PRINCESS MONONOKE
May 1st 2009 23:05
Category: Videos
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Starring: Billy Crudup (Ashitaka), Claire Danes (San), Gillian Anderson (Moro), Minnie Driver (Lady Eboshi), John DiMaggio (Gonza), Jada Pinkett Smith (Toki), Billy Bob Thornton (Jigo) & Keith David (Okkoto)
Produced by: Studio Ghibli
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 134 minutes Rating: M
This particular masterpiece by the master of feature length anime, Hayao Miyazaki, came my way via the medium of my local library this time. Which in itself is unusual, as the last couple of Studio Ghibli works that I have managed to see, Howls Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso etc were all on SBS late at night usually sometime during the week. When I saw this particular film on the shelf nestled behind some really pony Western’s by John Wayne and a Gene Kelly/Fred Astaire musical number I knew it had to be borrowed. It’s the one Miyazaki features that I had up until now had not been able to see, although having since watched it on DVD I’ve no doubt it’ll probably show up in the next week or so on SBS at some late night time slot, such is life.
On the surface it would be easy to say that Princess Mononoke is about the evils of deforestation for the sake of rampant consumerism, a nice simple cut and dried definition that would no doubt appeal too many. Strangely though as I watched this particular feature, my feeling was that it was a story that was part tragedy, part mythology and predominantly about human nature; ignorance, hubris and the fear of death in particular being the key aspects of human nature portrayed. Certainly there is an element of consumerism and technology having a detrimental impact on the land and the Forest in particular but this does not significantly drive the story along.
This is a time and place where mankind still shares the world with gods and demons and that such beings still walk the world in which man dwells with as much right as the beasts of the field and forest. The protagonist is the young prince Ashitaka, an earnest young man who one bright day has his life irrevocably changed through no real fault on his behalf. Whilst out on patrol of the countryside surrounding his village the young prince, a member of the Emishi people, a culture that has been driven to the fringes of the known world by the Emperor, seeks to discover the source of a disturbance in the forests near his home.
Scaling a nearby watchtower at which a lone sentinel keeps a fearful vigil he and the watcher swiftly have their answer as to what the disturbance might be, a demon bursts from the cover of the arboreal depths and rampages towards the tower. From this point on things begin to go steadily downhill from here, the creature destroys the tower but Ashitaka and the watcher avoid being killed, it then turns its attention to the village in the distance and heads swiftly towards this peaceful enclave. Ashitaka doesn’t hesitate, he springs onto the back of his faithful Red Elk, Yakul and rides after this monstrosity, this demon. Now unlike your stereotypical muscle bound western hero Ashitaka attempts to reason with the entity, asking it to leave the village and its inhabitants in peace – but sadly the creature has long since passed the point of reason and rational thought. With a considerable amount of sadness he realises that if he is to save his people he will have to kill this creature.
It turns out that the ‘demon’ was once a boar deity of distant forest lands who has been transformed by an iron ball embedded in his body, this iron ball being a shot from a rifle made in the lands to the west of the village. In killing the boar deity Ashitaka is wounded by the maddened god and marked with the same malignant ailment that caused his transformation into an engine of mindless hatred and rage that was the end result of him being shot. You have to feel sorry for the young prince when he and his fellows discover this fact, he was trying to help his people and as a result cops its something shocking – as they say no good deed goes unpunished.
Marked in a decidedly fateful way Ashitaka can no longer remain in his village, he must leave and discover the source of what caused the boar god’s transformation and what is now consuming him. And so beings his journey although it is one that will have not only significant impact for himself but for a large number of other people as well. It would be a bit trite of me to say that there is a coming of age element to this tale, at least in regards to the primary protagonist, if anything what happens to be coming of age in this film is not a person but rather an ideal, a vision more than anything and this is in turn tied into notions of the continuing cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is very interesting to note that out of all the characters within the story Ashitaka has no fear of death, he does not relish it and he is saddened when he is forced to kill yet unlike the nameless Emperor he has no fear of it. For a character who is portrayed as a young boy on the cusp of manhood he has a maturity that is well beyond his years, there is also a vague similarity between the character of Ashitaka and Buddha in that both of these figures leave behind a cloistered sheltered life in order to become exposed to the realities outside of their homes.
As with Miyazaki’s other great feature film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, there is a message that humanity can live in harmony with the natural world and reap the benefits of technology and an improved society but it has to be a sharing rather than a taking. Conversely the various nature spirits and animal gods need to realise that they also share the world with man, they do not rule it or mankind, thus in order for all to prosper there needs to be harmony between all otherwise the only thing that results are mindless hatred, rage, wanton destruction and despair which forges a realm no one sane would willingly live in.
