Week 6 (Rachel)

How do it and other Miyazaki films address the humanity/nature divide, according to Wright 2005)? Could Miyazaki’s vision be described as in some sense religious (in as much as it conveys a sense of the sacred)?

The theme of humanity/nature is very evident in the film Princess Mononoke and also Nausicaa. As Wright (2005) discusses in his piece. “The ancient Japanese did not strictly divide their world into the material and the spiritual, nor between this world and another perfect realm. Miyazaki is very much aware of this in his work saying in an interview about princess Mononoke that “I’ve come to the point where I can’t just make a movie without addressing the problem of humanity as part of an ecosystem.” (Wright, 2005, p5) We can see from this statement that he one of his motivation in making this film is to address the theme of humanity/nature. Miyazaki also choose to set this film in a in a time when the Japanese went through a period of drastic change in their relationship to nature, the Muromachi era. Although this is a fictional tale, there are aspects of this time period which resonate with in the film, as this was a time a shift changed and the Japanese started to cut down the forest for further development. We can see how it is a theme that has a long history, a theme which is constantly readdressed.

One of the stands out features of Miyazakis addressing of this theme, is that he shows the ambiguous nature that he uses for his characters, showing that they are two different ways of thinking, not wholly right or wrong. His character Eboshi, who is destroying the forest, also takes on the role as a humanitarian, looking after the men who were lepers, and the woman who used to work at the brothels. I think this is a key element in the success of Miyazaki’s addressing of the theme. He shows that an eco system has many factors to take into account.

Wright states that Miyazaki creates a ‘hybrid Japanese “modern myth”’. The word myth does portray a sense of the sacred; I interpret myth to as a timeless tale with some sort of lesson.   

Miyazaki’s work is influenced by the Japanese religion Shinto. As Miyazaki uses spirits, it conveys a sense of spirituality and of sacredness.

Wright states that ‘he has infused his richly detailed worlds with an animistic ontology that references ancient Japanese beliefs, practises and myths.’ Wright emphasises Miyazaki work being spiritual but not outright religious. Wright explains that Miyazaki is more interested in spiritualism than organised religion, ‘the spiritualism of human history and how it can be lived today.’  Wright suggests that Miyazaki gives the audience a chance to read into spiritual message without the trapping of the religions, which he suggests, have caused hostility in the past contradicting the spiritual underpinnings.

References:

Wright, L. (2005). Nature Spirits Giant Insects and World Trees: the nature vision of Hayao Miyazaki. In the Journal of Religion of Popular Culture. Volume X: Summer 2005.