Brenton WhitingAbby GlogowerRemembering The FutureWRT 105Brenton WhitingRemembering the FutureMiyazaki Films and their Fundamental Connection to the Natural WorldHayao Miyazaki is master and auteur in the field of Japanese animation, known for countless feature films. Whilst many themes exist that span a number of his works, the most intriguing is his constant interest with mans interaction with the natural world.[footnoteRef:1] Two of his films, Princess Mononoke and Nausica of the Valley of the Wind, boast this as their most prevalent theme. Both films have very strong messages about the natural environment, and both have plots intimately related to how mankind deals with nature. These two films also create a good set of chronological endpoints, with the first film being set in an area similar to 15th century Japan, and the latter taking place on a fictional Earth many hundreds of years from now. The motivation behind Miyazakis inclusion of the theme is his films differs between iterations, ranging from the Minamata case[footnoteRef:2] to destruction of the environment through unchecked industrial growth.[footnoteRef:3] Miyazakis work communicates his opinions to great effect through his use of both story and art style, creating a cohesive vision of his themes. His opinion of man and nature in Nausica and Mononoke might seem to have no apparent connection, Nausica portraying nature as this forboding enemy pushing humanity to the brink of extinction, and Mononoke seeming to show us that if people try hard enough, then can destroy nature with very little effort, but this is a faade. The theme of sanctifying nature and interacting with it an honorable fashion a principle message in both of these films in equal amounts, and that they strive for the same goal. [1: Andrew Osmund, Nausica and the Fantasy of Hayao, Foundation 72 (1998): 59-60] [2: A case in which methylmercury in industrial wastewater was dumped into Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea from 1932 until 1968, causing neurological problems due to mercury poisonings in the surrounding area due to consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish.] [3: Freda Freiberg, Miyazakis Heroines, Senses of Cinema (2006): http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/feature-articles/miyazaki-heroines/]

Nausica of the Valley of the WindNausica of the Valley of the Wind was released in 1984. The film is based on a manga illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki himself. This epic takes place a millennia in the future, after civilization has been destroyed in a man-made cataclysmic event known as the seven days of fire. Following this even, humanity has splintered into a number of feuding groups. The remaining people moved into a feudal system governance smattered with fighter planes, tanks, and biological weaponry. These survivors of the apocalypse have collected into a number of safe havens and created tribes, some who simply wish to survive, other who wish reconquer the Earth. This remaining equipment in invaluable, due to the loss of the means to produce it.[footnoteRef:4] After the cataclysm[footnoteRef:5], nature reclaims the vast majority of the Earth. The giant forest that now covers much of the planet is also home to a number of exotic creatures that evolved to live in this new worlds highly toxic atmosphere.[footnoteRef:6] The realm in which Princess Nausica lives in is known as the Valley of the Wind, and remains free of the toxic spores, mutant insects, and hostile plants of the forest due to a breeze that eternally blows in from the sea. Nausica spends a great deal of time researching the forest and its inhabitants, and, unlike most others, has respect and reverence for the seemly evil forest and its hostile appearing inhabitants.[footnoteRef:7] Her research reveals that not only were the plants entirely safe when nurtured with clean soil and water, but that the plant of the forest were actually filtering and cleaning the air and water.[footnoteRef:8] [4: Helen McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki Master of Japanese Animation (Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2002): 72] [5: This disaster is very often theorized to draw inspiration from the imagined result of a bioweapon fueled war.] [6: Andrew Osmund, Nausica and the Fantasy of Hayao, Foundation 72 (1998): 63] [7: Dani Cavallaro, The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2006) 99] [8: Helen McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki Master of Japanese Animation (Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2002): 84-85]

