by Josef Steiff
Soon This Place Too Will Be Consumed by the Toxic Jungle
Whether it’s meteorites crashing into the Earth as in 7 Seeds, the nuclear catastrophe of Desert Punk or Barefoot Gen, or the melting of the polar ice caps and the shifting of the Earth’s axis as in Neon Genesis Evangelion, destroying the earth is a fairly common pursuit for anime creators.
A global bio-nuclear war that kills most of humanity and radically alters the earth’s ecosystem is Miyazaki’s apocalypse of choice in Nausicaa. The war culminates in a catastrophic event known as “The Seven Days of Fire,” in which man-made living weapons turn on their creators. These creatures, capable of breathing fire in a way reminiscent of a nuclear explosion, scourge the earth, making much of its surface inhabitable.
The film picks up a thousand years later, by which time a toxic jungle full of giant mutated insects thrives among the ruins of human civilization. Greatest of these insects are the Ohmu, giant, sentient pill-bugs that have the ability to communicate telepathically. The spread of the jungle has pushed the remnants of humanity to small pockets of the planet where ecological conditions are still favourable to human survival.
The Valley of the Wind is one such community, an idyllic pastoral society whose people have learned to live in relative harmony with the jungle and its insects. Its people use windmills to harness strong winds from a near-by sea to limit the poisonous gases of the toxic jungle. Save for burning the occasional jungle spore that threatens their farms, Nausicaa’s people leave the jungle alone and it, in turn, leaves them in peace.
This is a stark contrast to life outside the valley, where nations engage in endless warfare vying for scarce resources and trying to strike a decisive blow against the jungle in order to return humanity to its place as uncontested rulers of the Earth. The conflict between two of these nations, Pejite, a desert kingdom, and the previously mentioned Tolmekian Empire will play a crucial role in the events that transpire as the anime progresses.
In a pivotal event, the kingdom of Pejite unearths one of the living weapons that devastated the earth during the “Seven Days of Fire.” The weapon was buried beneath the city of Pejite in deep hibernation. Tolmekia learns of this discovery and, hoping to capture and use the weapon for its own defense and to destroy the toxic jungle once and for all, Kushana is dispatched to leads an assault force on Pejite. Her attack is successful but victory comes at a high cost, and most of the people of Pejite are killed in the battle. With the weapon hibernating in the cargo-hold of a Tolmekian airship, Kushana and her army begin the voyage back to Tolmekia with the Pejite princess as hostage, to discourage any retaliation.
Kushana’s invasion of Pejite raises an important issue. Her motives for this attack are understandable, even admirable. She believes, with some justification, that Tolmekia is better prepared militarily to control a weapon as great and dangerous as the sleeping creature discovered in Pejite. And with the creature’s power, it seems entirely plausible that Tolmekia could destroy the jungle forever allowing the human race to return to its former glory. And taken in this context, the loss of a few human lives might be an unfortunate but necessary step on the road to humanity’s restoration. So was Kushana right to attack Pejite for the purpose of promoting the welfare of the entire human race?
We’re Doing This for the Good of the Planet. You’ve Got to Understand That
Many people, were they to find themselves in an apocalyptic environment, would be willing to do whatever it takes to survive. This is perfectly understandable. After all, the end of the world is probably not the ideal time to be considering what ethical obligations people are under. People quite reasonably concern themselves with doing what it takes to survive in times of great upheaval. And is there really anything wrong with this attitude? Surely, people who are willing to go to any lengths for the survival of their families, friends, nations, or even the entire human race are admirable and praiseworthy. If morally questionable means, under extraordinary circumstances, are necessary to get to an end result that is highly desirable, why be concerned? And what could be more important than the survival of the entire species? A soldier such as Kushana is on morally solid ground even if she needs to kill a few innocents, isn’t she?
