Reflecting on Change

Activity #3

Image #1

My first image is from a scene in Princess Mononoke. In this scene, Ashitaka rescues Koroku and the other guard who survived from the Wolf Gods attacks. They must go through the forest to return to the Irontown, which could have unexpected dangers. This screenshot shows Ashitaka and Koroku encountering the Kodama, which are the strange spirits of the forest.

It's pretty clear that the two react in very different ways. Ashitaka sees them as signs that the forest is healthy, while Koroku sees them as danger that could lead to the Wolves finding out their location. On first glance, the Kodama didn't seem to have any significant purpose or role in the story.

With my newfound understanding of plants, I can know see this scene and the Kodama with a deeper perspective. The Kodama represent the spirituality of the forest. They are not kami or gods, but they bring life force to the trees. Through Professor Pitts words, they are the vital force of trees that is shared with humans.

The purpose of them is to really show how plants are more than just "plants". They are complex beings like humans, but it's just that there is a lot to their complexity that is hard for us to understand. Plants have done so much for the world, bringing and maintaining life, providing oxygen and food and shelter and much more. Plants have gone through suffering too, with exploitation and deforestation. The Kodama are just a way to put a face to the plants. They bobble their heads, which is strange to us, but has some purpose. They even react happily when the Deer God's Sprit is walking.

Later when the Deer God's head gets slain, the goo that comes out of it starts killing and destroying everything, including the Kodama. It literally shows the death of the trees and the chaos that is caused by ruining the balance of the natural world.

Back to the scene with Ashitaka and Koroku, their perspectives matter. Because Ashitaka seems them as friendly, he sees nature as friendly too. But Korkou fears them and what they would bring, which would justify the motives for cutting down the trees.

Image #2

My second image is also from a scene in Princess Mononoke. In this scene, The Deer God stares at Lady Eboshi before she shoots down its head. On first glance, I was like why would the Deer God expand it's neck, making it more vulnerable, and just look at Lady Eboshi as she holds her rifle to shoot it. I mean it technically tried something, by having flowers spawn on the rifle to sabotage it, but that didn't work out for the Deer God as we know.

With a new understanding, I think that the Deer God wasn't intending on using violence to stop Lady Eboshi. Even further, the Deer God was willing to die. And though it's death causes quite a bit of destruction, it also led to change.

In the end of the movie, although the Deer God is dead and Irontown is gone, there is still a positive ending. Lady Eboshi changes as a person, noting how she was saved by the Wolves that she aimed to kill from the start. She realizes her faults and will change for the good. Despite Irontown's destruction, the people are still alive and that's all they care about. They've been so focused on material gains, but now they realized that that was never the important thing. Same with the forest, that is completely regrown.

The Deer God's death is about rebirth, because now it lead to better changes. With no more hate, the humans and more-than-humans can coexist in peace.

Works Cited

Princess Mononoke by Studio Ghibli 1997

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