Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Question

Finally saw this in its real incarnation. For many years this was only available in the United States in a mutilated version entitled Warriors of the Wind , in which they made a supporting male character the hero... for it was felt that we Americans weren't ready for an sf/fantasy/adventure film where a girl does all the hero stuff.
I wonder how much things have changed... and, if so, how much, and in what direction. It would be kinda fun (albeit impractical) to deliberately write a crackerjack script with a heroic lead who's not only female like Princess Nausicaa, but distinctively so... that is, one who actually acts and thinks like a woman, instead of one, like in so many pictures written by men, who seems more like a guy who's had mammary grafts... and see if she survives the development process in anything resembling her original incarnation.

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"No rocket will reach the moon save by a miraculous discovery of an explosive far more energetic than any known. And even if the requisite fuel were produced, it would still have to be shown that the rocket machine would operate at 459 degrees below zero the temperature of interplanetary space." Nikola Tesla, November 1928

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Everyone needs their Oswald the Rabbit. The butcher job allowed Miyazaki to demand a "no edits" clause to his future films, and Disney has been very gracious with their distribution of Studio Ghibli on DVD. My only beef is that I still like saying Laputa instead of Castle in the Sky, but yeah, I could understand how a Spanish translation of *** could be a problem.
I like the irony in Porco Rosso.

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On Dec 14, 8:10 am, "Avoid normal situations."
[nq:1]Finally saw this in its real incarnation. For many years this was only available in the United States in a ... rocket machine would operate at 459 degrees below zero the temperature of interplanetary space." Nikola Tesla, November 1928[/nq]
Love Miyazaki. Nausicca is showing at the Midnite Movie series at a local art theater soon. It's his most "care for nature and nature will
care for you" film, but all of his stuff has some nod to ecology. He's got a new one coming out which is, sadly, supposed to be his last. I hope not.
W : )

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[nq:1]Everyone needs their Oswald the Rabbit. The butcher job allowed Miyazaki to demand a "no edits" clause to his future ... I could understand how a Spanish translation of *** could be a problem. I like the irony in Porco Rosso.[/nq]
Liked *PR* also, but this is what confused me
about it: we never really find out why he was turned into a pig. His loss of faith?
W : )

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Miyazaki is a master of the coming-of-age character arc. His children start out innocently enough, but the call to adventure matures them, and they end up even more grown up than some of the adults.

As a result, Miyazaki can develop a story involving any moment of that arc. Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro feature children who need their parents, while Pazu and Sheeta have been orphaned in Laputa. Kiki moves out on her own at the age of 13 as a prerequisite to becoming a witch.
In Porco Rosso, Fio interns at her grandfather's airplane plant, quite the young woman but needing to prove herself in a "man's profession". So is flying, but the best one is a non-Fascist pig. Together, they fill each other's need to succeed against the conventions of their day.
And at the beginning of Miyazaki's independence as an artist, the Valley's King is killed at the end of the first act, and Princess Nausicaa must lead her kingdom in a post-Apocalyptic world.

The maturity these characters reach is most vividly expressed in Laputa, when Sheeta stops trying to run away, and faces her destiny as the rightful heir to Laputa. She gets her pigtails shot off as a result. But the journey to that point was never about immaturity, and that is something that is absent from Hollywood films

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[nq:1]Miyazaki is a master of the coming-of-age character arc. His children start out innocently enough, but the call to adventure ... in Laputa. Kiki moves out on her own at the age of 13 as a prerequisite to becoming a witch.[/nq]
What I loved about the world he puts Kiki in is that witches are an accepted part of the society. I was pleasantly suprised that no angry mob with pitchforks and torches demanded she be burned. It was a "Oh, there's a witch on a broomstick big deal" universe.
[nq:1]In Porco Rosso, Fio interns at her grandfather's airplane plant, quite the young woman but needing to prove herself in ... best one is a non-Fascist pig. Together, they fill each other's need to succeed against the conventions of their day.[/nq]
Porco's a lot like Bogart in Casablanca.
W : )

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On Dec 14, 10:10 am, "Avoid normal situations."
[nq:1]Finally saw this in its real incarnation. For many years this was only available in the United States in a ... rocket machine would operate at 459 degrees below zero the temperature of interplanetary space." Nikola Tesla, November 1928[/nq]
I own both version and while "warriors" certainly cuts out a lot of things that are critical most important of all the fact Nausicaa's research into the nature of the "toxic jungle" and the fact that it is actually cleansing rather than poisoning the world, I never got the sense that her role as the story's hero had been reduced in any significant way.
This was actually the first Miyazaki film that I saw back in its original VHS "warriors" release, when I didn't know anything about who he was or what kind of movies he made. I just saw it on the shelf and watched.
And even then, in it's truncated form, it was exceptional and it never occurred to me for a second that anyone other than Nausicaa was the heroine.
It opens with her she's the dominant presence. She still rescues the wounded "gorgon" (as they're called in "warriors") infant and delivers it to the attacking hordes, dying (or almost dying) in the process.
She's still is the figure that satisfies the prophesy from the tapestry.
I know "Warriors" has a bad rep, but having recently seen the Disney version of Laputa "Castle in the Sky" Disney screwed around with that way worse they messed around with the music cues in a way that was really unforgiveable and unnecessary. And I believe that it was cut, contracts notwithstanding. Having seen the original a number of times, I simply cannot sit through that version of the movie.

