Princess Mononoke Although Japanese Culture Term Paper

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While not a nostalgic or positive portrayal of nature, Miyazaki appears to strip away all civilized and male-dominated pretences towards what appears to be, and portrays to the Japanese people a vision of what lies beneath the pretence and the civilizing influence of traditionalism. Perhaps this is why his film was the highest-grossing ever in Japan at the time.

Another possible reason is the sense of cultural loss that Japan has been experiencing ever since the World Wars. The increasing Americanization of the country has brought home to its citizens a sense of cultural alienation, both from their own and the foreign culture. The sense of cultural loss is exacerbated by the ambiguous conception of the United States as the "Other." This image was subverted, whereas American culture was accepted by the Japanese as inevitable. Indeed, the country has been continually prone to the influences of other cultures. While this provided for a dynamic and changing cultural landscape, there is a certain loss of identity involved. Miyazaki addresses this by returning the country's consciousness to a time where the battle was not so much for cultural identity as it was for the retention of human civilization and spiritual survival in an apparently hostile natural environment which would not be tamed.

The city Tokyo can perhaps be seen as the quintessential representative of traditional Japanese culture.

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Constructed during the first half of the 1960s in preparation for the ultimate meeting of cultures in the form of the Olympics, the city was fundamentally changed. It was reconstructed from its traditional, Japanese cityscape to a modernized, westernized metropolis for the benefit of the foreign crowds. This can be seen as representative not as much of construction as of destruction. Tokyo became Japan's meeting point with the world on the world's terms, rather than on its own terms.

This, as well as its acceptance of previously hostile America as part of its civilization, is what brought to Japan its sense of cultural loss and alienation. This is what Miyazaki attempts to regain through is film, and to a certain extent, he appears to succeed. He emphasizes an undiluted view of Japan, along with its civilization, natural and cultural roots. It is a Japan that is not influenced as much by the Western paradigm as it is by its collective consciousness of nature as wild and of women as ambiguous and powerful beings.

In returning to the ancient, Miyazaki appears to offer a reconstructed collective conception of Japan. In this, he offers collective healing to a country that has been ravaged by influences beyond her borders......

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