my little list of political anime and 2D movies

08 Sep 2020

Just a little list of anime and movies which marked me with their political insights and messages of hope.

1. Belladona of Sadness (1973), a Japanese movie inspired by the French novel La Sorcière by Jules Michelet (1892)
   This movie illustrates well a fight that is way too often invisible, this fight being the one against patriarchy.

2. Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997), a yuri anime and movie
   Makes me contemplate the idea that there might be an equivalent of capitalist realism but for patriarchy, since the main female characters are (in some way) trying to escape the patriarchal system, and this translates in a quest to reach the End of The World. Also, this anime is a great piece about gender stereotypes and the importance of remaining loyal to our dreams and the ones we love. I enjoyed this analysis of the work of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s director, Kunihiko Ikuhara.

3. Shinsekai Yori (2012-2013), science-fiction anime
   This anime’s main subject, in my opinion, is dehumanization and it is brilliantly approached. It also covers colonization, bureaucracy, and the impact of a society ruled by fear. A very smart critique of human history, and one that let us leave with hopes.

4. Rio 2096 (2013), a science-fiction Brazilian movie
   On the cyclical aspect of fighting against oppression (as in, it is a fight that always change but never ends). Also, it serves as a good reminder for activists. Despite the impression that “humanity is actually slacking” in its pursuit of social changes (and so, in such a critical time), it is important to remind ourselves that, at all time in history, there were groups fighting against the oppressive forces (never did humanity just complied as a whole to them), and the fact that humanity now “looks like it is slacking” is not a defeat of morality but the fruit of this game where the oppressors had all the time in the world to think about how to weaken the oppressed and create the conditions for this weakening state to remain constant.

5. Hayako Miyazaki’s work in general
   There is this nice marxist analysis of Miyazaki’s work to which I would like to come back to.

6. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018-2020), fantasy/sci-fi cartoon I could go on and on about why I think this cartoon is amazing. But, in short, following queer princesses with magical abilities uniting to defeat a common evil is wonderful. Kids (and adults) need that kind of show in their life to be able to imagine our very own uprising.