Princess Mononoke: Crisis, Moral Ambiguity, Peace
Mononoke (物の怪) are vengeful spirits (onryō), dead spirits (shiryō), live spirits (ikiryō), or spirits in Japanese classical literature and folk religion that were said to do things like possess individuals and make them suffer, cause disease, or even cause death. It is also a word sometimes used to refer to yōkai or henge (“changed beings”). —Wikipedia
Get to know Princess Mononoke. For this assignment, make sure you do the prep, but don’t obsess about perfect answers or perfect prose. The point is to enjoy the anime while being thoughtful also, and get used to writing your thoughts down, so you can clarify and communicate your thoughts to others. I’m looking for fast but thoughtful writing.
- Watch Princess Mononoke OR Princess Mononoke Jap_dubbed
- Read Princess Mononoke Analysis “Studying the Pros”
Next, create a post and answer the following question. (4-6 paragraphs, plus at least 2 movie images.)
Pick two of the “keyword” terms from the analysis
- war vs peace
- hatred
- forest
- spirits
- gods
- environmentalism
- coexistence
- vengeance
- rage
- helplessness
- curse
- suffering
Post Info
- Title: Task 1-yourname
- Category: Task 1
- Use your largest (at least 1200 px wide) and best image as your “featured image”. Other images within the post may be smaller.
Explain –with examples from the movie–how the anime shows us what each of you two terms feels like for the characters and/or for the audience.
Next, for each term, describe the movie’s affect on you–emotions and/or thinking about the issue/topic. Did the anime help you understand each term better and how it operates in human cultures? Is there a way you feel more or less empowered by what you experienced in the movie?
Optional: What parallels do you see, if any, between the “war” in Princess Mononoke and the political and cultural polarization fueled by our media in our own country at the moment. Does the film offer any advice that might be helpful to us?
Add an image of a part of the video (use screenshot to capture) you mention for each example. Use the “Add Media’ button to upload and insert your media. You can also search Google for images* to upload. Use one of your images for the “Featured Image” of your post–this image should be at least 1200 pixels wide.
*Use Google’s image tab, then add the following tabs for legal images: Tools–>Usage Rights–>Creative Commons License
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