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Princess Mononoke is a magnificent film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is easily my favorite anima and the best thing we have watched in the class so far. Threw out the whole film we meet characters that are not exactly good, but also not evil. One example is
Lady Eboshi, the mistress and lord of Iron Town.
Lady Eboshi wants to kill the forest spirit and rule the world witch can easily be identified as evil, but she also provides refuge for displaced woman and lepers witch is a very kind thing. This is almost a trademark of Miyazaki’s films. He likes to blur the line between good and evil witch makes the characters feel more real. This mix of good and evil is also present San as well. Her hate for humans and her love for the forest is the exact oboist of
Lady Eboshi. The only Character that has no hate is Ashitaka who is trying to stop the fighting. There is one scene in this film that I feel sums up the main driving force of this film and that is when San is fighting Lady Eboshi in Iron Town and
Ashitaka steps in to stop the conflict. Ashitaka sates, “This is what hatred looks like. This is what it does when it catches hold of you. It's eating me alive, and very soon now it will kill me! Fear and anger only make it grow faster.” I feel that these words ring true not only in the context of this film but in real life as well. I have seen this movie many times and this scene always touches me in the weirdest ways. It really drives home the point that no matter what Ashitaka says, people just wont listen to reason and they let their fear control them.
Over thanksgiving I watched the feature film Ah! My Goddess. This was the movie though and not the manga or animated series. There are many deep themes in this movie. This film shows Woman as very strong and powerful wile men are ordinary. In this film Woman seem to be the only Angels and the only man angel you see is Celestin, who is the antagonist of Ah! My Goddess. As well as just showing Woman in a powerful light this film has some suddle hints at racism against the matrimony of different speeches. this is shown by the Gate of Judgment witch the Gods made to stop matrimony between races. In the end of the movie though Keiich and Belldandy’s love do pass the test. Like Princess Mononoke there isn’t a clear line between good and evil. Celestin, is the perfect example of a character that is both good and evil. Celestin’s intentions are good-hearted. He wants to end the suffering of the world. His means of for filling his goal is what makes him a questionable character. He wishes to destroy the Earth so he can make a new world with out suffering. At the end of the movie Keiich and Belldandy are able to pass threw the gate of judgment unharmed signifying their never dyeing love for each other. Over all this movie was very enjoyable. At some points though the film had trouble keeping my attention. This is probly due to the fact that it is based off of a series so the writers of this movie expected the viewers to already know and relate to the characters. Not knowing all the back round on all of the charictures was not to bad though, I still thoroughly enjoyed the film. Wile both Ah! My Goddess and Princess Mononoke had some similar themes, Princess Mononoke is still my favorite. 