Princess Mononoke

In an age in which humans live in harmony with gods and animals... Or perhaps not?

Name: Mononoke Hime | Princess Mononoke

Realizador: Hayao Miyazaki

Year: 1997

Format: Filme

Duration: 135 min

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Synopsis

Japan, Muromashi Age, in a time when people still lived among monsters and gods. The story follows the life of the last Emishi Warrior Prince, Ashitaka. With the purpose of saving his village, he ends up killing a boar that was possessed by a demon, Tatari Gami, getting a curse attached to his right arm that, despite granting him extraordinary strength, slowly consumes his life force. The young prince ends up leaving his hometown and heads west, in search of a cure. When he arrives upon his destination he realises that the town is at war with the Animal Gods.

Review

I must confess that I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s work and the Studio Ghibli’s films. As this was the first masterpiece from the director that I watched, I considered that it should be the first to analyse.

The film starts with a small introduction on the Age that it is set, and what the forests once were, quickly changing to the introduction of one of the main characters: the Last Warrior Prince from the Emishi Village, Ashitaka. According to his title, he has a fearless and warrior-like personality, but is also very kind and is always accompanied by his loyal friend, Yakul, a red elk.

His destiny changes when he is cursed on this arm that shortens his life and ends up having to abandon his village in search for a cure. Along the way he meets a monk that advises him to ask the Forest Spirit for help, where is the town known as Iron City. However, when he arrives at his destination he realises that the town is at war with the Animal Gods.

It 's in this moment that the story’s co-protagonist appears: Princess Mononoke, who fights alongside the Animal Gods. She was raised by the Goddess Moro, a she-wolf, after having been abandoned by her parents in the forest. moro took her in and raised her among the Wolf Gods’ tribe. San is an animal and a nature protector, loyal to her tribe and harbors a hatred towards humans for the destruction that they cause in the forests due to their greed and wars.

From this moment on the plot flows rapidly and has its foundation settled upon three emotions from the characters, which is without a doubt, one of the most memorable features from this film.

First, San’s hatred towards the humans that seek to destroy the forest, is so big that she ends up forgetting her own humanity, even rejecting it. Her feelings only change when she meets Prince Ashitaka, that even though they have a mutual distrust towards each other at first, the feelings they have for each other grows and ends up being the story’s turning point.

Second, the ambition of the town’s chief, Lady Eboshi, and the people from the Iron City, that exploit all of the forest’s natural resources, destroying the habitat, only because they desire that their lands be a good and stable place to live, even though that in order to achieve it they have to kill all the animals and knock down all the trees.

Lastly, the animal’s suffering that we see in several scenes throughout the film, from the monkey’s uprising to the boars’ suffering, and also, the wolf's themselves.

In this work there is a clear critique to the society made by the director Hayao Miyazaki. He presents us a vision of a likely future regarding the environment, centered in a woman’s perspective, San, in order to demystify the idea that Japan lives in harmony with Nature.

Whisper of the Heart

Princess Mononoke, as with other works from this director, are characterized by portraying timeless subjects such as Mankind’s relationship with the environment and the woman’s role in Japan, while also reflecting on the country’s own history.

Through type-characters, the director creates a new and genuine version of the woman 's role in Japan in relation to the traditional feminine icon. He uses the women from the Iron City and their chief, Lady Eboshi, that don’t live as mere housewives that take care of their children, since they make a great portion of the hard labor in the city. And putting a woman as chief of the city gets the men to respect her.

As I have mentioned before, one of the most important themes is the nature. It’s a timeless subject that ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Man has been destroying the environment and contributing to the climate changes that we are currently going through. Honestly there is not much more to say about this subject, or about how to contradict the path that we are on. We can and we must take measures in order to improve the situation and delay the negative impact. However, we must congratulate that a 1997 film has been made with the purpose of educating children and of showing them what Mankind’s attitudes can cause in their future.

To finish, I want to elaborate on a small curiosity about the film.Although it is not based on true historical facts, the film belongs in the category of historical animation. In a distinct way it is the mediation of japanese history, since it provides a narrative of some myths from the japanese culture and society. Para terminar, quero falar de uma pequena curiosidade sobre a obra. This includes crucial notions like in the story, that talks about the aristocracy of the Samurai Warrior, and the idealized concepts of a post-modern Japan that wants to live in a homogenous race and in harmony with nature.

I chose this anime to take part in the Ecletic Heart 30 Post Challenge in the theme of “an Anime that never gets old”, because watching Hayao Miyazaki's works it's an essential part for all the genre’s fans.

Rating - 🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉 (10)