Email this article 
The Interrelations of Nature and Woman in Takahata's The Tale of The Princess Kaguya: An Ecofeminist Perspective
(1) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(2) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Nature, as an essential part of human life, should be preserved to maintain a good quality of life for living beings, and literature can be a tool to promote this issue. This article aims at (1) exploring the characters in Isao Takahata's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and (2) analyzing the interrelations of woman and nature as parallel in a patriarchal society. In discussing the movie, this article employs the ecofeminist approach. Five theories are applied to support the analysis: the theory of characterization and Mise en Scène, the theory of ecofeminism, the theory of symbolism, and the theory of patriarchy. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya reveals the equation of women and nature and how both are devalued. The analysis of the characters reveals that Princess Kaguya possesses caring, adventurous, and mysterious characteristics, while Sanuki no Miyatsuko possesses caring, loving, ambitious, and arrogant characteristics. The analysis also finds that Princess Kaguya loves to play with nature. She is equated to an animal, such as a bird, and a plant which is a tree branch. Women and nature are seen as parallel in the story. On the other hand, the noblemen in the story, as the masculine, are ignorant of nature as they pluck flowers and destroy a swallow's nest. This study finds out that Princess Kaguya experiences oppression as she is forced into a lifestyle she does not wish for and is harassed by an Emperor.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abrams. (1999). A Glossary of Literary Terms Seventh Edition. Boston: Earl McPeek.
Boggs & Petrie. (2008). The Art of Watching Movies Seventh Edition. McGraw-Hill.
Closs. (2022). Bamboo Shoots: Japan's Favorite Spring Vegetable. Retrieved from: https://sakura.co/blog/bamboo-shoots-as-seasonal-food-in-japan/
Govindappa, D. (2020). Eco-Criticism in the Short Stories of Ruskin Bond: A Critical Study. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, 3(6), pp. 21-30. https://doi.org/10.31426/ijamsr.2020.3.6.4013
Eaton & Lorentzen. (2003). Ecofeminism and Globalization. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Edubirdie. (2022). Japanese patriarchal values and its effects on women in different dimensions. Edubirdie. https://edubirdie.com/examples/japanese-patriarchal-values-and-its-effects-on-women-in-different-dimensions/
Eliot & Owens. (1998). A Handbook to Literary Research. New York: Routledge.
Gaard, G. (1993). Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature. Temple University Press.
Goody, J. (2017). Oral Literature. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/oral-literature
Hodgkins, C. (2014). Princess Kaguya Wins at 68th Mainichi Movie Awards. Anime News Network. Retrieved from: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-01-22/princess-kaguya-wins-at-68th-mainichi-film-awards
Jones, B, R, J. (2001). Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy. New York: Routledge.
Laksmitarukmi, A. (2017). Patriarchal Viewpoint on Women and Nature: An Ecofeminist Reading on Dan Brown's Inferno (Thesis). Retrieved from http://repository.usd.ac.id/11872/2/156332004_full.pdf
Larasati, A, B. (2021). The Mistreatment towards Women and Nature Done by the Masculine in Roberts Stromberg's Maleficent: An Ecofeminism Study (Undergraduate Thesis). Retrieved from http://repository.usd.ac.id/41532/3/174214148_full.pdf
Loo, E. (2015). Isao Takahata & Ghibli’s Princess Kaguya Nominated for Oscar. Anime News Network. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-01-15/isao-takahata-and-ghibli-princess-kaguya-nominated-for-oscar/.83303
Meadows & Hoffman. (2002). The Nature, Extent and Causes of Land Degradation in South Africa: Legacy of the Past, Lessons for the Future? Area, 34(4), pp. 428-437.
Milton & Sundarsingh. (2019). Eco Centricismis the Nucelus for Development: An Ecocritical of Amitav Ghosh's Hungry Tide. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 8(6S3), pp. 1654-1657. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijeat.F1309.0986S319
Nature being represented as woman. (2023) University of Alberta. Retrieved from: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/Presentations/Nature.htm
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. New York: Routledge.
Pramaggiore & Wallis. (2008). Movie: A Critical Introduction. California: Laurence King Publishing.
Princess Kaguya: A Tale for the Ages. (2021) Japan House Los Angeles. https://www.japanhousela.com/articles/princess-kaguya-a-tale-for-the-ages/
Putri & Retnaningdyah. (2021). Women's Role in Overcoming Nature Exploitation in Disney Movie Frozen II. Journal of Language and Literature, (7)2, pp. 129-142. https://doi.org/10.30812/humanitatis.v7i2.1255
Sharp, J. (2018). Isao Takahata Orbituary. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/movie/2018/apr/08/isao-takahata-obituary
Sierra et al. (2015). Nature, Technology, and Ruined Women: Ecofeminism and Princess Mononoke. The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal, (1)1, pp. 39-56. https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=english_facpub
Sone, E, M. (2014). Nature in crisis: An ecological construction and conservation of the environment in Swazi oral literature. South African Journal of African Languages, pp. 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.997056
Soper, K. (1995). What is Nature? Culture, Politics, and the Non-Human (1st ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Subramanian, R. (2017). Could Eco-Literature Be the Next Major Literary Wave? The Wire. https://thewire.in/books/eco-literature-next-major-literary-wave
Suhrke, A. (1994). Environmental Degradation and Population Flows. Journal of International Affairs, 47(2), pp. 473-496. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24357292
Takahata, I & Sakaguchi, R. (2013). The Tale of the Princess Kaguya [Motion Picture]. Studio Ghibli.
Teaching Movies as Literature. (2022) Study.com. Retrieved from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/teaching-movies-as-literature.html
Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today A User-Friendly Guideline. New York: Routledge.
Vakoch & Mickey. (2018). Literature and Ecofeminism Intersectional and International Voices. New York: Routledge.
Villa, L, F. (2019). Classic patriarchal values and their effects on working Japanese women. Revista Mundo Asia Pacifico, 8(14), pp. 60-75.
Walby, S. (1990). Theorizing Patriarchy. Basil Oxford: Blackwell.
Warren, K, J. (1997). Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature. Indiana University Press.
What Is a Simile? Definition and Examples of Simile in Literature. (2022) MasterClass. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-simile
Wilson, R. (2019). What is Nature? The International Journal of Early Childhood
Environmental Education, 7(1), pp. 26-39. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1233589.pdf
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Awards (2013) Retrieved from:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2576852/awards/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v23i1.5863
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Journal of Language and Literature (JOLL) is published by Prodi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
JOLL is indexed in:
This journal is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License