To be a specialist on the archaeology or religions in Japan, but rely on experts in these fields to highlight aspects of theįilm. Have crafted allow for multiple viewings of the film, and attract different interpretations of the film.Īs my approach to the film is based on film and animation studies, I do not claim Hisaishi’s score adds to the enjoyment of the film) historical/fantasy adventure, but the layers Miyazaki and his staff Princess Mononoke’s brilliance as an animatedįeature lies exactly in these layers of message: it can be seen as an exciting and skilfully animated (and composed, as Joe In the film these issues are tied around the easily recognizable ecological theme,Īnd they add to its layered complexity. In which Miyazaki discusses these issues. Sources I use the film Princess Mononoke itself, as well as the writings and interviews In the following, I look at these ecological issues in the light of Miyazaki’s 42interest in Japan’s history, archaeology and notions of the origin of the nation. “evil”’ and notes how her students compare Ghibli worlds to the more clear-cut binaries of Disney films. Ghibli’s major offerings to the society to be precisely the lack of a clear-cut vision of “good” versus For example, Susan Napier writes: ‘Many consider Studio Nuance, adding to the multilayered interpretation of the films. They are also praised for the way in which definitions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are discussed with great Ghibli’s ecological concerns in films such as Nausicaa and Pom poko,’ and for the Studio Ghibli co-produced The Red Turtleīy Michaël Dudok de Wit (2016) the Guardian reviewer says: ‘Dudok de Wit hasĬonjured a story that combines Ghibli’s familiar ecological themes – with a narrative attuned to European sensibilities.’ Studio Ghibli films are often noted for their ecological messages: Jonathan ClementsĪnd Helen MacCarthy note how Princess Mononoke ‘is the ultimate prequel to Studio The complicated issue of human-nature relationships.

I argue in this chapter that Miyazaki uses these to discuss the building of what we know as Japan, and to discuss

It also features multiple layers of historical, archaeological and mythical In the film’s settings and details one can find numerous examples of Miyazaki’s interest inĪnthropology, archaeology, Shintō and nativism. Though Princess Mononoke is set in the Muromachi period (1333–1573), when the Yamato society had conqueredĪll the Northern tribes, the strong Emishi village of Princess Mononoke recalls Japan’s Tribes of Northern Japan are often seen as non-civilized barbarians as opposed to the Yamato race. In the area that is now the basis for modern Japan before claiming the entire country. Vanished native tribes, who inhabited West-Northern Japan before the Eastern-Southern Yamato nation took control, starting Mononoke, 1997) Hayao Miyazaki depicts the main character, Prince Ashitaka, as a son of the Emishi nation, one of Japan’s

Way to the woods based on studio ghibli