Although the story looks like a simple legend of humankind versus nature, there are many issues which complicate the plot. To begin, there are no absolute evil people in this story. Even Lady Eboshi, the ruler of Irontown who is the most responsible person for the destruction of the forest, is quite sympathetic when confronts other humans. She takes care of lepers and poor women and provides them with a place a work and live. Even San, whose persistent intention to protect the forest leads her to be an enemy of the humans, merely wants to save her own homeland not hurting people. Nevertheless, Miyazaki has truly created an amazing work in Princess Mononoke. Multiple conflicts thrive with humans against humans, humans against nature, and even nature against itself. These conflicts are such that they are incorporated into an astonishing deep and satisfying plot. It is very inspirational to see a movie that is capable of such story-telling without leading to old clichés and frustrating repetition of the same old stories.
Lady Eboshi is portrayed as a bit of a radical, not in terms of changing an existing order but in sense of humanistic point of view. She represents the improvement of technology in trying to advance human settlement and production, yet the social aspects of her character, in times make even audiences who support "nature" to sympathize with her. Ashitaka, who is one of the few living young men of Emishi people, is to be the leader of his people. He has the nobleness of Royal blood and great skills as a hunter. He sacrifices himself to defend his village and received a curse of death. He does not talk so much, but has a strong sense of justice. San is a weird girl who was raised by a mountain wolf. She hates humans who invade the forest. With a strange mask on her face, and riding a large mountain wolf, she frequently attacks the iron mining town. After meeting Ashitaka, her feelings lean between the Gods and humans.
The central theme of the movie is the environment. There are several different environmental concerns depicted within this movie. The most obvious is clear cutting. The devastation that happens afterwards is a good representation of what could happen if humans continue to clear cut and kill the land. The setting is in Japan some time during the 14th century, an agricultural time before the country was unified. The general scenery and architecture are based on reality but the rest takes significant imagination with the reality of the time. The work is a fascinating animation which keeps the audience for most of the time and conveys its main messages in the context of attractive visuals and lively sound tracks.
When viewed from a simplistic perspective, Princess Mononoke is a perfectly legitimate, well-represented movie. It is a wonderful anime work. It explores themes and concepts that leave the audience wondering about it. The plot is engaging and entertaining. It nicely shows how humans interact with the environment, and how they need to preserve and protect their land by working together. It has a great ending, and is overall very pleasurable to watch. The characters are well developed and realistic. However, the story has some fundamental elements that enhance and reflect upon Japanese culture which may be unfamiliar for the Western audience. Its only problems, in my opinion, come from the personal views of the producer. The movie presents its concepts in a judgmental or biased matter. The stream of a story should be neutral, so that the audience may judge content for themselves but it is the case in some instances in Princess Mononoke. Over all, I found this movie very entreating, enjoyable, and more importantly informative and an eye-opener to environmental problems that threaten our world.
