"It is human nature and sin to want to have everything in the world."
This sentence is from Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Princess Mononoke".
It's ridiculous to say this sentence is actually the villain in the film, the high priest.
Knowing that what he has done is full of sins, but still following his own desires, is both ironic and realistic.
Different from works full of fantasy like "City in the Sky" and "Spirited Away", the scenes of "Princess Mononoke" are more cruel. The reason for these cruel scenes is, in the final analysis, only the word "contradiction".
human conflict
There is a huge contradiction within human beings. In the film, it shows us the contradiction between men and women, the contradiction between the powerful, the contradiction between the powerful and the common people, and the contradiction between common people and life. The background of the society at that time was particularly clear.
When Fei Niao brought the wounded soldier back, instead of first paying attention to whether people were in trouble, the soldier's wife was most worried about "the feet are broken, so how will you work in the future?"
One sentence lets us know the cruelty of the reality at the time: in that era when people who were physically able might not always be able to eat enough, how to survive was the top priority, and those who could not work would undoubtedly become a burden at home.
"It's okay if you feed the wolf"
"I can find a good man in the future"
After saying this, the people around laughed, but under the pressure of life, this may not be the words from the bottom of my heart.
The division of labor in the Iron Smelting City is that women are in charge of iron smelting, and they have to step on the bellows for four days and five nights.
The smelted iron is handed over to the men in exchange for the rice for survival, and there are various dangers on the way to exchange the rice.
Even though he tried so hard, he was barely able to eat enough.
The simple requirement of working hard and then "feeding your fill" is out of reach outside the city.
When Asuka first met the high priest, he told us the social background at that time from the high priest: endless fighting, poverty and hunger plus epidemics, and countless people who died of hatred.
Although there is no large-scale introduction, the contradiction between men and women tells us through the mouths of men and women in the city
Not much content, but enough to make us feel the difference in the status of men and women.
Compared to the outside world, the Iron Fortress in charge of Huan Ji is like a paradise.
But the uncontested paradise is just a fantasy after all. The nobles from the outside world saw that it was profitable and planned to cooperate with Huan Ji, and finally sent troops to snatch it.
The conflict between the magic princess and the wolf girl
The paradise in the eyes of human beings - the iron smelting field, in the eyes of the wolf girl Shanshan, it is a devil-like existence.
Trees are felled, rivers are polluted, creatures are hunted, and the culprit behind all this is the ironworks. As the top person in charge of the iron smelting yard, Huan Ji, as long as she is killed, everything can be restored to its original state.
Shanshan has tried many times without success, but she still works hard for it. But this effort was in vain.
What if Huan Ji was killed?
It is very likely that a new city lord will appear and continue to preside over the work of ironmaking.
Every man is innocent and guilty, and the unicorn forest contains a lot of iron, which is destined to attract greedy people.
Here the theme is sublimated to the contradiction between "man and nature"
Conflict between nature and man
The shortage of human internal resources can be alleviated by plundering nature.
In the movie, it just showed us a beginning, the unicorn forest was destroyed in a small area, and there are still many resources that can be plundered later. If this is the end, the unicorn forest has been completely developed and destroyed, then where should human beings ask for resources?
There is a master in the unicorn forest, the unicorn beast, but from the beginning to the end, the human side has no desire to communicate with the unicorn beast, and even wants to obtain the head of the unicorn beast as a collection.
This is human arrogance.
In the concept of human beings, unicorn beasts are beasts after all, and cannot be equated with humans, nor are they qualified to communicate with humans on an equal basis.
"If I want it, you have to give it, or I will rob it" is the attitude of human beings towards nature.
Compared with other movies, in "Princess Mononoke", the role of human beings is more like a villain, looting wildly through advanced means mastered, such as muskets, artillery, etc. Regardless of whether this behavior is reasonable or not, as long as I am strong, I will have the final say.
Whether man and nature can coexist in harmony, the movie does not tell us the answer, nor can it tell us the answer, after all, the human heart is too complicated.
View more about Princess Mononoke reviews
