Positive Review for “Princess Mononoke”
Ren Ke
The film ―Princess Mononoke‖ is made by Japanese cartoon movie director Miyazaki. The movie
tells us a story about human and nature. In this film review I will talk about the three positive
aspect of the film: character, music and the meaning of the story. Also, I will also give some
examples to each element.
Film synopsis
The story begins in a small town which is located in the north. People who live in a peaceful life
there until one day a demon comes from west forest to attack the town. A young man named
Ashitaka prevents the demon immediately from invading the town. However, he is wounded by
poisons from the demon during the fight. The only way to save his life is to find the forest spirit in
west forest. Therefore, he starts his journey to the west. During the journey he saves two men who
come from the west. Following after the Kodama they cross a big forest which is full of mist and
mysterious creatures. At last they arrive at Irontown. Ashitaka sees something he has never seen
before—the technology in industrial steel-making, and he meets San – Princess Mononoke. He
also knows there is a fight between humans and nature. Unavoidably, Ashitaka is involved in this
war even if he is a pacifist. He tried his best to prevent the war with San. Ultimately, they give
back peace to the forest.
Aspect 1—Character
In the book Film Art, David Bordwell realizes the important role of character by stating that
―characters are often human or humanlike and have traits that are in general functional to their role
of cause‖ (Film Art. Chapter 3). Characters are often clue to the plot of the whole movie.
Characters in this film are well designed because personalities are varied either in different
characters or in the same character. As we know that no one is completely good or bad. In this film
the director creates neither a hero who will save everything nor a villain who will destroy
everything. Every character in this film has more than one side. Those different personalities may
make the plot more unpredictable and attractive. Also, they allow the audience to have a deep
understanding and see contradictory aspects of humans.
First of all, personalities of different characters are varied.
Ashitata is a young man who loves peace and nature. He is
calm and gentle. It seems he is never mad at someone even
if he has been hurt by that person. When the woman in
Irontown shoots him by gun, he does not get mad. Instead
of being irritated he takes San and leaves the town calmly.
San is a girl who has been brought up by wolf god in the
forest. She is brave. She is not afraid to die. To save the
forest she enters into the Irontown alone. The lady Eboshi
Gozen, the leader of the Iontown is forceful and selfish. As a leader she manages all the system in
Iontown. To reach her goal she will destroy everything that prevents her.
Also, personalities are diverse in the same characters. The
lady Eboshi Gozen is a relatively negative character in the
film. She is selfish and ruthless. She tends to destroy the
forest and use gun to kill forest gods and forest spirit.
However, she is a good leader; she gives women the same
rights that men have. Thus, people in the Irontown respect her
very much. We can say she is selfish, but what she has done is
for the people who live in Irontown. We could say that she is
cold-blooded, but her cruelty is shown to her enemy. In
general, she is kind but cruel, shellfish but contributive.
Ashitaka’s reluctance to hurt others and unwillingness to see
wars do not mean he never uses force to solve problems.
When he sees the army invade a small town and kill innocent
people, he uses his arrows to fight with them. As we can see,
Ashitaka is also very calm and seldom makes decision out of
impulse. However, he will be angry when he sees something
unfair and unreasonable. When he finds out that Eboshi
Gozen’s has a plan to destroy the forest, he is so incensed
that his hair stands up.
Aspect 2—Film score
In the Function of Music, Yair Oppenheim says that Film score is an indispensible element in film.
It can not only reveal the time, location of the film but also provide ―emotional focus‖ (Function
of film. paragraph. 4) to the audience. Scores in Princess Mononoke are composed by Japanese
musician Joe Hisaishi and played by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. There are eight film scores in
total. Some of them are lyrical and some are solemn. Each of the score represents different plots
and atmosphere of the movie.
The first score—the legend of Ashitaka is an
introduction to the film. It tells us the beginning
of the story. At first, There is a mist forest shown
on the screen which matches with the image, the
cello plays an undertone to provide a sense of
mystery. Then, the tone becomes louder while a
large scale of forest is shown on the screen which
makes us feel that we are imposing. And here is
the place that the story starts. As the tune of
music suddenly goes down, the story moves into
the next section. The second score—Ta Ta Ri Gami represents the aggression of the demon. With
the help of the percussion instruments and the trombone the score makes us feel stressful and
nervous. We can predict that there might be something upsetting that will happen. The music
styles of the first and second scores are quite different which separate the plots into different
sections.
The third score—the Journey to the West is well
performed to show the places that Ashitaka passed
by. The tone of this score is lyrical. At the beginning,
the sound of the violin and cello are light, which
makes us image the grass on the land. Also the
gentleness of the harp sounds like the wind. We can
imagine that the grass is swaying in the wind and
clouds are floating in the sky. As the journey goes
on the clarinet is added in, which allows us to think
about a picture of a small river flowing in front of us.
