Two decades have passed since Hayao Miyazaki’s environmental masterpiece Princess Mononoke – and there is still a lot it can teach us. Its been 15 years since I first watched Mononoke Hime and it still got me every time I replay it. Released on July 12, 1997 in Japan, the prolific animation maestro’s bloodiest film remains one of his most politically poignant tales. A cautionary tale of gods and mortals set in feudal Japan, Mononoke is about war, accountability and redemption. On his journey to find a cure for a fatal curse, the prince of a rural village encounters San, a feral young warrior woman who was raised by wolves in the woods, as well as Lady Eboshi, the leader of Irontown, an industrialized settlement that has waged war on the forest surrounding it. In her quest to continue building for the benefit of her people, Lady Eboshi seeks to totally destroy the Forest Spirit.
As a child, I was so amazed by the artistically frame shots of Miyazaki (as well as marvelous music composed by Joe Hisashi). But since I started study about environment, I figure out so many hidden messages of the movie. Especially about the conflict/ trade-off between economy and environment. As a human-who struggle to survive, as a leader of a country- who have to decide to boost up the economy or spend that amount of money to invest in natural maintenance,… does environment really mean that much? The movie really bring up a new idea about environmentalism for me: its not about “fighting for the Earth”, or something like “its all because of human, WE HAVE TO STOP IT!!!”. Its about finding a real solution, an equilibrium point in which economy and environment conflict the least.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 