TannerM – Journal 1

1.) Name two aspects of Princess Mononoke which you feel are particularly successful (or not), and explain how and why they work (or don’t). Use one full paragraph for each. Try to focus on aspects that might be particular to anime if you can.

• The setting/background illustrations. Similar to other Ghibli films Princess Mononoke has excellent illustrations of the setting that compliments its theme quite well. From lush sprawling fields to richly filled forests full of trees and wildlife to densely packed buildings of Iron Town. I mean there are some scenes in this film that are just landscape shots of essentially pictures, but these scenes tend to be some of the most peaceful, tranquil parts of the film and dare I say best parts of the film. It feels as though every frame of this film could be its own picture in a museum. It’s just breathtaking.

• The theme of nature and how it should be respected and not destroyed. Through out the whole film there is a heavy emphasis on nature, how nature impacts humans and wildlife, and how humans impact nature. This particular aspect I think works really well in the film as a lot of the plot is based around this theme. For example, Ashitaka gets infected by a demon from the forest, the demon turns out to be Naago-No-Mori who actually was infected due to the fact the forest was being destroyed, and the reason the forest was being destroyed is because of what the people of Iron Town are doing. However, in the end nature comes out on top and ends up destroying everything in it’s path until it reclaims what was taken, with that being the Guardian of The Forest’s head being returned. This theme shows that no one is above nature and if not careful, nature will have a disastrous rebellion if destroyed too much. Lastly this theme should serve as a warning to out real world so that humanity doesn’t suffer the same fate as Iron Town.

2.) Reflect on the Princess Mononoke analysis. List two techniques or choices that you would consider using in your own anime story.  Explain how they work and why they interest you. Two short paragraphs.

• Plot points are meant to be fluid. To me this is essential to stories and especially the one I’ld like to tell. One of my favorite aspects to this technique is the fact that the plot points aren’t fixed, meaning they can be moved around in the story as long as the plot still makes sense to the story. This technique also allows for a more unorthodox story to be told in order to match an unorthodox tone for the story. Examples of this include films like Pulp Fiction where the plot points of the film are all jumbled up and shown to the audience in a nonlinear timeline, which works extremely well for the film. Personally I would love to tell a story similar to this or at least in the same vein where the audience don’t know the full story/timeline until the final act of the story.

• One character can have many different sides. This is a technique a love a lot as it can be used to make a great antagonist or protagonist into an amazing one. One way this can be achieved is by giving the character a more relatable quality. For instance, almost no one is purely good or purely evil therefore it’s harder for the audience to relate to them. However, if the character has relatable qualities to the audience, then the audience will relate more to the character. A great example of this is Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thanos’ plan is to wipe half of the population of the universe out of existence, which is pretty evil, but his reasoning for it is so that the universe doesn’t become overpopulated which therefore can lead to planets running out of resources and perishing which is what Thanos witnessed first hand with his planet, and it’s because of this reasoning that he becomes more relatable. No one wants overpopulation and the potential threat of running out of resources, but Thanos’ means to achieve this goal is what makes him “evil”. The concept that characters can have multiple sides/layers to themselves is what can truly make stand out characters. It’s definitely a technique that I want to use in my story.

3.) What parallels do you see if any between the “war” in Princess Mononoke and in our own country at the moment.  Does the film offer any advice that might be helpful to us?

• One of the biggest parallels I can see is the “war” we have with Nature. I feel that companies are going too far with how many natural resources they are taking from the world and as a result the world is facing the consequences. As much as people don’t want to acknowledge it, global warming is happening to the world and that’s a direct cause to what humanity has done and are doing to the world. The biggest advice the film can offer is that things need to change before it’s too late and nature takes control.