Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ was released in movie theaters across the United States on Dec. 8 and earned 12.8 million dollars on its opening weekend, having already racked up 102 million worldwide since its initial release in Japan in July. It is already being called Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus. Spoilers ahead:
‘The Boy and the Heron’ follows a boy named Mahito Maki, who is grieving for his mother, Hisako, who was killed in a hospital fire. His father has moved them to a country estate near a new factory he has built. He is also remarried to Hisako’s younger sister Natsuko.
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As the story progresses, Natsuko disappears, and Mahito goes into a ruined tower along with a strange gray heron and an old woman named Kiriko, who works for his father, to look for her. Sinking through the floor, Mahito finds himself in a spirit world and interacts with a much younger version of Kiriko there, as well as another young woman named Himi, whom he eventually learns is his mother, Hisako. There are little spirit creatures, pelicans, and an army of giant parakeets. With the aid of the heron, who talks, Mahito eventually finds Natsuko in the parakeet kingdom. In the end, Mahito, Kiriko, Natsuko, and Hisako go to a hallway with doors that lead back to their world at different times, and Mahito and Natsuko return home.
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While Mahito is the film’s protagonist, Kiriko, Natsuko, and Hisako have large roles and are strong female characters. Unlike female leads in many U.S. movies these days, however, they are not flawless Mary Sue characters. Nor do they reject their feminine nature and act like men. In the film, Natsuko fires an arrow to drive off some frog spirits about to carry off Mahito. Kiriko single-handedly catches a giant fish, with which she feeds some spirit creatures called Warawara. When pelicans attack the Warawara, Hisako drives them off with fire. They don’t always succeed at everything, though. Kiriko cannot do anything to help the Warawara when pelicans attack them, and both Natsuko and Hisako are knocked unconscious at one point in the film.
The strong female characters in this film contrast strongly with what has become the norm in the West, with characters who can’t be allowed to fail or have faults and/or must behave like men to be strong characters. This was not always the case here in the West. Ripley in the Alien movies and Sarah Conner in the first two Terminator movies were strong female characters who were also feminine and allowed to have faults and fail at times in their endeavors. Filmmakers these days would be smart if they looked to films like ‘The Boy and the Heron,’ as well as films of the past like Alien and Terminator, to create strong female characters.
What do you think about the new Studio Ghibli film “The Boy and the Heron,” and its strong characters? Leave a comment and let us know.
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