Sources The Clever Princess wavemotioncannon.com/2017/08/15/in-this-corner-of-the-world-an-exclusive-interview-with-director-sunao-katabuchi/ Katabuchi: Otomo-san wanted to make one long film with a single cut, but he didn’t know what kind of technique to use for that. I helped him to make that idea come true. At the time I was working on my own directorial work Princess Arete, but I thought I could still advise him for things like that, thinking that was a challenge for me as well, so I tried. jmaf-promote.jp/en/animation/FeaturingStudios/STUDIO4C.html Princess Arete started because a female chief of an animation coloring company one day asked me that she wanted to create a movie from an original novel, The Clever Princess. web.archive.org/web/20161124040023/catalog.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/handle/2324/18365/p131.pdf www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2017/08/01/sunao-katabuchi-on-directing-the-acclaimed-anime-movie-in-this-corner-of-the-world/?sh=7a4a855f55a0 “In regards to working on Princess Arete, when I got into animation, I thought that I would be able to make anything I thought would be entertaining. However, I learned that there are often many challenges facing a film before it can be finished. I wanted to look at how one person can overcome challenges through the eyes of one main character, Princess Arete. I feel Arete gave me insight on how to overcome challenges. Since then, that experience has been invaluable for my career. “Princess Arete is a film where the main character strives to live a life that they desire. However, in the real world, not everyone can live the life that they want. blog.alltheanime.com/clever-princess/ www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-08-11/interview-sunao-katabuchi/.120026 Teaches film studies and animation blog.alltheanime.com/interview-sunao-katabuchi/ It’s partly a coincidence. But I guess I have a particular feeling for stories written by women, maybe because I’m a man. Probably the stories written by men are too close to me to really appreciate them. But being a man, reading something written by a woman, creates a sort of distance that allows me to enjoy and appreciate them more. Princess Arete is a very inquisitive girl who doesn’t easily give up once she decides to do something. When her story begins it’s as if her true self is hidden behind a mask, but eventually she gradually manages to express her feelings and find the way to live her own life in full. www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/get-details-sunao-katabuchi-corner-world-152788.html
Really good video. Though I dunno about saying Ghibli hasn't made a feminist film. Everything you say to define Arete as a feminist figure applies to Nausicaa too. She's smart, empathetic, solves most conflic through communication, witt, and emotion. There's even scenes about how horrible violence and conquest (traditionally masculine) is. She does things others cant. She extends care and affection to everything, even the insects. She is as capable as the male characters and pushes the narrative forward herself, as well as works together with others. There are multi-dimentional female characters with different view points that are allowed to come into conflict with one another, and not have it boiled down to gender.
Interviewer: Nausicaa is actually a really attractive girl. Hayao Miyazaki: She’s got big breasts, hasn’t she? Interviewer: Yeah. Miyazaki: They’re not big just so that she’d be able to nurse her children, and she doesn’t have them to attract guys. When the castle guards and old woman die, Nausicaa holds them as they pass away, so that’s why she has them. They have to be big. Interviewer: Ah, I see… (nausicaa wasnt a ghibli production either)
@@Stevem I appreciate your focus on artist intent, and how you talk about the creative process from concept to execution. But one interview doesn't negate the themes, writting, and story of the piece. Nor does it negate the audience interpretation (as death of the author suggests), and the relationship the audience forms with the peice of art. Like, did you really, before seeing that interview, think much about her chest? As Lindsay Ellis has said, feminism is a 'lense' we use to analyse a piece of work. Just as you can analyse something through a queer-theory lense (e.g. Pixar's Luca wasn't made in anyway to be a gay romance between the main characters but many read it that way and connected with that reading). The film still reads as a feminist piece to me, based on her actions, and the characters within the film.
Also saying Nausicaa wasn't Ghibli produced is splitting hairs, and arguing semantics. It's counted in the Ghibli cannon by a majority. It shared staff, creatives and launched Ghibli. Functionally, it's a Ghibli film.
@@keiichimorisato98 Yeah I don't think it's queer-baiting either? I think some of the themes; affection between boys, coming to terms with being 'other', and the freedom that comes with being yourself, lend themselves well to a queer lense. It's certainly not queerbaiting like Sherlock, or Teen Wolf, etc. I get the hurt though. People have been baited (me included) most of their lives. And it does suck when the creator comes out and says 'your interpretation is wrong'.
I don't like the idea that "real" feminist heroines shouldn't ever get to fight back. No offense, I love stories where the heroine uses their wit and wisdom to triumph over just brute force but it's not fair to reduce "real" feminism to this one archetype. I still would like to see this film though, it looks quite good.
@@awildturtok You brought up a particular kind of empowerment as "showing that especially feminine traits are the source of the persons strength". My response was intended to get across that this whole way of thinking seems like it's haunted by a petty fear of being inauthentic, which is itself rooted in an identification with the opposition one claims to be trying to deconstruct. If you're a man but your strengths lie in being good at mediating and resolving conflicts, are you adopting the feminine as a normative structure? Are you thereby alienated from your true strengths as a man by virtue of having internalized something that isn't your own? Should you adopt more masculine traits so the source of your power is 'authentic'? If your identity is functional, then why should you? Being a strong person means that the way you navigate the world works for you, and good character writing is about honestly asking the question 'but what does work?'. I agree that copy-pasting popular tropes without understanding them is missing that point, but trying to write characters while deliberately avoiding those tropes is just as nonsensical.
@@Y0UT0PIA do you not know what "coding" means? what tropes are? this stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum. these concepts as they are used in fiction have a long history and a lot of context to them. masculine-coded violence is a thing in media "femininity" and "masculinity" are social constructs so yes, a man who is good at mediating and resolving conflicts may have those characteristics be coded as feminine. that doesn't make him a girl! it's about how things are framed by the persons composing the narrative. hence, "often times female brute force is coded very masculine"
I haven't seen this level of clickbait in a long while, especially since it is just one of your videos with a very inflammatory title. Personally, I think its pointless to classify a film "as feminist" due to the fact that feminism is not a monolith and what constitutes a feminist film to one person may not to another. I do appreciate you putting a spotlight on this movie though and not coming at every person in the comments section with hostility.
I feel like the big problem with talking about real feminism is similar to the one you run into with humanism - what's 'genuinely' humanistic depends on your notions on what humanities true interests are, so it's ultimately a reflection of your own value system and tangled up with more fundamental philosophical questions.
Honestly, the title of this video is very misleading and doesn’t really prove that Ghibi doesn’t make feminist films. The video is saying the same things just differently. Both film studios do a great job showing strong women that aren’t toxic, even showing that sometimes we all make mistakes regardless of sex.
It depends on the indoctrination/political leanings of a person I guess? Many left leaning people have different interpretations of what they consider to be true feminism, the deeper they are in their political rabbit holes. Its all subjective at the end of the day.
