(Week 6) What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke? How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

“Although Princess Mononoke is not based on an actual historical event, it belongs properly in a section on animation and history because in its distinctive way, it is a meditation on Japanese History that provides a counternarrative to some pivotal myths of Japanese Culture and society” (Napier, S. 2005). In the film “the sense of a broken heterogeneous world is stridently manifest”. It puts together aspects of history such as ways of living and religious and cultural beliefs related to myths and legends. Princess Mononoke is based on what Miyazaki believes to be something that goes (somewhat) against accepted myths related Japanese Culture as well as the history of Japan.

Princess Mononoke takes on various themes that many aspects of Japanese History and folklore represent, including the status of people, different societies, outcasts and battles, both in a symbolic and literal form based on the Muromachi period (1336-1573).  In the film, the main protagonists are those who do not necessarily appear on the stage of history as major characters, rather this is the story of history’s marginals. These marginals include women, outcasts and non-ethnic Japanese, who would rather go unnoticed. The film remoulds archetypes and icons and tells the story from their perspective. Some of the themes that the film follows are:

·         Hero’s journey
Ashitaka is an important character in this story because of the many trying circumstances he is placed under, beginning with him being cursed and prompting him to visit Iron Town whose people, he believes can rid him of the curse. Along the way he realizes how this community functions and he also encounters the character we come to know as Princess Mononoke. His final step in the story is his attempt to resolve the conflict between Eboshi (Head of Iron Town) and her people and the Animal Gods and Princess Mononoke, all while trying to uplift the curse bestowed upon him.                                                                                                   
 

·         Romantic undertones
Ashitaka has heard tales of Princess Mononoke and is mysteriously drawn to her when he encounters her for the first time. Even though their first encounter is violent, later on the two tend stick up for each other. Eventually, they grow to build trust and understanding.
 

·         Championing a cause
Lady Eboshi is responsible for a community of seemingly downtrodden people who have been turned away from their society. With nothing else to provide for her people, other than the resources that the forest has to offer, she depends, almost entirely on the forest. To Princess Mononoke and the Animal Gods, this is seen as a threat to their homes in the environment. Lady Eboshi is willing to take on her enemies, in order to look after those who cannot fight their own battles.
 

·         Iconisation of woman
The story is set at a time when Japanese society was patriarchal. Yet in the film, at least two major (leading) characters,  reveal the inconisation of women, Lady Eboshi who is the head of her community Iron Town and Princess Mononoke herself
 

·         Emphasis on loss, giving up personal pleasure for the sake of others
Loss is another theme in Princess Mononoke. Both Mononoke and Ashitaka choose to carry on following their beliefs in what they are doing for the sake of their people who need them rather than come together.
 

·         Conflict
The atmosphere of the story appears to be one of conflict at different levels. The people of Iron Town invade the forest to provide for themselves when they have nothing else to rely on and the people of the Forest including the Animal Gods and Princess Mononoke see this as a threat, in turn invading Iron Town and forcing them into battle. The story revolves around this conflict

The film is set in a fabled world which exists only in our imagination and the director has mixed together both reality (based on history) and the myths and legends of Japan to create this realm in the story.

The natural world in this story has been given a supernatural tone and is filled with its very own systems and laws, especially the inclusion of ‘Animal Gods’ or ‘Kami’ the ancient Gods of Japanese people who represent or are closely linked/related to Nature. It appears to defy most conventions of Japanese history and folklore with examples such as a town in the story governed not by a man but by a woman.

The story is set in the real world, presumably at the time of the Muromachi period, thus the historical setting is familiar in terms of the people, lifestyle and culture. However, it ‘defamiliarises’ its historical setting by creating “a mythical space deeply removed ........ symbolically and literally’ and by focussing on the ‘marginals’. Miyazaki has not focussed on the main characters of that era such as samurai, peasants and feudal lords. Instead the focus is on people who would have, around this time, gone unnoticed or are seen as outcasts again ‘defamiliarising’ the audience by using unconventional characters.

Even though the film appears to have some historical basis, it is consistent with defying expectations of how that world ought to be. It appears to draw inspiration from the mythical purpose of ‘the hero’s journey’ as well as many other familiar stories such as Pocahontas (1995)

References

Napier, S (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan