Princess Mononoke

Does the film have a moral vision? Should art be moral?

            Princess Mononoke definitely has a moral theme of an environmental nature. It deals with the battle between humans and nature, which seems to be opened to the audiences' own interpretation. However, since the direction has a certain moral goal in mind, the anime sometimes vilifies or glorifies aspects of the story.

Further, it raises the point of environmental destruction as being something negative. Yet, one of the questions raised in this anime is whether it is worth destroying a human life for the sake of saving nature. From the director’s perspective, he seems to subtly suggest that it is not. One of the ways in which he depicts that is by making Lady Eboshi's character become grey when humans begin to die because of nature.

In addition, art is another important part of its anime and its theme. Through the use of art such as the fat cat that symbolizes a profit-hungry capitalism, the director successfully makes his point about anti-industrialism and that overall nature should be as intact as possible. At the same time, the movie shows that he also thinks that nature should be preserved without causing any harm to humans. Again, this ties to the idea mentioned above of Lady Eboshi's character changing after humans are harmed to preserve nature. Moreover, since it is an anime, the use of vivid images the characters' built up are key factors for the overall effect on the moral theme.  Through diversified strong colors, the images add emphasis to the moral theme. For example, the grass is overly emphasized as a bright green as well as other nature elements. This contrasts with the second part of the movie as it develops and the theme became more evident. In this second part, I noticed an artistic touch being used to emphasize the ecological morality of the plot. That is, the green forests through which Ashitaka traveled west were replaced by wastelands, which were no longer depicted in bright green colors. Instead, a more opaque and grey scenery was depicted to emphasize the evilness of men in stripping the trees to be used in their furnaces.

Hence art is in fact very much used in this artistic anime to make a moral point and emphasize it. In my opinion, every piece of art carries a morality to it whether intended or not. The moment an artist composes something, he or she is automatically transmitting his/her experience, views, expressions, or references of life into the art piece. It is impossible for him/her to leave these impressions of a lifetime aside in order to compose. In some pieces, the moral theme is more hidden than in others. For example, in contemporary art, the morality behind modern compositions is especially difficult to discern. Yet, there is still one. In Princess Monoke, the artistic morality is less hidden than in modern art and comes forth in many ways. As mentioned above, symbolic images or character were created to specifically emphasize the moral points Miyazaki was trying to make through this anime as it is the case of the fat cat mentioned above. 
Overall, whether Miyazaki is explicit or not in delivering his opinion about the destruction of nature, the anime's moral message definitely comes across to his audience. After watching this anime, I started applying its environmental theme to my own life. I caught myself asked what is my attitude towards preserving nature. This in turn is very similar to what the director is ultimately trying to invite or even push us to do. This probably signals that the movie effectively transmits its theme to the viewer.