Breaking stereotypes: a feminist analysis of female representation in the animated worlds of Satoshi Kon and Hayao Miyazaki

Abstract

This thesis examines how renowned Japanese auteurs Satoshi Kon and Hayao Miyazaki challenge and subvert traditional gender stereotypes through their respective anime movies. Taking Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke as primary texts, it shows how these auteurs construct complex, empowered female-centered narratives that challenge normative gender roles. Using Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze and Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity as critical lenses, it offers a feminist reading of the said films, focusing on narrative structures, characters, and visuals. This textual analysis demonstrates that both auteurs use anime as a means to provide powerful feminine representation that goes beyond breaking stereotypes about women in anime. It also reveals their visual and narrative techniques offer alternatives to traditional cinematic storytelling regarding gender, identity, and perception. The study will employ textual analysis to investigate how these films reflect, resist, or reinterpret traditional portrayal of female characters in anime.