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Director: Hayao Miyazaki / Cast: Yoji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yuko Tanaka

It is “Princess Mononoke” that I always answer when it becomes the topic what likes in Ghibli work most.

Movie “Princess Mononoke” is a long piece animation work of Manager Hayao Miyazaki shown in 1997, and I think that the complicated sense of values that there is not of ending in simple civilization criticism and environmental disruption criticism is shown.

That sense of values can be seen in an interview to Manager Hayao Miyazaki at the time of the movie exhibition.

“I feel like not having possibilities to be actually born for the way of thinking that, in fact, nature settles with a human being and lives only in the natural view that it seems to be said that nature is good” (from Sankei Shimbun evening paper the May 7, 1997)

“If I would stand in the recognition that we destroy nature by just living, it’s not that we can coexist with nature as far as human beings live modestly commonly, and not for good because we are slightly greedy, I turned to be confused not to know what to do. We must perform it once in the place that do not know what to do when we deal with an environmental problem or the problem of nature, and we must keep thinking from there.” (from a theater brochure)

It may be easy to say that it is evil to destroy natural environments, and to criticize it, but it is connected in it destroying natural environments that a human being lives.

There are a problem that is not cleared up by the simple right and wrong two minutes idea.

The Situation that Ashitaka and a Modern Youth Are In

When I watched this movie for the first time, I held distrust in the action that Ashitaka who was a chief character took very much.

The village where Ashitaka lives in is like non-civilization to hark back to old Japan (the setting is the Muromachi era in the times of the in a play), and nature and a human being are places living together, and the movie begins from the scene that curse God attacks there.

Ashitaka sympathized with having some bad thing in a west country and would leave for the west country, and, in the west country, woman boss Eboshi of the Tatara ground schemed the development of the village and repeated vegetation manipulation or an animal massacre.

On the other hand, among the ways to west country, Ashitaka meet the Sun and a Japanese wolf fighting against Eboshi which is going to destroy nature and turn the look that the hatred stays for Ashitaka.

The composition called “nature vs. a human being” appears here.

However, the viewpoint that Ashitaka takes is vague because takes sides near Eboshi destroying nature and sometimes takes place near the sun which is going to protect nature by fighting with Eboshi.

I felt a sense of incongruity at this point at first, but recently, I think Ashitaka is the existence to symbolize the problem that a modern youth faces in the present age.

What is right, or what is bad and, anyone might have a thought until an age ago.

However, in the present age when a variety of sense of values was highlighted, we recognize a bad aspect exists with the good aspect in every thing by all means.

The environmental disruption may be bad. However, it is a fact the human being thereby develops civilization, and to live.

In society globalizing more and more politically economically, such situation will take place in future everywhere.

It may be important to the present youth in sense of values in confusion that obtain the ability like Ashitaka who has one’s strong will, and touches the circumference and compromise.

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