The most violent and destructive force in the film is not the forest, but rather the people who wish to destroy the forest rather than try to understand it. They believe that destroying the forest will purify the atmosphere, and that humanity will once again rule over nature. It is to this end that the people of Tolmekia,[footnoteRef:9] try to use a weapon[footnoteRef:10] from the seven days of fire to try and eliminate the forest and its inhabitants. This leads to disaster as the Pejiteians, the people whom the weapon was stolen from, harpoon a young ohmu and use it as bait so that a horde of the insects will attack the Tolmekians. The Tolmekians attempt to use the weapon, even though it has not been fully prepared, to try and fight back the swarm of ohmu, but they are overrun. The tide of rampaging ohmu is only stopped when Nausica, after being shot by a Pejiteian soldier, removes the harpoons from the young ohmu and prevents it from running into the acid sea in a blind panic. Nausica was prepared to give up her own life to try and give the wounded ohmu back in the hopes that they might not destroy the entire village in blind rage. The creatures recognize the act of selflessness and stop their charge. They then lift the wounded princess up into the air on their golden antennae and heal her,[footnoteRef:11] before taking their young one and returning to the woods. [9: One of the Countries formed by surviving humans] [10: In the film, Tolmekia, led by Queen Kushana, tries to use one of the beings that caused the seven days of fire as a weapon against the forest. This giant, fire belching demon is known as a kyoshinhei, or God Warrior, and upon its attempted revival, begins indiscriminately destroying everything in its path, Kushanas people and creatures of the forest alike, until it is destroyed.] [11: This ending displeased many critics, as they felt that the healing powers of the ohmu were a Deus ex machina to far too extreme a degree to be acceptable. ]

Nausica takes viewers on a journey that can be understood a few different ways. The obvious, surface opinion is that Nausica is capital G good and that the Tolmekians, led by their iron-fisted leader Queen Kushana,[footnoteRef:12] are downright evil. However, it is not that simple; Nausica and Kushana are two sides of the same coin: both want to rid the Earth of its toxicity.[footnoteRef:13] The difference between the two comes down to the methods they use, a difference which exemplifies Miyazakis reverence for nature. Kushana, fueled by hatred for the forest creatures, seeks to rid the world of its pollution by burning away the forest, whilst Nausica instead chooses to research the forest. In doing so, Nausica discovers that the roots systems of the toxic trees are filtering the water and air, gradually purifying their surroundings. The subtler shades of environmental opinion can be found rather easily in this film, with the people of the Valley of the Wind, representing those who weary of nature, but do not value it or treat it with respect. The people of the Valley, not possessing the knowledge or heart of Nausica when it comes to the forest, burn anything contaminated by the forest spores if it finds its way anywhere near their homes or farms, but do not make any attempt to cut away or clear the standing vegetation, knowing that doing so could be the doom of them all. [12: Queen Kushana is explained to have lost an arm and leg to the ohmu when she was young. She was given metal replacements for both limbs, meaning that she has an actual iron fist.] [13: Collin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (Harpenden: Kamera Books, 2009):59-61]

Princess MononokePrincess Mononoke was released in 1997, and is another of Miyazakis original works. The film is set in a fictional world based heavily upon the technology and society of the Muromachi period in Japan.[footnoteRef:14] The story of the film follows Ashitaka, the young prince of the Emshi, a tribe of people who are dedicated to living in respectful balance with nature, much like Miyazaki advocates in his own views. [footnoteRef:15] Several people from the village are attacked by a terrible creature that scars all that it touches. This being looks like a writhing mass of worms or tentacles, but after it is dispatched, it is found to be one of the boar gods that has been turned into a demon by rage. This rage comes from a ball of iron that is found embedded in the boars hide. Ashitaka, in the act of slaying the demon, is briefly caught by it, leaving a cursed mark on his right arm. The wise woman of his village tells Ashitaka that he must leave the village and travel west with Sight Unclouded to find what is causing the gods to lash out against man. He leaves the village and before long reaches a small town. Whilst in this town he discovers that the local lord is at war with ironworkers who have built a village upstream, as the pollution from extracting the iron is killing the crops in the town. Ashitaka is uninterested by this news, but is also informed that the forest of the god Shishigami is nearby. [14: Helen McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki Master of Japanese Animation (Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2002): 185] [15: Collin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (Harpenden: Kamera Books, 2009): 20-21]