The tune of trombones and violins increase when Ashitaka is traveling through the mountain.
After crossing over the mountain, the rhythm becomes bright. With the melodious sound of the
flute and the violin we can feel that Ashitaka arrives at a lively city where people are busy with
work. This score reveals the location very well. As the journey goes on, places change as well. The
score provides a wonderful connection when there is a switch from place to place.
The eighth score—Ashitaka and San gives the
story a good end. In this score, the piano is the
predominate instrument. When hearing the sound
of the piano we can feel that the sunshine break
the dark sky. Every horrible thing has passed by.
Add with the accompaniment of the violin and
flute we can imagine the growing of the grass
and trees. Though the forest spirit has died, lives
on the ground are reborn. Breathing the fresh air
and standing in the wind, Ashitaka and San can
see hopes in front of life and so do us. As the end
song of the film this score matches the story very well. The tune of the score interprets the power
of life and gives us a sense of peaceful. That is what the whole movie want to tell us: keeps on
living and respect the peaceful life we have now.
Aspect 3—Meaning of the story
The reason that a director makes a movie is not just to entertain us. The key point is he wants
show the audience issues or factors we meet in the society. In Film Art, David Bordwell says that
there are four types of meaning in a film: referential, explicit, implicit and repressed meaning
(Film Art.Chapter4.). In Princess Mononoke, the meaning of the story is well developed. Here I
will talk about explicit, implicit and repressed meaning.
Explicit meaning can be gotten directly from the message (such as dialogue and action) from the
film. In Princess Mononoke, the explicit meaning is to avoid wars between humans and the forest.
Ashitaka plays a role that wants to prevent war. His goal is simple: to make humans and the forest
live in peace. In Irontown when San and Eboshi Gozen fight he stands out and prevents them from
fighting. When he knows the army will attack the forest he tries his best to leave a message to the
forest gods and tries to persuade both of them to give up fighting. He knows conflict will not solve
problems but make things worse. At last, the war is over, but nobody wins. The forest spirit dies
and the Irontown is destroyed. That is what wars leave to us.
By contrast, implicit meaning is an indirect message in the movie. In Princess Mononoke the
implicit meaning is living. People in the Irontown destroy the forest because they need resources
to live and develop. The forest gods struggle against humans because they want to protect the
home where they live. Living is the foundation of any creature on earth. From this point there is
no wrong or right between humans and nature. We may say humans are selfish and cruel. We may
feel irritated when Eboshi Gozen shoots the head of the forest spirit. However, to Eboshi Gozen
people in the Irontown is more important. To keep the town she can sacrifice everything. Perhaps
to live is a selfish desire. At the end, the forest spirit dies, but its body brings life back to the forest.
Life is like a cycle; when there is death there is live. As Ashitaka says ―nothing is over, both of us
are alive.‖ Yes, nothing is more important than life. Even the forest spirit will never come back;
even the war between humans and nature will never stop. People will try their best to live.
Repressed meaning is related to the background. Here the movie shows the relationship between
humans and nature. Humans are from nature, as the time passes they separate and live in groups.
The people who live in Irontown are in this group. In order to survive they get resources from the
forest. The more resources they need the more conflicts there are between humans and nature. The
movie implies that the aspiration to live makes humans selfish.
Eboshi Gozen plays the role of an exploiter who kills the original habitants in the forest to develop
her town. This action makes the forest angry, as the forest gods, Moro and Okkotonushi, fight
humans to protect the forest. At this point they represent as the power of nature. Ashitaka plays the
role of a persuader. He represents the groups of people who are in favor of peace. Generally, they
stand in a neutral position. Thus they can see the truth with their eyes unclouded by hate. San is a
more complex symbol in the movie. She is human on the exterior. However, she belongs to the
forest. She hates humans, which seems very contradictive because she is actually a human being.
She represents the group of people who for some reasons find the evil sides of the human beings,
which make them fight against their race. The ending of the movie reveals that humans and nature
will never get along with each other, but both groups will keep on living.
Conclusion
This film is well designed by Miyazaki. The three positive aspects—character, film score, and
meaning—are well coordinated to display the plot of the film and help the audience to understand
the film better. Also, they make the film to be more thoughtful. They explore the deep meaning of
life and state the relationship between humans and nature.
Reference:
David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson
Film Art—an Introduction
Retrived October 12, 2008, from
http://www.di.unito.it/~sbocconi/CWI/Work/ReviewsAndIdeas/ReviewedBooks.html
Yair Oppenheim
The Functions of Film Music
Retrived October 12, 2008, from
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/features/functions.asp