“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…”

– Introduction of Princess Mononoke

I consider Princess Mononoke, a film by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, to be one of the best environmental movie in history. Inspired by the tumultuous Muromachi era in Japanese history, Princess Mononoke explores the relationship between humans and nature in all its complex and tragic facets. Unlike many other environmental films but like so many of Miyazaki’s works, Mononoke does away with clear-cut dichotomies of good and bad; characters act with understandable motivations. Most of them are capable of change and in some cases, even redemption. The film’s unusual conclusion stresses the need for acceptance, integration, and reconciliation, even in the face of horrifying, unforgivable, and unforgettable tragedies.

I’m not sure I can capture all of the nuances and complexities of Princess Mononoke; I’ll provide a lengthier synopsis than usual, but the film is an epic in every sense of the word and really should to be experienced in its entirety. I will try my best to focus on some of the more intriguing themes and significant ideas I found throughout the movie.

Synopsis

Cursed by the corrupted boar-god Nago, the young warrior-prince Ashitaka is exiled from his isolated tribe and travels west in search of a cure. On his journey, he sees the brutal state of the world outside his village. He sees humans killing each other over land, food, and gold. Jigo, an opportunistic emperor’s aide, takes an interest in the young man’s affliction and points Ashitaka towards Irontown, a prosperous mining town, as a possible source of his curse. Once there, Ashitaka encounters Lady Eboshi, a strong leader dedicated to protecting her people from neighbouring hostile forest spirits and warlords with the use of iron guns, a new and deadly technology. Lady Eboshi confesses that it was her guns that drove the boar-god to madness. She is sorry for the suffering she has caused Ashitaka, but does not apologize for her desire to destroy the forest spirits. She believes that out of the forest’s destruction she can build a better world for her people.

As Ashitaka turns to leave, wolf gods led by a wolf-raised human girl named San, assault Irontown. San is fuelled by hatred and wants to kill Eboshi for her wanton destruction of the forest. Taken by the wolf girl’s beauty, Ashitaka intervenes to stop the two and attempts to leave with San, but is accidentally shot. San saves him by taking him deep within the woods and appealing to the Great Forest Spirit. He is healed, but his curse remains.

Meanwhile, the conflicts between Irontown, foreign troops, and the forest spirit come to a head. The forces of nature decide to launch one final attack on the humans to drive them out of the forest. Jigo, arriving with the Emperor’s army, demands that Eboshi capture the head of the Great Forest Spirit, reputed to have powers of immortality. Eboshi surmises correctly that Jigo wants to lure her away from Irontown and capture in her absence. Nevertheless, she complies with the order because of her desire destroy the Great Forest Spirit.

Both Ashitaka and San are trapped in these conflicts even as they try to prevent further bloodshed.  The battle between forest spirits and humans ends in a bloodbath as both sides nearly annihilate each other. Jigo’s troops attack Irontown, but are held off by the townspeople. Eboshi succeeds in slaying the Great Forest Spirit and delivering the head to Jigo, but loses an arm in the process. The headless god wanders in search of his head, spreading death to anything it touches. Most of Jigo’s troops, the forest, and Irontown are destroyed. Finally, Ashitaka and San return the head back to the Forest Spirit, and it disappears.

When the sun comes up, the surrounding wastelands begin to turn green with sprouting plants. Ashitaka sees that his curse has been lifted. San departs for the forest. Although she cares for Ashitaka, she cannot forgive the actions of humans. Ashitaka accepts her response and promises to visit her. Jigo retreats, empty-handed. Eboshi, humbled by her losses and the events that unfolded, sends for Ashitaka to thank him, and promises to rebuild Irontown in a better way. The story ends with a shot of new trees growing on top of the dead ones, signifying that even amongst immense death and destruction, there is life and rebirth.

The Deities of Mononoke

“I think one of the biggest draws of Mononoke lies in the fact that nature and its struggle for survival against the seemingly unstoppable technical progress of humanity is embodied by gods in the form of beasts. These beasts give the struggle and the anger a face. The boars, the wolves, the apes, they all are afraid and they all have their way of reacting to the encroaching human habitations thatfell their trees and hunt them down.”

