You better look out below!

dirndlkleid:

top 20 fictional ladies who put ovaries before brovaries (presented in no particular order)

the women of hayao miyazaki’s films

Sen! I’m sorry I called you a dope before… I take it back!

—Lin, Spirited Away (2001)

First, excuse my gaps in knowledge of Miyazaki movies; the only New Year’s resolution I have that I will probably keep is to finally watch every one of his films.  I picked these relationships to zoom in specifically as I have seen all of these movies (and internalized them at a pretty young age) and found them to be the best examples of girls being friends with girls even among a body of work as richly female-positive as Miyazaki’s. 

Kiki’s Delivery Service is perhaps the best example of a film full of women supporting other women out there.  With the exception of Tombo (and to a lesser extent in the context of the film: her father and Osono’s husband), all of the significant figures in Kiki’s life and emotional journey are women.  She is surrounded by strong, fully-formed, and unique females, and she has positive, mutually beneficial relationships with all of them.  Kiki finds role models and friends and mentors in the female residents of her coast town, and, with her, the viewers of the movie do, too.

Lin and Chihiro’s friendship is interesting, as it follows the general development of the relationships of so many fictional dudes; the cynical veteran, though initially annoyed by the doofy newbie, eventually grows fond of them.  This kind of typically male relationship probably populates the majority of “buddy films” and additionally exists in huge numbers between a hardened older man and a younger girl who ~teaches him how to love life again~ or whatever, but isn’t necessarily the kind of friendship shared usually by two women in fiction.  But here it is; Lin is hard, loud-mouthed, and street smart (bathhouse smart?), while Chihiro is young in every sense of the word, perpetually unsure of herself, and whiny.  But they grow fond of each other, confide in each other, support each other, and, in the end, teach each other important lessons and are instrumental to each other’s growth and development, which is especially notable in a coming-of-age movie.  

And then Satsuki and Mei!  It will be interesting to see how many of the relationships on this list end up between sisters.  And these two are very realistic sisters: their love for each other is apparent throughout the entire movie, even and maybe most especially when they fight.  But what I love most about them is they share a very basic and childlike genuine love of life, manifested most in how much they just really enjoy each other’s company.  And, of course, it is just great that the relationship at the heart of the movie is between two sisters.

YES.

Just to see the names all written out there, additional shout-outs to: Sheeta and Dola, Gina and Fio, the women of Iron Town, Sophie and Lettie, Ponyo and Lisa as well as Lisa and Grammamare and the old ladies, Taeko and Naoko, and Shizuku and Yuko.

Whew. That is a LOT of lady friendships. <3____<3

(Source: ailuruses)