Blog 7: Psychoanalysis of Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke (left) and Ashitaka (right)

I don’t know what consumed me to attempt a psychoanalysis of an anime film, but I thought it would be pretty entertaining anyways to try one.  But, then I just had to take it to the next step of difficulty in trying to analyze a film produced by Hayao Miyazaki.  The film I chose to watch was Princess Mononoke.  I have seen this film many times, and even in theatres when I was in elementary school.  I definitely did not take much away from the film, but watching it recently with the purpose of analysis, so much came to the surface.

The plot’s foundation rests on the character development of Ashitaka, the last Emishi prince.  Like many of Miyazaki’s films, there is no distinct ‘good’ or ‘evil’ force, and sympathetic viewpoints are consistently changing.  Ashitaka, however is the main protagonist for the film and much of the story is focused on his ability to understand himself as an individual while he relates to other important characters.  At the start of the film, he is tainted by a demon and must exile himself from his family in order to discover the root of his curse and see if it is curable.  From this point on, Ashitaka begins to rediscover his role.  Ashitaka’s journey from his family is like Lacan’s self-identification that a child experiences when detached from its mother.

In terms of developing his language, there is a lot that Ashitaka does not understand about the outside world.  Along his travels to the west, he meets a wandering monk called Jigo, who ends up playing a pivotal part in the climax of the story.  Jigo guesses Ashitaka’s background, but keeps his secrets and informs him of where to go and how to go about searching for answers.  So, as formulated by Lacan, there is this connection between language and development of a social network that is clearly visible within the film.

The main complexities of the story are developed within this social network.  There are many key players in this tale of industrialization against environmentalism.  There are the workers of Iron Town who, just as the name implies, exploit the landscape for its valuable raw materials.  The main opposition force consists of several forest guardians that are referred to as gods within the plot.  The guardians have a large following of forest creatures that seek to destroy Iron Town.  One specific guardian group has one human follower, Princess Mononoke, who views herself as a wolf rather than human.  Finally there are two mediator roles that are filled by Ashitaka and the Forest Spirit.  The Forest Spirit’s primary aim is to restore balance between the forest and humans.  Ashitaka’s role involves addressing the citizens of Iron Town through their leader, Lady Eboshi, and also the forest guardians by way of Princess Mononoke.

This complex network in a sense spirals around Ashitaka and the Forest Spirit.  They bridge the gap of understanding between the two warring sides.  There is the constant dualism of trust and treachery that is brought up in the story.  Ashitaka tries to create trust with all groups involved in order to bring peace, but once one side finds out he is communicating with the other, a sense of treachery becomes inherent.

Through all of the efforts of both sides, along with Ashitaka’s seemingly futile attempts of bringing peace, nothing is actually resolved in the end.  Iron Town ends of getting destroyed, and the Forest Spirit also ends up dying.  The film however leaves the audience with a sense of balanced peace with an uncertain future.  It is a very unique plot that demonstrates the fact that there is always two sides to any argument, and that a careful balance should be sought in order to progress.