One of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies is "Whisper of the Heart", an extremely sweet film about a middle school girl, Shizuku who discovers she wants to be a writer. The story is mostly gentle moments in everyday life: she makes up a parody song with her best friend and gets mad at a boy who teases her about it, she visits an antique shop and gets inspired by the objects she sees, she has conflict with her family about her grades. There's a sweet love story at the center of it, where Shizuku meets a boy, Seiji, who wants to make violins. Two things set it apart for me in terms of womens'/girls' stories:
-One key part of the "climax" of the story, such as it is, is Shizuku deciding she wants to write a story and then writing the story, and then she gives it to one person to read who gives her honest feedback and appreciation. She doesn't win any contests, she doesn't suddenly get catapulted to a life of art - in fact, she decides to work harder on getting into a good high school so she can learn more about writing. The story is very much about her interior development and discovery of this thing she loves, rather than an external achievement or the sudden attainment of a miraculous ability.
-The love story is about two characters supporting each others' passions. They're initially attracted to each other over the passion and talent they can see each other - Seiji admires Shizuku's cleverness with words; Shizuku admires Seiji's musical talent. They talk frequently together about these things they love and spur each other onward to develop their talents (when Seiji travels to Italy to learn more about violin-making, Shizuku is inspired to pursue writing more seriously.) The heart of the love story is two characters spurring each other on to do better work and supporting each other throughout that - even though it takes one of them far away to Italy. It can be so unfortunately rare in the movies to see a love story between a man and a woman where they are spurring each other on equally - usually the woman plays cheerleader to the guy who discovers something about himself for the first time.
In general, I think the Studio Ghibli style is really well-suited to anticlimax, hidden lives, and mundane stories. The focus on small details throughout the films, the inclusion of moments that don't necessarily advance the plot, the attention to characters who are not particularly important or notable in themselves - these are elements that I think any director could use to move away from the classic girl-power heroine type movie.
> In general, I think the Studio Ghibli style is really well-suited to anticlimax, hidden lives, and mundane stories.
Ohmygoodness, yes!
Totoro! The children exploring the new house.. (walking around on hands and knees so they wouldn't have to take their shoes off.) Their dad making the day they moved in fun, reassuring the girls in moments of fear, and affirming that life is full of mystery. Keeping their spirits up (not to mention his own) in the face of the backdrop of real fears and sorrows that are "what's really going on."
The older sister! I feel like so much of her being portrayed as a good older sister is by means of her placid "well of course" response (I need to do X. So of course, I will.) to challenging situations involving Mei. (I think of "IT'S A BIG TOTORO!" all the time.)
And let's not forget that neighbor grandmother. :>
A lot of these are handled very visually: The energy of moving day. The hesitations of the dad when he is putting aside his own thoughts to consider how to answer one of the girls' questions. The older sister's face of dismay when something goes wrong. The warmth of the grandmother's wrinkly smile.
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." <- This feels like the perfect counterpoint quote to the "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History" thesis, especially insofar as "well-behaved" is taken to mean quiet or deeply prudent.
I'm a little late to this, but I would suggest a play for your consideration. Our Town is arguably the greatest American play of all time. It tells a simple story about ordinary people living in a small, New England town at the turn of the 20th century. The events of the first two acts are mostly everyday occurrences: people go to work, chat at the kitchen table, go to school, fall in love, get married. In the third act, however, Emily, the heroine, has died and she is given a chance to re-live a day of her life. She quickly realizes how glorious and precious all those simple events were and how little we value them while we live. She asks the Stage Manager (a narrator, among other things) "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it... every, every minute?" He replies, "No. Saints and poets, maybe...they do some."
I would definitely put Eighth Grade on this list. It's a really beautiful, poignant story about a very shy girl trying to figure out who she is and struggling to make friends. And her single father struggling to figure out how to support her. The drama is all very everyday - middle school social humiliations, fights with her dad, close encounters with shady older boys, fantasizing about things being better in high school. It's a super sweet story about growing up and family.
I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls recently. It struck me this time around how often the big moments aren't shown onscreen, because the writers care more about what happens after. For example, Lorelai (a single mom) breaks off an engagement, but we never see the conversation with her fiance where that happens. Instead, we see her reaction afterward, which is to go on a road trip with her daughter, Rory. There are occasional fights or big events that happen onscreen, but the show is mostly filled with everyday moments between people. One of the big story arcs throughout the series is how Lorelai learns to have a relationship with her mother while keeping true to her own sense of self. There's a whole episode about how Rory, an introvert, just wants a night at home by herself to watch TV and do laundry, and the conflict is that people keep coming over. The small town where they live is an idealized vision of what small town life could be - full of lovely, quirky people who annoy each other and care about each other in equal measure. I think it's part of why I enjoy rewatching the show, even though I want to yell at the main characters for some of the choices they make.
