Princess Mononoke Influence

Princess Mononoke was released in 1997, and became the highest grossing film in Japan until Titanic came out later that year. It was meant to be director Hayao Miyazaki’s last film before he went into retirement, and is praised as one of his absolute masterpieces. Today, I will be analyzing two articles that discuss aspects of Princess Mononoke’s themes and influences. The first is titled Hayao Miyazaki and Shinto: A Spiritual Connection by Oscar Garza and the other is Young Girls and Flying Images: A Semiotic Analysis of Hayao Miyazaki’s Animations by Mohammad Amzad Hossain and Wei-Hsin Fu.

First a quick summary: Princess Mononoke follows the last prince of the Emishi named Ashitaka who, when defending his village from a demonic boar, is cursed

Relationships and communities are a central component in Shintoism and are found within Japanese culture. In Princess Mononoke the viewer watches this conflicted relationship between the animal gods and the humans. Garza notes that neither side is portrayed as good or evil, the humans wish to become economically successful while the animal gods are trying to defend their home from destruction. Each individual in this battle is achieving what they believe will benefit their community. According to Garza, Princess Mononoke focuses on this coexistence between humans with the kami in an adult manner. Miyazaki illustrates this brutal “relationship between humanity and nature, showing us how it is almost a cyclical one – there has to be death in order for life to exist.” (Garza, 24) While we see this relationship with nature throughout the film expressed in different ways, the most potent is the relationship of life and death, personified as the Great Forest Spirit. The viewer is exposed to his ability to give life, as when he heals Ashitaka’s bullet wound, and his ability to take life as shown when he his beheaded and transforms into a beast, killing all that he touches. “Miyazaki goes from visual beauty to utter horror as the characters are seen running for their lives in search of a safe haven from the powerful spirit of the forest.” (Garza, 25) Miyazaki does not simplify this complex issue between humanity and nature. Garza references a quote from Miyazaki in Cavallaro’s work where Miyazaki states “Today it is exactly the problem of the environmental destruction we are facing on a global scale. This is the complexity in the relationship between humans and nature. And since this is a big theme of this film, I didn’t want it to be a story about a bad guy.” (Miyazaki, quoted in Cavallaro, 124) This focus on a relationship and finding compromise between the forces of nature and humanity