The closest thing you'll find to a cinematic visualization of Doris Piserchia's "jungle worlds" (in Earthchild, but especially Earth in Twilight) is Hayao Miyazaki's animation epic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In the film's post-apocalyptic world, the Earth is gradually being overtaken by a toxic jungle called the Sea of Corruption, which is filled with towering flora and myriad exotic insect species. The beautifully-drawn scenes inside the jungle have the same chaotic density and sense of lurking danger as Piserchia's tales: swarms of hunter-killer dragonflies, tree-climbing pillbugs, and giant multi-eyed mites called Ohmu are among the many denizens of Miyazaki's ecosystem. According to this exhaustive article, Miyazaki had read Dune and Brian Aldiss's Hothouse before working on Nausicaä, but his emphasis on insects--as opposed to plant species--as the dominant lifeform in the jungle places his vision of a twilight Earth closer to Piserchia's than Aldiss's. Like Reee in Earthchild, Princess Nausicaä is surprisingly at home in her deadly environment, and communicates sympathetically with some of its most frightening creatures.
Good luck finding a copy of the film, however. It was released in the U.S. in 1984 by New World Video, in a heavily-edited cut titled Warriors of the Wind. Disney has since acquired the rights (along with Princess Mononoke and other Miyazaki films), but who knows when they'll release it. I found Warriors at my local video store, and enjoyed it thoroughly despite its mangling of the story line. I actually prefer the New World translation of the jungle as "Toxic Jungle" rather than "Sea of Corruption," although there's really no reason for changing Nausicaä to Zandra, and "Ohmu" is probably better than "Gorgons" for the giant bugs. One impediment to a Disney rerelease may be the sexuality of Nausicaä. Anime expert Susan Napier calls her "androgynous," but in the first half of the movie she's wearing a microminiskirt and apparently no underwe4r. I kept telling myself that Miyazaki was more "classy" than the typical p4nty-peeking anime director (surely the Princess is wearing flesh-colored tights!), but still found the flapping skirt distracting. I can imagine the corporate types at Disney discussing whether to digitally "dress" the Princess.
I tracked down a much-dubbed copy of Nausicaä and can see why Miyazaki renounced the New World cut. Turns out the "Sea of Corruption" (called "the Wasteland" in the print I saw) is actually filtering the toxins left hanging around after the Last World War, killing the world in order to save it, as it were. Princess Nausicaä has a lab under her castle where she is on the verge of figuring this out. The uncut film presents an ecological dilemma: the Tolmekian plan to destroy the jungle with a laser-spouting God Warrior will save the Valley of the Winds, but jeopardize Earth's long term recovery. No hint of this can be seen in the New World tape.
Another link between the film and Doris Piserchia's books I forgot to mention is the theme of the "flying woman." Besides talking to monstrous insects, conducting sophisticated biological experiments, and wielding a killer sword, Princess Nausicaä is a crack pilot, winging through the sky on a manta ray-shaped flying Segway called a "mehve" (or "cloud climber" in New World's translation). The exhilirating scenes of the Princess in flight recall the daredevil jaunts of Jade/Hinx in Star Rider and the orphan/Wyala in the Dimensioneers, who have a similar power to leap into the ether when necessary (soaring through wormholes, not just atmosphere). If trouble is afoot, Nausicaä just jumps on the mehve, stomps a footpedal, wrestles with the machine as it corkscrews into the air like a Harrier Jump Jet, then bolts off into the clouds. I confess I can't watch this without balling my fists like a teenager and yelling "F--ing cool!"
miyazaki in an interview posted on the nausicaa.net site explains that nausicaa is not wearing a smini-skirt, nor is she sans underwear. if you look closely, you see that she is wearing a coat, like the men, and leggings.
Thanks for the info, and the link to the informative Miyazaki site. Looks like others have been concerned about the Princess's attire; according the site, a Scottish journalist referred to her as a "bare bottomed heroine." I wish Disney'd hurry up with the Nausicaä DVD--so far I've only seen crappy VHS prints.
The world of Nausicaa is filled with spores that will slowly kill you upon contact with your skin, as her father demonstrated in the worst of ways. If you compare her flesh tone to that of her pants it's pretty clear she's not bare bottomed. Rather, like everyone else who hasn't up and died, when she has her mask and hood on there isn't an inch of exposed skin for the Fukai (Sea of Corruption) to being corrupting. It's an important element of the setting, realizing that people have to keep themselves covered up so. Just the sight of those spiky trussed up bug huggers in the Fukai, with clean skin under their fearsome appearance was very poignant.
Now you wanna talk censor worthy, think about somma the scenes I got with her, Kee! Straight out muff dive. Er, I mean hiding from the spore cloud.
Thanks, Teto. Worm handlers rule.