My husband and I enjoyed watching "The Dig" on Netflix a couple of weeks ago. It's a quiet film about quiet lives, both female and male, and their place in the great sweep of human history. It does have a couple of exciting scenes, but no traditional climax.
I think a huge epic can be a fitting place for hidden lives of faithfulness & virtue to be revealed. But you see it in the contributions of "minor characters" - the stranger whose home sheltered the hero in a vulnerable moment at great risk, the loyal friend whose sacrifice was indispensible.
I rejoice gleefully over the words of little servant-girl who served Naaman's wife: "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." She's a child, but she knows there is a prophet in Samaria. She's presumably a slave - but she wants the family she works for to have healing.
It's so fun because the commander of the Syrian is one of the most powerful men in the nation... maybe the known world at that time... and has a problem that leaves him helpless. But she can help him. AND THEN even when Naaman goes to seek healing from Elisha, his servants have a part to play again! They draw him back from the edge (of stomping off in a fit of wrath and utterly failing to obtain it).
And also... God is not after Naaman's front-page-headline success; God is after his worship. The arc ends with Naaman literally making plans to have an invisible change of allegiance.
(Would love other people to help me out with examples! For example, what about the Odyssey?)
I like this about fairy tales, where there's frequently a chiasmus structure where you meet and help people at the beginning of your adventure who return and help you near the climax.
Yes. Or in children's books, like Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series. I've always loved the bit in the last book where Taran saves an injured young gwythaint--the savage birds that serve the Dark Lord, Arawn--and it comes back to save him at a crucial moment later.
Oh, neat! And probably with an unanticipated, outsize impact a la "The Mouse and the Lion."*
A fairy story that came to my mind was: "Spinning Silver." Miryem's bondservants in the Staryk land seemed to somewhat fit the bill of, "small, unnoticed, and lowly" yet render her irreplacable service.
But that was more particularly about the relation between Miryem and them as her bondservants. (and the nature of what success at her task would mean - something understood far better by her bondservants than by her!) But there wasn't necess. (much) evidence that they were individually excpetionally virtuous persons by the standards of their own culture. A little.
Maybe better candidates in the realm of "unnoticed virtue of a little life" would be Wanda, or Magreta, the elderly nurse who serves Irina!
I first got “Spinning Silver” recommended to me when I said, “I'm looking for good fiction titles where a character who typically hasn't had a lot of agency... suddenly DOES have agency.” (and I gave 2 examples of books that were like that for me.)
Stories like that have an outsized impact on me...
“Sometimes, when you listen to a story, you get a new idea of what’s possible in the world. I don’t mean just strange customs and faraway places-- though you can learn a lot from those. What I mean is that you can get a new idea of what’s possible for YOU-- something you never thought of, or you never saw very much in real life.
When I’m scared, I like to think about the the brave people in stories I know. And I think, ‘Maybe I could be like THAT.’ “
Also, in a discussion board for "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," one of the most fun threads I've started* was about "bit part characters" in that epic series:
The "bit-part" characters are often far more virtuous then the protagonist, and a short cameo often hints at a long years of faithfulness, courage and devotion to seeking out some thing of beauty or knowledge.
(Didn't put it in the top-level post, partly b/c it feels like advertising my post.)
Also the short stories of Alice Adams. My grandmother loved them and shared them with me, and they definitely expanded my ideas of what it means to be a woman (without the striving to be extraordinary tropes).
I feel like Only Yesterday would be a contender here. Taeko is quiet, in her late 20s and is pressured to marry. She leaves her office job on vacation outside Tokyo for the safflower harvest. While there, her younger self emerges and she finds herself reflecting on her childhood and preteen years, all the obstacles and challenges she faced. The k-drama Oh My Ghostess also has that heightened style, in that a timid young woman is possessed by a ghost, but you see how sad her life is, owing to her timidity. Hers is a hidden life that does get thrust into the spotlight.