The leader of the Ironworkers, a woman by the name of Lady Eboshi, and her men were returning to their village when they were set upon by the wolf god Moro and her children, two large wolves and the spirit princess San.[footnoteRef:16] The wolves kill a number of the caravan, but Moro is shot by one of Eboshis guns, which fire iron balls, and retreat. Ashitaka later passes the same area, and finds two survivors of the attack who were left behind in the frantic escape. Ashitaka brings both of the men back to their village, the ironworker town of Tataraba. While in the village, he meets Lady Eboshi and is pleased to see that she maintains a village where all the people are cared for and well fed, including the lepers who she relies on for fine and delicate skilled work. His curse activates and his arm moves to draw his sword and kill Eboshi, but Ashitaka restrains himself, knowing that even though Eboshis work is harming the forest around her and angering its gods, she is trying to create a better life for her people. That night, San and the wolves attack the village to try and take revenge for the injury of Moro. Ashitaka attempts to appeal to reason, revealing his curse mark to the village and telling the onlookers that that is what comes of lashing out in hatred and anger, but his warning falls on deaf ears. He is forced to knock out both Lady Eboshi and San. He tries to leave the village carrying the unconscious San, but he is shot in the chest by a villager. The strength provided by the curse mark allows him to carry on and get San all the way back to the grove of Shishigami before he succumbs to his wounds. [16: Princess Mononoke is better phrased the Mononoke princess which means the spirit princess in English]

Ashitaka awoke to find that Shishigami had healed his wound, but his curse mark remained. Soon after, the Eboshi is confronted by Jigo, a man contracted by the Emperor to kill Shishigami and bring back his head.[footnoteRef:17] Eboshi, Jigo, and a force of imperial agents fight against a large crowd of beast gods, mainly boars assisted by Moro and her wolves, and both sides incur huge losses. The boar god Okkoto ends the battle running through the forest in a blind rage, and starts to become a demon, nearly killing San. Ashitaka is able to save San, and Shishigami arrives. Rather than restoring Ottoko, Shishigami drains away the last of his life before Lady Eboshi shoots his head off. Jigo flees with the head, but the headless god starts destroying all in its path as it chases after Jigo. San and Ashitaka chase after Jigo and are able to return the gods head, but the damage has been done and Shishigami retreats to a remote part of the forest to die. [17: Though Eboshi seems to resist the idea of killing the god, it is implied that she and Jigo have a history and that she owes him some kind of favor.]

The messages found within this film are great in number and in complexity, especially when in relation to nature. The Emshi are Miyazakis view personified, as they exist in quiet harmony and reverence beside the forest. The people of Irontown are clearly harming the natural world, cutting down the nearby forest to create easier access to the mountain from which they mine their ore, but still do not live in direct spite of the spirits.[footnoteRef:18] The film runs its entire course, but never paints any clear villains, and this is because there really arent any. Lady Eboshi, though she doesnt care at all for the nearby forest, still aims to be good to her people, and even Jigo, the man sent to kill a god, is represented as more of a man doing a job to survive than one who hates the forest and its gods. Through this portrayal of the people in Mononoke Miyazaki shows tried to show that its not the bad people destroying nature, its the hard-working people.[footnoteRef:19] [18: Collin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (Harpenden: Kamera Books, 2009): 109] [19: Dani Cavallaro, The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2006): 124]

The Nature of the FilmsWhile both of these films may seem to be coming from entirely different perspectives when speaking of nature, both really are trying to explain the same message. Miyazaki has taken two very different, both in story and chronology, methods to express the same opinion about how man should revere and respect nature. These films are not entirely different though, and when talking about their opinions on nature, the films can be found to be nearly direct parallels. The antagonists of both films aim for fairly similar goals in the long run. Kushana aims to burn the toxic forest of Nausica to the ground so that man may again be safe from its dangers, and Lady Eboshi seeks, though the destructive iron mining, to provide a comfortable living for her people, many who would not have one otherwise. Both Ashitaka and Nausicaa have a reverence for nature that serves as a motivation in the films. As well as motivation, both put their life on the line to try and create peace between mankind and nature. The depiction of nature in the two films is the most direct of the parallels. The toxic forest filled with ohmu and other giant insects is gradually purifying the water, air, and soil, making the world a better and more livable place for all involved. The gods in Mononoke keep the forest alive, but are not without fault, the gods are large and visibly imposing, and are even shown to be hostile in their interactions with mankind. The films are both Miyazaki communicating to us that nature is to be revered and respected. This theme is found in both of the films and, while the surface of them may seem entirely different, when put under the microscope they fall into line. This idea of reverence, by being stretched between these two films, has its own message. Miyazaki, through the chronological difference in settings in Nausica and Mononoke, is demonstrating that this struggle of finding balance with the natural world is eternal, and inherent to the struggle of man.17