“Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living.” Princess Mononoke, Princess Mononoke, 1997¹

Princess Mononoke, by Studio Ghibli, is an incredible movie that covers the plot of sin and the effects of mankind on nature. It’s an exceptionally influential movie, and shows the bad side of deforestation and industrialization. It’s a great movie to watch if you enjoy the style of Studio Ghibli, its music, and the carefully thought up plots it tells.

Ashitaka, the main character of the movie, is attacked by a cursed boar god, and it causes an infection to spread in his body. He travels West in hopes to arrive at the forest of the spirits. At a village, he meets the monk Jigo, who helps him towards the mountain where the Spirit of the Forest lives. On his journey, he comes across Princess Mononoke who rides with wolf spirits and she tells him to leave. Later, Ashitaka comes across Lady Eboshi’s Iron Town, where he brought some injured men from the town. Lady Eboshi brings him to her garden, where she admits that she’s creating rifles to attack the Spirit of the Forest. In the village, Mononoke is attacking and trying to get to Eboshi. However, Ashitaka is able to confront her and brings her away, but ends up getting shot. He is saved by the Spirit of the Forest and leaves, but finds that the Iron Town is fighting against enemies while Lady Eboshi is in the forest trying to kill the Spirit. In the forest, Lady Eboshi manages to take off the head of the Spirit and gives it to Jigo. The Nightwalker, the Spirit's other form, takes over; its goal is to roam the Earth until its head can be found. It destroys Iron Town, and continues on to leave destruction in its path. Mononoke is able to give the head of the Spirit back, but unfortunately, time runs out. The Spirit dies and moss and plants grow over the town’s ruins. Lady Eboshi has plans to rebuild the town and this time is more cautious of the need for nature and humanity to live with peace.

In the movie, the theme of sin is touched on. Lady Eboshi, the leader of Iron Town, is a wrathful and greedy woman. She recruited brothel women to work for her town, and they represent the sin of Lust. This is because when Ashitaka came to the town the women began to lust after him, and asked him to come with them during the night. Lady Eboshi represents wrath, greed, and betrayal. In wrath, she attacks the spirits of the forest and wants to ruin the land around the town. In greed, she wants to have all the land around them so they can collect iron and sell it for gold and money. In betrayal, she is ruining the land around her, killing animals and spirits, a sin against civilization and the nation. Ashitaka represents a soul that is able to pass Hell and is able to go up to heaven; he is a pure soul. Ashitaka, because he’s pure, ‘tempts’ the others like Lady Eboshi and the women of the town.

Another theme that is touched on is the impact of mankind on nature through deforestation and industrialization. Lady Eboshi is greedy and ruins the land around her town for her personal gain. This deforestation ruins the animals and spirits around them, and causes the spirits to want to hurt the town and get rid of the attacking humans, thus introducing nature v. humanity. Humanity and its technological advancements are affecting nature, and thus a war is formed between them. This is shown through the boar tribe, who come to attack the humans. While some are dying, they continue to attack because they would do anything to stop the humans from ruining nature. Because the main objective of the humans is to kill the Spirit of the Forest and take its head, the Boars, the Ape tribe, Mononoke, and her wolves work together to save the forest against them. All of the major topics in this film perfectly describe the effects on wildlife on Earth.

The ending gives us the idea that people can change, even if they are believed to be evil. This is an example of Hero’s Journey. Lady Eboshi began as an evil character, ruining the forest and hurting the animals. She was an enemy of Mononoke, who meant to protect the forest. After her arm was cut off by Ashitaka and the Spirit of the Forest destroyed Iron Town, her views on nature and her life of greed and wrath changed. Her goal now is to protect the peace between nature and humanity, and leave the spirits to their ways. Ashitaka, the pure soul between the two fighting groups, sort of represents an actual god and was meant to be the peacemaker between the two groups. He isn’t perfect and good, but he isn’t evil and bad either. This is why Lady Eboshi and Mononoke represent the opposing groups. Both are wrathful, but symbolize two totally different groups. He wants peace between them. This shows us that he was always meant to be the middle, and change the ways of both groups.

Princess Mononoke is a beautiful movie, and its plot was easy to follow and connect to real life. If you enjoy movies that reflect the real world and its problems, I definitely recommend this. From its characters to its art to its music, this film is a great watch. I rate this movie a 5/5, and I would definitely want to watch it again. I hope you enjoy this film!