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In ancient times the land lay covered in forests where from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods. Back then man and beast lived in harmony but as time when by most of the great forests were destroyed, those that remain were guarded by gigantic beasts who owed their allegiance to the great forest spirit, For those were the days of gods and demons......
Princess Mononoke is a deep and immersing story of a outcast prince trying to search for truth with eyes unclouded by hate. This movie is filled with many archetypes ranging from characters archetypes such as heros and deeper archetypes such as death and rebirth. An archetype is a primordial image, story, symbol, situation or pattern that recurs throughout literature and are considered universal concepts. With all the obvious and hidden archetypes throughout Princess Mononoke, it make for a great movie to watch. As with most stories, this one starts with our hero.
Ashitaka is the main hero of the story, or also the young man from the provinces. In the beginning of the movie, Ashitaka is forced to kill a demon in order to save what is left of a once great civilization. When he does so, he is touched by the demon and a curse is put on him. This is what causes him to set forth on his journey for truth, witch is an archetype of a hero. Also, the area in witch he was touched, left a physical wound, symbolizing the unhealable wound. As Ashitaka leaves his people behind, he must cut his hair witch is the ritual symbolizing a loss of innocence. Throughout the movie, Ashitaka wears clothes with the colors blue, white, brown, and red.. The blue represents his loyalty to the ones he loves, the white shows his purity, the brown represents how he lives in natural settings, and the red shows the passion he has for the ones the loves and the costly blood he must overcome. All through the movie, he is accompanied by an elk that does not leave his side, even when it is wounded. This friendship between man and beast shows that nature is on the side of Ashitak as he makes his journey. Ashitaka also weilds a bow throughout the movie and a bow is the symbol of power, showing the strength that he possess As he journey west, Ashitaka comes across Iron Town. When in Iron town, Ashitaka shows the people that they do not need to destroy the forests of the surrounding area but live with it as one. Also, in the city he finds lady Aboshi, who shot the boar and made it into the demon that attacked his village.
Lady Aboshi is the dark goddess of the story, but she is also the evil figure with an ultimately good heart. Lady Aboshi first comes to Iron Town when the people are trying to destroy the forest and kill the gods that protect the forest. She brings the people rifles and helps them destroy the gods that they once could not kill. During the movie, Lady Aboshi wear the colors blue and red. The red represents the blood and chaos that her and her rifles cause to the forest animals and gods while the blue shows her loyalty to her people and the town. As Ashitka first speaks to lady Aboshi, his arm begins to ache and tries to kill her, showing that she is the one who afflicted the pain. While watching the movie, you begin to realize that lady Aboshi ultimately has a good heart. Lady Aboshi has a garden in her inter sanction witch represents life and shows that she has a good heart deep down. Also, she is shown housing leapers witch have been rejected all their life but she had the kindness to house them, feed them, and wash their wounds. While lady Aboshi is in Iron Town, she helps destroy the forest and build up the town until Ashitaka shows her she needs to live in peace with the forest. This struggle between the town and nature is another, major archetype of the movie.
In Princess Mononoke, the major theme is nature vs mechanistic culture. In this case, the mechanistic culture is Iron Town and the nature is of course the forest and the gods of the forest. The primary goal of Iron Town is to dig up the iron in the surrounding forest for sale and for rifles to be made. The inhabitants of the forest, ranging from the gods to the animals and akoodama, want to live at peace and for the humans to leave. The mechanistic culture is seen as bad and nature is seen as perfect and right. The main inhabitants consist of the Wolf clan, the Boar clan, the Forest Spirit, and the akoodama. The akoodama, also known as tree spirits, are little white creatures that reside in the largest tree in the forest. A tree is also an archetype, standing for new life witch once again shows that nature is good and pure and triumphant. During Ashitakas trip through the forest, the akoodama lead him through it showing once again that nature is on his side. The other two clans are lead by gods witch are large representations of that race of animal. The Wolf clan is a pure clan and helps Ashitaka on his journey as he goes through it.