I think some of the finest feminist movies I have ever seen are Japanese animation. Takahata made some really good feminist movies with "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" and "Only Yesterday", and I always found his works more politically charged and mature than Myazaki's. That being said, Princess Arete is a movie which is way more ideological than both combined. The path to Arete liberation represents the path to women liberation from the patriarchy in quite the explicit manner: she is bound by physical and psychological constraints and she frees herself from the psychological ones thanks to the idealisation of freedom; then she frees herself from the physical ones using her wit; she subsequently also realises that her role into society is inherently bound to her subservience to men, so she strips herself of the title of Princess, finally becoming completely free. However, she also comes back into the same society which imprisoned her in order to liberate the people of the village: it is implied that the moral duty of a liberated woman is to destroy the patriarchy. It is no coincidence that when the wizard proclaims that he's going to turn Princess Arete into the most useless thing ever and he mistakenly targets his castle, it morphs into a giant statue of himself: if the wizard is a representation of the patriarch, his giant statue is the patriarchy, the most useless thing ever. Right after, the statue explodes by the pressure of the water Arete generated: she effectively destroys the patriarchy. It's honestly impressive how revolutionary in nature Princess Arete is, even though I sometimes felt like it was more interesting on an intellectual level than on a entertainment one. The movie ended up being pretty boring to me, and I found more enjoyment in analysing it afterwards than in actually watching it. The OST is fantastic though, so cheers to that.
Studio ghibli actually has many strong female leads and he said quote “Many of my movies have strong female leads-brave, self-sufficient girls that don't think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They'll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.” He made not the typical feminism movie Hollywood wants to promote but a typical flawed and relatable character many can relate to.
honestly, is there any difference with "Hollywood feminitst" films and other action films? Brie Larson is constantly criticized for being "stale" and boring, but how is she any different from a Clint Eastwood role?
i think a lot of the discourse surrounding if ghibli or miyazaki have made feminist movies kind of boils down to what you consider to be feminist texts/media. Like does it challenge pre-conceived notions of what womenhood is or can be; is it showing people the different ways everyone is held back in a patriarchal society; is it the strong female protagonist with her own agency, etc, stuff like that the thing about miyazaki is that he enjoys books by feminists, and he enjoys stories about young female characters doing things that make them authentically themselves, but he also doesn't care to address the patriarchal system in which he lives in. Many of miyazaki's movies exist in an egalitarian world where sexism rarely exists, they assume that equality among men and women is already achieved and so they can progress as they do often depicting men and women as equals the issues arise in the real world, the one we have to live in because willy wonka retired before he perfected his technology of letting people inside tvs, and in the real world, sexism exists and is propped up by a patriarchy that is determined to maintain a status quo that seeks to only benefit those already in power, which goes hand in hand with racism and classism, but i'm jumping off topic. Miyazaki benefits from patriarchal systems, and he doesn't have to really care about it in the same that others are forced to. his depictions of women and his statements about them paints most of his movies in a different light and that is true, however what people view as feminist can differ, and the text and the author can be divorced from each other often to make a point about both. sidenote: there is something to be said about watching a movie where the main character is not hampered by their race, gender, or class and instead is given a conflict outside of those things to overcome. real life is messy and i want my neat little escapism movie another thing of note is that miyazaki is japanese and as a westerner, what i view as feminist can be different from what japan views as feminist. the media we consume and the meaning we derive from it is typically influenced by the bubbles of culture we grow up in (the intersectionality is created from the overlap, like a venn diagram, this is venn diagram symbolism). most of miyazaki's female characters are unproblematic, they don't directly challenge the way their world works or why. mamoru hosoda has criticized miyazaki for the way he writes perfect, uncomplicated women without really tapping into the many difficulties women usually face trying to survive, and there is some merit to his statements, but also maybe not, i don't really know and i wish i could read japanese because animator director tea would be delicious we can spend all day debating miyazaki and his statements and how much value they add to modern day feminist discourse along with the movies he and ghibli made, and i would honestly love to because i find it fascinating and a way to revisit some of my favorite childhood movies, but i do sincerely think that even if we cannot consider miyazaki a feminist, the movies that he and studio ghibli made have female leads with their own agency and can be considered a gateway drug into seeing women as their own people tldr; the movies can be considered feminist to people who define feminism broadly as just needing to have a female lead with their own agency, but can fall short if your definition is about directly confronting patriarchal norms. there is also something wonderful in egalitarian escapism for a few hours
I mean, I could argue that there are criticism of traditional patriarchal systems within Ghibli's (and Myazaki's) works. Laputa has the antagonistic military, and a crazy man trying to get his hands on coded nukes for imperialism and rebuilding a corrupt royalty. And the solution to this is not "maintain corrupt system just hand it over to someone else" it was "tear it all down." Mononoke's villians are all men, acting on an emporer's orders to continue his conquest and abuse of people and nature. Ashitaka fundamentally doesn't understand San or the forest which is coded feminine, until he stops being violent and listens. Iron town was made in an attempt by a woman to get away from abusive men and tries to create an egalitarian world for the marginalised. But it is a place fundamentally built on the bones and ideas of the masculine destruction of the forest. And is thus doomed to fail. I think their movies often do tackle patriarchy and feminist themes. But I would argue that these things are primarily subtext, though there are a few monologues here and there about men. I'd also point out that (I'm assuming) we are all westerners in this conversation. And that Japanese feminism, and criticism of Japanese patriarchy will look different than our version of feminism. As all of gender, and it's dynamics are culturally based. And might be a bit harder to read?
I think it's very important for any feminist character to be portrayed with their weaknesses too. Weaknesses are human, and overcoming your weaknesses and doubts is part of the heroic path. Making girlboss characters that are able to effortlessly surpass any challenge is not only narratively boring, but it also gives a bad example to real girls because they don't see themselves in the heroine, they only see an impossibly "perfect" character that they can never achieve to be because it's simply not human. So making Arriety an insecure character at first is a positive change IMO.
This is one of the reasons I like this channel. You cover more obscure anime that tend to fly under the radar. I had never heard of this title, perhaps due to the fact that there is no North American release. I looked around and all I could find was a release from England or Japan. So frustrating when a good looking anime comes along and is not available to own in your region.
It was briefly streaming on Netflix, as part of a deal struck with 4C. But I believe it’s the only one of the now-pulled titles not to later see a release by GKids. Strange, especially for something so Ghibli-esque. Rights issue maybe? Or just too old and unknown?
I knew Katabuchi changed story elements to create a more humanistic tale men can see eye to eye with & learn from, but I didn't know the original author changed her mind about some of those divisive elements. That's really nice to know.
