Currently, when many are debating the strengths and weaknesses of women in film, Japanese animators have been creating heroines more complex than most of their American counterparts. They have tempers and weaknesses and talents and strengths. They’re characters that the filmmakers believe can be real.
Suzu in Mamoru Hosoda’s “Belle” (released this year) has a life online that overshadows her daily existence; she alter ego, the title character, is the reigning pop diva of the online world of U. On the other hand, Suzu is an introverted high school student in a small town in real life.
Suzu’s music reflects all the love and pain she has experienced, especially since the death of her mother, who drowned saving a drowning child. Suzu misses her a ton, but she also feels angry at her for sacrificing herself for “a kid whose name she didn’t even know.” She even went so far as to abandon her musical gifts because her mother had encouraged them. American characters may express a longing for a deceased parent, but not the deep, complicated emotions of this new anime version of “Beauty and the Beast.” The protagonist of the movie misses her father when she agrees to become the prisoner of the beast, but she never mentions her mother. Same with Jasmine from “Aladdin.” Unlike characters such as Snow White, the full background of Jasmine’s and Belle’s parents are unknown.
In a video call, Hosoda said he believed a major shift occurred in animation when the Disney artists made Belle a more independent and smart young woman (in the 2017 version of the film). She wanted a more exciting life than her town could offer — something other characters like Cinderella and Snow White never expressed.
Hosoda said that “when you think of animation and female leads, you always go to the fairy tale tropes … but they really broke that template: It felt very new. Similarly, what we tried to do in ‘Belle’ is not build a character, but build a person: someone who reflects the society in which we live.”
The trend toward complex heroines isn’t new. Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” (released in Japan in 2001) grew out of his dissatisfaction with the forms of entertainment offered to adolescent girls in Japan. “I wanted the main character to be a typical girl in whom a 10-year-old could recognize herself,” he explained in an interview. “She shouldn’t be someone extraordinary, but an everyday, real person.”
Source articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/movies/anime-belle-your-name.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/movies/film-review-conjuring-up-atmosphere-only-anime-can-deliver.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/movies/belle-review.html
Suzu in Mamoru Hosoda’s “Belle” (released this year) has a life online that overshadows her daily existence; she alter ego, the title character, is the reigning pop diva of the online world of U. On the other hand, Suzu is an introverted high school student in a small town in real life.
Suzu’s music reflects all the love and pain she has experienced, especially since the death of her mother, who drowned saving a drowning child. Suzu misses her a ton, but she also feels angry at her for sacrificing herself for “a kid whose name she didn’t even know.” She even went so far as to abandon her musical gifts because her mother had encouraged them. American characters may express a longing for a deceased parent, but not the deep, complicated emotions of this new anime version of “Beauty and the Beast.” The protagonist of the movie misses her father when she agrees to become the prisoner of the beast, but she never mentions her mother. Same with Jasmine from “Aladdin.” Unlike characters such as Snow White, the full background of Jasmine’s and Belle’s parents are unknown.
In a video call, Hosoda said he believed a major shift occurred in animation when the Disney artists made Belle a more independent and smart young woman (in the 2017 version of the film). She wanted a more exciting life than her town could offer — something other characters like Cinderella and Snow White never expressed.
Hosoda said that “when you think of animation and female leads, you always go to the fairy tale tropes … but they really broke that template: It felt very new. Similarly, what we tried to do in ‘Belle’ is not build a character, but build a person: someone who reflects the society in which we live.”
The trend toward complex heroines isn’t new. Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” (released in Japan in 2001) grew out of his dissatisfaction with the forms of entertainment offered to adolescent girls in Japan. “I wanted the main character to be a typical girl in whom a 10-year-old could recognize herself,” he explained in an interview. “She shouldn’t be someone extraordinary, but an everyday, real person.”
Source articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/movies/anime-belle-your-name.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/movies/film-review-conjuring-up-atmosphere-only-anime-can-deliver.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/movies/belle-review.html
