Excess and Otherness: Fat, Queer, and Neurodivergent Bodies under Ethnonationalism in Postwar Studio Ghibli

Title

Excess and Otherness: Fat, Queer, and Neurodivergent Bodies under Ethnonationalism in Postwar Studio Ghibli

Creator

Sinha, Pragya; Prabir, Meghna

Description

This study examines intersectional representation in animated films through the characters of the Witch of the Waste (Howls Moving Castle) and Yubaba (Spirited Away), positioning them within discourses on fatness, queerness, and the reimagining of witchcraft as a metaphor for neurodivergence. Both characters reify camp aesthetics (a style characterised by excess, artifice, and a self-aware sense of extravagance) through exaggerated mannerisms, grandiose expressions, and theatrical speech, a feat made possible by the medium of animation, which enhances these characteristics beyond what live-action film can achieve. They are perceived as Other because their bodies are rendered disruptive to dominant social norms. Drawing on Sara Ahmeds Cultural Politics of Emotion, this study explores how these witches evoke fear, disgust and discomfort, mainly through their unruly corporeality and deviation from socially sanctioned expression. Fatness, neurodivergence, and queerness, like the abject, exist on the threshold of the acceptable, simultaneously provoking fascination and repulsion. These traits are further entangled with the logic of ethnonationalism, which upholds idealised bodily forms as markers of morality, and national superiority. This study reveals how Studio Ghiblis witches challenge dominant norms while also reflecting broader cultural anxieties about bodies that refuse to conform. The witches also channel the contradictions of the postwar maternal body, tasked with care, burdened with trauma, and shaped by national expectations of productivity and restraint. Ultimately, they offer a lens into how animated media navigates the politics of the body, excess, and deviance, contributing to broader discussions of intersectional representation in film and television. 2025 Australian National University, Dept. of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies. All rights reserved.

Source

Intersections (Australia);Issue;52;

Date

01-01-2025

Publisher

Australian National University, Dept. of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies

Subject

Animated Media Representation; Camp Aesthetics; Ethnonationalism; Fatness; Howls Moving Castle; Intersectionality; Neurodivergence; Spirited Away; Studio Ghibli

Coverage

Sinha P., Christ University, Bangalore, India; Prabir M., Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bangalore, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 14409151;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022705360?origin=resultslist