It's just so...weird.
I saw the anime movie Sword of the Stranger before this and even though that isn't as highly regarded, I enjoyed that more. Maybe cause that movie felt real. And again, all these weird monsters.....so weird.
Anyone else feel the same way?
Nah, it's just you.
shareHaha. Okay then.
shareit is strange, yeah. so is "Spirited away" and "Howl's moving castle". Personally I don't like these. Of Miyazaki's I prefer "My neighbour Totoro", "Porco Rosso", "Ponyo on the cliff". Try watching them.
shareYou don't like Spirited Away? :o Are you human? That's one of my favourite movies, of all time, not just anime or Ghibli productions.
Alot of Studio Ghibli's work utilises euphemisms and allegories specific to Japanese culture. I didn't understand certain things when I first watched it but have a look around the internet, see if you can find explanations, like I did.
What you have to remember is, everything is symbolic to the struggle between man and nature.
I like Totoro and Porco Rosso better than his more popular (at least in N America) films also.
What do these have in common?
The Matrix
The Notebook
Juno
Castle (TV show on ABC)
What specifically don't you get?
This movie draws on a lot of Japanese history and religion, so some things might go over an American audience's head.
Makoto Nikolaevich Nagavatsky
Of Miyazki's war epics (PM, Castle in the Sky, and Nausicaa), I actually like Nausicaa best.
What do these have in common?
The Matrix
The Notebook
Juno
Castle (TV show on ABC)
Me! I totally loved "Spirited away" and I saw people mention this movie in the imdb board for Spirited away. That's the sole reason I rented and watched Princess Mononoke today. And I don't really get it.
I can guess what it's trying to say, but if I'm right, I totally disagree. The part I agree is that we humans should be sorry that we had to destroy the Earth so badly (e.g. pollution, extinction, warming, to name a few..)
But animals in the movie are not like 'mother nature' but more like, really, monsters. Talking animals which call humans idiots -- are we really supposed to like them? What really do these super-animals stand for?
And where Ashitaka came from, people respect spirits(mononoke) and well coexist with nature. So why can't San go with him? She said the mountain is no longer the same. Now that the wolves(?) are all gone. Then where will she go? Who or what does she think she is? The final wolf?
In one line, I think whatever it was, it's gone too far. Yet it's got shockingly high rating!
One thing touched me, though. Shi-Shi-kami was it? After all the firing and stealing, he forgave all and re-filled the mountain with life. I felt that was somewhat like God. (I'm a Christian.)
A lot of times if animals talk and generalize about all humans being evil I also tend to dislike them. However in this movie it didn't bother me at all, especially since they didn't entirely generalize - they were guarded but accepted both San and Ashitaka, for instance. And by the way, the humans they were referring to really were idiots. And what do they stand for? Just nature, right?
Ashitaka couldn't go back to his village, when he left he was basically dead to them as they wanted to remain shut off from the outside world. That's what him cutting off his hair symbolized.
San said the mountain was no longer the same in a moment of despair, and that was before life was restored for a large part. Ashitaka also calmed her spirits a bit a little after that. As for who or what she thinks she is... does it really matter? What it really came down to is that the forest was her only home, that remained true even after the wolves were gone. She just went back home.
So if these things made you think it wasn't a very good movie, maybe you should watch it again and see if they didn't actually make sense after all. It won't have gotten a high rating for nothing.
The forest gods "hated" humans for burning their land and destroying habitats. The animals of the forest answer back with their own ferocity in defense of their homes, while the humans see them as nothing more than mindless beasts.
Japanese culture is very spiritual - the forest gods represented the spirit of the forest itself; they are the avatars of nature in physical bodies. This movie is supposed to convey that nature has been harmed by our footprint and, yes while we should feel sorry about that, we also don't pay much mind to what we're doing. How many big corporations think about the wildlife they're destroying by cutting down rainforests for fertile land? Mononoke-hime shows us how complacent humans are regarding such matters and the spirit gods of this movie stand to make us realise how adversely we are effecting nature.
As for the animals calling humans idiots, we humans believe we're superior to everything else, how is our ignorance different to theirs? I for one loved Moro and the wolves.
San knows nothing else but her life with the wolves. Returning to civilization would be a daunting task for her because, as she stated earlier on, she thinks of herself as a wolf. She'll travel with the wolves as part of their pack as she always has.
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Amazingly I knew you were Christian before you said so. To those christians that are not so blinded by direct translations of the bible, this is not towards you. I just get sick of the general thought of "God placed animals for us humans to use as we want" mentality from bible thumpers.
The movie comes from a point of view that is different than yours. You dont have to give up your faith to open your mind to others ways. This story comes from a background and myth that is not yours... so instead of trying to understand it you say its wrong.
In other cultures animals are treated with respect... as another living entity with a soul and spirit all its own. They can be bigotted as well which is what PM was trying to show... humans and nature can both live together... but they have to share responcibilities for what happens.
You don't have to get it. Many people don't get Einstein's theory of relativity, have little of understanding of physics, psychology, the working of the brain, philosophical theories, great literature. Some people don't have the mental capacity to recognize greatness, let alone BE great. That's why only an elite few distinguish themselves from the stupid, slow masses.
shareYeah, I have trouble with Princess Mononoke. It has similarities to other Miyazaki films like Nausicaa, Totoro, and Howl's Moving Castle - but I actually like all of those films better than this one. All of these gods and demons and various creatures, and their powers and whatnot, just gave me a headache. It's all kind of random. I also hated the way the characters talked - I watched the Japanese version with English subtitles, and the way they phrased things was a little too ... I don't know quite how to describe it. Too "Anime"?
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