Someone sympathetic to this line of reasoning will find many allies in the philosophic tradition. One influential strand in ethical theory is known as Consequentialism. In its simplest form, the basic idea behind consequentialist ethical theories is that “The right act in any given situation is the one that will produce the best overall outcome, as judged from an impersonal standpoint which gives equal weight to the interest of everyone. . .” (Samuel Sheffler, Consequentialism and its Critics). This is a straightforward enough idea. If you want to know what the morally appropriate thing to do, you need only to consider the consequences of a proposed course of action. Provided that the action is the one that produces the best results for everyone involved, then it is the right thing to do.
We see Nausicaa use consequentialist reasoning fairly early in the narrative. On the return flight from Pejite, Kushana’s airship crash-lands in the Valley of the Wind. As the citizens of the Valley rush to put out the burning airship and assist those injured in the crash, Kushana’s army invades the Valley of the Wind to ensure that the ancient weapon is not discovered or seized by the people of the Valley. In the attack, the king of the valley, Nausicaa’s father, is killed. Upon seeing her dead father, Nausicaa picks up a sword and in a moment of blind rage nearly kills a Tolmekian soldier. Warned to stand down by her uncle, Lord Yupa, Nausicaa reconsiders her action and realizes that if she goes through with killing the Tolmekian soldier, not only will she be killed, the Tolmekian army will massacre the people of the Valley in response. She surrenders and gives a public speech telling her people to cooperate with the Tolmekians. Nausicaa believed that the best consequence for everyone involved is to stop fighting. Allowing the soldier to live was the only way to achieve this outcome.
With this consequentialist moral framework in mind, we can return to Kushana’s actions. Her end game is noble enough—unite the surviving humans under one ruler so that resources can be pooled and destroy the toxic jungle and the mutant insects that threaten to drive the human race into extinction. As far as Kushana is concerned, the attack on Pejite and the subsequent attack on The Valley of The Wind are unfortunate but necessary prices to be paid for the survival of humanity. Sure Kushana is willing to do some fairly cruel and inhuman things to accomplish her goals, but her goals are admirable and, considered from an impartial standpoint, they even seem to be in the best interest of the human species. So, Kushana’s actions look to be justified on consequentialist grounds. But is that the end of it?
You’re Not Saving the Planet! You’re Killing My People
At first glance, Kushana’s consequentialist approach seems perfectly reasonable. Sometimes we find ourselves in horrible circumstances, and we do what we have to do to survive even if that means a few innocents get hurt or we spill a little blood. Indeed, the fact that it is so easy to sympathize with and understand a character like Kushana is a testament to Miyazaki. A lesser director might have portrayed Tolmekia as an evil empire whose leader, Kushana, had been seduced by the dark side of the force. While a story about a band of rebels fighting an evil emperor would make for an exciting tale of good versus evil, it’s not very true to real human behaviour. What Miyazaki recognizes is that no one ever truly sees themselves as a villain or intentionally does what they believes to be morally wrong. Kushana is a villain, not because she is inherently evil, but because she is willing to do anything to do bring about what she believes is the best overall outcome, even if it means harming others to do so.
And herein lies the problem with responding to war, terror, apocalypse and severe hardship with a “whatever it takes” attitude. A typical feature of any ethical system that focuses on the consequences of one’s actions as the sole determinant of whether what one does is morally permissible or not is that the action, in and of itse
lf, is not morally relevant. This seems to allow for the use of any means necessary to achieve a desired end, so long as that end itself is, on balance, the best outcome. Consider Pejite’s response to Tolmekia’s invasion. Using the capital city of Pejite as a testing ground (because it’s been nearly deserted after Tolmekia’s invasion killed the majority of Pejite’s citizens), Pejite develops a cruel method for luring the Ohmu to attack human cities. Using the telepathic abilities of the Ohmu against them, the Pejite have discovered that if they capture and torture a baby Ohmu, the Ohmu will stampede in order to rescue the infant or at least to kill those who tortured the baby insect.
