Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies. After seeing it for the first time, I asked for a bunch of Hayao Miyazaki movies for Christmas, and recieved four: Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke. Despite my love for Spirited Away, I hesitated watching the other three. I'm not really sure why. Maybe I didn't want to be let down after my expectations had been raised so high. Maybe it was my general wariness of Japanese anime, which I'd had mixed experiences with. But I'm getting off track; my psychoses are only a partial subject of this blog. I finally saw Howl's Moving Castle around a year after that Christmas, and it met my expectations without overwhelming me the way Spirited Away did. I was relieved, and only a little let down.
My recent viewing of Princess Mononoke raised my Miyazaki expectations back to Spirited Away levels. Mononoke opens with a young prince named Ashitaka (voiced excellently by Billy Crudup) defending his peaceful village from a crazed boar demon (sounds pretty good already, right?). During the struggle, Ashitaka is cursed, and forced into exile. On his travels, Ashitaka attempts to find a cure for his ailment while simultaniously fighting both sides of a battle between forest-destroying humans and the gods of nature.
One of the most interesting aspects of Mononoke is how multi-faceted it is. The nature gods are not just harmonious creatures that prance around in loin clothes crying crocodile tears as their perfect forest world is destroyed (coughavatarcough). Instead, they are ugly, quarrelsome beasts with frightening tendancies and an interesting hierarchy that causes them to fight amongst themselves. The human leader, while selfish and murderous, also possesses virtuous qualities, such as her care for the outcasts of society. The only "pure" character is Ashitaka, whose inner calm and confidence is put at odds with the hate-filled curse that is slowly taking over his body.
The most entertaining part of Mononoke, however, is its sheer beauty. The opening sequence is breathtaking. Watching Ashitaka perform simple tasks like calling his mount, adjusting his bowstring, and taking off in persuit of the boar demon is a pleasure. The animators think of the little twitches in human motion that you ordinarily never notice, but bring a realism and depth to the film. Scenes are allowed to play out as the score (always a strong point inMiyazaki
Mononoke treads a perilous line. Its message against globalization could be hit on too strongly (as I felt was occasionally the case in WALL-E), but the subtle and very real characters help bring the epic stakes down to a relatable level. Princess Mononoke hasn't supplanted Spirited Away as my favoriteMiyazaki
My recent viewing of Princess Mononoke raised my Miyazaki expectations back to Spirited Away levels. Mononoke opens with a young prince named Ashitaka (voiced excellently by Billy Crudup) defending his peaceful village from a crazed boar demon (sounds pretty good already, right?). During the struggle, Ashitaka is cursed, and forced into exile. On his travels, Ashitaka attempts to find a cure for his ailment while simultaniously fighting both sides of a battle between forest-destroying humans and the gods of nature.
One of the most interesting aspects of Mononoke is how multi-faceted it is. The nature gods are not just harmonious creatures that prance around in loin clothes crying crocodile tears as their perfect forest world is destroyed (coughavatarcough). Instead, they are ugly, quarrelsome beasts with frightening tendancies and an interesting hierarchy that causes them to fight amongst themselves. The human leader, while selfish and murderous, also possesses virtuous qualities, such as her care for the outcasts of society. The only "pure" character is Ashitaka, whose inner calm and confidence is put at odds with the hate-filled curse that is slowly taking over his body.
The most entertaining part of Mononoke, however, is its sheer beauty. The opening sequence is breathtaking. Watching Ashitaka perform simple tasks like calling his mount, adjusting his bowstring, and taking off in persuit of the boar demon is a pleasure. The animators think of the little twitches in human motion that you ordinarily never notice, but bring a realism and depth to the film. Scenes are allowed to play out as the score (always a strong point in
Mononoke treads a perilous line. Its message against globalization could be hit on too strongly (as I felt was occasionally the case in WALL-E), but the subtle and very real characters help bring the epic stakes down to a relatable level. Princess Mononoke hasn't supplanted Spirited Away as my favorite
27/30
I still haven't seen this one. I loved Spirited Away and I really enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle, but I never got around to this. I might just do that now.
ReplyDeleteI really like this movie. We watched it in my Japanese Religion class in college because it dealt with a lot of things we were talking about. It is not only well made, but also has a lot of realism pertaining to how older Japanese religions viewed the world and nature in particular.
ReplyDeleteI watched Spirited Away about 6 months ago and really liked it. Probably more than Princess Mononoke. Just a really good movie.
oh, I forgot to mention, Marc. That aspect of the religion / ancestry / history is one of my favorite things about Mononoke and Spirited Away (etc). It gives everything such a neat background.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't seen any of these films. I'm going to have to watch them with you sometime.
ReplyDeleteI remember Mononoke being very much about the conflict between industrialism/environmentalism, and admired it for not taking a black and white approach to the subject, but can't seem to recall much concerning globalization. Care to elaborate, Ben?
ReplyDeleteThat actually may just be a poor word choice. I labored over what to actually call it, and industrialism was one of the words I considered. I think globalization fits, as that has to do with the exansion of the human race, but it might be a stretch. Industrialism is probably a better word.
ReplyDeleteThere is also some globalization, as the citizens of the mining city expand and take over surrounding villages.
ReplyDelete