[Marxism] Princess Mononoke can be viewed online

[Louis Proyect]

View at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2155767557223499994

 From my review:
In the opening scene of Miyazaki Hayao's 1997 animated feature Princess 
Mononoke, we witness a battle between young Prince Ashitaka and a giant 
demon warthog that is attacking his village. In the act of successfully 
killing the animal, he receives a wound to his arm. In a meeting with 
the village elders, he learns from a wise woman that the wound is 
certainly fatal. It is only a matter of time. His only hope is to travel 
to the forest home of the demon warthog to find out what has driven it 
to hate and kill humans.

Thus begins a quest that is thematically related to many legends and 
fairy tales, going back to the Epic of Gilgamesh. A young protagonist, 
usually an adolescent like Ashitaka, goes on a voyage to save either 
himself, herself or their people. This voyage--in many ways a rite of 
puberty--leads to self-discovery and a happy ending.

Although Miyazaki is known as Japan's Walt Disney, it would be a mistake 
to assume that Princess Mononoke resembles the sort of saccharine 
product Disney studios offer up today. In many ways it is a throwback to 
the darker vision of a Disney past, when his films had the power to both 
frighten and enchant.

Ashikata departs to the East on his steed, a loyal elk in true 
fairy-tale fashion, the rumored homeland of the demon hog. The only clue 
to what drove the animal wild and turned it into a demon is the iron 
ball that is discovered in its corpse. The wise woman of the village 
tells him that if he discovers the source of the iron ball, he will 
likely understand the root of his own suffering as well.

After a journey across mountains and through forests, he finally arrives 
at the source of the iron ball. It is Irontown, ruled by Princess 
Eboshi. Miyazaki's Irontown is a realistic depiction of one of those 
towns that existed everywhere on the cusp of the introduction of 
capitalist property relations in the 16th century. Its citizens work in 
a foundry turning iron ore into guns and bullets. Eboshi dreams of 
ruling the world. By bringing together wage labor and raw materials, she 
will achieve mastery over all her enemies, including the feudal Samurai 
warriors who are constantly attacking her heavily fortified industrial 
compound. She is symbolic of an emerging Japanese bourgeoisie, whose 
artisan-based workshop is a mere sprout in the surrounding feudal 
countryside. Out of such sprouts, capitalism could emerge anywhere, but 
for geographical reasons was allowed only to emerge in Western Europe 
and Japan. In the first instance because Western Europe was able to 
cannibalize the New World, in the second because Japan took advantage of 
its insular features to resist the cannibals.

full: http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/princess_mononoke.htm