Miyazaki Films have always told complex and meaningful stories, and Princess Mononoke is far from an exception. This story is deeply weaved with many different meanings, keywords, and themes. Two of the keywords I would like to discuss today are “Hatred” and “Helplessness”. At the moment these are the two words that I related to most in the film and thought that the type of hatred and helplessness that I saw in the film seems to have slipped under the radar, specifically The Boar Clan. As shown below there are two scenes that I believe depicted the most hatred and helplessness in the film.
Figure one is of the Boar Clan Leader, Nago, drenched in blood and the reminiscence of his curse given to him by an iron bullet shot and fueled by hatred. As he lays there still metaphorically and literally dripping with hate the wise woman in the town appears in front of the Boar god praying for his forgiveness. To truly make this scene hit home, Miyazaki crafted true words of rancor said by Nago: Disgusting little creatures. Soon all of you will feel my hate and suffer as I have suffered”. Nago was driven to this hatred by the hostility of the humans and he will never forgive them, that is the type of hatred that never truly goes away; haunting everyone it comes in contact with, hence the reason for the “curse” that haunts Prince Ashitaka. Because that hatred was allowed to live on in Ashitaka, Nago knew that not only the Prince would be crippled by it, but so would his village due to his absence.
As I think about the malice shown by Nago I can only remember a time in my life where I felt as though my hatred would soon consume me. I have never been a hateful being just as Nago wasn’t before the bullet, yet there is always going to be a bullet, something that hits you deep in your soul that will change you forever. These types of situations where you allow hatred to consume you might very well be the thing that destroys you. And it is truly hard to ever fully let that hate go. As much as I feel like I have there are still moments where I feel just as angry as I felt the day it happened. Proving that hatred does continue to haunt you long after the actual incident. There are so many days where I have felt happy and content where I am as a person, feel as though I have finally let that hate go, just as Nago had hoped he would feel, yet sometimes that hate is too strong and will continue to suck the life out of you like a leach, and there is nothing you can do but endure the pain and hope that soon you will have the strength to remove the leach once again.
The next figure, figure two, draws a perfect parallel to Okkoto’s moment of Helplessness. Within the image you can see just how damaged he is due to the human’s hate yet in his eye you can still see that sense of unwavering hope. This can be admirable, yet at this moment since he is not fully aware of the situation and that his hope is murdered by the false imagery of his “Beloved Warriors”. At this moment not only is Okkoto truly helpless, so is everyone else in that scene. Princess Mononoke, as much as she tries, is unable to help save Okkoto to see the truth of his soldiers before it is too late. As Okkoto murmurs “They’ve come back. My warriors, they have come back to me from the land of the dead” you can start to feel the fear forming in Princess Mononoke, then Okkoto shouts “Forward my warriors! Forward to the pool of the Forest Spirit!”. Within that line, you can hear the complete helplessness and bind hope he is experiencing. I cannot stress enough how heartbreaking this scene truly is. As Okkoto’s voice cracks you can feel the powerlessness in his voice and the pure helplessness of his character. He wants to believe his warriors are alive so badly that he cannot think clearly. It truly shattered me.
I cannot help but think of a time where I have felt that helpless, that powerless, the pleading of needing to believe something so badly that you will throw away all common sense just so you can believe in something. Even though I cannot relate directly to his issue it does correlate with an experience I have had. I wanted to believe so badly that something wasn’t true that I let my helplessness blur the truth and only once that covering was so violently removed to a point where I could see nor know anything other than that truth was I able to truly comprehend what had happened. And to see another being go through that crushes me. Yet, that is the beauty of Miyazaki Films, he can bring out the most intense emotions in a way that everyone can relate to in some way, some more than others.
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