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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a 1984 film by Japanese writer, illustrator, and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, based on his manga of the same name. The movie has environmentalist undertones and was presented by the World Wildlife Fund when it was released in 1984.

The story takes place 1,000 years after the "Seven Days of Fire," an event which destroyed human civilization and most of the Earth's original ecosystem. Scattered human settlements survive, isolated from one another by the "Sea of Corruption" (fukai, sea of rot/fungus in Japanese), a lethally toxic jungle of fungus swarming with giant insects which seem to come together only to wage war.

The title character, Nausicaä, is a charismatic young princess of the peaceful Valley of the Wind. Her name comes from the princess in the Odyssey who assisted Odysseus; part of her character comes from a Japanese folk hero known as "the princess who loved insects", while another part was inspired by the writings of Bernard Evslin, as he had written a more indepth extrapolation of character of Odyssey 's Nausicaa. [First volume of English manga of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind published by VIZ Media, back cover]

Although a skillful fighter, Miyazaki's Nausicaä is humane and peace-loving. She has an unusual gift for communicating with the giant insects (particularly with the Ohmu, the gigantic armored caterpillar-like insects who are the most intelligent creatures in the Sea of Corruption). She is also noted for her empathy toward animals, humans, and other beings, and for her skill at "windriding", flying with an advanced glider-like craft with a jet assist called a mehve.

The Valley of the Wind is threatened when another state, Pejite, unearths a God Warrior (kyoshinhei) which is then stolen by a more powerful state, Tolmekia. The God Warrior is one of the lethal giant bioweapons used in the ancient war. Pejite and Tolmekia hope to use the God Warrior against each other and, ultimately, against the Sea of Corruption. While transporting the Warrior back to their realm, the Tolmekians are attacked by insects and subsequently crash-land in the Valley. The very next day, the Tolmekians invade the Valley to secure and revive the Warrior, eventually forcing the peaceful people of the Valley into armed resistance. The situation deteriorates as the fight to possess the God Warrior escalates out of control and the inimical fukai strikes back against those who attack it.

The story holds deeper meaning than its depiction of war; there are both humanistic and ecological subtexts in Miyazaki's narrative. Even the insects seem to be working toward some secret harmony and the lethal fungal forest seems to have a vital role in Earth's new ecosystem.

As she is forced to aid prisoners, villagers, enemies, mutant insects, and artificial bioweapons, Princess Nausicaä increasingly becomes a Joan of Arc figure - a warrior maiden inspired by a supermundane vision to defend all life against destruction.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind".

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