A look at how Hayao Miyazaki's film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, uses devices of science fiction and visual communication to explore how humans relate to the "other" in a biocentric, rather than anthropocentric way.

1. NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE
WIND:
CONFRONTING THE “OTHER” IN
ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE FICTION
KEYGAN SANDS

2. SYNOPSIS
Seven Days of
Fire
Spreading Sea
of Corruption
Valley of the
Wind
Nausicaa
Explores the
Toxic Jungle
Warring
Nations
Involve the
Valley
Novel: War
Continues
with
Escalating
Stakes

3. RUNDOWN OF SCI FI THEMES
Ecology Pollution
Remediation
New Tech
(Aviation)
Bioengineering Nuclear Warfare

4. 1998: The Family Tree,
Sheri S. Tepper
ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE FICTION
1895: The Time
Machine, H. G.
Wells
1972: The Word for
World is Forest, Ursula
K. Le Guin
1984: Nausicaa of the
Valley of the Wind, Hayao
Miyazaki (novel 1982-
1994)
1962: Hothouse, Brian
Aldiss
1962: The Drowned
World, J. G. Ballard
2014: Annihilation,
Jeff VanderMeer (Film
2018)
1965: Dune, Frank
Herbert
1995: The Color of
Distance, Amy
Thomson
2009: Avatar, James
Cameron
2009: The Windup Girl,
Paolo Bacigalupi
1987-1989:
Xenogenesis Trilogy,
Octavia Butler

5. Nausicaa: Explores
within forest and
uses scientific
techniques
Yupa: Explores
forest’s edge to see
how it affects
human habitation
PRACTICING ECOLOGY TO UNDERSTAND THE
“OTHER”

6. CONNECTING TO OTHERS
Less Sympathetic/More Monstrous

7. MIYAZAKI’S VISUAL TECHNIQUES FOR
EMPATHY*
Human/Nonhuman
Blurred
Eyes/Vision
Size/Perspective
*from Ledwon, 2015

8. • Perspective: Deep Ecology
• Nausicaa’s choices reflect biocentrism over
anthropocentrism
• Science Fiction challenges perspective and
scale
BIOCENTRISM

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Bryant, N. H. “Neutering the Monster, Pruning
the Green: The Ecological Evolutions of
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.” Resilience:
A Journal of the Environmental Humanities,
vol. 2, no. 3, 2015, pp. 120-126.
• Ledwon, L. “Green Visual Rhetoric: The
Human/Nonhuman Connection in “Nausicaa of
the Valley of the Wind.” Journal of Animal and
Environmental Law, vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1-
38.
• Miyazaki, H. Nausicaa of the Valley of the
Wind, Deluxe Ed. Viz Media. Lewis, D. and
Smith, T. trans. 2015
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Directed by
Hayao Miyazaki. 1984. Los Angeles, CA:
Shout! Factory/Studio Ghibli, 2017. DVD.
Questions?