Week 5:
What genre or genres is Princess Mononoke? How does it relate to its ‘prequel,’ Nausicaā ?
Princess Mononoke is a fictional genre or a subgenre of fiction which related to the adventure fantasy and natural ecological enlightenment. “Princess Mononoke” is always referred to as a prequel to “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, so here are three perspectives including; historical settings, genre setting and the compensation of the Author to rationalize the prequel statement.
On the historical setting, “Princess Mononoke” is set in the background of the Muromachi period in Japan around the year from 1392 to 1572. It is an era for the flourishing of art and literature such as Noh theatre, Zen garden and tea ceremony, and prosperity of commercial, agricultural and architectural (Mounfort, 2020). The author Hayao Miyazaki utilized visual effects to depict the features of the Muromachi era such as the Shinto Shrine and other Japanese-style buildings to represent the symbol of the establishment of Japanese culture and relics (Cavallaro, 2006). While the setting Nausicaa is set in the postmodern or near-future collapsed world, because of the Apocalyptic war, civilization declined, created the vast toxic jungle, and giant mutant insects that can be seen everywhere (Miyazaki & Takahata, 1984). The two have one thing in common which is the militarism, in both stories, there is this kind of military group, behind the group there is always a warlord leader with arrogant ambitious like Lady Eboshi, Kushana and Kurotowa, they will trample innocent lives without hesitation as well as environmental destruction for the sake for the power and interests (Miyazaki & Takahata, 1984). As according to Mountfort (2020), most of Miyazaki’s films portray the dangers of militarism, problems include nationalism and the spectre of the arms race, and meaningless implicit criticism of the war.
In terms of genre setting, both “Princess Mononoke” and “Nausicaa” are eco-fable, as both stories are adventures for the purpose to prevent humans from destroying the natural ecology. The only difference is that “Princess Mononoke” has inserted many myths, spirits and gods into the story. For example, other than the protagonist “San” has psychic abilities to communicate with animals and gods, animals, the animal characters who pose with god’s spirit like Kodama (the souls of the forest), Nago (boar-God) and Okkoto (Old boar-God) represent the anger towards the destruction of nature by humans, and further expanded the “fantasy” element of “Princess Mononoke” and created essentially a personal myth (Cavallaro, 2006). The most prominent is that Hayao Miyazaki utilised the Shishigami character (forest spirit and Night Walker) as the nature itself to convey the message of nature, and implies that the development and destruction of greed will eventually lead to the destruction of mankind. Nausicaa, on the other hand, is a pure fantasy type anime without mythological elements, the author only used the role of Nausicca as the mediator for between mankind and nature through communication with animal and ecology, just like the character Nausicaa from Homer’s Greek epic the ‘Odyssey’, and with the combination of Japanese mythology featuring a girl who could be able to interact with animals and eco-environment (Mountfort, 2020).
The compensation of the author. As mentioned above, although “Princess Mononoke” implies that the development and destruction of nature will eventually lead to the destruction of mankind, I think that after “Princess Mononoke”, mankind still caused disasters to nature for the sake of prosperity which henced the collapsed world of Nausicaa. As according to the Miyazaki himself, that he did not intend to solve the global problems from “Princess Mononoke”, and claimed even the war between the forest gods and mankind did not end successfully or even the hatred and massacre are continuing, that still cannot stop humans from over-enjoying or excessive-using resources from nature as there are still many places to survive(Cavallaro, 2020). Furthermore, Miyazaki did not satisfied with “Nausicaa” as he feels very sloppy about the setting of Nausicaa, many aspects including the setting of the world, have not been explained enough of why it constructed on this way (Vavallaro, 2020). Therefore, “Princess Mononoke” was created as a supplement for the lack of settings of Nausicaa. In other words, “Princess Mononoke” explains and paves the setting of Nausicaa’s world.
Mountfort, P. (2020). ENGL602 Popular Genres: Anime part two[PowerPoint slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5326017-dt-content-rid-12629965_4/xid-12629965_4
Miyazaki, H. (Director). & Takahata, I. (Producer). (1984). Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. [Film; special ed. on DVD]. Toei Company.
Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp.5-13). London: McFarland & Company.
Pop Genres 2020 