Narrator: In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods. Back then, man and beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed. Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts who owed their allegiances to the Great Forest Spirit, for those were the days of gods and of demons...
Princess Mononoke is set in 14th Century Japan and, despite not being based on any particular historical event, is a meditation on Japanese History of the Muromarchi period; though this is done through a counter-narrative to some 'pivotal myths' of japanese culture and society. The film defamiliarizes it's historical setting by putting the marginals of society in focus and by taking place In a mythical place, located somewhere other than reality. The landscape of the forest is away from zen inspired landscape gardens, tea ceremonies, samurais, Lords and peasants and other icons of high culture that would normally characterize films set in that time period. It is inhabited by the forest gods- Kami and the doll like spirits called kodama (Napier, 2005). Illustrative of the defamiliariazation of history is the fact that three of the key characters of the film are female and have powerful, gender neutral roles that are unlike traditional female characters.Placing females in these roles creates interest in what might be a fairly straightforward and stereotyped story. That their overtly traditional female characteristics have been suppressed in favour of stronger, more masculine and mythical traits such as Lady Eboshi's military prowess, Moro's fierce protection of San without soft maternal affection and San's unstoppable rage, destruction and inability to connect to the human race all serve to offer an alternative and thought provoking discourse on difference, especially because 'cuteness' and the shojo are often aligned with the female and considered important in contemporary japanese culture- yet none of the female protagonists really embody these ideals at all.
A key theme that is underlying Princess Mononoke is that of what Napier (2005) dubs 'environmental apocolypse'. Depicted in the film is a nature/technology divide, which begins with the wild boar that rushes into Prince Ashitaka's village with a bullet in him and places a curse on the prince as he dies bitterly. The iron factory that the formidable Lady Eboshi runs is responsible for the bullet that caused the boar to die- as well as diminshing forests and the subsequent suffering and uprising of the forest spirit due to this. The lines of good and evil are complicated in the story as Eboshi has created the industry to help the outcast men and women under her care, but in doing so has disregarded nature. The film shows that there will always be a price to pay for technological progress. The destruction of the forest scars both Prince Ashitaka and San as well as the land. The message of this perhaps is that that the separation of civilisation from nature can cause harm. There is also evidence of a power struggle and dominance taking a leading role in the film's thematics too- San doesn't just want the forest and weapons factory to exist in harmony- she wants it to be destroyed in the same way that Lady Eboshi wants dominance over the forest. In the end, neither are completely successful and neither have directly failed.
References:
Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan
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