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ABSTRACT
Female antagonists in animation often fit within the universal archetype of the monstrous mother, yet there is little scholarly research examining her role in Japanese animation. This paper examines the role of Yubaba as an exemplary model of the monstrous mother in Studio Ghibli’s highly successful animated film Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) to reveal the ways in which female antagonists are locally and globally constructed through the transgression of sex, gender and cultural norms. Through an application of Japanese psychoanalytic theory and Barbara Creed’s theory of the monstrous-feminine, this study finds that both universal and culturally specific sex-based stereotypes inform Japan’s depiction of monstrous mothers.
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Vanessa Papastavros
Vanessa Papastavros B. Comms (Hons) 2018, University of Technology, Sydney. Vanessa’s work focuses on gender studies, transnational animation and mediated representations of deviance. Her postgraduate Honours research received the University Medal for its original contribution to gender and media studies in Eastern and Western animation. E-mail: [email protected]