One of the main arguments of Princess Mononoke is that harmony is the key to a good relationship between nature and humanity.   

The forest was being destroyed by the neighboring towns so they could expand their towns. This led the forest spirits to defend their home. Princess Mononoke, a human girl who was raised by wolves, lives with the sole purpose of avenging the forest and its animals by murdering Lady Eboshi, a prime leader of its destruction. When Princess Mononoke and Lady Eboshi enter a brawl together, Ashitake stops them and insists that humans and the forest must live together in harmony, which introduces our theme. Ashitake is human and bonds with the peoples of Irontown and Tataraba, but empathizes and fights for the forest and its inhabitants. Throughout the story, he does not fight against either, but argues for peace among both sides. The people attack the forest, and the forest attacks back, fueling both with more hatred. As this happens, humans die, causing the humans to personally kill the animals. The forest doesn’t need to be destroyed and the humans don’t need to be killed. Hatred leads to the destruction of both, which doesn’t solve any problems until the end of the movie. Lady Eboshi succeeds in beheading the Forest Spirit, and when he turns into the Nightwalker, he kills the entire forest and any people his gooey body comes across. He does not stop until Ashitake and Mononoke return the head of the Forest Spirit back to him. As soon as he retrieves his head, the Nightwalker goes away, returning into the spirit of the land, returning the forest back to its lively and vegetated state. The humans who survive the terror of the Nightwalker realize that they need to change their perspective and live life a different way so they can appreciate the land for what it is. This symbolizes what Ashitake has been arguing all along. A human fought for the animals, while also saving the humans. This symbolizes that harmony is impossible with hatred. The end of the movie shows that his injury is healing, and he now can live a long life. I think this also symbolizes the life that love can bring to something. He wished for harmony and it solved his problem in the end. 

I could go on for years about the symbolism in Princess Mononoke for pages obviously, but now it is time for my opinion. I agree that harmony is necessary to solve the problem of the mistreatment of the earth. This movie is over 20 years old and is more relevant than ever. I think it is so important to understand Ashitake. Like him, I understand that humans want to do stuff with more space, but it can be done without destroying nature. Every day there are a painful amount of trees cut down and plastics being manufactured. It kills me to think that every piece of plastic that has ever been created, still exists. And breaking it down to destroy it kills the atmosphere and is toxic to humans. Humans in no way have to stop trying to improve and change the ways we live, but we can find ways to do it differently. We are doing this a little bit more each year with more items being made out of recyclable materials such as paper packaging and using reusable water bottles and metal straws, but there is much more that has to be done. As much as I would like to be vegetarian and as much as I would like to not use plastic items, it is not the most affordable lifestyle when you are a college student. The economics need to change, but for that, there needs to be harmony between Parties and Politicians and Corporations. Although this isn’t going to happen until much after our lifetimes, I do agree that humans need to do their part. I don’t think it will happen as beautifully as it does in Princess Mononoke, but I do think that empathy for Earth is needed. The Earth does so much for us, and we need to stop taking it for granted. 

Annie Baker-Bauer