Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibi, Princess Mononoke was become the highest-grossing movie during summer 1997 until Titanic was released. The story takes place in Japan’s Muromachi period. The main character Ashitaka is from the Emishi tribe in northeastern of Japan. One day, the village is attacked by a demon from the west. In order to protect the people in the village, Ashitaka comes forward and kills the demon, but he is also cursed by the demon. He can hardly keep himself alive. In order to lift the curve and resolve the mystery, Ashitaka listens to village’s wise woman’s instruction. He leaves the forest to find a cure in the western lands Nago. In Datara town, he finds out the reason why the demon destroys his village. The mythical beast is enraged by human activities and becomes a demon. To get more iron ore, human beings continue to destroy forests. People are unable to penetrate the forest, so Eboshi leads the local people to attack forest by using advanced burning stone. Miyazaki Hayao emphasizes that this is an environmentally themed movie. The mountain wolf Mona raises San since she was abandoned by her parents. She declares that she is not human, and she is filled with hatred of mankind. Ashitaka thinks Princess Mononoke may0 know now how to lift his curse. He helps to stop the fight between San and Eboshi. Ashitaka eventually moved San due to his sincere and courageous. And San takes him to the forest, and she let the Forest Spirit (Kirin God) save his life. Eboshi leads the people to battle with the wild boar, and it causes the wild boar is likely extinct. Anger and resentment drive the blind boar-god Okkoto become a demon. When the situation is irreversible, Forest Spirit appears and takes away Okkoto’s life. Eboshi takes the opportunity to shoot Forest Spirit’s head down. The Forest Spirit begins to absorb the life in order to find its head. It becomes the end of the world. All of the plants and houses are damaged. Ashitaka and San rob Forest Spirit’s head from the pimple monks and send it to Forest Spirit. However, Forest Spirit disappears after sunrise. After saving the forest, San still cannot forgive human crimes. Hence, she chooses to return the forest. Ashitaka decides to live in Datara town.

At the end of the movie, Ashitaka says that Forest Spirit is not dead, and it still in charge of our life and death. Although this anime has lots of colorful scenes, I still consider this is one of the most repressed, bloody, impressing animations for me. The story expresses reverence and dedication for life, praise and thanksgiving for nature, and criticism on human greed and thinking. As far as I am concerned, Miyazaki Hayao’s animated films always contain deep thoughts, and his main idea is talking about the relationship between humanity and nature. In Princess Mononoke, he focuses on the contradictions