Not the most ideal thesis though a problem is there. The aversion to women ever using violence to solve their problems. I see it a lot stronger in other manga but it seems shared throughout a lot of media even outside japan, to an extent. That moment where much more often women have their problems solved by their friends instead of getting strength from their friends to turn and address their struggles. A simple series is where I saw this most: One piece. Deep in the series Rebeca fits this problem snug tight. She never swings her swird, she survives on her own exactly until the main cast arrives and then she deserves their help through her pure idealism. Like a credit card having the good beliefs swipes the bill to access problem solving pals and eventually her main foe is felled without her involvement and the series even charishes that her hands remain 'pure' because its what her father wanted. Where others are celebrated for their capacity to help others through violence it would somehow be shameful if she did the same even in the best of circumstance. Some weird beliefs are out there and every media is struggling to move past some dumb fuckery.
Thanks for reccommending me to finish it the other day. I wanted to say, this movie left another film with a similar deconstruction of fairy tales from 1982 that was a production by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft called The Last Unicorn, obsolete. What do you think of that one?
Also, for some reason in Letterboxd people say this movie has a really slow pacing, but I felt it was like if Denis Villeneuve directed an anime, and that community craves for the director (and so do I). Seems to show how unknown (or "appreciated" by people who don't stand "arthouse" cinema) this movie is
Loved Last Unicorn, Christopher Lee had a big part in it development, as he insisted in keeping a lot of stuff from the book. Also, his role was fantastic.
@@keiichimorisato98 I can relate to Christopher Lee's characther a lot, the idea of stagnation and having experienced so much in life that nothing quite grabs you as passionately as it once had
A film i haven't heard of before, and we learn just how its relevant in the history of feminism. Also i love that vintage look it has. Good show Stevem!
After watching it, my inner thoughts say "a non story with non characters". yes the art is georgeous and i love the throwback to classical magic stories but i have a problem with how the plot and characters are set up. there is not a real plot for like 80% of the movie, and when i say non characters, i mean two things. firstly, they are basically a classical fairy-tail cliche. Now, this is 100% OK, but the problem is that everyone, including Arete (her only growth is her "aha" moment) is static as character and doesnt have growth or progression. but even worst is, they do not influence each other in any way for like 95% of the movie. Plot wise (what plot?) its basically a copy pasted classical fairytale from the princess's POV, only at one point she again snaps "out of it" and does her usual stuff and it saves the day. it becomes frustrating whn youre already past half of the movie and are like "OK, and now SOMETHING is going to happen" and it doesnt. BRUH. Missed opportunities: Her magic snake rings does.... um, nothing, actually? Firstly, it has powerful magic she can just wish anything (including waterfor villagers) but she WASTES all three wishes. it could have been a restorer, a saver, a redeeming device. But its completely wasted as a plot device. Worldview sparring - its clear that the princess and wizard have opposing worldviews, and this could have been a powerful plot device, but isnt used AT ALL. the wizard is as well wasted as a character, in a sense that they did nothing with him. he starts off as an antagonist and a "classical" evil wizard a hero would slay. he is reveraled to be (ekhm feminism) just an immature boy inside, but he undergoes no learning, no growth, no redemption arc, no him (with Arete's influence) deciding to take on his life beyond what his "destiny" is. he could have been a good foil for the princess, but it doesnt happen. So the BIGGEST miss is that Arete and Wizard (whose worldviews are opposite) never actually interact, never "cross swords" of minds, never question the others worldview, and thus never influence each other. if i had to point at one cardinal miss of this anime, THIS is it. Another big miss is that we see only glimpses but no explanation into the advanced civilization he is the last member of. a great and interesting concept lifted straight from Nadia, but here completely wasted. So no, I must say I am not impressed.
It's one of my favourite movies tho I don't get much the feminist point, thought it was about how we can surpass our limits and how we as humans can create marvelous things, and how fear can corrode hearts to just survive at all costs , even giving up one's own freedom for safety.
Miyazaki and Ghibli would refuse to have a female director at the studio, im not so sure how much stock i have in miyazaki as an actual feminist , his works maybe able to be read in that lens for sure though
@@Stevem If you're talking about Nishimura, he didn't even come on until howl's moving castle. There was also no word that I could find of him and Miyazaki even working together. Not only that, 14 of those 20 movies were directed solely by two people. I'd also like to point out the fact that ghibli had just over half of the people working on the productions are women. A lot of them even in key positions. Nishimura may have felt that way, but I cannot find any evidence of Miyazaki personally saying no to female directors at the studio. Also can't find any evidence of Miyazaki being the one who worked with and hired him either.
@@batrachian149 “It depends on what kind of a film it would be. Unlike live action, with animation we have to simplify the real world. Women tend to be more realistic and manage day-to-day lives very well. Men on the other hand tend to be more idealistic - and fantasy films need that idealistic approach. I don’t think it’s a coincidence men are picked.” www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/06/studio-ghibli-yonebayashi-interview-miyazaki theyve also never had a female director you might even be hard pressed to find a female animation director or Character designer
good video but the premise is flawed it implies that Ghibli doesn't make real feminist films when I get the academic approach to it, but fundamentally Ghibli makes some of if not the most feminist movies, theirs always a strong female lead regardless if their the main character or a side character and the fact that it doesn't really matter if they are the side character and are just really strong and well rounded individuals is what makes Ghibli so damn good. This isn't too say that the movies are progressive in the pure ideological sense, the movies are definitely a reflection of a certain traditionalism but it's always well rounded and makes sense Porco Rosso for example has a pig as the main character figuratively but the movie makes fun of him for it and that's just one example. Ultimately it's a good video but it seems again like it has a very academic approach to feminism that is very westernised which is good and all but ultimately it excludes an eastern approach, which is honestly sort of arrogant to dismiss.
Don't agree with you fully about how arete being not violent = true feminist but good to get to know the background of this movie and the book. 4°C studio youtube channel makes the film available every few months for free so go watch it people
Interviewer: Nausicaa is actually a really attractive girl. Hayao Miyazaki: She’s got big breasts, hasn’t she? Interviewer: Yeah. Miyazaki: They’re not big just so that she’d be able to nurse her children, and she doesn’t have them to attract guys. When the castle guards and old woman die, Nausicaa holds them as they pass away, so that’s why she has them. They have to be big. Interviewer: Ah, I see…
I mean feminism is the equality between genders, not the priorisation of one. When women get shown as much as men and get tasks and roles, I'd say it's already feminism. But that ofcourse doesn't mean that feminism is an actual theme in the film as a topic. I'd say ghibly films are often not adressing feminism directly (more indirectly) but are in total not antifeminism either. As a vibe, I always grouped ghibli films into the feminism group of movies. So I was a bit confused at the title (a bit clickbait, too but it's ok) but now I see you meant the actual content/story of the film.
Excellent video. It's a shame how unknown is Princess Arete, it's one of my favorites! I think is bizarre how streaming services don't try to get more older anime films like this, I feel like if it isn't ghibli , Otomo or Oshii they don't care about it.
Great video. Watching the movie a few weeks back, I found it more interesting than exciting. But not boring whatsoever. There's obviously the themes that come from the source material and the adaptation choices made by Katabuchi. It's a very atmospheric movie, using its sounds and visuals to present the story and characters. Having seen In the Corner of this World before, certain parallelisms can be found between the paths of Arete and Suzu. I'll probably watch again sometime. But finally catching up to Mai Mai Miracle comes first.