One of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies is "Whisper of the Heart", an extremely sweet film about a middle school girl, Shizuku who discovers she wants to be a writer. The story is mostly gentle moments in everyday life: she makes up a parody song with her best friend and gets mad at a boy who teases her about it, she visits an antique shop and gets inspired by the objects she sees, she has conflict with her family about her grades. There's a sweet love story at the center of it, where Shizuku meets a boy, Seiji, who wants to make violins. Two things set it apart for me in terms of womens'/girls' stories:
-One key part of the "climax" of the story, such as it is, is Shizuku deciding she wants to write a story and then writing the story, and then she gives it to one person to read who gives her honest feedback and appreciation. She doesn't win any contests, she doesn't suddenly get catapulted to a life of art - in fact, she decides to work harder on getting into a good high school so she can learn more about writing. The story is very much about her interior development and discovery of this thing she loves, rather than an external achievement or the sudden attainment of a miraculous ability.
-The love story is about two characters supporting each others' passions. They're initially attracted to each other over the passion and talent they can see each other - Seiji admires Shizuku's cleverness with words; Shizuku admires Seiji's musical talent. They talk frequently together about these things they love and spur each other onward to develop their talents (when Seiji travels to Italy to learn more about violin-making, Shizuku is inspired to pursue writing more seriously.) The heart of the love story is two characters spurring each other on to do better work and supporting each other throughout that - even though it takes one of them far away to Italy. It can be so unfortunately rare in the movies to see a love story between a man and a woman where they are spurring each other on equally - usually the woman plays cheerleader to the guy who discovers something about himself for the first time.
In general, I think the Studio Ghibli style is really well-suited to anticlimax, hidden lives, and mundane stories. The focus on small details throughout the films, the inclusion of moments that don't necessarily advance the plot, the attention to characters who are not particularly important or notable in themselves - these are elements that I think any director could use to move away from the classic girl-power heroine type movie.
> In general, I think the Studio Ghibli style is really well-suited to anticlimax, hidden lives, and mundane stories.
Ohmygoodness, yes!
Totoro! The children exploring the new house.. (walking around on hands and knees so they wouldn't have to take their shoes off.) Their dad making the day they moved in fun, reassuring the girls in moments of fear, and affirming that life is full of mystery. Keeping their spirits up (not to mention his own) in the face of the backdrop of real fears and sorrows that are "what's really going on."
The older sister! I feel like so much of her being portrayed as a good older sister is by means of her placid "well of course" response (I need to do X. So of course, I will.) to challenging situations involving Mei. (I think of "IT'S A BIG TOTORO!" all the time.)
And let's not forget that neighbor grandmother. :>
A lot of these are handled very visually: The energy of moving day. The hesitations of the dad when he is putting aside his own thoughts to consider how to answer one of the girls' questions. The older sister's face of dismay when something goes wrong. The warmth of the grandmother's wrinkly smile.
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." <- This feels like the perfect counterpoint quote to the "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History" thesis, especially insofar as "well-behaved" is taken to mean quiet or deeply prudent.
Yes, they _shape_ history without being _recorded_ in history.
I'm a little late to this, but I would suggest a play for your consideration. Our Town is arguably the greatest American play of all time. It tells a simple story about ordinary people living in a small, New England town at the turn of the 20th century. The events of the first two acts are mostly everyday occurrences: people go to work, chat at the kitchen table, go to school, fall in love, get married. In the third act, however, Emily, the heroine, has died and she is given a chance to re-live a day of her life. She quickly realizes how glorious and precious all those simple events were and how little we value them while we live. She asks the Stage Manager (a narrator, among other things) "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it... every, every minute?" He replies, "No. Saints and poets, maybe...they do some."
Excellent connection! The NYT did a nice little piece interviewing various "Emilys" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/theater/our-town-actresses.html
That's lovely - I think "Our Town" is one that my dad's often recommended to me! Now I want to check it out.
I would definitely put Eighth Grade on this list. It's a really beautiful, poignant story about a very shy girl trying to figure out who she is and struggling to make friends. And her single father struggling to figure out how to support her. The drama is all very everyday - middle school social humiliations, fights with her dad, close encounters with shady older boys, fantasizing about things being better in high school. It's a super sweet story about growing up and family.
I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls recently. It struck me this time around how often the big moments aren't shown onscreen, because the writers care more about what happens after. For example, Lorelai (a single mom) breaks off an engagement, but we never see the conversation with her fiance where that happens. Instead, we see her reaction afterward, which is to go on a road trip with her daughter, Rory. There are occasional fights or big events that happen onscreen, but the show is mostly filled with everyday moments between people. One of the big story arcs throughout the series is how Lorelai learns to have a relationship with her mother while keeping true to her own sense of self. There's a whole episode about how Rory, an introvert, just wants a night at home by herself to watch TV and do laundry, and the conflict is that people keep coming over. The small town where they live is an idealized vision of what small town life could be - full of lovely, quirky people who annoy each other and care about each other in equal measure. I think it's part of why I enjoy rewatching the show, even though I want to yell at the main characters for some of the choices they make.