After successfully testing this on the capital city, Pejite kidnaps a baby Ohmu, brutally tortures the insect, and flies the dying baby towards the Valley of The Wind. They figure the inevitable Ohmu rampage will destroy the Tolmekian army and allow for the retrieval of the hibernating weapon. Because Pejite sees Tolmekia as an evil nation, they believe the weapon is far too dangerous to leave in Tolmekian possession and that only the people of Pejite can be trusted to use the weapon to destroy the toxic jungle.
Pejite’s actions are easily on par with the destructive path that Kushana leaves in her wake, if not worse. And yet, they’re justifiable, perhaps even morally required on strict consequentialist grounds. If our only concern is bringing about the best consequence, it is hard to see how we could justify not using the baby Ohmu to bait an attack on the Valley of the Wind. If we really believe that Tolmekia is an evil nation, too reckless to handle the ancient weapon and that the destroying the toxic jungle is the only way to ensure the survival of the human race, it seems a simple calculation to determine that the suffering and loss of life that this attack involves are a lesser cost than the suffering that will occur if Tolmekia is left to do whatever it wants with the weapon. It looks like the consequentialist ought to support the torture of the baby Ohmu and the attack on the Valley of The Wind, but surely torturing a child and causing the death of thousands of innocents should not be what one is ethically permitted, let alone required, to do. What’s gone wrong here?
Too Much Fire Gives Birth to Nothing
The worry just raised is about the moral significance of the ends overriding that of the means we employ the reach them. This can easily be extended to Kushana’s actions. She has committed countless atrocities in the name of saving the human race. She’s ordered the annihilation of cities, the execution of innocents, and even resurrected one of the ancient weapons that destroyed the earth. All Kushana’s horrific acts, although they are done in the pursuit of the greater good, seem to lead to a never-ending cycle of endless tragedy. Perhaps the central worry here is that when we focus all of our attention on the goal we’re trying to achieve and not on the actions we take to get there, we can readily justify any act, regardless of how perverse. To make matters worse, we might even disregard something fundamentally important—When we look only to the consequences of our actions, we lose sight of the nature and significance of those acts themselves. We ignore the ways in which all of our everyday actions allow for the possibility of significant human values such as compassion, generosity, and recognition of our shared humanity with those who are affected as the result of our actions. In short, we devalue our relations with others by treating them merely as means to our desired ends.
What a Mysterious Power She Has
Where does this leave us? If doing whatever it takes to survive leads to endless atrocities, how ought one to behave in a war-torn and shattered world? Are we forced to choose between our humanity and our survival or is there a third option?
The people of the valley of the wind, and Nauiscaa in particular, take a different approach. Nausicaa and her people seek an end to war and suffering through a deeper understanding of the world around them, and a harmonious relationship between humanity and the jungle’s insects.
In a pivotal early scene, Nausicaa befriends a small animal known as a fox-squirrel (a temperamental rodent that looks exactly like its name suggests). As Lord Yupa is thanking Nausicaa for saving the Valley from an Ohmu attack, the fox-squirrel pops out of his satchel and starts growling. Yupa warns Nausicaa that these little animals can be quite ferocious, but Nausicaa reaches out her hand in friendship. The fox-squirrel leaps from Yupa’s bag, runs up Nausicaa’s outstretched arm, and with its hair rising, hisses at Nausicaa in anger. Calmly, Nausicaa tells the little rodent that there’s nothing to fear, and slowly brings her hand towards the angry animal. It lunges at her, biting down on Nausicaa’s finger hard, drawing blood. Nausicaa winces, but waits, continuing to tell the fox-squirrel that there’s nothing to fear. A tense moment passes, and as the animal realizes that Nausicaa means no harm, it relaxes, releases Nausicaa’s finger, and begins to lick her bleeding wound. Both the fox-squirrel and Nausicaa have made a new friend.
