Wild Women and Iron Will: The battle for nature in Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke, with its focus on women in conflict, winds up reflecting an archetypal struggle between the “civilized” woman and the inner wild self.
Princess Mononoke, with its focus on women in conflict, winds up reflecting an archetypal struggle between the “civilized” woman and the inner wild self.
In Princess Mononoke, the heroine reflects a duality of potential for which women are feared and demonised: compassion balanced with a fierce courage and a raw instinct that can be honed, recklessness curbed, but never erased.
For a movie to appeal to me as a woman, female characters had to be more than just caricatures and stereotypes. They had to make mistakes and learn from them; they had to have bad hair days. I think that’s why I fell deeply in love with Princess Mononoke when I first saw Lady Eboshi.