MONONOKE HIME

MONONOKE HIME (vt PRINCESS MONONOKE, US theatrical release, 1999). Hayao Miyazaki, dir., script. Japan: Tokuma Shoten, Dentsu, Nippon Television, Studio Ghibli (prod.) / Dimension Films, Miramax (US dist.), 1997/1999. Japanese language release features Yôji Matsuda as Ashitaka, Yuriko Ishida as San, Yûko Tanaka as Lady Eboshi; English release screenplay by Neil Gaiman, and features Billy Crudup as Ashitaka, Claire Danes as San, Minnie Driver as Lady Eboshi. **+Anime (i.e., Japanese animation). In a long-ago time when gods and demons and spirits interacted with humans, in a world with heroes but no real on-screen villains, a town has been founded where iron is smelted and guns made. The town is opposed to the forest, and Lady Eboshi, the leader of Iron Town, intends to destroy the forest to get at iron ore; she employs mostly women she has saved from servitude in brothels, and lepers she has treated medically and trained to make better guns. Visually, esp., the magical forest and the old gods are privileged, but civilization and its technology under the Lady Eboshi also has its good points, and Miyazaki exquisitely balances the various claims upon our sympathy; humankind needs a reminder that we are just another aspect of nature, and therefore it's best if we can live harmoniously with nature—but in already unbalanced contexts, technology has its uses. Cf. and contrast WIZARDS and, perhaps most relevantly, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, both cited in this section: Lady Eboshi in MONONOKE and Auntie Entity in THUNDERDOME parallel, with looser parallels between San (the Mononoke Hime) and Savannah Nix, and Ashitaka and Mad Max.

RDE, 24/XI/99; Jessica Adams, 28/V/01