Hi guys (^_^)/

Nice to see yer comments

Here're some questions about Princess Mononoke, which we view Thursday. Hope y' enjoy!

1. What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke?

2. How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

3. According to Napier, how does this anime problematise traditional (or conservative) Japanese constructions of gender, class and race?

4. How do it and other Miyazaki films address the
humanity/nature divide, according to Wright (2005)?

5. Could Miyazaki’s vision be described as in some sense religious (inasmuch as it conveys a sense of the sacred)?

6. Finally, with reference to Cavallaro (2006), what distinguishes Mononoke technically as being – it is generally agreed – a great work of anime?

Any other thoughts??

BTW, y' might notice this week's 'banner' shows not Mononoke but Tales from Earthsea, directed by Miyazaki's son, Horo. May be of interest that this is an adaptation of the Earthsea franchise (remember Wizard of Earthsea, guys??).

Funny history here as Hayao Miyazaki long wanted to adapt AWoE but Ursuala Le Guinn originally refused, so he made Nausicaa instead. There's a little creature that sits on N's shoulder that is based on the Otak in A Wizard of Earthsea, a kind of signature by M of Earthsea's influence on him.

Years later (30 years!) Earthsea was finally made by Studio Ghibli, but by Horo - unfortunately with opposition by his father and some hurtful criticism afterwards; Le Guinn says she regretted it and wished she'd let Miyazaki Sen do it instead! Poor Goro (>_<)

Out of interest, anyone seen Earthsea and care to comment?

I looked Goro up in Wikipedia and found this, hope it is interesting enough for you guys to have a read. Imagine how difficult it must have been for Goro to live in the shadow of his father? And on top of that, he had to take two more criticisms from his own father and also the author of the Earthsea Series, Ursula K. Le Guin. I actually feel quite sorry for this poor guy…

Gorō Miyazaki (宮崎吾朗 Miyazaki Gorō) was born on January 21, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan, the son of Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki. He has been reluctant his whole life to follow in his father's footsteps, choosing to work in landscaping rather than animation. But after producer Toshio Suzuki persuaded him to work on the Ghibli Museum he began to be involved in Studio Ghibli.
He was asked to draw the storyboards for the anime film Tales from Earthsea. After his work on those it was decided by Suzuki that Gorō should direct the film.

The move to direct the film led to a rift between Miyazaki and his father; Hayao Miyazaki explicitly expressed that he felt his son did not have the experience to direct a film and the two were not on speaking terms throughout the movie's development. Despite this, the younger Miyazaki was determined to complete the project.

On June 28, 2006, Gorō held the first preview of the completed Tales from Earthsea. Surprisingly, his father attended this preview and "(apparently) accepted Gorō". Later a note was delivered from Hayao to Gorō, reading "It was made honestly, which was good". What this means exactly for Goro's relationship with his father is unknown, but it seems their previous rift is healing. The film has been selected in the Out of Competition section at the 63rd Venice Film Festival. At the end of 2006, Miyazaki was dubiously given Japan's Bunshun Raspberry Award for "Worst Director" and Tales from Earthsea got the award for "Worst Movie". However in 2007, Tales from Earthsea was nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goro_Miyazaki

Reaction and box office

The film reached No.1 at the Japanese Box Office on its opening week with a gross of over 900 million yen, or approximately 7.7 million USD, pushing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to second place and became the number one movie in the country for five weeks, until it was pushed out of the top spot when X-Men: The Last Stand was released. The movie went on to be the #4 top grossing movie for the year in Japan.

Ursula K. Le Guin, the author of the Earthsea Series, gave a mixed response to the film in her review on her website. Le Guin commended the visual animation in the film but complained that the plot and the content had been changed drastically. She also praised certain depictions of nature in the film, but felt that the production values of the film were not as high as previous works directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and that the film's excitement was focused too much around scenes of violence. Her initial response to Goro Miyazaki was, "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie." However, she was unhappy that the comment was disclosed on the movie's public blog.

Le Guin's mixed opinion of the film is indicative of overall reception of the film, particularly in Japan. In Japan, the film found both strong proponents and detractors. Many of the opinions can best be summed up in a response to Le Guin's comments on her website, that the weak points of the film were the result of "when too much responsibility was shouldered by someone not equipped for it."

In the UK, the film was not released as widely as previous Ghibli movies, playing to 23 venues across the nation and making an unremarkable £23,300. Reviews were generally mixed. Radio Times suggested that it "lacks the technical sheen and warm sentimentality of some of Ghibli's earlier films" while the Daily Mirror called it "ploddy, excruciatingly slow" and not in the same league as the work of Hayao Miyazaki. However Empire magazine said it was "well worth watching" whilst The Guardian called it "An engaging piece of work". The movie at year's end in Japan was awarded "Worst Movie" in Bunshun's Raspberry Awards, which presided over by a panel of 32 movie critics. Goro Miyazaki also won the "Worst Director" award.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Earthsea_(anime)

hi guys just want to start from the Q5. I think we can because there were some elements of "Shinto" ( indigenous religion of Japan) whitin Princess Mononoke.

Also, movie has shown that poeple should respect and sort of fear from "Kami" (Japanese God) because of its mysterious power, but power over the nature and human.

Q1.In my opinion the underlying theme of Princess Mononoke is related to the relationship between human and the nature. In the movie, we can see that the forest was over-developed by human who have desire to exploit resources from the forest.

Also,Miyazi trying to touch other themes such as feminism. There wasnot a lot of women character but the one in the movie are really strong and powerful.

However, what Miyazaki was trying to give message to viewer is I think the issue between human and nature which is in reality is well in a way. He points that people should care forest and nature more than may be what they do now.

Question 1)

i think, Nature and human been could be the main theme of Princess Mononoko. Also another main theme could be feminism. Because what we usually see is male hero but Miyazaki creats female hero in Princess Mononoke

According to Napier(2005),historical setting of princess Mononoke is fourteenth-century but, it is not based on an actual historical events. In the 14th century,the so-called Muromachi period, was widely recognised as a golden age of high culture: culturally well-known tea ceremony together with excellent form of garden and landscape especially, worship Kami.
Also it was an era of relative peace rulling by samurai aristocracy,who settled in the capital of Kyoto. However,in princess Mononoke,Kami exist in opposition of the civilised human world and there is, of course,no imperial court of samurai nobility. Thus, Napier states that "this is a film in which the main protagonists are those who usually do not appear on the stage of history. Instead, this is the story of the marginals of history."(p.271)