Few months ago, I met Sunao Katabuchi and had some talk with him. To say conclusion first, Katabuchi Sunao is not a feminist. For the question whether he is feminist, he said no. The reason why he uses main character woman is because the stories he liked were all accidentally woman, no more reasons. Additionally he said if i see black ragoon, i can know that his main chaeacters are not just woman. These are what I heard directly from him
I have to be honest, im not impressed by this movie. my inner thoughts say "a non story with non characters". let me explain: yes the art is georgeous and i love the throwback to classical magic stories. but i have a problem with how the plot and characters are set up. there is not a real plot for like 80% of the movie, and when i say non characters, i mean two things. firstly, they are basically a classical fairy-tail cliche. Now, this is 100% OK, but the problem is that there is no growth. characters are static and dont follow a development pattern. but perhaps the worst is, they do not influence each other in any way for like 95% of the movie. Arete for example, doesnt grow. shes the same in beginnng and in the end, only difference being that in the end, once the curse is lifted, shes actually more free to move around (castle being a bit, shall we say, understaffed). Plot wise (what plot?) and for most of the movie nothing really happens. its basically a copy pasted classical fairytale from the princess's POV, only at one point she again snaps "out of it" and does her usual stuff and it saves the day. Missed opportunities: Her magic snake rings does.... um, nothing, actually? its completely wasted as a plot device. Worldview sparring - its clear that the princess and wizard have opposing worldviews, and this could have been a powerful plot device, but isnt used AT ALL. it could have been the medium for them to embody differing social views, to challenge even how society is made. to make wagers to prove their world views. but instead - nothing. shes stuck in her room, he on his wondow. BRUH. the wizard is as well wasted as a character, in a sense that they did nothing with him. he starts off as an antagonist and a "classical" evil wizard a hero would slay and thats good. but he undergoes no learning, no growth, no redemption arc, no him deciding to take on his life beyond what his "destiny" is. he could have been a good foil for the princess, but it doesnt happen. Another big miss is that we see only glimpses but no explanation into the advanced civilization he is the last member of. a great concept, but completely wasted. So no, I must say I am not impressed.
@@HydroGyro_ eh. Fair enough. Anime companies don't make much on legal streaming sites btw. Best support is to buy merchandise and the actual manga. Sad that it's like that, but true.
Every single piece of media can't possibly explicitly highlight feminism and inclusivity. Imagine how insane that would be. Ghibli films are hardly misogynistic so what's the purpose of criticizing their essential thematic elements and styles?
hahaha I love miyazaki so much! probably more as a concept rather than as a person. he's just like this absolute asshole while creating art that touches people on such a deep emotional level. I almost think no one really understands him...
Lol. By removing the needlessly harsh anti-male aspects of the radically feminist original they manage to create a genuinely good tale everyone can relate to, and the original author admits they wouldn't have been so mean-spirited if she had had her son before writing it. The fact that this is the case says a lot about how toxic feminist ideology really is. Frankly it says a lot about the talent of Katabuchi to figure out how to turn something that's practically a pure propagandistic screed into something genuinely good. It'd be nice if someone could figure out how to do as much with something like Ayn Rand, but that might be impossible.
now how about we talk about the toxicity/misogyny in a lot of American films, especially "comedies" Wich by comparison, is worse then so called "toxic feminism" you're scared off. And if we critized those in the same way you critized the book, we'll just find soooo much misogyny
and remember, the book was written in a time were there wasn't a lot like it and there was unfortunately a lot of sexism. Btw: it shouldn't matter if something is supposed to be "for girls" or "for boys", especially with characters.
@@steamboatwill3.367 I'm not scared of the toxicity of feminism because I'm old enough to be able to laugh at how ridiculous it all is now. Doesn't change the fact that it's a poisoned set of ideas of extremely unhappy spinsters that adds no value to life and only detracts. Misogyny existed when civilization was built. Feminism exists when it gets torn down. There's a reason this is the case.
I don't get why anything has to be fem-in-ist. People act like a female character with average competency, average looks, and average aspirations (Like Howl's Moving Castle) isn't good enough for women. It's really insulting to women in general since most people are average.
Hot take: Arranged marriage is actually better then modern marriage. If we look at India where they are still common, they have a lower divorce rate and a higher happiness rate. Pulse, people from all over the world did it for thousands of years, so it stands the tet of time better then modern marriage.
@@batrachian149 I agree. IDK I'm not religious, but there is something important to considering families as this fundamental unit. Love has become all about individual satisfaction instead of creating a stable long term structure to raise a family.
Sources
The Clever Princess
wavemotioncannon.com/2017/08/15/in-this-corner-of-the-world-an-exclusive-interview-with-director-sunao-katabuchi/
Katabuchi: Otomo-san wanted to make one long film with a single cut, but he didn’t know what kind of technique to use for that. I helped him to make that idea come true. At the time I was working on my own directorial work Princess Arete, but I thought I could still advise him for things like that, thinking that was a challenge for me as well, so I tried.
jmaf-promote.jp/en/animation/FeaturingStudios/STUDIO4C.html
Princess Arete started because a female chief of an animation coloring company one day asked me that she wanted to create a movie from an original novel, The Clever Princess.
web.archive.org/web/20161124040023/catalog.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/handle/2324/18365/p131.pdf
www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2017/08/01/sunao-katabuchi-on-directing-the-acclaimed-anime-movie-in-this-corner-of-the-world/?sh=7a4a855f55a0
“In regards to working on Princess Arete, when I got into animation, I thought that I would be able to make anything I thought would be entertaining. However, I learned that there are often many challenges facing a film before it can be finished. I wanted to look at how one person can overcome challenges through the eyes of one main character, Princess Arete. I feel Arete gave me insight on how to overcome challenges. Since then, that experience has been invaluable for my career.
“Princess Arete is a film where the main character strives to live a life that they desire. However, in the real world, not everyone can live the life that they want.
blog.alltheanime.com/clever-princess/
www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2017-08-11/interview-sunao-katabuchi/.120026
Teaches film studies and animation
blog.alltheanime.com/interview-sunao-katabuchi/
It’s partly a coincidence.
But I guess I have a particular feeling for stories written by women, maybe because I’m a man. Probably the stories written by men are too close to me to really appreciate them. But being a man, reading something written by a woman, creates a sort of distance that allows me to enjoy and appreciate them more.
Princess Arete is a very inquisitive girl who doesn’t easily give up once she decides to do something. When her story begins it’s as if her true self is hidden behind a mask, but eventually she gradually manages to express her feelings and find the way to live her own life in full.
www.cartoonbrew.com/interviews/get-details-sunao-katabuchi-corner-world-152788.html
weird question, but how do you like this film in comparison to something like Nausicaa or especially Princess Kaguya?
