MovieChat Forums > Mononoke-hime (1997) Discussion > Which kind of ideologies bothered you in...

Which kind of ideologies bothered you in this film?

posted 8 years ago by LogicalPoint
4 replies | jump to latest

It has been along time since I had watched this film and I decided to rewatch it recently and there are quite a few things I've noticed seem to bother me about it now. Lets focus on how the film portrayed its ideologies. There are 3 big ones that bother me.

1st and most pushed is the ideology the main protagonist seems to represent which is that of inaction. Now you might think "what he was totally about action." but he really wasn't. He never found or pushed a solution to the problems the people/forest faced but instead spent the film trying to prevent either side from enacting their own solutions.

2nd and most political is the sexism/feminism represented by iron town. The people in iron town and thew film itself showed a clear hatred of men in favor of women throughout its entirety. Repeatedly having characters state just how much better women were and/or how useless the men were. You even see this in the deaths with the male fighters dying left and right but the female ones being completely untouched and victorious. This is by no means a uncommon thing to see in film especially for the time this film was made but it was not the least bit subtle about hating men.

3rd and most obvious is the lack of understanding/care represented by both the forest and people. In the entire film the two sides completely disregarded each other as if a cartoon villain would their actions. Only these sides were not represented as cartoon villains. Instead they were treated as if two completely rational sides that just happened to never think about their situation. You can chalk this up to both sides just being stupid but that doesn't seem to be the message the film is conveying.

[–] aliholly-62819 8 years ago

I noticed all those things too. I just finished watching the film and was rather let down. It was good but it wasn't Spirited Away. Anyway, I thought the film was all over the place! I couldn't figure out which side the main character was really on. Your first point is probably what bugged me most about the film.

[–] jetsonv 8 years ago

I agree fully. After rewatching this, this whole film bothered me down to my very bones. Now, being around the holidays I thought it would be a good family film but man was I wrong. Everyone was thinkthing the same thing... that justice wasn't portrayed, the good died, and nobody learned a danged thing. I saw the message as:
Humans do what they want, taking, killing, emforcing their will with no regard to any and all forms of life. Then after everything is killed and dead, the humans say they'll do better with out consequences? Spirited Away is such a wayyyy better movie. :)

[–] mevmijaumau 8 years ago

Somebody's been watching Žižek videos on YouTube.

[–] PreachCaleb 8 years ago

1) Trying to prevent a war is action, even if it's just talking. Inaction means just letting things happen. Ashitaka did no such thing.

2) The women from Irontown used to be brothel girls. It would stand to reason they wouldn't care for men seeing as how they were used by them. And of course, I wouldn't say Lady Eboshi was untouched. And finally, the main protagonist and hero is a man.

3) That's usually what happens when two opposing sides collide. The humans were about advancing and the animals were about preserving nature. It stands to reason they would not understand each other's ideologies.

Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.