My husband and I enjoyed watching "The Dig" on Netflix a couple of weeks ago. It's a quiet film about quiet lives, both female and male, and their place in the great sweep of human history. It does have a couple of exciting scenes, but no traditional climax.
I think a huge epic can be a fitting place for hidden lives of faithfulness & virtue to be revealed. But you see it in the contributions of "minor characters" - the stranger whose home sheltered the hero in a vulnerable moment at great risk, the loyal friend whose sacrifice was indispensible.
I rejoice gleefully over the words of little servant-girl who served Naaman's wife: "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." She's a child, but she knows there is a prophet in Samaria. She's presumably a slave - but she wants the family she works for to have healing.
It's so fun because the commander of the Syrian is one of the most powerful men in the nation... maybe the known world at that time... and has a problem that leaves him helpless. But she can help him. AND THEN even when Naaman goes to seek healing from Elisha, his servants have a part to play again! They draw him back from the edge (of stomping off in a fit of wrath and utterly failing to obtain it).
And also... God is not after Naaman's front-page-headline success; God is after his worship. The arc ends with Naaman literally making plans to have an invisible change of allegiance.
(Would love other people to help me out with examples! For example, what about the Odyssey?)
I like this about fairy tales, where there's frequently a chiasmus structure where you meet and help people at the beginning of your adventure who return and help you near the climax.
Yes. Or in children's books, like Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series. I've always loved the bit in the last book where Taran saves an injured young gwythaint--the savage birds that serve the Dark Lord, Arawn--and it comes back to save him at a crucial moment later.
Oh, neat! And probably with an unanticipated, outsize impact a la "The Mouse and the Lion."*
A fairy story that came to my mind was: "Spinning Silver." Miryem's bondservants in the Staryk land seemed to somewhat fit the bill of, "small, unnoticed, and lowly" yet render her irreplacable service.
But that was more particularly about the relation between Miryem and them as her bondservants. (and the nature of what success at her task would mean - something understood far better by her bondservants than by her!) But there wasn't necess. (much) evidence that they were individually excpetionally virtuous persons by the standards of their own culture. A little.
Maybe better candidates in the realm of "unnoticed virtue of a little life" would be Wanda, or Magreta, the elderly nurse who serves Irina!
* though I guess strictly that's a fable?
Love love loved this book, including the broadening of who was a protagonist.
Yes!
RE: “the broadening of who was protagonist”-
I first got “Spinning Silver” recommended to me when I said, “I'm looking for good fiction titles where a character who typically hasn't had a lot of agency... suddenly DOES have agency.” (and I gave 2 examples of books that were like that for me.)
Stories like that have an outsized impact on me...
“Sometimes, when you listen to a story, you get a new idea of what’s possible in the world. I don’t mean just strange customs and faraway places-- though you can learn a lot from those. What I mean is that you can get a new idea of what’s possible for YOU-- something you never thought of, or you never saw very much in real life.
When I’m scared, I like to think about the the brave people in stories I know. And I think, ‘Maybe I could be like THAT.’ “
-Shadow Spinner, by Susan Fletcher
Also, in a discussion board for "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," one of the most fun threads I've started* was about "bit part characters" in that epic series:
https://kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14558
The "bit-part" characters are often far more virtuous then the protagonist, and a short cameo often hints at a long years of faithfulness, courage and devotion to seeking out some thing of beauty or knowledge.
(Didn't put it in the top-level post, partly b/c it feels like advertising my post.)
* I'm real bad at starting threads.
Also the short stories of Alice Adams. My grandmother loved them and shared them with me, and they definitely expanded my ideas of what it means to be a woman (without the striving to be extraordinary tropes).
I feel like Only Yesterday would be a contender here. Taeko is quiet, in her late 20s and is pressured to marry. She leaves her office job on vacation outside Tokyo for the safflower harvest. While there, her younger self emerges and she finds herself reflecting on her childhood and preteen years, all the obstacles and challenges she faced. The k-drama Oh My Ghostess also has that heightened style, in that a timid young woman is possessed by a ghost, but you see how sad her life is, owing to her timidity. Hers is a hidden life that does get thrust into the spotlight.