Really good video. Though I dunno about saying Ghibli hasn't made a feminist film. Everything you say to define Arete as a feminist figure applies to Nausicaa too. She's smart, empathetic, solves most conflic through communication, witt, and emotion. There's even scenes about how horrible violence and conquest (traditionally masculine) is. She does things others cant. She extends care and affection to everything, even the insects. She is as capable as the male characters and pushes the narrative forward herself, as well as works together with others. There are multi-dimentional female characters with different view points that are allowed to come into conflict with one another, and not have it boiled down to gender.
Interviewer: Nausicaa is actually a really attractive girl.
Hayao Miyazaki: She’s got big breasts, hasn’t she?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Miyazaki: They’re not big just so that she’d be able to nurse her children, and she doesn’t have them to attract guys. When the castle guards and old woman die, Nausicaa holds them as they pass away, so that’s why she has them. They have to be big.
Interviewer: Ah, I see…
(nausicaa wasnt a ghibli production either)
@@Stevem I appreciate your focus on artist intent, and how you talk about the creative process from concept to execution. But one interview doesn't negate the themes, writting, and story of the piece. Nor does it negate the audience interpretation (as death of the author suggests), and the relationship the audience forms with the peice of art. Like, did you really, before seeing that interview, think much about her chest?
As Lindsay Ellis has said, feminism is a 'lense' we use to analyse a piece of work. Just as you can analyse something through a queer-theory lense (e.g. Pixar's Luca wasn't made in anyway to be a gay romance between the main characters but many read it that way and connected with that reading).
The film still reads as a feminist piece to me, based on her actions, and the characters within the film.
Also saying Nausicaa wasn't Ghibli produced is splitting hairs, and arguing semantics. It's counted in the Ghibli cannon by a majority. It shared staff, creatives and launched Ghibli. Functionally, it's a Ghibli film.
@@aragoonn a lot of people ate upset about Luca saying that it is queen baiting, when it isnt.
@@keiichimorisato98 Yeah I don't think it's queer-baiting either? I think some of the themes; affection between boys, coming to terms with being 'other', and the freedom that comes with being yourself, lend themselves well to a queer lense. It's certainly not queerbaiting like Sherlock, or Teen Wolf, etc.
I get the hurt though. People have been baited (me included) most of their lives. And it does suck when the creator comes out and says 'your interpretation is wrong'.
I don't like the idea that "real" feminist heroines shouldn't ever get to fight back. No offense, I love stories where the heroine uses their wit and wisdom to triumph over just brute force but it's not fair to reduce "real" feminism to this one archetype. I still would like to see this film though, it looks quite good.
@@awildturtok Isn't that framing already backwards? What makes you think that violence is a masculine trait that doesn't come naturally to women?
@@awildturtok You brought up a particular kind of empowerment as "showing that especially feminine traits are the source of the persons strength". My response was intended to get across that this whole way of thinking seems like it's haunted by a petty fear of being inauthentic, which is itself rooted in an identification with the opposition one claims to be trying to deconstruct.
If you're a man but your strengths lie in being good at mediating and resolving conflicts, are you adopting the feminine as a normative structure? Are you thereby alienated from your true strengths as a man by virtue of having internalized something that isn't your own? Should you adopt more masculine traits so the source of your power is 'authentic'? If your identity is functional, then why should you? Being a strong person means that the way you navigate the world works for you, and good character writing is about honestly asking the question 'but what does work?'.
I agree that copy-pasting popular tropes without understanding them is missing that point, but trying to write characters while deliberately avoiding those tropes is just as nonsensical.
@@Y0UT0PIA do you not know what "coding" means? what tropes are? this stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum. these concepts as they are used in fiction have a long history and a lot of context to them. masculine-coded violence is a thing in media
"femininity" and "masculinity" are social constructs so yes, a man who is good at mediating and resolving conflicts may have those characteristics be coded as feminine. that doesn't make him a girl! it's about how things are framed by the persons composing the narrative. hence, "often times female brute force is coded very masculine"
@@TurbopropPuppy XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
I haven't seen this level of clickbait in a long while, especially since it is just one of your videos with a very inflammatory title. Personally, I think its pointless to classify a film "as feminist" due to the fact that feminism is not a monolith and what constitutes a feminist film to one person may not to another. I do appreciate you putting a spotlight on this movie though and not coming at every person in the comments section with hostility.
I feel like the big problem with talking about real feminism is similar to the one you run into with humanism - what's 'genuinely' humanistic depends on your notions on what humanities true interests are, so it's ultimately a reflection of your own value system and tangled up with more fundamental philosophical questions.
Honestly, the title of this video is very misleading and doesn’t really prove that Ghibi doesn’t make feminist films. The video is saying the same things just differently. Both film studios do a great job showing strong women that aren’t toxic, even showing that sometimes we all make mistakes regardless of sex.
It depends on the indoctrination/political leanings of a person I guess? Many left leaning people have different interpretations of what they consider to be true feminism, the deeper they are in their political rabbit holes. Its all subjective at the end of the day.
I think some of the finest feminist movies I have ever seen are Japanese animation. Takahata made some really good feminist movies with "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" and "Only Yesterday", and I always found his works more politically charged and mature than Myazaki's. That being said, Princess Arete is a movie which is way more ideological than both combined. The path to Arete liberation represents the path to women liberation from the patriarchy in quite the explicit manner: she is bound by physical and psychological constraints and she frees herself from the psychological ones thanks to the idealisation of freedom; then she frees herself from the physical ones using her wit; she subsequently also realises that her role into society is inherently bound to her subservience to men, so she strips herself of the title of Princess, finally becoming completely free. However, she also comes back into the same society which imprisoned her in order to liberate the people of the village: it is implied that the moral duty of a liberated woman is to destroy the patriarchy. It is no coincidence that when the wizard proclaims that he's going to turn Princess Arete into the most useless thing ever and he mistakenly targets his castle, it morphs into a giant statue of himself: if the wizard is a representation of the patriarch, his giant statue is the patriarchy, the most useless thing ever. Right after, the statue explodes by the pressure of the water Arete generated: she effectively destroys the patriarchy. It's honestly impressive how revolutionary in nature Princess Arete is, even though I sometimes felt like it was more interesting on an intellectual level than on a entertainment one. The movie ended up being pretty boring to me, and I found more enjoyment in analysing it afterwards than in actually watching it. The OST is fantastic though, so cheers to that.
I was taken aback every time you called her Arietty instead of Arete
Studio ghibli actually has many strong female leads and he said quote “Many of my movies have strong female leads-brave, self-sufficient girls that don't think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They'll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.”
He made not the typical feminism movie Hollywood wants to promote but a typical flawed and relatable character many can relate to.
honestly, is there any difference with "Hollywood feminitst" films and other action films?
Brie Larson is constantly criticized for being "stale" and boring, but how is she any different from a Clint Eastwood role?
