Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

I’ll be honest – I have no real interest in anime, manga or animated movies. It’s subconscious but I believe it’s because I find a lot of animation styles disturbing. I have tried watching My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky along with numerous American animated films and I could not get into most of them. With that being said, I did have some preconceived notions about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind but I tried to have an open mind.

Plot

A thousand years have passed since a war destroyed civilization and created the toxic jungle. The main character, Nausicaä, is the “savior” of the land. Battles ensue over a powerful embryo of a Giant Warrior, one of the lethal, gargantuan humanoid bioweapons that caused the initial war a thousand years ago. Princess Kushana wants to grow the embryo and use the create to destroy the toxic jungle. It is then discovered there are clean and healthy plants below the toxic jungle. Nausicaä ends up fulfilling her savior prophecy. It then cuts to a non-toxic healthy tree sprouting under the toxic jungle.

Ecocritical Analysis

Utilizing a critical lens like ecocriticism helps engage the brain while watching films, especially films one would not choose to watch on their own time. In the film, nature is shown through a toxic jungle and the non-toxic area underneath the jungle. Nature was changed overtime through human contact since the toxicity came from war. Animals are represented in the film through giant mutant insects and plants are represented through the toxic jungle and non-toxic plants that clean water. The film does claim that all plants and animals are bad, but that pollution causes strange things to happen to plants and animals. It is shown in the film that nature was oppressed in the past but is now reclaiming its territory and is being empowered through the non-toxic tree sprout that begins growing at the end of the film. This event reminds me of how plants will work their way through concrete and cement (pictured below). This film was made for children but has a deeper message about pollution and climate change, similar to WALL-E. I have to give props to this film because the animation was beautiful, the message was important and it was beautifully made. Even I, an animated film hater, was impressed.