Week 6: Anime and Manga, the Japanese Way

On completion of the viewing of Princess Mononoke, by Miyazaki, my initial impression on this animated movie were that it was fantasy bordering on the ridiculous, incredulous and quite frankly boring.  My apologies.  I just wasn't getting that out of this world feeling.  I felt the scenes were disjointed, I kept losing the thread and nothing seemed to flow.  The storyline seemed muddy, and it seemed to zig zag  from one event to another with no storyline curve as I know it.  I found it hard to connect with the characters.  The way they were drawn or designed just didn't hit a note with me.  The wolf characters seemed indistinguishable from one another, the depiction of the Deer God I felt was not convincing enough for the importance of the spiritual role he played, and Yakul seemed to have a lead role at the start of the movie as Ashitaka's firm friend, but turns out to be a convenient form of transport to get Ashitaka around the forest.  It just wasn't complying with my knowledge of consistency (Attebery, 1980) and didn't match the framework of a storyline as I know it, nor my knowledge of how a storyline should sit in Vogler's three Act structure.

"Japanese comics (manga) and their spin-offs in the domain of Japanese animation (anime) do not abide by the criteria of the typically Western narrative structure with its three-act format leading from the delineation of characters and situations through a series of conflicts and complications to a denouement." (Cavallaro, 2006).

Upon reading the material associated with the field of manga and anime, I can see the movie in a new light and realize that my naivety and expectation of the story of Mononoke over-rode my knowledge of the topic of anime.   The concept of anime can be classed as almost unique to Japan, although that could be disputed by Lent (2000) who quotes pioneer animators such as "James Wang of Taiwan, Payut Ngaokrachang of Thailand, Tezuka of Japan and Shin Don Hun of Korea" as being the Disney creators of their respective countries.

The role of the genre of anime is to be taken seriously.  In Miyazaki's instance, there is not only an intention to entertain his audience with the storyline of the animated movie, but also to send an overriding eco-message to his audience.   "Miyazaki's movies do not indulge in mere nostalgia for they frankly intimate that nature's forceful independence is unlikely ever to be restored" and there is a distinct hope attached to them for humans to "achieve non-aggressive cohabitation and even cordial cooperation with the natural environment." (Cavallaro, 2006).

Cavallaro (2006) cites that "manga tend to unfold over several years and therefore experience often substantial reorientations.  Animated series and features based upon them target audiences intimately acquainted with their narrative content."  This helps to explain my confusion as, as a Western viewer, the concept of a storyline that doesn't really wind up with a nice neat bow (denouement) is completely foreign to me.





References:

Attebury, B. (1980). Locating fantasy. In the fantasy tradition in American literature: from Irving to Le Guinn.  (pp. 2-9). Bloomington: Indiana U P.

Cavallero, D. (2006). Introduction. The anime art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp. 5-13). London: McFarland & Company

Lent, J.A. (2000). Animation in Asia: appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Retrieved 21 June, 2006, from AnimeRsearch.com