No, no, he DID make typical feminist movies hollywood wants to promote. He even has to point out how strong the women in his movies are in interviews.
i think a lot of the discourse surrounding if ghibli or miyazaki have made feminist movies kind of boils down to what you consider to be feminist texts/media. Like does it challenge pre-conceived notions of what womenhood is or can be; is it showing people the different ways everyone is held back in a patriarchal society; is it the strong female protagonist with her own agency, etc, stuff like that
the thing about miyazaki is that he enjoys books by feminists, and he enjoys stories about young female characters doing things that make them authentically themselves, but he also doesn't care to address the patriarchal system in which he lives in. Many of miyazaki's movies exist in an egalitarian world where sexism rarely exists, they assume that equality among men and women is already achieved and so they can progress as they do often depicting men and women as equals
the issues arise in the real world, the one we have to live in because willy wonka retired before he perfected his technology of letting people inside tvs, and in the real world, sexism exists and is propped up by a patriarchy that is determined to maintain a status quo that seeks to only benefit those already in power, which goes hand in hand with racism and classism, but i'm jumping off topic. Miyazaki benefits from patriarchal systems, and he doesn't have to really care about it in the same that others are forced to. his depictions of women and his statements about them paints most of his movies in a different light and that is true, however what people view as feminist can differ, and the text and the author can be divorced from each other often to make a point about both. sidenote: there is something to be said about watching a movie where the main character is not hampered by their race, gender, or class and instead is given a conflict outside of those things to overcome. real life is messy and i want my neat little escapism movie
another thing of note is that miyazaki is japanese and as a westerner, what i view as feminist can be different from what japan views as feminist. the media we consume and the meaning we derive from it is typically influenced by the bubbles of culture we grow up in (the intersectionality is created from the overlap, like a venn diagram, this is venn diagram symbolism). most of miyazaki's female characters are unproblematic, they don't directly challenge the way their world works or why. mamoru hosoda has criticized miyazaki for the way he writes perfect, uncomplicated women without really tapping into the many difficulties women usually face trying to survive, and there is some merit to his statements, but also maybe not, i don't really know and i wish i could read japanese because animator director tea would be delicious
we can spend all day debating miyazaki and his statements and how much value they add to modern day feminist discourse along with the movies he and ghibli made, and i would honestly love to because i find it fascinating and a way to revisit some of my favorite childhood movies, but i do sincerely think that even if we cannot consider miyazaki a feminist, the movies that he and studio ghibli made have female leads with their own agency and can be considered a gateway drug into seeing women as their own people
tldr; the movies can be considered feminist to people who define feminism broadly as just needing to have a female lead with their own agency, but can fall short if your definition is about directly confronting patriarchal norms. there is also something wonderful in egalitarian escapism for a few hours
I mean, I could argue that there are criticism of traditional patriarchal systems within Ghibli's (and Myazaki's) works.
Laputa has the antagonistic military, and a crazy man trying to get his hands on coded nukes for imperialism and rebuilding a corrupt royalty. And the solution to this is not "maintain corrupt system just hand it over to someone else" it was "tear it all down."
Mononoke's villians are all men, acting on an emporer's orders to continue his conquest and abuse of people and nature. Ashitaka fundamentally doesn't understand San or the forest which is coded feminine, until he stops being violent and listens. Iron town was made in an attempt by a woman to get away from abusive men and tries to create an egalitarian world for the marginalised. But it is a place fundamentally built on the bones and ideas of the masculine destruction of the forest. And is thus doomed to fail.
I think their movies often do tackle patriarchy and feminist themes. But I would argue that these things are primarily subtext, though there are a few monologues here and there about men. I'd also point out that (I'm assuming) we are all westerners in this conversation. And that Japanese feminism, and criticism of Japanese patriarchy will look different than our version of feminism. As all of gender, and it's dynamics are culturally based. And might be a bit harder to read?
It bugs me that the narrator of this review kept referring to Princess Arete as Arrietty, who was in a completely different movie from a decade ago!
Why did you keep pronouncing Arete / Ariite as if she had the same name as the Borrower Arrietty?
I wondered about that, too.
I think it's very important for any feminist character to be portrayed with their weaknesses too. Weaknesses are human, and overcoming your weaknesses and doubts is part of the heroic path. Making girlboss characters that are able to effortlessly surpass any challenge is not only narratively boring, but it also gives a bad example to real girls because they don't see themselves in the heroine, they only see an impossibly "perfect" character that they can never achieve to be because it's simply not human. So making Arriety an insecure character at first is a positive change IMO.
Kaguya?? Nausicaa???
I really appreciate all the effort you put into 4cember! Really great stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Ghibli has made several feminists movies, depending on how you define that.
This is one of the reasons I like this channel. You cover more obscure anime that tend to fly under the radar. I had never heard of this title, perhaps due to the fact that there is no North American release. I looked around and all I could find was a release from England or Japan. So frustrating when a good looking anime comes along and is not available to own in your region.
It was briefly streaming on Netflix, as part of a deal struck with 4C. But I believe it’s the only one of the now-pulled titles not to later see a release by GKids. Strange, especially for something so Ghibli-esque. Rights issue maybe? Or just too old and unknown?
4ºC is my favourite studio man, thank you a lot for talking about their works
I knew Katabuchi changed story elements to create a more humanistic tale men can see eye to eye with & learn from, but I didn't know the original author changed her mind about some of those divisive elements. That's really nice to know.
a man trying to clickbait a review of arete under the guise of explaining what feminism is. lmao. rofl even
Not the most ideal thesis though a problem is there. The aversion to women ever using violence to solve their problems. I see it a lot stronger in other manga but it seems shared throughout a lot of media even outside japan, to an extent. That moment where much more often women have their problems solved by their friends instead of getting strength from their friends to turn and address their struggles.
A simple series is where I saw this most: One piece. Deep in the series Rebeca fits this problem snug tight. She never swings her swird, she survives on her own exactly until the main cast arrives and then she deserves their help through her pure idealism. Like a credit card having the good beliefs swipes the bill to access problem solving pals and eventually her main foe is felled without her involvement and the series even charishes that her hands remain 'pure' because its what her father wanted. Where others are celebrated for their capacity to help others through violence it would somehow be shameful if she did the same even in the best of circumstance.
Some weird beliefs are out there and every media is struggling to move past some dumb fuckery.
Thanks for reccommending me to finish it the other day. I wanted to say, this movie left another film with a similar deconstruction of fairy tales from 1982 that was a production by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft called The Last Unicorn, obsolete. What do you think of that one?
i liked what i saw of the last unicorn but i also fell asleep while watching it lol
Also, for some reason in Letterboxd people say this movie has a really slow pacing, but I felt it was like if Denis Villeneuve directed an anime, and that community craves for the director (and so do I). Seems to show how unknown (or "appreciated" by people who don't stand "arthouse" cinema) this movie is
Loved Last Unicorn, Christopher Lee had a big part in it development, as he insisted in keeping a lot of stuff from the book. Also, his role was fantastic.
