Centre for Japanese Studies — The Women of Ghibli: Female Labour and Creating Porco Rosso (2022年1月27日)
The event hosted Professor Rayna Denison, a former UEA academic who is now professor of Film and Digital Arts at Bristol University.
An expert on film, anime and manga, Professor Denison was introduced by Dr. Hannah Osbourne. With the talk examining Miyazaki Hayao’s strong female characters and the creation of the 1992 film Porco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta).
Professor Denison was very pleased to be talking to the Centre for Japanese Studies and she explained she is working on the industrial history of Studio Ghibli, which she explains means unpacking some off the myths around the studio, including Miyazaki being a feminist filmmaker.
She explained this discourse was a common thread. She began with a slide featuring Miyazaki’s heroines, such as Sophie, San, Shita, as well as Mei and Satsuki. She explained that the heroines are often the agents of change within their movies, as well as doing domestic work. She explained that this was from Miyazaki’s own childhood experiences when, as a child, he had to do many household chores.
Professor Denison then moved onto what she termed his ‘old ladies’, such as Zeniba and Dola, who are both agents of change but also provide a positivity. Dola, for example, is a pirate in charge of her family-crew, while Zeniba is a strong witch who rules her own domain. She then moved onto ‘cameo feminists’; where women do unlikely things. She cited Okami, from Castle in the Sky (Tenkū no Shiro: Laputa), who is a woman in a mining town and runs own home, treating Pazu as an adopted son.
Professor Denison explained that women were invisible but played important behind-the-scenes views. She cited examples of how women were often responsible for animation but were never given recognition. There was an obvious parallel between Disney and Ghibli and not just in the animation but also what is termed ‘crunch’, a period usually found in video games prior to a release where everything goes into overtime in order to complete a project on time. She cites an example of a woman who worked 70-80 hours a week, was admitted to hospital for a ‘rest’ for a week before returning only for the cycle to start again.
Male animators focused on the animation, while women focused on the painting, shown in an image at the Ghibli Museum at Mitaka. Porco Rosso was touted as a ‘woman’s film’ and the third in a series which included Kiki and Only Yesterday. Denison argued it could be part of this series as women finally came for the fore when it came to the production of anime, in this case this was the film where Ghibli broke even and allowed them to build their own studios as well as putting all employees on a fixed salary.
Denison cited an ‘army of beautiful women’ who included a seven women including Kagawa Megumi, the animation director, and Asari Naoko, the sound director. This included how Kagawa’s laughter became an important part of Kiki’s Delivery Service, who inspired Ursula, Kiki’s ’mentor’ figure in the movie. She also touched upon Asari, as well as Tateno Hitomi, Fujimura Rie, Hisamura Kazu, Tateyama Teruyo and Kimura Ikuyo.
The talk, which can be seen below, then concluded with a short Q and A session between Professor Denison and the members of the audience.
