Princess Mononoke was a very interesting and well done movie. The movie was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The movie was beautifully done; I personally believe it was one of his best movies. I really liked how this film really empowered women, which is a complete shift from the rest of the movies we have watched. In most of the movies we have watched in class, the women were treated badly, demoralized, degraded or shown as sex objects. Finally, we were able to see a film where the women were in charge. Lady Eboshi was the leader of the village; she emulated strength and poise. Though she emulated these good aspects, she also was full of greed. The main character however, I feel embodied strength and poise as well – he was a male. The main character is Ashitaka. Ashitaka fights the demon boar and becomes cursed for fighting the beast. The movie is the story of him trying to find a way to cure himself of this curse before hatred consumes him. Along the way he meets many characters, specifically and importantly, Ashitaka meets Lady Eboshi and Princess Mononoke. These people represent two completely different types of people. Lady Eboshi is greedy and wants the head of the Forest Spirit. Throughout the movie, she creates destruction and is taking apart the forest. Princess Mononoke is human, but she hates humans. She was raised by a wolf who is a god. When Princes Mononoke was a baby, her parents threw her at the feet of the wolf god and ran. The wolf god raised her. Princess Mononoke learns to hate humanity. I feel as though the characters have very distinct personalities, and they all come together to teach a lesson. Revenge and hate only grow off of each other. I believe they bring a lot of religious references to show the goodness of peace. The movie had a lot of reference to different religions, which I found really interesting. The movie did not just reflect that of the Shintoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and possibly more. This movie seemed to be very inspiring in that aspect. I enjoyed the spiritual essence of this movie.
I also enjoyed how the movie empowered women. It is not my favorite Hayao Miyazaki, mine's a tie between Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo. Actually, I really like all of them a lot. With Princess Mononoke, I like how you described Lady Eboshi as strong and poised. She certainly has a regal air about her. I am curious about what you think Ashitaka's role was in trying to keep the peace between Lady Eboshi and San (Princess Mononoke). Do you think that it is a foil to trying to keep the peace between nature and civilization?
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