Hi, i'm doing a project on the representation of women in Japanese Anime and Japanese Culture, overall? I have been viewing this forum for quite some time as a lover of all things Japanese. I am being asked to gather opinion from the internet, as part of my research and it would be of great help to me if some of you guys could answer the question below.
Has the treatment of Women in Japanese Anime, specifically Studio Ghibli, altered since the 1980’s? Or are Japanese Women’s roles still dictated by male audience’s voyeuristic pleasure? In my opinion, Women are still limited to being portrayed as adolescent schoolchildren; vulnerable, weak and defenceless. Even Miyazaki has come out with defamatory marks when questioned about this: “When a girl is shooting a handgun, it's really something. She shoots a handgun as if she is throwing dishes”, “At first, I thought this is no longer the era of men but after ten years, I grew tired of saying that. I just say "cause I like women." That has more reality.
I feel, even after the modernisation of Japan, women are still inferior and Japan still holds a patriarchal attitude. So what do you think? Do you think the way women are represented in Hayao Miyazaki’s Japanese Anime and the way they are treated in Japanese Culture has shifted, or is Japan still a male-dominant society?
Thank you
