Seasons 23: Princess Mononoke

Seasons: A Year of Movies

In this episode, that is nearly as long as the movie it discusses, Grace and Emma attempt to break down this fantastical samurai epic. As this is masterful film with many questions and few answers, most of this episode’s runtime is existential and ambiguous. At first we try to contextualize its depiction of indigenous peoples and the Muromashi period in our shaky understanding of Japanese history Is there a way to reconcile civilization and nature? Is this movie environmental centrism? Is the ending hopeful, bleak, or even cheap? What last 19th, early 20th century classical composer does the soundtrack borrow from the most? All of the questions are discussed and much more!

The resources we used to talk about Japanese history and indigenous peoples are: a summary of the history of both the Emishi and the Ainu, an account of the Ainu’s contemporary struggles, and a website about the Emishi’s cultural history. The critic Grace references at around an 1:06:20 of the podcast is Mark Shilling. The piece by Cole Henry that Grace discusses at 1:20:44 can be found here, and the twitter thread about indigenous survival discussed shortly thereafter can be found here.

The music used at 1:38:36 mark is a 1967 Recording of Richard Strauss’s Salome, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Sir Georg Solti. The music at the 1:39 is the track San and Ashitaka in the Forest of the Deer God from the film’s soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi.

The next movie is Spirited Away

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