the alius (the trusted other) of the community. Haku, the displaced and shadow

drenched River Spirit helps her to mix with the smell of the kami world thereby reducing

the scent of being an outsider. Marie Louise von Franz points to studies that Konrad

Lorenz quoted that indicate species may not turn against a new community member or

Other as in alius if they become accustomed to one another's smell (Shadow 148). This,

von Franz attributes to her understanding of how: "evil [is] met with on a primitive level"

and here we see how becoming accustomed to another beings scent helps us to

understand others within our own psychic bubble. Once this experience becomes

embodied and we recognize the other as no longer a danger, then something important

shifts in human nature. As far as I know, the phenomenon of evil in a primitive set up is

simply the appearance of something demonic or abnormal, a kind of overpowering nature

phenomenon . . . and then von Franz, in characteristic plain language adds . . . we

should sniff at each other a bit more (140). This is a critical step toward the ethics of

empathy: sensing, smelling, feeling, imagining and matching the emotional tenor of the

alius who is struggling against our preconceptions, ego and culturally imposed restraints.
 205

As Edwards says, Psyches saga enters its ascendant phase. Stepping out into the larger

world beyond the heroines confining plot, Psyche attempts to imbue society, as well as

art, with the values she has learned to honor in the course of her long oppression. She

struggles to find a new sustaining structure, a fictive form that will express affiliation

without simultaneously imposing hierarchy, that will render life not an endless battle but a

celebration (149).

Miyazakis Artistry of Feminism

Some of Miyazakis approaches to the development of anima in heroines border on

what feminist scholars may view as essentialism (and in some cases idealism): that what

defines a woman are the essentials, such as the value of hearth and home, womb and

tomb; gender stereotypes of nurturance over callousness, compassion over cruelty and

creation rather than destruction. To be sure, Miyazaki himself, defies essentialism

confined to womens roles, attitudes and cultural reflexes by the very virtue of his own

creative work. After all, the animator who created and enhanced these heroines does

reflect the worldview of a man born in 1941. However, while many World War II era men

across the globe have worked to maintain patriarchal domination through oppression or

aggression, Miyazaki deconstructs it all. All the while, he also presents us with shadow

female antagonists that resist essentialist ideals due to their identification with patriarchal

imbalances.

The cold-hearted Wicked Witch of the Waste and power hungry Madame Suliman

in Howls Moving Castle are formidable manipulators in their pursuance of both Howl

and Sophie. Lady Eboshi and Mononoke are so different and yet, so similar that you can

see how Eboshi is also wounded by her past and in their dual rage, both reflect the

relentless and unyielding nature of one another. In Spirited Away, young Chihiro wrestles
 206

with the retention of her own identity while her mother is transformed into a pig and

Yubaba seizes her name and claims it as ownership to control the girl.

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Kushana is a direct contrast to

Nausicaa who is desperate to enact her territorial imperative as a larger bid for dominance

over a handful of remaining clans. Only Totoro, Satsuki and Mei in My Neighbor Totoro

are devoid of antagonists, with the illness of the mother serving as the sole oppositional

force of anxiety in the film. Yet, as Ginette Paris reminds us: joy is the anecdote of

anxiety and Totoro generates joy in the girls that helps them to accept life change.

None of the shadow females in Miyazaki stories are drawn to be solely bad, as he

defies moralizing that Westerners attach to the bipolarities of good and evil. As Robert

Towne, the screenwriter of Chinatown and The Last Detail once told me: Even bad guys

have their reasons and while Miyazaki writes most antagonists to be females, they too

have their reasons for behaving as they do. In understanding their motivations, we also

come closer to understanding our own. Regardless of the complexities of the characters

and their rich conveyance of positive and negative characteristics, Miyazaki was raised in

the shadow of atomic warfare and witnessed the deadly hand it deals against humans and

the natural world.

Perhaps one could argue that Miyazakis effort to draw a contrast between

patriarchal and matriarchal consciousness might be an essentialist approach. However, a

counter argument is that, in striving to advocate for a better way for humans to relate to

one another in an emerging global community, Miyazakis reflexive storylines exemplify

matriarchal consciousness as a counterweight. The animator enacted such a philosophy at

Studio Ghibli by creating an on-site child care center so studio animators could be closer

to their children during working hours (Sacks).

 207

Miyazaki film themes also support Chris Downings prediction regarding the

egalitarian progress that marches forward amid the polarizing atmosphere fomented in

American politics. As Downing claims in her interview: Im hopeful. I believe things are

moving in the right direction, even those who want things to change or revert, will be able

to stop this monumental shift.

As the ideal of global unity bears promise, Miyazaki film heroines represent an

emerging model of humaneness that peopleregardless of gender, nationalism or cultural

confinesmay find redeeming in these times of unprecedented change. The anima in

animation draws psyche and soul together as a convergence of character that inspires us to

tend to the soul of the worldand in so doing, the world mends us, as well.
 208

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