The animation in this film is all hand drawn and looks truly superb, here and there at key points 3D rendering is used to demonstrate the effects of Ashitaka’s wound and the impact it has on both the prince and his surrounds. As time passes in the film it seems that the young prince has accepted his ‘burden’ yet has such strength of character to not let it consume him as it consumed the boar deity, perhaps it is due to the fact that he is well aware of his own nature and his own place in the grand scheme of things, he is but a man and like all men he will live and eventually die regardless for such is the way of things – what matters is not the length of his allotted life but how he puts that time to good use. This is a touching and insightful film and well worth taking the time out to track down and watch, but then again it is what I would expect from a superlative film maker such as Hayao Miyazaki, he never fails to provide his audience with a finely crafted work.
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Starring: Billy Crudup (Ashitaka), Claire Danes (San), Gillian Anderson (Moro), Minnie Driver (Lady Eboshi), John DiMaggio (Gonza), Jada Pinkett Smith (Toki), Billy Bob Thornton (Jigo) & Keith David (Okkoto)
Produced by: Studio Ghibli
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 134 minutes Rating: M
This particular masterpiece by the master of feature length anime, Hayao Miyazaki, came my way via the medium of my local library this time. Which in itself is unusual, as the last couple of Studio Ghibli works that I have managed to see, Howls Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso etc were all on SBS late at night usually sometime during the week. When I saw this particular film on the shelf nestled behind some really pony Western’s by John Wayne and a Gene Kelly/Fred Astaire musical number I knew it had to be borrowed. It’s the one Miyazaki features that I had up until now had not been able to see, although having since watched it on DVD I’ve no doubt it’ll probably show up in the next week or so on SBS at some late night time slot, such is life.
Scaling a nearby watchtower at which a lone sentinel keeps a fearful vigil he and the watcher swiftly have their answer as to what the disturbance might be, a demon bursts from the cover of the arboreal depths and rampages towards the tower. From this point on things begin to go steadily downhill from here, the creature destroys the tower but Ashitaka and the watcher avoid being killed, it then turns its attention to the village in the distance and heads swiftly towards this peaceful enclave. Ashitaka doesn’t hesitate, he springs onto the back of his faithful Red Elk, Yakul and rides after this monstrosity, this demon. Now unlike your stereotypical muscle bound western hero Ashitaka attempts to reason with the entity, asking it to leave the village and its inhabitants in peace – but sadly the creature has long since passed the point of reason and rational thought. With a considerable amount of sadness he realises that if he is to save his people he will have to kill this creature.
It turns out that the ‘demon’ was once a boar deity of distant forest lands who has been transformed by an iron ball embedded in his body, this iron ball being a shot from a rifle made in the lands to the west of the village. In killing the boar deity Ashitaka is wounded by the maddened god and marked with the same malignant ailment that caused his transformation into an engine of mindless hatred and rage that was the end result of him being shot. You have to feel sorry for the young prince when he and his fellows discover this fact, he was trying to help his people and as a result cops its something shocking – as they say no good deed goes unpunished.
Marked in a decidedly fateful way Ashitaka can no longer remain in his village, he must leave and discover the source of what caused the boar god’s transformation and what is now consuming him. And so beings his journey although it is one that will have not only significant impact for himself but for a large number of other people as well. It would be a bit trite of me to say that there is a coming of age element to this tale, at least in regards to the primary protagonist, if anything what happens to be coming of age in this film is not a person but rather an ideal, a vision more than anything and this is in turn tied into notions of the continuing cycle of life, death and rebirth. It is very interesting to note that out of all the characters within the story Ashitaka has no fear of death, he does not relish it and he is saddened when he is forced to kill yet unlike the nameless Emperor he has no fear of it. For a character who is portrayed as a young boy on the cusp of manhood he has a maturity that is well beyond his years, there is also a vague similarity between the character of Ashitaka and Buddha in that both of these figures leave behind a cloistered sheltered life in order to become exposed to the realities outside of their homes.
As with Miyazaki’s other great feature film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, there is a message that humanity can live in harmony with the natural world and reap the benefits of technology and an improved society but it has to be a sharing rather than a taking. Conversely the various nature spirits and animal gods need to realise that they also share the world with man, they do not rule it or mankind, thus in order for all to prosper there needs to be harmony between all otherwise the only thing that results are mindless hatred, rage, wanton destruction and despair which forges a realm no one sane would willingly live in.
The animation in this film is all hand drawn and looks truly superb, here and there at key points 3D rendering is used to demonstrate the effects of Ashitaka’s wound and the impact it has on both the prince and his surrounds. As time passes in the film it seems that the young prince has accepted his ‘burden’ yet has such strength of character to not let it consume him as it consumed the boar deity, perhaps it is due to the fact that he is well aware of his own nature and his own place in the grand scheme of things, he is but a man and like all men he will live and eventually die regardless for such is the way of things – what matters is not the length of his allotted life but how he puts that time to good use. This is a touching and insightful film and well worth taking the time out to track down and watch, but then again it is what I would expect from a superlative film maker such as Hayao Miyazaki, he never fails to provide his audience with a finely crafted work.
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