@@keiichimorisato98 I can relate to Christopher Lee's characther a lot, the idea of stagnation and having experienced so much in life that nothing quite grabs you as passionately as it once had
A film i haven't heard of before, and we learn just how its relevant in the history of feminism. Also i love that vintage look it has. Good show Stevem!
XDDDDDD
After watching it, my inner thoughts say "a non story with non characters". yes the art is georgeous and i love the throwback to classical magic stories but i have a problem with how the plot and characters are set up.
there is not a real plot for like 80% of the movie, and when i say non characters, i mean two things. firstly, they are basically a classical fairy-tail cliche. Now, this is 100% OK, but the problem is that everyone, including Arete (her only growth is her "aha" moment) is static as character and doesnt have growth or progression. but even worst is, they do not influence each other in any way for like 95% of the movie.
Plot wise (what plot?) its basically a copy pasted classical fairytale from the princess's POV, only at one point she again snaps "out of it" and does her usual stuff and it saves the day. it becomes frustrating whn youre already past half of the movie and are like "OK, and now SOMETHING is going to happen" and it doesnt. BRUH.
Missed opportunities:
Her magic snake rings does.... um, nothing, actually? Firstly, it has powerful magic she can just wish anything (including waterfor villagers) but she WASTES all three wishes. it could have been a restorer, a saver, a redeeming device. But its completely wasted as a plot device.
Worldview sparring - its clear that the princess and wizard have opposing worldviews, and this could have been a powerful plot device, but isnt used AT ALL.
the wizard is as well wasted as a character, in a sense that they did nothing with him. he starts off as an antagonist and a "classical" evil wizard a hero would slay. he is reveraled to be (ekhm feminism) just an immature boy inside, but he undergoes no learning, no growth, no redemption arc, no him (with Arete's influence) deciding to take on his life beyond what his "destiny" is. he could have been a good foil for the princess, but it doesnt happen.
So the BIGGEST miss is that Arete and Wizard (whose worldviews are opposite) never actually interact, never "cross swords" of minds, never question the others worldview, and thus never influence each other. if i had to point at one cardinal miss of this anime, THIS is it.
Another big miss is that we see only glimpses but no explanation into the advanced civilization he is the last member of. a great and interesting concept lifted straight from Nadia, but here completely wasted.
So no, I must say I am not impressed.
It's one of my favourite movies tho I don't get much the feminist point, thought it was about how we can surpass our limits and how we as humans can create marvelous things, and how fear can corrode hearts to just survive at all costs , even giving up one's own freedom for safety.
Ghibli, specifically, Miyazaki has always made very feminist films. Also, Princess Arete was fantastic, a better feminist princess film than Brave.
Miyazaki and Ghibli would refuse to have a female director at the studio, im not so sure how much stock i have in miyazaki as an actual feminist , his works maybe able to be read in that lens for sure though
@@Stevem oh, check out A Heike Tale, absolutely wonderful.
@@Stevem Could I get a source on that?
@@Stevem If you're talking about Nishimura, he didn't even come on until howl's moving castle. There was also no word that I could find of him and Miyazaki even working together. Not only that, 14 of those 20 movies were directed solely by two people. I'd also like to point out the fact that ghibli had just over half of the people working on the productions are women. A lot of them even in key positions. Nishimura may have felt that way, but I cannot find any evidence of Miyazaki personally saying no to female directors at the studio. Also can't find any evidence of Miyazaki being the one who worked with and hired him either.
@@batrachian149 “It depends on what kind of a film it would be. Unlike live action, with animation we have to simplify the real world. Women tend to be more realistic and manage day-to-day lives very well. Men on the other hand tend to be more idealistic - and fantasy films need that idealistic approach. I don’t think it’s a coincidence men are picked.”
www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/06/studio-ghibli-yonebayashi-interview-miyazaki
theyve also never had a female director you might even be hard pressed to find a female animation director or Character designer
good video but the premise is flawed it implies that Ghibli doesn't make real feminist films when I get the academic approach to it, but fundamentally Ghibli makes some of if not the most feminist movies, theirs always a strong female lead regardless if their the main character or a side character and the fact that it doesn't really matter if they are the side character and are just really strong and well rounded individuals is what makes Ghibli so damn good. This isn't too say that the movies are progressive in the pure ideological sense, the movies are definitely a reflection of a certain traditionalism but it's always well rounded and makes sense Porco Rosso for example has a pig as the main character figuratively but the movie makes fun of him for it and that's just one example. Ultimately it's a good video but it seems again like it has a very academic approach to feminism that is very westernised which is good and all but ultimately it excludes an eastern approach, which is honestly sort of arrogant to dismiss.
Hope she sees this bro
Fantastic video! I've never seen Princess Arete. I'm going to give it a watch soon.
Don't agree with you fully about how arete being not violent = true feminist but good to get to know the background of this movie and the book. 4°C studio youtube channel makes the film available every few months for free so go watch it people
Kiki?
Náusica?
Interviewer: Nausicaa is actually a really attractive girl.
Hayao Miyazaki: She’s got big breasts, hasn’t she?
Interviewer: Yeah.
Miyazaki: They’re not big just so that she’d be able to nurse her children, and she doesn’t have them to attract guys. When the castle guards and old woman die, Nausicaa holds them as they pass away, so that’s why she has them. They have to be big.
Interviewer: Ah, I see…
Arete.
Kaguya-hime?
@@illdie314 finally someone in the comments remembered her!
@@Stevem you're judging the text through something that isn't in the text
keep the vids coming king
Great review and a hidden gem of a film
Stevem is the most gentle werewolf
well written n spoken, another great video
Watched this years ago.
Thought it was pretty average and boring back then.
I mean feminism is the equality between genders, not the priorisation of one. When women get shown as much as men and get tasks and roles, I'd say it's already feminism. But that ofcourse doesn't mean that feminism is an actual theme in the film as a topic. I'd say ghibly films are often not adressing feminism directly (more indirectly) but are in total not antifeminism either. As a vibe, I always grouped ghibli films into the feminism group of movies. So I was a bit confused at the title (a bit clickbait, too but it's ok) but now I see you meant the actual content/story of the film.
this.
That's your biased take on feminism, Karen. Speak for yourself.
Excellent video. It's a shame how unknown is Princess Arete, it's one of my favorites!
I think is bizarre how streaming services don't try to get more older anime films like this, I feel like if it isn't ghibli , Otomo or Oshii they don't care about it.
I remember this, and remember it being SUPER boring.
Great video. Watching the movie a few weeks back, I found it more interesting than exciting. But not boring whatsoever. There's obviously the themes that come from the source material and the adaptation choices made by Katabuchi. It's a very atmospheric movie, using its sounds and visuals to present the story and characters. Having seen In the Corner of this World before, certain parallelisms can be found between the paths of Arete and Suzu.
