~ by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

It’s safe to say that Princess Mononoke is Hayao Miyazaki’s darkest film. I have a friend who still enjoys recounting the tale of a mother who was in the movie theatre with him, only to watch her flee with her young child in her arms when the first decapitated head went flying. This is definitely not a film you want to share with anyone under the age of ten, for not only does it depict fairly graphic violence, but also plenty of death, gore, and creepy demonic possession. For those used to Miyazaki’s gentler films, this can come as quite a shock.

Princess Mononoke may be dark and haunting, bloody and gruesome, but it is also one of Miyazaki’s most memorable films, full of beautiful animation, vivid characterization and hefty themes (his usual favourites: war and environmentalism). It was the first time a Studio Ghibli film became a hit outside of Japan, and if you’re a fan of Pixar movies or Avatar: The Last Airbender, it’s easy to see how much of an influence it had on animation and storytelling in the West.

In other words, this is the Miyazaki film that got the world’s attention.

Premise:

Set in a mythological world that closely resembles 15^th century Japan, the Emishi people live peacefully enough in their farming village. At least until the day a terrible demon boar attacks and their young Prince Ashitaka is injured in the ensuing fight. It gets worse when the wise woman declares that the wound on Ashitaka’s arm is cursed – it will eventually spread and infect his soul, killing him in the process. He has no choice but to leave his home and seek out a possible cure somewhere to the West – hopefully by finding the source of the enraged demon. He has only one clue as to its origins: an iron ball retrieved from the boar’s corpse.

Not something you want to see prowling around your village

His quest takes him through villages terrorized by samurai and forests haunted by spirits, until he reaches the formidable Iron Town, ruled over by the beautiful Lady Eboshi. The township cuts down the trees to produce iron, making it a lucrative community but also putting it at odds with the nature spirits. There have been a multitude of deaths on each side of the conflict, and Lady Eboshi in particular is targeted by a feral girl called San, raised by wolves and determined to halt the encroachment of humans by assassinating their leader.

Struggling with the evil presence that is steadily taking over his arm (and soon enough, the rest of his body), Ashitaka identifies this conflict as the source of the demonic activity and tries his best to find a peaceful resolution.

Story:

As you can probably tell from that premise, Princess Mononoke is packed full of enough characters and plot to make it all truly epic in scope. In his journey Ashitaka also meets an untrustworthy monk who has been sent on a mission from the Emperor to kill the great Forest Spirit in the hopes that it will grant him immortality; a subplot that eventually ties into the greater storyline as the three-way war between samurai, spirits and Iron Town residents gets under way.

It’s sprawling and complex, and not for nothing has it been called “the Star Wars of animated films.” Moving from the lush green forests to the industrial Iron Town, Miyazaki portrays a damaged world whose eco-system has been tipped out of balance; where technology and the environment are both equally destructive forces at war with each other.

San attacks Lady Eboshi

It’s not as simple as “tree good, weapons bad”. The spirits of the forest can be terrifying and bloodthirsty, attacking innocent people without warning or mercy. Lady Eboshi is hardly a villain, but a respected and intelligent woman who has made Iron Town a powerful industrial centre by employing lepers and brothel-workers – outcasts that would otherwise be shunned by the outside world, and who are therefore fiercely devoted to their mistress as a result. Without Ashitaka, it’s difficult to grasp who exactly the audience should be rooting for.

The film’s final act deals with nothing less than the attempt to kill a god, with Eboshi and her followers heading into the trees to destroy the Forest Spirit and by doing so negate the power of spirits everywhere. As such violent measures only increase the corruption of spirits into yet more demons, Ashitaka is desperate to stop her, seeing it as the only way to heal himself in the process.

Characters:

As a hero, Ashitaka ticks all the boxes. He’s melancholy, moralistic, and wonderfully agile. Perhaps the most exhilarating bits of the movie are watching him fire arrows in quick succession from his bow, or leap on and off his equally nimble red elk Yakul. The animation captures every leap and spin and gesture, almost quicker than the eye can see, with an energy that off-sets his rather stoic personality.

San and Ashitaka (on Yakul) say their farewells

He’s backed up by an equally strong supporting cast, including the aforementioned Lady Eboshi, who skewers the usual villain stereotypes in order to become an antagonist whom you respect and admire. Much of her hatred toward San and the spirits seems justified (when San attacks Iron Town, Eboshi responds by introducing her to two women that she’s widowed in an earlier scuffle) and at least some of her motivation in hunting the Forest Spirit is the hope that its powers will heal the lepers she’s placed under her protection.

Then there’s San, the feral young woman raised by wolf-spirits (and whose nickname provides the title of the film, the word “mononoke” roughly translating into “spirit” or “monster”), and Jigo the affable but amoral monk/mercenary whose plans to behead the Forest Spirit eventually threaten the entire world.

Conclusion:

Princess Mononoke was one of my first tastes of what Studio Ghibli had to offer, and I can still remember how captivated I was at the visuals on display. They had a visceral effect on me: horror and disgust at the demons; wonder and awe at the Forest Spirit – simply because I had never seen anything like them before. The crawling flesh of the former and the eerie grace of the latter are images you won’t soon forget.

A glimpse of the mysterious Forest Spirit

It’s definitely not something you want to sit your children in front of, but for anyone interested in the edgy side of animation, as well as a story that’s complex in both scope and characterization, then this is a near-perfect glimpse into a strange and dangerous new world.
.

Next Time: Spirited Away

What is wildly considered Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece? Spirited Away, which remains the highest grossing film in Japanese history, as well as the winner of Best Animated Feature at the 2002 Academy Awards. Heck, many consider it one of the best animated films of all time – and I’ll put that assertion to the test next time.
.

About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her LiveJournal blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens