Presenter: Annabel Winningham – Art History
Faculty Mentor(s): Alexandria Nanneman
Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Comics, Classics and Analysis
Hayao Miyazaki’s films are renowned for their fantastic visual complexity, cohesiveness, and heart- warming narratives. Miyazaki is able to unite oil-painting-like backgrounds with a great sense of depth and super-flat styled character to create playful, mystical, and breathtaking atmospheres. Although his art style is child-like and charming, the narratives of his work have very serious themes, and like much Japanese art post World War II, are highly influenced by westernization, industrialism, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Princess Mononoke, he portrays a sense of nationalism with an appreciation for the traditional Japanese way of life, yet detests the influence that the modern world has had on Japanese culture, especially as it contradicts many of the basic morals of the central religion of Japan, Shinto. The focal theme of the film is environmentalism, but he dives into the complexity of this issue by also portraying the benefits that have come with western industrialization. The film depicts a seemingly unresolvable conflict between the animals and spirits of the forest versus humanity, yet by the end of the film, Miyazaki beautifully displays the harmony that can be achieved, but only after devastating conflict and disaster. The film is a warning. The final battle is suspenseful and action-pact, but the movie concludes on a deeply pensive and hopeful note. My essay is a visual, historical, and contextual analysis of Princess Mononoke.