Princess Mononoke: Can we save nature?

Hayao Miyazaki is hailed for making countless mind-blowing animation films. If we had to pick one film from his gleaming repertoire to be our favourite, it would be Princess Mononoke. The animation is an epic which tackles heavy themes relating to nature and war.

In true Miyazaki-fashion, the animation is pleasing to the eyes and universally engaging regardless of whether or not the viewers decide to perceive the film on a deeper level.

(Image credit: Dazed)

The film follows the adventures of Ashitaka, an exiled prince struggling to break free from a demonic curse that is colonising his body. The film makes us question the impact humans have on the environment, more importantly, can these impacts be justified?

Miyazaki brings to light the complex relationship between humans and the environment, proposing answers to why it is so difficult to save nature. While the film highlights the fleeting beauty of nature, visualised through the figure of the Forest Spirit (alluding to Gaia, the earth goddess or the concept that nature is a large organism), it also tells the human perspective with nuance.

In a way, we could perceive Lady Eboshi as the antagonist. However, as we learn about her story and ambitions, we can't really see her as the villian. At least not by the classic definition of 'villian.'

Lady Eboshi recruits girls to help build her budding empire and arm power. Here, she effectively saves thousands of girls from their plights of being prostitutes or abused wives. Although her ultimate goal is to conquer and pretty much demolish the natural world, she did massively improve the lives of thousands of women, providing them with jobs, shelters, social lives, communal feeling and bonding. Moreover, the girls in her town also dominate the men, which is truly a refreshing sight.

Make no mistake though, while the men are technically the inferior group in this town, they still lived a more than comfortable life, receiving attentive care from their ruler. For all that she has done for them, the population of this growing empire bore tremendous respect and loyalty for Lady Eboshi. They would fight and die for her as they truly believe that everything she does, she has their best interests in mind. After all, they would not be here, living such good lives, without her intelligence and skills.

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The depth and nuances to Lady Eboshi’s character makes her probably the most interesting character in the film. Her interaction with the protagonist, Ashitaka, intrigues us. The two share a confusing relationship. Ashitaka has strong desires to protect and save Lady Eboshi although he himself sides with the beings of the natural world who are at war with Lady Eboshi. The same goes for our villain who becomes unnaturally soft and forgiving around Ashitaka despite how she would not hesitate to eliminate anyone outside of her rule.

Ashitaka can be seen as the link between the human world and the natural world. He comes from a faraway land, which although we don’t know much about, seems like a mystical tribe that the humans only hear rumours about.

(Image Credit: Anime Superhero News)

The humans repurpose nature to grow their empires and make a good living. In the process, everyone lives more happily and comfortably. It is what we do regardless of which part of the world we’re from. We cut or burn down trees and dig mines as this is how we make a living and survive. And scholars researching human psychology, evolution or anthropology would agree that it is not enough to live comfortable lives. It is in our nature to desire more, and then some. Blinded by the perception that our contributions won’t result in something that is permanent, as a race, we will not stop.

We see nature as an inert entity that has no way to retaliate. This perception that nature is merely an inanimate object to be manipulated by us the active doers creates a dangerous disassociation that enables us to harm nature without thinking about the repercussions.

(Image credit: NME.com)

Princess Mononoke challenges this view as the film lets nature take on human-like forms, reminding us that in every ecosystem, every woodland, every sounder and every pack of wolves, life and community manifest in it just like ours. The character of Princess Mononoke who is human but raised by wolves suggests that there may be no inherent difference between the community of humans and animals. We are all just living things, taking up space and trying to get by.

The film emphasises the importance of communication and negotiation in conflict resolution between two speaking-parties. However, in real-life, it is less applicable as animals and plants ultimately can't speak up or start marching through forests to raise their concerns like the characters in the film.

We would just have to acknowledge that our actions have a significant impact on their livelihood. With climate change happening, ice caps melting and plenty of signs pointing to the atrocious impact of what we've done to nature, their voices are loud and clear. It is just a matter of whether we choose to hear it.

(Image credit: EARTHRISE)

The humans in Princess Mononoke are not evil people, just ignorant. And this definitely applies to all of us. It is easy to get carried away by power and glory or a vision of a more comfortable future. But by choosing to embrace ignorance, we are enabling the downfall of nature without coming up with solutions.

The crumbling of the natural world is cannot be better visualised than the climax of the film where The Forest Spirit is beheaded. This scene also tells us that when the natural world falls apart, everything goes. Humans are no exception. We are very much part of the natural world. Its demise would also signal ours.

(Image credit: Nyaa ISS)

So while balancing between human development and preserving nature will always be a complex task, we should all agree that the urgency to save nature outweighs desires of profit-making, goal-chasing and empire-building.

Films are useful in this sense as they allow us to visually see the manifestation of human atrocities in nature, opening our eyes to things that we may not see as we go about our daily lives. After all, out of sight does not mean out of mind.