As the princess runs off to greet Yupa’s ostrich-like mounts, Yupa ponders: “What a mysterious power she has. . .” Nausicaa’s “mysterious power” is her near-mystic ability to communicate with non-human animals whether they are fox-squirrels or Ohmu. But of course, there’s nothing mysterious about her power. She simply pays attention to the animals and the world around her and in doing so, understands the motives and needs of creatures that are often fierce and unpredictable to her less observant companions.
This scene is significant because it illustrates Nausicaa’s general approach to the world and why she is fundamentally different from someone like Kushana. Whereas Kushana focuses on her end goal, paying little attention to her everyday interactions (other than as means to her chosen end), Nausicaa revels in each moment of her day, and takes her interactions with others, whether they’re human or fox-squirrel, as fundamentally important. It’s not the consequences of her actions that are most important to Nausicaa, but the actions themselves. This is not to say that Nausicaa isn’t concerned with survival or the consequences of her actions. It’s rather that the means she takes to get there are at least as important as the end goal itself.
You’re Nothing Like Our Princess
But how does this translate into a robust ethical view, or even a strategy for adapting to and thriving in a post-apocalyptic environment? Isn’t it a little naive to think that the way to thrive in a hostile world is by being concerned about those around you and by respecting the environment in which you live? Well, not necessarily. Nausicaa’s approach has several things going for it that Kushana’s end-goal directed behaviour does not. Most importantly, Nausicaa’s focus on her environment and those who share it with her always places her attention on the way in which her actions affect others. Rather than using a desired goal to determine what action to perform, her regard for others effectively restricts the sorts of actions that she would undertake.
Nausicaa’s moral compass is in stark contrast with Kushana’s, and is echoed in the philosophic tradition by a theory that contrasts just a sharply with consequentialism. Immanuel Kant developed a conception of morality that is succinctly expressed by his “Categorical Imperative” that we should treat others as ends in themselves and never solely as a means. Not only does treating others as ends in themselves preclude us from disregarding them in the pursuit of our goals, it also requires that we attempt to understand them in order to properly respect their moral worth and measure the impact our actions have on them. While Kant did not necessarily have this in mind, Nausicaa has extended this consideration of other people to include the environment. She seeks to act in ways that respect both the people of the Valley, as well as the Valley itself. And this respect does not stop at the people and places that are familiar and welcoming to her. For Nausicaa, Tolmekians, Pejites, and even the Toxic Jungle and its inhabitants are worthy of moral consideration.
Rather than seeing the jungle as a plague that needs to be destroyed in order for humanity to thrive, Nausicaa sees the jungle as part of the natural environment that she must learn to understand and live in harmony with if she has any hope of surviving. When Nausicaa looks at the jungle, and th
e world in general, she is not viewing an environment that needs to be conquered, but something to be respected and lived with. This approach allows her to develop a much more nuanced understanding of the jungle than someone like Kushana, and ironically that understanding makes Nausicaa more likely than Kushana to discover the course of action that will lead to the best overall outcome.
Kushana’s perspective of the jungle is limited to viewing it as a hostile place full of deadly insects and poisonous spores. When trying to recruit followers in her war against the jungle, she says, “We will put the toxic jungle to the torch and resurrect this land together. . .” To her it is nothing more than a plague that needs to be wiped out. Contrast this with Nausicaa’s deeper understanding of her environment. With careful study and exploration of the jungle she has cultivated useful resources for the people of the valley and she’s discovered the source of the jungle’s poison. In a somewhat ironic twist, Nausicaa discovers that the war that scourged the earth in the first place is what poisoned the soil and the water of the earth and that the plants of the jungle are actually gradually purifying the planet. Kushana’ reckless plan to revive one of the ancient weapons to burn the jungle would actually make the planet even more uninhabitable for humans. The jungle is needed if humanity is to have any hope of rebuilding, and this is something Nausicaa would never have discovered were it not for her careful attempts to understand the world she finds herself in and her desire for humans to live in harmony with the jungle and each other.
