Princess Mononoke

At over 19.30 million Yen, Princess Mononoke (1997) is  one of the most highest grossing films in Japan. Although the story has quite a straightforward plot structure with a core man vs nature theme I felt the strong character development of Ashitaka allowed me to obtainl interpretations of my own which may or may not necessary of been the intention of the Director.

Ashitaka is the heroic protaganist of the movie, however he hits a setback at the start of the movie when a demon he goes up infects him with a curse infected by hate. A common approach in practice when people are dealing with their own personal demon is to avoid/ignore/hide or fight (ie. cut hand off).

. Ashitaka approach was more of one of seeking understanding. He accepted the curse as something he had to live with and instead focus on finding the source of the iron pellet which was linked to what created the demon in the first place.

When Ashitaka did searching he discovered that the creatures had been shot by Lady Eboshi. The animal that had been shot by the pellet began to hate and that hate turned a god into a demon.

Instead of the movie being about venegance of Ashitka he took a role in the Iron town and saw first hand what the city was about. He learnt how happy the citizen were and more of how things are not as black and white as potrayed in the more western action films.

Continue to discover more about the world (and indirectly himself) he save a lady called San and stops a war. This is compared to the animal gods which let hate get to them and they turn into demons like the first monster. hen, a woman whose husband was killed by Moro fires her Ishibiya.

Prince Ashitaka got shown the tranquil area of the forbidden forrest and meet some forest god. All the way through the journey I felt that the charcter accepted his full self and had a keen desire to understand the perspective before placing judgement.