The underlying themes of Princess Mononoke can be described as rejection and disintegration of the notion of the abjected Other, such as female, supernatural and premodern. For example, as the female characters in the film have their own rights and live independently, they proclaim that they are able to live separately from male as they still fulfill their lives. Moreover, San’s wild and assaultive body characterizes as the revenge of the abjected while the character of Eboshi represents the ferocious complexities of progress of modernity. The blood and the spirit of San are associated with premodern archetypes of ferocious femininity. So San’s femininity is uncanny and supernatural natural which is against modernity as well as civilization. It is in fact different from Japanese traditional culture in 20th century and has undermined the modernity. The belief of the irrational, the supernatural, and the apocalyptic image which have been linked with Japanese women is destructed in the film.
Miyazaki also attempts to defamiliarize in a couple of ways through the Princess Mononoke. The film first of all defamiliarizes the myth of the feminine as long-suffering and supportive. Next, the myth of Japanese living in harmony with nature is also defamiliarized although it was generally expressed through a union of the feminine with the natural. For example, Eboshi’s character subverts the conventional notion of the traditional female role by breaking femininity. Furthermore, San’s character also defamiliarizes the conventional view of the feminine and the natural as a form of sanctified Japanese harmony. Whereas, San is assault and destructive towards the nature which is against traditional Japanese aesthetics. Furthermore, the film also defamiliarizes conventional notions of Japanese history. While the background of the film is in the 14th century, it subverts of conventional expectations related to that era of an ape of Japanese high culture, for example, tea ceremony, Noh theater, and Zen inspired landscape gardens. It was also an era of peace when the ruling samurai class literately grew and refined. However, the film subverts the samurai ethic of traditional period. The film comprises kami along with unusual protagonists of women, outcasts and nonethnic Japanese tribes. The kami are the ancient gods in japan and connected to the natural forces. The female characters linked with the kami represent the abjected Other, for example, sentient beasts and supernatural spirits. They are against the increasing civilized world of Japan which is dominated by the imperial court, the shogun, and the samurai.
Reference
Napier, S. (2005). Anime: from Akira to Howl's moving castle. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
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