Women’s Empowerment Representation in Japanese Anime: A Case Study of Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-313-9_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Women’s Empowerment; Empowerment Process; Japan; Anime; Suzume

Abstract

As a part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goal 5, which addresses “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, women’s empowerment has become widely called for worldwide, both in the real world and the literary world, as literary works reflect life. As a reflection of life, portraying women in films who challenge societal preconceptions can promote self-confidence and motivate women in real life, allowing them to be practically empowered. Therefore, this study seeks to uncover three central themes of women’s empowerment proposed by Laurene Sheilds, as reflected in the main female character of Makoto Shinkai’s anime Suzume. This qualitative literary research used the sociology of literature design. Data was collected through speeches, acts, and events from the anime. The analysis found all three central themes of the empowerment process, which are: 1) the emergence of an internal sense of self; 2) the movement to action, choice, and control; and 3) a salient theme of connectedness in Suzume Iwato, the female main character of this anime. Three elements are also found in her: power, autonomy, and self-reliance. Therefore, it can be concluded that women will most likely develop these three elements in their empowering process, changing them from merely being to doing. This development shows that women’s empowerment is rooted in how they see themselves or their self-worth, which is critically bound up with how those around them and their society see them.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Fajria Noviana
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/07
TI  - Women’s Empowerment Representation in Japanese Anime: A Case Study of Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Culture and Sustainable Development (ICOCAS 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 27
EP  - 32
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-313-9_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-313-9_5
ID  - Noviana2024
ER  -