Princess Mononoke
Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzling 1997 film Princess Mononoke is an enthralling meditation on humanity’s inevitable conflict with nature and, to a lesser extent, one another. For Miyazaki, Mononoke was a 16-year journey that partially began with his 1983 manga The Journey of Shuna. The story for Mononoke became more cohesive for the writer/director after a visit to the ancient forests of Yakushima Island.
Upon its release, Princess Mononoke was the most expensive anime ever made. It is mostly hand-drawn and Miyazaki meticulously went through each of the animation cells personally, redrawing several of them himself. There is computer animation for about five minutes of the motion picture, with another ten minutes of digital paint utilized as well. The computer animated portions work to augment the hand-drawn traditional animation; they do not overshadow or stand out.
Princess Mononoke is timeless. As a tale discussing the conflict between humanity and nature, it finds special relevance during our time. When American politicians and moronic talk show pundits argue over the possibility, cause, and effects of “global warming,” the changes to our planet are observable and very real. We cannot go about living the way we do without some form of consequence drawn upon the earth. That is simple common sense and it does not matter what buzzword or talking point you attach to that.
Miyazaki is mindful of this and it shows with the grandeur of Princess Mononoke. Set at the dawn of the Iron Age in medieval Japan, the story centres around some individuals living in harmony with nature and others asserting dominance over it. We are introduced to Ashitaka first. He is a prince destined to become the leader of his tribe, but an encounter with a demonic boar god leaves him afflicted with a curse that will ultimately kill him. He is forced out of his village, so he heads to locate the source of the cursed boar and to possibly find a cure.
Ashitaka discovers a human settlement called Iron Town in the English version of the motion picture. Iron Town is the site of the blossoming iron trade and it is filled with workers clearing the nearby forests for charcoal. The leader of Iron Town is Lady Eboshi and she informs Ashitaka that the giant boar that cursed him was once a forest god. The gods of the forest and the beasts are trying to defend their home from human encroachment, leading to many conflicts between man and animal.
There is also San, a young woman raised by the wolf goddess Moro. She is concerned with protecting the forest at all costs and wishes to kill Lady Eboshi. This leads to several strikes on Iron Town. She has lost the majority of her humanity, but Ashitaka becomes infatuated with her and she begins to also yearn for harmony over the course of time.
Princess Mononoke is compelling in its refusal to simply draw certain characters as black and white villains. Take Lady Eboshi, for instance. In a Westernized movie she would have been sketched as a sort of Cruella de Vil character. Miyazaki offers her sympathetic characteristics, for instance. She has a deep concern for her people, for instance, and wishes to use the charcoal and iron to build weapons to secure independence from enemies. She also employs lepers and treats them with rich humanity.
Indeed, Miyazaki’s motion picture is primarily concerned with exploring our conflict with nature. Is it unavoidable or can we, as Ashitaka wishes, live in peace? As human beings, we tend to view ourselves above and beyond nature. It is something we keep “out there” while we stay indoors. Yet we are a part of nature, all of us, and it is a part of us. We are one and when we damage nature and the earth, our only home, we damage ourselves. This principle goes beyond the idiotic right and left politicking of the United States and to our very future and wellbeing. Miyazaki’s understanding of this basic principle forms the foundation for Princess Mononoke and the majority of his work.
Princess Mononoke contains dazzling animation as one would have to expect from Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. It is a surprisingly violent motion picture at times, which adds to the staggering experience. There is also Miyazaki’s humanism to consider here, as he develops a love story that no Hollywood movie version would ever have the balls to put to film. In the end, Princess Mononoke is a truly unique, compelling, engrossing, magical movie that should be experienced by all serious lovers of cinema and, indeed, this world.
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