Princess Mononoke

 Many years ago, when VHS tapes were still used, my grandma collected animated movies. She had recently gotten a movie called Kiki's Delivery Service which was very different from the other movies in the way it was animated and the way the plot moved.  I liked it because it was about witches and a girl who looked to be a little older than I was at that time. However, there were no princesses in the movie or fun action scenes to keep my interest, so it went to the back of the movie shelf to only be taken out and watched when I didn't want to watch any of the other movies in her considerable collection.

Then, one day, grandma gets a new movie and she's never seen nor heard of it before.  The only thing she knows about it is that it's "the Star Wars of animated features" and the name is partially Japanese.  Yeah. I was a little kid who loved Star Wars, so I immediately sat down and watched it.

Now, everyone should know that little kids are extremely literally-minded.  If you told me at ten that a movie is "The Star Wars of animated features", I expected the movie to be like Star Wars in some way.  I expect a space saga with lasers and fighting the evil empire and saving the day.  What I got was Princess Mononoke, a very different film from what I'd been expected.

For one, this movie is one of Miyazki's environmental epics.  It's meant for adults.  This can be seen by the concepts, blood, gore, and sadness.  I was maybe ten when I saw it for the first time so most of the concepts went right over my head.  Here's the thing, watching the movie the first time around, I remember trying to identify the "good guys" and "the bad guys" it was a very strange experience because when I thought I had it down pat, the movie's plot developed further.  Is Lady Eboshi evil?  Is the Forest Spirit evil? The Wolves? The Boars? The Monkeys? The Gods of the Forest? The Emperor?  Jigo? Ashitaka? San?

The answer is, this is a movie with many shades of gray or colors of the rainbow.  Everyone is trying to survive and find balance, but they can't... usually due to the actions of others with their own motivations and needs to survive and find balance.  The people of Irontown need to mine ore and make weapons to survive in the world of humans.  It's how they make money for food. It's they're livelihood.  The Gods of the Forest need to keep the forest safe and sacred, again to survive. If humans encroach on their land and defile it, they can't live there any longer.  The Emperor just wants to live forever, and you never see him, but his agent, Jigo, needs to find a way for the Emperor to live forever or he'll probably die too.  Ashitaka needs to find a a way for peace between all sides or he'll die as well of the curse in his arm.  He's not innocent and sweet either.  No one is in this wonder of a movie and that's great.

However, it also makes the movie very difficult for a ten-year-old to watch when she's trying to find out who she's supposed to root for and realizing that they're all idiots.  Hanorah, welcome to the real world where there are no definite good or bad guys! You'll be encountering this a lot from now on!

I loved this movie even though I didn't completely understand it because it is a beautiful film.  There are so many sweeping landscapes in this movie it isn't even funny and that's just the tip of the iceberg!  The Forest Spirits glade with the water and the trees?  Oh my god!

It's amazing. That's it.

And there's a love story.  So the girl in me was heartily appeased.  However, said love story isn't the traditional kind.  Heck, the Wolf Mother, Morro has a thing or two to say about it early on that really makes it worth a watch.

As I watched it repeatedly over the years, I picked up more and more of the subtle nuances of the film.  I still remember the time I watched it after I'd shed some of my naivete and I suddenly realized the women of Irontown used to be... "working women" or hookers, also known as brothel girls.  I couldn't believe that I hadn't picked up on that previously.  '

...And then it was just funny from then on.

Of course then came the time I realized that even Jigo wasn't really a bad guy like I'd previously decided.  There are a lot of memories of realizations I made while watching the movie as I grew into the complexity of the film and realized how morally gray things could get.  It's gotten to the point where I always measure a movie by how much moral grayness is present and I prefer the morally gray movies with the complex characters who aren't necessarily good or evil, but simply protagonists and antagonists doing what they do.

So, watch the movie. It's really good.

Sweet Dreams!