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The closest thing you'll find to a cinematic visualization of Doris Piserchia's "jungle worlds" (in Earthchild, but especially Earth in Twilight) is Hayao Miyazaki's animation epic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In the film's post-apocalyptic world, the Earth is gradually being overtaken by a toxic jungle called the Sea of Corruption, which is filled with towering flora and myriad exotic insect species. The beautifully-drawn scenes inside the jungle have the same chaotic density and sense of lurking danger as Piserchia's tales: swarms of hunter-killer dragonflies, tree-climbing pillbugs, and giant multi-eyed mites called Ohmu are among the many denizens of Miyazaki's ecosystem. According to this exhaustive article, Miyazaki had read Dune and Brian Aldiss's Hothouse before working on Nausicaä, but his emphasis on insects--as opposed to plant species--as the dominant lifeform in the jungle places his vision of a twilight Earth closer to Piserchia's than Aldiss's. Like Reee in Earthchild, Princess Nausicaä is surprisingly at home in her deadly environment, and communicates sympathetically with some of its most frightening creatures.
Good luck finding a copy of the film, however. It was released in the U.S. in 1984 by New World Video, in a heavily-edited cut titled Warriors of the Wind. Disney has since acquired the rights (along with Princess Mononoke and other Miyazaki films), but who knows when they'll release it. I found Warriors at my local video store, and enjoyed it thoroughly despite its mangling of the story line. I actually prefer the New World translation of the jungle as "Toxic Jungle" rather than "Sea of Corruption," although there's really no reason for changing Nausicaä to Zandra, and "Ohmu" is probably better than "Gorgons" for the giant bugs. One impediment to a Disney rerelease may be the sexuality of Nausicaä. Anime expert Susan Napier calls her "androgynous," but in the first half of the movie she's wearing a microminiskirt and apparently no underwe4r. I kept telling myself that Miyazaki was more "classy" than the typical p4nty-peeking anime director (surely the Princess is wearing flesh-colored tights!), but still found the flapping skirt distracting. I can imagine the corporate types at Disney discussing whether to digitally "dress" the Princess.
- tom moody 5-27-2002 11:08 pm
I tracked down a much-dubbed copy of Nausicaä and can see why Miyazaki renounced the New World cut. Turns out the "Sea of Corruption" (called "the Wasteland" in the print I saw) is actually filtering the toxins left hanging around after the Last World War, killing the world in order to save it, as it were. Princess Nausicaä has a lab under her castle where she is on the verge of figuring this out. The uncut film presents an ecological dilemma: the Tolmekian plan to destroy the jungle with a laser-spouting God Warrior will save the Valley of the Winds, but jeopardize Earth's long term recovery. No hint of this can be seen in the New World tape.
Another link between the film and Doris Piserchia's books I forgot to mention is the theme of the "flying woman." Besides talking to monstrous insects, conducting sophisticated biological experiments, and wielding a killer sword, Princess Nausicaä is a crack pilot, winging through the sky on a manta ray-shaped flying Segway called a "mehve" (or "cloud climber" in New World's translation). The exhilirating scenes of the Princess in flight recall the daredevil jaunts of Jade/Hinx in Star Rider and the orphan/Wyala in the Dimensioneers, who have a similar power to leap into the ether when necessary (soaring through wormholes, not just atmosphere). If trouble is afoot, Nausicaä just jumps on the mehve, stomps a footpedal, wrestles with the machine as it corkscrews into the air like a Harrier Jump Jet, then bolts off into the clouds. I confess I can't watch this without balling my fists like a teenager and yelling "F--ing cool!"
- tom moody 7-03-2002 10:07 am [add a comment]
miyazaki in an interview posted on the nausicaa.net site explains that nausicaa is not wearing a smini-skirt, nor is she sans underwear. if you look closely, you see that she is wearing a coat, like the men, and leggings.
- anonymous (guest) 9-14-2002 3:16 pm [add a comment]
Thanks for the info, and the link to the informative Miyazaki site. Looks like others have been concerned about the Princess's attire; according the site, a Scottish journalist referred to her as a "bare bottomed heroine." I wish Disney'd hurry up with the Nausicaä DVD--so far I've only seen crappy VHS prints.
- tom moody 9-16-2002 7:31 am [add a comment]
The world of Nausicaa is filled with spores that will slowly kill you upon contact with your skin, as her father demonstrated in the worst of ways. If you compare her flesh tone to that of her pants it's pretty clear she's not bare bottomed. Rather, like everyone else who hasn't up and died, when she has her mask and hood on there isn't an inch of exposed skin for the Fukai (Sea of Corruption) to being corrupting. It's an important element of the setting, realizing that people have to keep themselves covered up so. Just the sight of those spiky trussed up bug huggers in the Fukai, with clean skin under their fearsome appearance was very poignant.
Now you wanna talk censor worthy, think about somma the scenes I got with her, Kee! Straight out muff dive. Er, I mean hiding from the spore cloud.
- Teto (guest) 6-17-2004 3:39 am [add a comment]
Thanks, Teto. Worm handlers rule.
- tom moody 6-19-2004 6:25 am [add a comment]
- anonymous (guest) 8-08-2004 6:24 am [add a comment]