CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I heard there was a hidden meaning to princcess mononoke. what is this hidden meaning if so, anyone know?

Hidden meaning makes it sound devious like the backmasking thing in the 80's and early 90's... "I heard there was a hidden message in that song! Oooh Satan!"

There was definately symbolism, but most good movies do have symbolism in them.

inkhana wrote:Can we actually have this thread without spoilers? *hasn't seen Mononoke* Just curious...

Its now a spoiler I just heard there was a hidden meaning to the movie about demon worshiping or somthing and I was curious to see if it was true, I thought somone might know.

It's not true. There is nothing about demon worshipping in Mononoke and I suggest that you don't go around spreading false rumors.

He's not. He's trying to ascertain their validity.

They have no validity. The film is certainly strongly rooted in Miyazaki's own environmental views, as well as in Japanese religion. It's ultimately as much of a comment about modern society as it is a good yarn.

Yeah... the "demon worship" is a good, shall we say, black mark that watchdog group love to toss around... I mean, people love to scare parents and discredit something, and it leaves those who know the truth with no room for defense... For instance, whether or not there is any validity to the fears over Harry Potter (from what I have seen there may be) doesn't matter because in those watchdog circles, anyone who has something to say in the other direction in support of it are immediately shot down. The majority of the people in the world just aren't rational... (which is why I don't believe democracy really works... but neither does any other form of government, especially the "no government government" known as anarchy) and the proof of that is in the stonewalling that happens regarding things like that.

As for hidden messages of demon worship?? No, nothing like that... In fact, no "worship" of any kind took place, but there was reverence for the "gods" because, I mean if superintelligent giant pigs and wolves could talk to you, would you call them names or something?? Actually, what I just said is pretty childish, but I can't think of anything better to compare it to... No, there is no demon worship, the only questionable thing about it really (since Miyazaki is an atheist and doesn't even believe in the shinto faith) is the environmentalism message in the film. That's also present in "The Lord of the Rings" which was written by a Christian and hailed by many as one of the best english works of fiction ever written...

Hmm... I think I may be on unstable ground here... I bet a lot of people in here are probably pretty big about environental beliefs, so I think I'm gonna stay quiet on that from this point...

But that's about the only really controversial thing I can think of... I mean, watching mononoke won't make you want to become shinto or anything, though there is a villainization of industrialization (just like in Lord of the Rings) which is pretty controversial...

You know, I'd have to disagree about the vilification. The movie was clear that it had benefited the lives of the people who worked in the factory, by freeing them from the toil and oppression of a peasent life, by giving them a certain economic freedom. The woman industrialist also treated her employees well, and was clearly and advocate of women's rights.

[spoiler="Don't look if you haven't seen it"]But it seemed as thought lady eboshi was also the villainess of the movie. And her destruction of the forests was the prime antagonism. Maybe not, but that is what I picked up from it. It was a tragedy that life as they all knew it had been ended by the events, not the least of which had been the destruction of the forests, and in turn, the killing of the forest god. Even though it showed Eboshis human, caring side, it was still like >>>at what cost?<<< sort of message and a regretful thing. Maybe Im wrong, but that was how I interpreted it.[/spoiler]

I should look it over again (looking for my tape I got off of starz)

I should look it over again (looking for my tape I got off of starz)[/QUOTE]

just wondering if it was true or not, Thanks for answearing my qeustion.