Princess Mononoke Justification to Kill Term Paper

Tags: morality reflection monster consequences life character power

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Movie: Princess Mononoke

Thesis Statement: it is justified to kill in order to defend your community

The movie Princess Mononoke is staged around the life of two main characters and their journey of reflection on their actions, namely Princess Mononoke (aka San) and Ashitaka. There are many scenes in the movie that can reflect arguments for and against the thesis statement above, but the scene I chose to analyse in support of the thesis statement above occurs in the beginning of the movie and is the foundation for the journey that one of the key characters, Ashitaka, thereafter takes in the movie.

Briefly describing the scene, we see Ashitaka riding his elk - Rudolph - ahead of a demonic monster. Ashitaka seems to be reasoning with the creature to stop chasing him and to leave him be. The monster sees the village that Ashitaka belongs to and moves in that direction. We see three youngsters, one of whom we later find to be Ashitaka's sister, also in the path of the monster once he rerouted to head towards the village. Ashitaka, for the first time in the scene, draws his weapon - bow and arrow - whille still trying to reason with the monster pleading him to leave his village alone. Upon seeing no letup from the monster, Ashitaka in an attempt to defend his village shoots the arrow into an eye of the monster causing the monster to retaliate and grab a hold of Ashitaka's arm. Finding room to fire one more shot, Ashitaka shoots at the monster's eye again, this time the shot proving to be fatal.

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The scene ends as we see the monster dissipating and losing all power.

The striking aspect of this scene was that Ashitaka, who is a defender of his village, in spite of his fear of the unknown nature of the monster had enough sense and morality to try reasoning first. This line of thinking shows the strength of the character even in less than ideal situations. It also showcases a prelude to the thesis statement above i.e. reasoning should be the first step before justifying any extreme action. What this also suggests is that Ashitaka chose to kill only as a means of defense - as a last resort - after reasoning and pleading didnt seem to be making any inroads.

The thesis statement above is thus justified under the circumstances for the character of this movie. However the prelude that can be seen is extremely important to consider when dealing with real life situations. An extreme reaction such as killing cannot be justified as the first choice but it can and must only be justified as a last resort when all other non-extreme options….....

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