Teu Week 6

What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke? How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

One of the main themes of 'Princess Mononoke' is the environment. The focus being primarily on the animals and the rainforest. 'San' being the one of the protagonists in the story was brought up by wolves, this consequentially amounts to her being on the side of her family (the wolf pack). 'San' also known as 'Princess Mononoke' is a strong willed girl, who fights very hard for her home. When referring to the film Napier states "this is a film about love in many aspects - love of nature, love of family, love between the sexes- but it is also a film about 'the extent to which love involves loss of many kinds'" (p.236) This brings me to another main theme, fight between nature and human kind. 'San' never having lived with humans, is patently fighting against the humans. The boy 'Ashitaka' fights for both sides, he has been cursed by a spirit demon which is the reason for his involvement in the fierce battle.

'Ashitaka' falls in love with 'San', this partly complicates matters as she is strictly on the side of the forest. 'Ashitaka' still doesn’t take sides but helps the two sides equally and in the end finds a way to solve both matters. I think this film defamiliarises the historical setting by having the film set in 'The Muromachi period' according to Napier ‘The Muromachi period is usually considered to be an apex of Japanese high culture, when well-known cultural products like the tea ceremony, Noh theater, and Zen-inspired landscape gardens reached their most brilliant form. It was also an era of relative peace.’ Napier (p.233) This was a time where there were momentous changes in history, the fourteenth century was a time where people changed their views from the supernatural, spiritual and religion to means of leadership and money. This period was a very significant time in Japanese history. Another thing that defamiliarised historical settings were the various female leaders, for example 'Lady Eboshi' is the leader of Tatara, a city made by 'Eboshi' where females are free from protitution and where lepers can live freely with the acceptance of the towns people. Another leader is 'San' who is a strong girl who plays a huge part in the battle. Napier(2005) explains that "Princess Mononoke uses female characters who exist in their own right, independent of any male and these independent females are not domesticated by marriage or a happy ending but are instead interested in living separate but quite fulfilling lives, San with her companions in the natural world & Eboshi with her industrializing community."(p.246)

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2006) Princess Mononoke. Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Productions.