Positive breastfeeding message in Ponyo film

I like Miyazaki films, probably because one of my earliest memories is watching Manga Marine Boy in the hour or so of TV we had that was not Italian, ( I lived in Malta in the early 70′s)  so when Ponyo came out recently I was keen to take my 6 year old to see it.

Ponyo is a lovely film based on the Little Mermaid story, it is beautifully animated, and although the mermaid character has a horrible similarity to Dora the Explorer, her relentless enthusiasm fits in with her character and does not make me wish for terrible things to happen to her.

Somewhere in the middle of the film the 2 main characters are in a boat and they meet a small family. Ponyo spends some time entertaining the baby and wants to give it a sandwich. The mother explains that the baby is too young to eat sandwiches but she could eat it and it would help her make milk that the baby could have. Sōsuke, who is the human boy says in a lovely matter of fact way that his mum made milk for him when he was a baby too.

This tiny little 3 sentence segment could possibly make a huge difference to childrens’ perceptions of breastfeeding and the likelyhood of them breastfeeding when they become mothers.

If only Fiona in Shrek had been so enlightened!