You've probably seen, or at least heard of, some of Hayao Miyazaki's awesomely beautiful and creative animated movies -- movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and so on.
I've been a fan of Miyazaki for a while now. When I first encountered his movies, I realised just how flat and lifeless the English-based animated movies (Disney, etc) typically are. Miyazaki's animated movies are so rich and deep in their visuals, and are incredibly beautiful to watch. And the storytelling matches the visuals.
I'd been looking forward to when Mulan and Miya were old enough to enjoy Miyazaki's movies. A few months ago we watched, as a family, both My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. The girls really enjoyed them. We will probably watch his other movies at some point, but we thought these two were the sweetest ones to start with for Miya.
There are also comic book (aka graphic novel) versions of the movies, and soon after watching the movies we borrowed the book version of both Totoro and Kiki from our local library. Mulan and Miya both enjoyed reading them, speeding through them very fast.
I also wanted to get out the book version of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (I think it is my favourite Miyazaki story). Unfortunately, our library system only had volumes two through seven of the multi-volume book -- it seems that volume one was missing. But the Auckland Library system is excellent, and we put in a request for them to buy volume one. A few weeks later the book had been bought, and we picked it up at our local branch (along with the other six volumes we requested to borrow).
We decided that Miya was a bit young to read Nausicaa, as it is quite complicated as well as violent in parts. But it was no problem for Mulan, and she jumped into reading it.
As Mulan finished a volume, she passed it on to me and I would read it too (I'd already read it several years ago, but it is definitely worth repeat readings as we continue to see new things). I then passed it on to Mama to read. Mulan and I have now both finished all seven volumes of Nausicaa, while Mama is partway through volume three.
One thing I like about reading these books is that they retain the right-to-left reading of the Japanese, even though they are translated into English. It is a great brain exercise to read in a different way, and it is interesting to think about the sorts of unconscious cultural assumptions we make thanks to our left-to-right written language.
I haven't watched the movie version of Nausicaa for several years, but if I remember rightly, the movie, while still excellent, is a much shorter, simpler version of the book. I'd recommend both, but I prefer the book and I wanted Mulan to read it first before watching it.
So, what is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind about?
It is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where wars and over-industrialisation have damaged and polluted the world to a civilisation-ending extent. Humans still exist in towns and villages, partly surviving through farming and partly through scavenging from the ruins of pre-apocalyptic cities. Plants and animals have mutated in extraordinary ways, and in the mutated forests humans need to wear masks to protect them from the poisons.
Nausicaa, a teenage girl, is the daughter of the ruler of a small, semi-independent farming village (The Valley of the Wind). She is the heart and moral centre of the story, deeply feeling for each and every living being, no matter who and what they are. Her steady and constant attitude is to help everyone, without fear, and regardless of who they are, whenever they need it. She keeps up this ethics of care, even as she and the Valley of the Wind are dragged unwillingly into a war between their two bigger neighbours -- the Kingdom of Torumekia and the Dorok Principalities.
What I especially like is that Nausicaa is an awesome role-model -- caring, curious and courageous, and most importantly seeing the beauty and worth in every single being, no matter who they are. She accepts everyone, and she does whatever it takes to help those in need.
For a comic book, the story is pretty complicated and deep, as we follow several characters in a fairly sizable world. Its themes are both political and environmental, as we see Nausicaa's ethics of care become more nuanced as she leaves the Valley and encounters new people and situations.
As I see it, the final several pages are the most thought-provoking, as a now more experienced Nausicaa is forced to make a final difficult decision.
I don't want to give away the story too much, so in what follows below I am intentionally abstracting certain details:
Gradually, it is revealed that the pre-apocalyptic people had stored knowledge and more in vast centres, to be slowly returned to the world in the appropriate time. The problem is that these knowledge centres are an ongoing corrupting influence on the people, with frequent wars for power and dominance over the gradual knowledge release. Even initially well-meaning rulers had fallen into corruption over time.
Nausicaa's final dilemma was to either:
(a) trust the pre-apocalyptic people that they were knowledgeable and well-meaning enough such that their centre would eventually assist in the creation of a future Utopian human world, even though current generations of humans continued to suffer greatly because of the centre, or
(b) destroy/kill the knowledge centre and hence its possible Utopian future, to reduce the suffering of the currently existing people, trusting that current humans will somehow muddle along into a better future.
It is certainly a tough one. Should we care more about the wellbeing of currently existing people, or should we care more about future, unborn people? As Nausicaa knowingly makes her decision she says, "I shudder at the depth of my sin."
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