chaoticlesbian:

environmentalist brain: lady eboshi destroys the environment around her to create profit, which is unforgivable. i hate her.

leftist brain: lady eboshi is a capitalist. she controls the means of (iron) production, and though she may treat those who agree to work for her with dignity, she is still willing to kill to maintain control over her source of wealth. in fact, she is so driven by profit she is willing to kill god, fucking over the environment in which she, her fellow humans, and all other creatures live, harming them in the long run, for the sake of profit. i hate her.

feminist brain: the nuance of lady eboshi’s character cannot be understated. as a female villain, she is absolutely unmatched in the depth and humanity of her writing. most creators, male creators especially, fail to create female villains without incorporating misogynistic tropes (such as the madonna/whore dichotomy, fetishized “rape made her evil” backstory, one-dimensional evil witch, etc); but lady eboshi is a morally and narratively complex woman. miyazaki stated that she was a former slave who rebelled against her owners, and though a lesser filmmaker would have exploited this part of her backstory for a fetishized rape scene, miyazaki approaches this with utmost delicacy; the only indication of it is her attitudes towards men and her creating jobs to give the women of iron town, many of which are former sex workers, an alternative to sex work. meanwhile, she does legitimately evil, destructive things (killing the forest spirit being the most egregious), and ALSO does legitimately admirable things (rebelling against slavers, helping other women, treating the most vulnerable people in her society – prostitutes and lepers – with dignity no one else has ever shown them).  the animosity between lady eboshi and san derives not from some patriarchal “women just hate each other” narrative, but from legitimate differences in their respective ethics and worlds. lady eboshi meets san as an equal in one-on-one battle because she recognizes and respects san’s importance as the “princess” of the forest – but the bloodthirst is still there. miyazaki does not soften lady eboshi’s edges, but he does not make her devoid of softness, either. lady eboshi is a fucking legend. i love her.

horny lesbian brain: o lady eboshi big sexi…………………..pwetty gun lady step on me