Week Six

What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke? How does it 'defamiliarize' its historical setting according to Napier?

The underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke would the importance of the 'marginals'. 'The film's marginals comprise a diverse and unusual group that includes women, outcasts, and non-Yamato (nonethnic Japanese) tribes ... the most unusual inclusion is that of the kami' Napier (2005). After all, this is a film where the focus is not on the typical protagonists whom dominate Japans history pages, but in fact is a story of the marginals history. The key marginals within Princess Mononoke would be San, Lady Eboshi and the wolf god Moro (San's mother figure).

San creates a sense of unease in the viewer as she at her most pronounced when 'shown as a ruthless figure of virtually urelenting violence .. clad in a costurm of fur and bone, her face bloody from sucking out blood from a wound in Moro's side' Napier (2005). Eboshi is a unique coalescence of nuturing and destruction. She is protective of her citizens within Tatara but at the same time is 'fanatically determined to destroy the shishigami and by extension, the natural world of the forest' and 'Moro appears to be a wise and brave mother, but she is also a ferocious killer .. clearly sentient and intelligent, she is a far cry from the cuddly anthropomorphic creations that viewers of family animation have come to expect' Napier (2005).

Add these three to the a plot that breaks the myth of Japanese living in harmony with nature and the myth of the feminine as long suffering and supportive beings, and you begin to see the complexities of Miyazaki's perspective on his nations history. Make no mistake, this is a story of battle between humanity and the gods. By threading fantasy with fact, Miyzaki successfully defamiliarizes and 'creates a world that appears to have some kind of historical basis but then consistently destabilizes audience expectations of how that world should be' Napier (2005).

According to Napier, how does this problematise traditional (or conservative) constructions of gender, class and race?

By empowering the marginals, Miyzaki defys the social standards to which Japanese have easily conformed to throughout their history where women knowingly take their place behind their male counterparts and those who raise their voice are historically punished. However with characters such as Eboshi and San, one can see how Miyazaki questions the morales of gender classes and race. With emphasis on these women, viewers are exposed to their typically male dominated roles and begin to question Miyazaki's motives behind such a move. Napier says that the film refuses to sentimentalize the medieval history it highlights, preferring to problematize the past and implicitly, the attitudes towards it.

In doing so, Princess Mononoke 'undermines a plethora of female stereotypes from conventional Japanese culture and from the anime world itself' Napier (2005). A classic example of this would be Eboshi's leadership over her small utopian village Tatara. Although there are men present it is the women who do all the main labour and it is them who Eboshi trusts to protect the village should they come under attack. 'Eboshi's character thus defamiliarizes both our notions of femininity and of culture, showing a more complex face of the feminine' Napier (2005). Destabilizing the conventional view of the feminine is a key attribute for Princess Mononoke; Eboshi is a woman who can both destory and rebuild, compelled into her calamitous attack by her instinctual desire to protect her community. San's character is associated with assault, destruction and profound, unstoppable rage and Moro; despite being both female and a mother, lacks any conventional maternal characteristics.