Laputa: Castle in the Sky

While some argue over whether Sheeta or Pazu is of more central importance to Castle in the Sky, the character of Mama for me is the most interesting and thought provoking. She provides comedy as well as questions for the viewer. While she is a woman, she is atypical of the other more traditional females in Castle in the Sky. Her harshness is sharply contrasted by her bond with the children and her sentimentality shown towards them. While she is similar to Nausicaa in her capabilities and natural leadership, she is not young and sweet. She is instead, a woman, hagard and witch-like. While in Nausicaa, the power of the female characters seems to be completely established and accepted as the norm, in Castle in the Sky, there are clear gender biases. Mama herself tells Sheeta that she can not join Pazu in the airglider for the simple reason that she is a girl. The motherly wife of Pazus' boss seems to embody the strong yet nurturing housewife traditionally expected of women. This gender role division makes the character of Mama even more puzzling and intriguing. While the gender of Nausicaa is only strange for the viewers, Mamas role is disorienting even in her own world.
Mamas' persona is mirrored in Sheeta-a typical female at first- throughout the movie. When Sheeta and Mama first join together, a portrait of Mama as a young girl is seen in the background. She looks much like Sheeta, smiling, sweet with pigtail braids. Now grown, Mama still sports the pigtail braids, just as Sheeta does. In this same scene, Sheeta is given clothing to wear to work on the ship. Of course she must borrow Mama's clothes as they are the only females on board. Now dressed in her clothing, with the same hairstyle, Sheeta visually mimics the persona of Mama. Soon after, Sheeta and Pazu are speaking quietly to whom they think are just themselves, however Mama is listening in secretly from bed. In this scene, the viewer is first introduced to the softer side of Mama through nothing but facial expressions, yet one gets the feeling that Mama empathizes to Sheetas' concerns and experiences. At the same time as this revelation that Mama is more than meets the eye, Sheetas' character begins to grow into a more mature, brave adult. She assumes a responsibility for Muskas actions and the lost land of Laputa, helping to lead the pirates to the island in the sky. By their transformative reversals, the two women are in fact reflecting pieces of the other. By the end of the film, Sheeta faces off with Muska in a courageous and direct manner, again shedding her diminutive persona for a more "masculine" one. Muska shoots off her braids visually representing her growth. Now without braids, she no longer visually mirrors Mama, yet an inner change has occurred revealing a less typical female persona.

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