– Fellow WordPress blogger Alex’s Princess Mononoke analysis

The depiction of nature in Mononoke is based on the animistic deities of Shintoism; they serve as guardians of the forest. All are threatened by human encroachment, but each exhibits a different temperament and reacts differently to the situation. Moro, the main wolf god and San’s mother, is resigned to the inevitable destruction of the forest, choosing to save her energy only to exact revenge on Lady Eboshi. Okkoto, a stubborn boar god, decides to charge head-on into a trap and go out in a final blaze of glory. The ape tribe tries desperately to reforest the barren landscape but is driven off by the guns of Irontown.

All of these guardians owe their allegiance to the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-like deity with a human face. It is the ultimate arbiter: With one step it can breathe life, while with another it can take it away. The Great Forest Spirit appears indifferent to the plight of man and creature alike. To me, it represents one of the most fascinating fictional manifestations of nature I have come across. Like nature, the Great Forest Spirit’s motivations are completely mysterious and utterly incomprehensible. Awe, wonder, fear, otherness: These elements are all conveyed beautifully through this strange chimera of a creature.

Princess Mononoke anthropomorphizes nature, but it is done with a purpose: To relate the viewer to nature’s struggles for survival in the face of human exploitation. The humans in the movie are literally engaged in war with the forest, and we are able to see nature from the perspective of the losing side, and the fear, uncertainty and despair that is associated with it. By utilizing deities to represent nature, Princess Mononoke calls to attention how dysfunctional our relationship with the environment can become, and how out of touch the human race can be when it comes to exploitation of the natural world. By the end of the film, we understand that this mentality to win and dominate can only result in a pyrrhic victory. Miyazaki understands that to destroy nature is to destroy ourselves.

 Technological Game-Changers

Guns and iron were game-changers during the time and setting of Princess Mononoke. It is important to remember the context in which these technologies were introduced; life during these period for most was nasty, brutish, and short. Any comfort or measure of control provided by technology was embraced with open arms.  Irontown is depicted as a prosperous place in which where people can live in relative peace and prosperity, an island fortress in a sea of danger, tyranny, and injustice. But Mononoke also reveals that novel technologies can carry unintended consequences. Guns not only brought safety and independence, but also unwanted attention from other warlords. Massive amounts of trees were required to fuel the smelters to produce iron, resulting in the barren and polluted wastelands around Irontown. With newfound power comes newfound arrogance and the potential for increased destruction.

In the real world, technological advances have similarly shaped the course of human history. Within the last century, major advances such as in nuclear sciences, organic chemistry, and telecommunications have allowed us to do more, eat better, connect faster, and live longer, more comfortable lives. But these technologies also come with unintended side effects. We generate waste that remains harmful for millennia, create materials that disrupt biological functions, and have fundamentally altered how we interact with each other. As I mentioned in last week’s Collapse: Twilight at Easter Island, our ability to affect the world around us today is now global in magnitude. We must consider the consequences of applying novel technology carefully and conscientiously.

Lady Eboshi: Villain Redefined

As I have noted earlier, the characters of Princess Mononoke are dynamic and have complex motivations; Lady Eboshi is one of the more interesting female fictional antagonists around. A revolutionary for her world and time, Eboshi is a charismatic leader who treats those under her with dignity and respect. Her efforts to help the powerless are evident throughout the movie. She houses the sick lepers and tasks them with jobs of great importance. She frees brothel girls and sets them to work in the bellows, tolerating no misogyny from the men. To her, iron and guns are symbols of empowerment and freedom; she is determined to create a society that is grounded in the equal treatment of men and women.

Miyazaki once stated in an interview that Lady Eboshi was characterized to have a traumatic past (Wikipedia). Perhaps it is because she suffered abuse at the hands of traditional society that drives her to address inequality and injustice in Irontown. This would also explain that she will not accept contingency from anyone or anything; she wants to be in full control of her own destiny and has no need for gods. With the ability to take out gods, Eboshi’s ambition drives her to dominate and subjugate nature. She believes that she is fully justified in this campaign. This is a world where nature, manifested in the forms of angry spirits, disease, and disasters, vindictively, constantly, and senselessly exact a heavy toll on humanity. What more noble deed is there than to exterminate the forest, a place full of all things non-human, wild, and dangerous for the betterment of her people and the society she wishes to create?

Her motivations reminds me of Cob, the villain in The Farthest Shore, who believed that he was above and better than nature. By not respecting and understanding the regenerative cycles of nature, both Cob and Eboshi wrought ruin upon the world. But unlike Cob, Eboshi demonstrates the capacity to learn from her mistakes. She realizes that her efforts to destroy the forest have decimated the society she worked so hard to create.  At the end of the film, she is committed to rebuilding Irontown. Only this time she heeds the wisdom of Ashitaka, someone who understands the necessity of striking a balance with the natural environment.

