Film 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 story. Also, I will show some examples to
each element.
Film synopsis
The story begins at a small town which located in north. People live in a peaceful life there until
one day a demon comes from west tend to attack the town. A young man named Ashitaka prevents
the demon immediately. However, during the fight he was wounded by the poison form the demon.
The only way to save his life is to find forest spirit in west forest. Therefore, he starts his journey
to west. During the journey he saved two man come from west. Following after the Kodama they
cross a big forest which is full of mist and mystery creatures. At last they arrive at Iontown.
Ashitaka see something he has never seen before—the technology in steel-making, and he meet
San – Princess Mononoke. Also, he knows there is a fight between man and the nature.
Unavoidable, 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 peaceful to the forest.
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). It is a 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 attractable. 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 beenhurt by that person.
When the woman in Irontown hurt 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
Iontown 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 is a relatively negative character in the film. She is
selfish and ruthless. However, she is a good leader; she
gives women the same rights that men have. Thus, people
in the Iontown respect her very much. We can say she is
selfish, but what she has done is for the people who live in
Iontown. We can say 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 unwilling to see
wars do not mean he never uses force to solve problems.
When he sees the army invade 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 make decision on
impulse. However, he will be angry when he sees
something unfair and unreasonable. When he finds out
Eboshi Gozen’s has a plan to destroy to forest, he is so
incensed that his hair stands up.
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, match with the
image the violoncello played at an undertone
to provide a sense of mystery, then the tone
becomes alt while a large scale of forest shown
on the screen which makes us feel imposing.
And at here is the place that the story happened.
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 fell stressful and nervous. We can predict that
there might be something upset will happen. The music styles of first and second score are quite
different that can 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 violoncello
are light which make us feel grass on the land. Add
with the gentle sound of the harp. We can imagine
that the grass is swaying in the wind and cloud is
floating in the sky. As the journey goes on clarion
add in, which allows us to think about a picture of
a small river is flowing in front of us. When
Ashitaka goes through a mountain the tune of
trombone and violin increased. 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 working. This score reveals the location very well. As the journey
goes on, places change as well. The score has 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, piano is the major
key. When hear the sound of 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 tree.
Though the forest spirit died, lives on the ground
are reborn. Breathing the fresh air and standing
in the wind, Ashitaka and San can see there is
hope 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 the whole movie want to tell us: keeps on living
and respect the peaceful life we have now.
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. That is the meaning of the film. In Film
Art, David Bordwell says that there four types of meaning in a film and they are referential
meaning, explicit meaning, implicit meaning and repressed meaning (Film Art.Chapter4.). Here I
will talk about explicit meaning, implicit meaning and repressed meaning in this film.
Explicit meaning can be inferred from the message (such as dialogue and action) from the film. In
Princess Mononoke, the explicit meaning is to avoid wars between human and forest. Ashitaka
plays a role that wants to prevent war. His goal is simple: to make human and forest live in peace.
In Iontown when San and Eboshi Gozen fight he stands out and prevents the fighting. When he
knows the army will attack the forest he try his best to leave a message to forest god and try to
persuade them to give up fighting. He knows fight will not solve problems but make things worse.
At last, the war is over, but nobody wins. The forest spirit dies and the Iontown is destroyed. That
is what wars leave to us.
The implicit meaning is an indirect meaning in the movie. In this film the implicit meaning is
living. People in the Iontown destroy the forest because they need source to live and develop. The
forest god fight human 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 human and
nature. We may say human are too selfish and cruel. We may feel irritate when Eboshi Gozen
shoot the head of the forest spirit. However, to Eboshi Gozen people in the Iontown is more
important. To keep the Iontown she can sacrifice everything. Perhaps to live is a selfish. At the end,
the forest spirit die, but its body brings live 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, everything is no
important than life. Even the forest spirit will never come back; even the war between human and
nature will never stop, people will try their best to live.
The repressed meaning is related to the background. Here the movie shows the relationship
between human and nature. Human is comes from nature, as the development of the society
human separate out and live in groups. The people live in Iontown are in this group. In order to
survive they get source from the forest. The more recourse they need the more conflicts there are
between human and the nature.
The aspiration to live make human selfish, Eboshi Gozen plays such a role as an exploiter who
kills the original habitants in forest to develop her town. This action makes the forest angry. As the
forest god, moro and joshi fight human to protect the forest. At this point they represent as the
power of nature. Ashitaka plays a role as a persuader. He represents the groups of people who are
in favor of peace. Generally, these groups of people are stand in a neutral position. Thus they can
see the truth with their eyes unclouded by hate. San is a more complex symbolization in the movie.
She is human form the exterior. However, she belongs to the forest. She hates human which seems
very contradictive because she is actually a human being. She represents the group of people who
belongs to human group, but for some reason they find the evil sides of the human being and make
them fight against their race. The ending of the movie reveals that human and nature will be never
gets 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 is well cooperated 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 develop the deep meaning of life
and state the relationship between human and nature.
Reference:
http://www.di.unito.it/~sbocconi/CWI/Work/ReviewsAndIdeas/ReviewedBooks.html
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/features/functions.asp