The Wolf clan consists of a mother wolf name Maaro, two pups, and one human that was given to them when it was a baby, witch they began to raise. All the wolfs are white, showing that their clan is pure, while San, the human baby, wears white, showing her purity, and blue showing her loyalty to the wolf clan and to Ashitaka. All of the wolf clan help Ashitaka on his journey throughout the movie, showing a supernatural intervention on the side of Ashitaka. San is part of the Wolf clan, but she also has archetypes witch are unique to her. One of the archetypes that is unique to San, is that she is a damsel in distress. The reason she is considered this is because at one time, Ashitaka has to save her from the humans. Even thought San is considered a damsel in distress, you can also look at her as hero herself because she goes and faces lady Aboshi and has the courage and strength to try to kill her. San is also a goddess because she is not only one in the movie because she is in the wolf clan, but she is also beautiful and supports the main character, Ashitaka. San continues to be more because in the movie, Ashitaka is wounded and she brings him to the forest spirit to save him, showing a spiritual intervention on both the sides of San and the Forest Spirit. As the movie progresses, we see that San and Ashitaka are star-crossed lovers. This means that they love one another but because of the societies that they live in, one with the Wolf clan and the other with the humans, their love can not be. While the wolf clan is more pure and conserved, the Boar clan is more corrupt and destructive in their means to rid the forest of the humans.
The boar clan stands for death, suicide, and corruption in this movie. First off, the boar is an archetype in itself. The boar stands for suicide, witch is very suiting in this movie because during the final fight between the boars and the humans, they all blindly sacrifice themselfs, knowing that they would not win. Next, the boars stand for death and darkness. The demon at the beginning of the movie is later found out to be a boar that had been consumed by his hatred and anger. When he had let this happen, black worms outlined in red began to consume his body, and he was no longer a god but reduced to a demon. The significance of the worms and the colors are this, worms themselfs stand for death and decay while red stands for blood and black stands for darkness and the unknown. This shows that the boar clan is very destructive and death reigns around them. Later in the movie, another boar clan form another forest comes to this one seeking to help rid the humans of the surrounding area. His name is Akoto and he only supports this idea of death and destruction. He is a very old boar who has lost his sight and is beginning to die and has turned grey, symbolizing lifelessness, because of his old age. As Akoto gets ready to go into battle, all his troops begin to paint one another in a grey mud, once again symbolizing lifelessness. As they attack, they all die, and Akoto ends up becoming a demon as his anger and pain consume him. Akoto eventually leads the humans to the Forest Spirit, where the Forest Spirit takes his life. The forest spirit represents another large archetype in this movie.
The Forest Spirit is a god that all the other gods owe their allegiance to. He is the taker of life and the giver of it also. This represents the aspect of death and rebirth. Everywhere that the Forest Spirit steps, the ground dies and then new vegetation grows out of it, reinforcing this death and rebirth aspect of the movie. The Forest Spirit also heals the wound of Ashitaka and rejuvenates him, even though he does not lift Ashitakas curse. The Forest Spirits tangible body also has a archetype to it. He closely resembles a stag witch stands for regeneration and growth and his face is red showing his passion for the forest. The Forest Spirits blood is also said to be able to cure anything. Near the end of the movie, the Forest Spirits head is shoot off and Ashitaka has to return its head to its body. Before lady Aboshi has a chance to shoot the Forest Spirit the first time, it makes vegetation grow around the gun, showing that nature rules over the technology of Iron Town. When its head is shoot off, Ashitaka regains the head and the blood makes his wound recess to a smaller wound but it is never fully healed, when he presents the head back to the Forest Spirit. The cutting off of the Forest Spirits head, leads to another small but still important archetype of this film.
One of the smaller characters that held some significance is a monk named Gigo. When Ashitaka first meets Gigo, he seems to be a wise old man because he questions Ashitakas morals and what he thinks he should do in the situation. He also seems to look out for Ashitaka throughout the movie. It is later shown that he is a traitor hired by the emperor to retrieve the head of the great Forest Spirit by having lady Aboshi kill the Forest Spirt for him. He eventually regains himself by giving the head back to Ashitaka so that he may give it back to the Forest Spirit. Once the head is given back to the Forest Spirit, Gigo disappears and we do not see him.
In the end, Ashitaka returns the Forest Spirits head and its collapses on Iron Town. As the sun rises, new growth begins to grow all over the forest and Iron Town. Lady Aboshi also figures out that Ashitaka was right and that they must live in harmony with the forest. Watching Princess Mononoke is a great experience but after you begin to look at it with all of its archetypes, you are immersed deeper into the story and understand it that much more. Princess Mononoke will always be a classic movie with a deep and colorful meaning once you dive deeper into it.
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