The theme of my master thesis is the analysis of the film Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko 『平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ』or Heisei-era Raccoon Dog War Ponpoko from the year 1994 and with the research of the racoon dog or the so called tanuki. My hypothesis is that the role and visual image of tanuki has changed over the years and has not remained the same. The reasons for this are modernization and distance from the fairytale world itself. Next to the nine tailed fox is the racoon dog one of the more important fairytale characters in Japan. Among other things, they are also called yōkai, who are gods, spirits and animals with supernatural powers and also have shapeshifting powers. They can transform into humans, statues, animals and they can also even show everyday scenes from people’s lives and events from the past. Tanuki was considered a scary killer in oldermythological stories, and over the years, more precisely during the modernization of Japan, he became a symbol of environmental protection and protest against industrialization. In the analyzed film Ponpoko, the tanuki is shown in the same light and has also the same environmental message which draws attention to tanuki and other animals that are struggling to survive and trying to adapt to the growing power that humankind has. Due to the change in the role, the hypothesis in the work was confirmed and I find that the character of tanuki is today an increasingly gentle and graceful mythological character associated with environmental themes and humor.
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