Name____________________________
Parenthetical Citation Quiz
Directions: Correctly cite the sentences that are marked by the number corresponding
to the author (or title) on the works cited page.
Underline sentences are direct quotes and paraphrased sentences are not underline.
Donʼt forget block quotes and ellipses when citing. Unless specified in the works cited,
please make up the page number and paragraph number.
Each sentence is worth 3 points. Total quiz is 16 points
The Battle Rages: Snow White, Prince Charming, and the Dragon
Snow White, the damsel, Prince Charming, the male hero, and the dragon, a beast, are the
three traditional and universal characters that one sees in any type of animated film. Essentially,
these characters are placed in the roles that match the stereotype of that gender or species. There
is never one essential character that possesses a combination of feminine, masculine, and beastly
attributes. Yet, Hayao Miyazaki, an acclaimed Japanese film director and animator, breaks these
gendered and animalistic stereotypes by creating an asexual heroine in his film, Princess
Mononoke. An article from Computer Graphic World depicts the essence of the film, Princess
Mononoke is the Japanese anime-style animation of a war between the beast gods of the forest
and an encroaching civilization during a lawless period of 15th-century Japan. Princess
Mononoke, a woman reared in the forest by wolves, who has vowed to stop the industrialists and
return the forestland to the gods and its rightful inhabitants (1). In this film, Miyazaki changes
these stereotypical personas and creates a gender-neutral character through his heroine, San, who
is Princess Mononoke.
San possesses male-dominant physical attributes that forces the viewer to perceive her as a
masculine character. Susan Napier, a teacher of Japanese literature and culture at the University
of Texas, describes Miyazaki’s female characteristics, Miyazaki’s girl characters are notably
independent and active, courageously confronting the variety of obstacles before them in a
manner that might well be described as stereotypically masculine (2). Essentially, San
encompasses these characteristics as she constantly turns to violence to solve her problems. This
is shown when San breaks into the industrialized town, Tatara. Wearing a mask and equipped
with a spear and the aid of her two wolf brothers, she attempts to destroy this city. Tatara is
encased by a wall protruding with spikes. Intentionally, her wolf sibling crashes into the spikes,
giving San a few moments of flight; she jams her spear into the wall and enters the city. Napier
describes San’s tactic, San is a raging mix of anger and aggression who in one memorable scene
attempts to take on human civilization with only the help of two wolf ‘siblings’ (2). This scene
enforces San’s masculine attributes and her violent tendencies. She allows her wolf brother to
crash into the spikes in order for her to intrude the city. Overall, the scene displays her ability to
rely on herself in order to defeat her enemy without the aid of a male character, and gives her a
masculine persona by her violent tactics.
Although San has strong masculine characteristics, her relationship with the destructive and
chaotic natural environment also enforces her harsh feminine demeanor. The women of Japan
have been characterized as being submissive, subordinate, oppressed and passive (3). When one
sees the title, Princess Mononoke, the viewer expects to see the typical beautiful princess
prancing through the scene. Yet, the title of Miyazaki’s film surpasses these traditional and
preconceived roles. According to Napier, Mononoke means possession by a human spirit (2).
Miyazaki creates the essence of San’s female persona by characterizing her as a possessed
princess, thus dubbing her with harsh and unfeminine characteristics (2). However, San is more
possessed with the beasts of the forests as she detests the human civilization (2). Her desire and
mission is to demolish the human industrialization and return the forest to the rightful creatures
(2). San possesses the traditional feminine role of connecting with nature; however, she is linked
with a fierce, destructive, and a threatening form of nature (4).
Miyazaki creates his female protagonist, San, as an independent, strong- willed, and
ruthless individual who can be characterized as male, female, or beast. San’s thirst for violence
and her need to fight defines her as a masculine character. Secondly, San can be defined with
feminine characteristics through her connection with nature. Finally, San can be depicted as a
non-human and a type of beast. She contains the ability to communicate with the animals;
however, her supernatural power and her beast-like reflexes portray her as a demonic and beastly
character. Miyazaki gives San“gender-neutral” characteristics by intertwining dominant traits
from male, female, and beast (4). Miyazaki utilizes the unfeminine characteristics of the female
heroine, San, to create an androgynous main character where the audience is able to perceive her
in a variety of ways.
Works Cited
Chute, David. "Organic Machine: the World of Hayao Miyazaki." New York 34 (1998): 62-65.
Proquest. Mack Library, Bethlehem. 22 Apr. 2008. (1) (Internet)
Napier, Susan J. "Confronting Master Narratives: History as Vision in Miyazaki Hayao's Cinema
of De-Assurance." Positions Fall 2001: 467-493. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
Mack Library. 30 Mar. 2008. (2) (Book)
"Princess Mononoke." Computer Graphics World 23 (2000): 34-37. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. Mack Library, Bethlehem. 30 Mar. 2008. (3) (Internet)
Scanzoni, John H. "Rethinking the Roles of Japanese Women." Journal of Comparative Family
Studies 27 (1996): 309-329. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Mack
Library, Bethlehem. 6 May 2008. (4) (Internet)