Compared to "Castle in the Sky," Warriors of the Wind is a freaking masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.
Obviously, it's great to be able to watch these things in their original cuts in the original language (I got myself a boxed set of Studio Ghibli productions awhile ago, so I've got all of Miyazaki's theatrical features prior to Howl's Moving Castle.

On another note (or perhaps similar to the point that you were making) have you noticed the repeated presence of sympathetic villainesses in Miyazaki movies?
The maimed villainess in Nausicaa had a rather similar counterpart in Princess Mononoke. The Pirate Queen in Laputa is similar to the Witch in Spirited Away.
It seems as if, in Miyazaki's universe, you never really have thoroughly villainous women. They always tend to be more complex characters. Men, on the other hand can just be flat out bad guys.

NMS

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[nq:1]On another note (or perhaps similar to the point that you were making) have you noticed the repeated presence of sympathetic villainesses in Miyazaki movies?[/nq]
Actually, I never did. It took me a long time to warm to Miyazaki's work; I wouldn't have called myself a fan of his until after I saw Howl's Moving Castle ... which is actually the fifth of his I witnessed.

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"The day of the battleship has not passed, and it is highly unlikely that an airplane, or fleet of them, could ever successfully sink a fleet of navy vessels under battle conditions."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1922

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[nq:1]I know "Warriors" has a bad rep, but having recently seen the Disney version of Laputa "Castle in the ... contracts notwithstanding. Having seen the original a number of times, I simply cannot sit through that version of the movie.[/nq]
I've got a fansub somewhere, so I'll check, but at least you can watch the movie in the original Japanese. I think the only cut was the kanji in the credits. Other than that, I avoid the dubbing, period.
[nq:1]On another note (or perhaps similar to the point that you were making) have you noticed the repeated presence of sympathetic villainesses in Miyazaki movies? The maimed villainess in Nausicaa had a rather similar counterpart in Princess Mononoke. The Pirate Queen in Laputa is similar to the Witch in Spirited Away. It seems as if, in Miyazaki's universe, you never really have thoroughly villainous women. They always tend to be more complex characters. Men, on the other hand can just be flat out bad guys.[/nq]
I suppose Captain Jack Sparrow kinda counts for Hollywood, but Anime and HK often draw on a richer tapestry of antagonism. With Miyazaki, there's almost no such thing as all the way bad. Not the air pirates in Porco Rosso; not even the army in Laputa, so far as they become disposable pawns for Muska's plans.
It's almost as if the recurring theme is that everything is misunderstood.

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[nq:2]Finally saw this in its real incarnation. For many years ... the temperature of interplanetary space." Nikola Tesla, November 1928[/nq]
[nq:1]I own both version and while "warriors" certainly cuts out a lot of things that are critical most important of all the fact Nausicaa's research into the nature of the "toxic jungle" and the fact that it is actually cleansing rather than poisoning the world, I never got the sense that her role as the story's hero had been reduced in any significant way. This was actually the first Miyazaki film that I saw back in its original VHS "warriors" release, when I didn't know anything about who he was or what kind of movies he made. I just saw it on the shelf and watched. And even then, in it's truncated form, it was exceptional and it never occurred to me for a second that anyone other than Nausicaa was the heroine. It opens with her she's the dominant presence. She still rescues the wounded "gorgon" (as they're called in "warriors") infant and delivers it to the attacking hordes, dying (or almost dying) in the process. She's still is the figure that satisfies the prophesy from the tapestry. I know "Warriors" has a bad rep, but having recently seen the Disney version of Laputa "Castle in the Sky" Disney screwed around with that way worse they messed around with the music cues in a way that was really unforgiveable and unnecessary. And I believe that it was cut, contracts notwithstanding. Having seen the original a number of times, I simply cannot sit through that version of the movie. Compared to "Castle in the Sky," Warriors of the Wind is a freaking masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Obviously, it's great to be able to watch these things in their original cuts in the original language (I got myself a boxed set of Studio Ghibli productions awhile ago, so I've got all of Miyazaki's theatrical features prior to Howl's Moving Castle. On another note (or perhaps similar to the point that you were making) have you noticed the repeated presence of sympathetic villainesses in Miyazaki movies? The maimed villainess in Nausicaa had a rather similar counterpart in Princess Mononoke. The Pirate Queen in Laputa is similar to the Witch in Spirited Away. It seems as if, in Miyazaki's universe, you never really have thoroughly villainous women. They always tend to be more complex characters. Men, on the other hand can just be flat out bad guys. NMS- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text -[/nq]
Well, the head kidnapper in Porco said something on the lines of it's not polite to seperate the kids or whatever. I get the impression that even the bad guys in Miyazaki aren't totally evil, either. He seems to go out of his way to make that plain...and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy!

W : )

Usenet · Answer

Just watched Nausicaa again, and finally a mystery solved.

I had always thought it was a too obvious continuity error when Nausicaa changes from her light blue dress to the Pejite Red dress, and ends up back in a blue dress. Little did VHS let me know that the baby Ohmu's blood was soaking into her shirt.
So there's the shedding of blood; the color of her dress sways between red and blue, just like the Ohmu's eyes; and there's the salvation and resurrection theme, along with Messianic prophecy.

Pretty deep.
And although I listened to the Japanese, the English version has a great cast: Patrick Stewart, Mark Hamill, Uma Thurman as the ultimate English version of Lady Kushana, and a very young Shia LaBeouf.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

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