Jigo: Whatever It Takes

A monk and an aide to the emperor, Jigo is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is amoral, opportunistic, and manipulative. He pits Eboshi against the gods of the forest and gets her to do the dirty work. He doesn’t care about the hunters and trackers under his command, leaving most of them to die in the calamity that ensues. Even after observing firsthand the destruction of his actions, he clings desperately to the prized head of the Great Forest Spirit until his own life was in jeopardy.

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde

The worst trait Jigo exhibits is one of deep cynicism. He accepts that the world is a cursed one and does nothing to alleviate the suffering around him; he only regards his own welfare. He has no use for hope because he lives off the despair of others. By the end of the movie, he is the only one who refuses to see that humans and nature must find a way to coexist, dismissing them all as fools. He does not and will not learn. Despite the relatively minor role he has, I regard Jigo as the true villain in Princess Mononoke.

San: Both Beast and Human

San is fuelled by hate and revenge against the humans who invade the forest. However, her encounter with Ashitaka gradually blurs the boundaries between her wolf world and the human world. Ashitaka, an outsider with a different value system than other humans, comes into her life and dispels the fear and ignorance surrounding her understanding of humans. She realizes that not all humans hate the forest, and her feelings for Ashitaka force her to acknowledge and accept that she is also human.

“Now, my poor, ugly, beautiful daughter is neither human nor wolf…” – Moro, speaking of San

At the conclusion of Princess Mononoke, she acknowledges her humanity but still cannot live amongst people. She does not forgive or forget Eboshi’s actions, but she does not let her revenge for Eboshi govern her future actions. She is willing to meet Ashitaka halfway and to walk a new uncertain path with him. By doing so, San begins to learn in navigating the boundaries of nature and culture, just like Ashitaka.

Ashitaka: Eyes Unclouded by Hate

As an outsider from a culture that lived in relative harmony with the natural environment for centuries, Ashitaka displays an innate respect for the forest. In one scene, he journeys deep into the forest, carrying an injured man back to Irontown. The other man, Koroku, is deeply frightened of nature and expects angry gods to exact their revenge at any moment. But Ashitaka asks for and receives guidance from the kodamas, little spirits of the forest, and is able to find a shortcut. His actions in this scene speak to the notion that it’s often easier to work with nature rather than against it. But in order to do so, there must be understanding, respect, and a willingness to learn from the non-human world.

Throughout the film, Ashitaka tries to act as the mediator between the forces of nature and man. The forest gods and the people of Irontown grow to respect him, but both groups state that he must choose a side. He tries repeatedly and desperately to convey that there are no sides, but his ideas falls on deaf ears. Only when great losses are inflicted on both sides is his message for peaceful coexistence finally heard.

Ashitaka does not fully succumb to the violence that surrounds him, nor the curse that afflicts him. He understands that the source of his curse stems from hatred: The iron bullet found in Nago represents the animosity of the forest spirit had towards the human world. This corrosive hatred, physically manifested, literally ate the boar god alive, transformed it into a demon, and cursed Ashitaka. Understanding this, Ashitaka resists the virulent contagion, choosing to break free of the cycle of revenge and retribution: He chooses to see with the world with eyes unclouded by hate. This rejection of hate, coupled with the knowledge of his impending mortality, allows him to act freely. He becomes swept up by events greater than himself, but he tries his best to make the best out of a bad situation and never gives up. Watching Ashitaka, I am reminded of one of my favourite quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, that in dark times “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” Ashitaka does what he can with the time he is given, even in the darkest of times when all seems lost. In doing so, he exhibits Miyazaki’s central idea in many of his more profound works: “No matter how difficult it is, we must live.”

Like with many of Miyazaki’s works, Princess Mononoke explores the complicated and messy relationship between humans and nature in an unparalleled manner. There is a lot more I could write about this movie, but I think I’ll stop there for now. What did you think of the film? What other ideas and themes did you get out of it? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Next Up: One of television science fiction’s greatest hour.

Related Ekostories:

• Le Guin’s The Farthest Shore, Part 2

Images of Princess Mononoke © 1997 Studio Ghibli. All rights reserved.