NAUSICAÄ AND THE RESPONSE TO FUTURE UTTERANCES

Abstract

This paper explores the dialogic relationship between the environmentalist discourses of Greta Thunberg and Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s principles of dialogic discourse analysis, it examines how contemporary environmental speech resonates with Miyazaki’s narrative, which kind of predates current ecological concerns by decades. The analysis reveals that Miyazaki’s work, created in the early 1980s, resembles the ecofeminist discourse, portraying a dystopian future shaped by human environmental neglect. Through the protagonist, Nausicaä, Miyazaki’s narrative parallels the youth-led environmental activism embodied by Thunberg. This study highlights the timeless relevance of Miyazaki’s ecological message and its alignment with modern environmental activism, demonstrating how past narratives can be in dialogue with contemporary discourses. The paper underscores the importance of understanding historical context to appreciate the continuity of environmentalist and feminist thought in literature and popular culture.