I'll probably watch again sometime. But finally catching up to Mai Mai Miracle comes first.
never heard of this might have to check it out it looks gorgeous
Few months ago, I met Sunao Katabuchi and had some talk with him.
To say conclusion first, Katabuchi Sunao is not a feminist. For the question whether he is feminist, he said no. The reason why he uses main character woman is because the stories he liked were all accidentally woman, no more reasons. Additionally he said if i see black ragoon, i can know that his main chaeacters are not just woman. These are what I heard directly from him
Not related but have you seen and/or thought doing some on the anime movie Totsuzen! Neko no Kuni Baniparu Uitto (Catnapped!) ?
I have issues with how you mispronounce her name. ☺️
"If" Ghibli lol. You magnificent bastard.
I have to be honest, im not impressed by this movie. my inner thoughts say "a non story with non characters". let me explain: yes the art is georgeous and i love the throwback to classical magic stories. but i have a problem with how the plot and characters are set up.
there is not a real plot for like 80% of the movie, and when i say non characters, i mean two things. firstly, they are basically a classical fairy-tail cliche. Now, this is 100% OK, but the problem is that there is no growth. characters are static and dont follow a development pattern. but perhaps the worst is, they do not influence each other in any way for like 95% of the movie.
Arete for example, doesnt grow. shes the same in beginnng and in the end, only difference being that in the end, once the curse is lifted, shes actually more free to move around (castle being a bit, shall we say, understaffed).
Plot wise (what plot?) and for most of the movie nothing really happens. its basically a copy pasted classical fairytale from the princess's POV, only at one point she again snaps "out of it" and does her usual stuff and it saves the day.
Missed opportunities:
Her magic snake rings does.... um, nothing, actually? its completely wasted as a plot device.
Worldview sparring - its clear that the princess and wizard have opposing worldviews, and this could have been a powerful plot device, but isnt used AT ALL. it could have been the medium for them to embody differing social views, to challenge even how society is made. to make wagers to prove their world views. but instead - nothing. shes stuck in her room, he on his wondow. BRUH.
the wizard is as well wasted as a character, in a sense that they did nothing with him. he starts off as an antagonist and a "classical" evil wizard a hero would slay and thats good. but he undergoes no learning, no growth, no redemption arc, no him deciding to take on his life beyond what his "destiny" is. he could have been a good foil for the princess, but it doesnt happen.
Another big miss is that we see only glimpses but no explanation into the advanced civilization he is the last member of. a great concept, but completely wasted.
So no, I must say I am not impressed.
Can't wait until you do a review of Osamu's Ribbon Knight story.
Probably the worst anime in history or at least the worst one of more than 1000 anime I ever watched.
@@candide1065
Oh definitely. Interesting story and character design but not big of an impact like Rose of Versailles.
0:24 What is that from? Is it also from Princess Arete or no? Caught my eye
Robot Carnival
Where can someone watch this movie?
It has a blu ray release in the uk, otherwise 🏴☠️
Plenty of illegal streaming sites my guy. It's the 21st century
@@yme3267 you’re not wrong but just wanted to support it y’know
@@HydroGyro_ eh. Fair enough. Anime companies don't make much on legal streaming sites btw. Best support is to buy merchandise and the actual manga.
Sad that it's like that, but true.
Great video. I missed the stream. 🙏❤❤❤❤❤👍. Catch you next time. 🙏
Every single piece of media can't possibly explicitly highlight feminism and inclusivity. Imagine how insane that would be. Ghibli films are hardly misogynistic so what's the purpose of criticizing their essential thematic elements and styles?
How the fuck did I never see this? O,o
Great video, but why are you pronouncing Arete like Arietty?
Wow
It was interesting to learn about the book this anime is based on. I watched this film a year ago or so, I remember it being just alright.
hahaha I love miyazaki so much! probably more as a concept rather than as a person. he's just like this absolute asshole while creating art that touches people on such a deep emotional level. I almost think no one really understands him...
You got this bro!
i usually don't root for AI voice but please, use AI voiceover.
i have not seen it, kinda different look for 4C
Lol. By removing the needlessly harsh anti-male aspects of the radically feminist original they manage to create a genuinely good tale everyone can relate to, and the original author admits they wouldn't have been so mean-spirited if she had had her son before writing it. The fact that this is the case says a lot about how toxic feminist ideology really is.
Frankly it says a lot about the talent of Katabuchi to figure out how to turn something that's practically a pure propagandistic screed into something genuinely good. It'd be nice if someone could figure out how to do as much with something like Ayn Rand, but that might be impossible.
now how about we talk about the toxicity/misogyny in a lot of American films, especially "comedies"
Wich by comparison, is worse then so called "toxic feminism" you're scared off.
And if we critized those in the same way you critized the book, we'll just find soooo much misogyny
and remember, the book was written in a time were there wasn't a lot like it and there was unfortunately a lot of sexism.
Btw: it shouldn't matter if something is supposed to be "for girls" or "for boys", especially with characters.
@@steamboatwill3.367 I'm not scared of the toxicity of feminism because I'm old enough to be able to laugh at how ridiculous it all is now. Doesn't change the fact that it's a poisoned set of ideas of extremely unhappy spinsters that adds no value to life and only detracts.
Misogyny existed when civilization was built. Feminism exists when it gets torn down. There's a reason this is the case.
@@MidlifeCrisisJoe ) i don't know what you're trying to say.....
anyways, happy new year!
No one needs that.
Up this one
Great video for one of the worst comment sections i've seen in a long while
Because people don't write what you want to hear, Karen?
I wouldn't watch it and you would seethe over my decision not to as you will seethe over this comment.
I'm glad they haven't
but they HAVE.
yessir
Thank you for stating that Ghibli has never produced a feminist film, too many people try to expoit their work politically.
I hope Ghibli NEVER makes such a thing. 🤷♂️
I don't get why anything has to be fem-in-ist. People act like a female character with average competency, average looks, and average aspirations (Like Howl's Moving Castle) isn't good enough for women. It's really insulting to women in general since most people are average.
uhm..... they HAVE.
@@junjae. ) "average looks"
Eh.... I don't think "feminitst" are complaining about that.... Quite the opposite actually.
@@junjae. ) and I don't why something SHOULDN'T "feminits"
@@junjae. Correct. How many female characters do you have to do till people will be happy? Answer - Never enough.
This guy is such a crybaby
Hot take: Arranged marriage is actually better then modern marriage. If we look at India where they are still common, they have a lower divorce rate and a higher happiness rate. Pulse, people from all over the world did it for thousands of years, so it stands the tet of time better then modern marriage.
Counterpoint: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry_death
Profile pic checks out.
No, the norm needs to be everyone only looks out for themselves and family is an oppressive structure.
@@krunkle5136 That's an even worse idea.
@@batrachian149 I agree. IDK I'm not religious, but there is something important to considering families as this fundamental unit. Love has become all about individual satisfaction instead of creating a stable long term structure to raise a family.
Feminism. Yuck. Eff that garbage.