the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Deirdre Molumby, Graham Day and Bríd Martin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This year, we are proud to continue the tradition of Anime May, a fortnight looking at two of the animated Japanese films on the list. This year, we watched a double feature of the last two anime movies on the list, Hayao Miyazaki’s Mononoke-hime and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi.

This week, the first part of the double bill, Mononoke-hime, the last film before Miyazaki’s first announced retirement.

A freak demon attack disturbs the peace of a remote village, and places a curse on a young prince. The hero must venture into the larger world in search of a cure, and quickly finds himself embroiled in a struggle between industrialisation and nature, between city and forest, between man and god.

At time of recording, it was ranked 69th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 15th April 2021.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• Princess Mononoke at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Follow Dee on Twitter.
• Read Dee’s reviews at entertainment.ie.
• Read Graham’s reviews at Scannain.
• Hear Graham on Speaking Geek.
• Read Graham’s guide to Irish Gaming at Gameir.
• Follow Graham on Twitter.
• Hayao Miyazaki talks to The Guardian about the release and distribution of Princess Mononoke, September 2005.
• Sam Adams at The A.V. Club offers a brief history of Studio Ghibli, May 2012.
• Andrew Pollack at The New York Times reports on the distribution deal signed between Disney and Studio Ghibli, July 1997.
• Kevin Sullivan at The Washington Post reports on the success of Princess Mononoke in Japan, September 1997.
• Valarie Reitman at The Los Angeles Times reports on the cultural impact of Princess Mononoke in Japan, October 1999.
• Neil Gaiman talks to Cinefantastique about why the American release of Princess Mononoke was delayed so long, February 2009.
• Variety reports on the success of imports like Shall We Dance? for Miramax, January 1998.
• Neil Gaiman talks to Cranky Critic about how he came to translate Princess Mononoke, 1997.
• Steve Alpert writes at Polygon about bringing on Neil Gaiman to script the dub for Princess Mononoke, May 2020.
• Elizabeth Rayne at SyFy discusses why Neil Gaiman’s name got left off the publicity for Princess Mononoke, August 2019.
• Douglas Cohen at Tor.com discusses the Studio Ghibli adaptation of Tales From Earthsea, October 2008.
• Bardolatry takes a look at the Shakespeare boom of the nineties.
• Gina Barton at Vox discusses how the Netflix algorithm picks the tiles to show users, November 2018.
• Susana Polo at Polygon places Princess Mononoke in the context of the end of Hayao Miyazaki’s work on the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga, May 2020.
• Hayao Miyazaki talks to Empire about his work on his films, including Princess Mononoke, July 2011.
• Jon Herskovitz at Variety reports on Hayao Miyazaki’s return from his first (post-Princess Mononoke) retirement, December 1999.
• Beanna Olding at The Gryphon discusses the environmental themes of Studio Ghibli, October 2020.
• Clarisse Loughrey at Total Film writes about the theme of climate change in the films of Studio Ghibli, January 2020.
• Yanan Wang at The Washington Post reports on Hayao Miyazaki setting up a nature preserve, September 2015.
• Hanya Yanagihara at The New York Times discusses the real-life inspirations for the forest in Princess Mononoke, May 2018.
• Andrew Clarke at Unique Japan Tours discusses the historical evolution of Japanese gardens, May 2021.
• Spirits, Gods and Ghosts of East Asia explores the historical context of Princess Mononoke, January 2017.
• Razib Khan at Discover Magazine looks at the history and the context of the Emishi people, March 2011.
• Ella Alexander at Harper’s Bazaar discusses the feminism of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, February 2020.
• Gabrielle Bellot at The Atlantic discusses the influence of Hayao Miyazaki’s female characters on the evolution of her ideas of femininity, October 2016.
• Jonathan Watts at The Guardian discusses the complex intersection of monarchy and religion in Japanese politics, August 2002.
• Mari Yamaguchi at Associated Press explores the intersection of Japanese religion and monarchy in the abdication of the emperor, April 2019.
• Hayao Miyazaki talks about Princess Mononoke in the Mononoke-hime Theatre Program, July 1997.
• Jeremy Fuster at The Wrap looks back on the twentieth anniversary of Princess Mononoke, January 2017.
• James Gorman at The New York Times discusses the history of the idea of wilderness in popular consciousness, September 2003.
• William Cronon at The New York Times discusses the idea of wilderness as a human creation, August 1995.
• Isabel Jones at InStyle looks back on the relationship between Minnie Driver and Matt Damon, April 2020.
• Minnie Driver talks to RTÉ about the surreal experience of being nominated for an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting, September 2020.
• Simon Jimenez at Tor.com discusses the labour that Hayao Miyazaki invested in Princess Mononoke, January 2020.
• Animation World Magazine debates the emerging influence of anime on American popular consciousness, December 2000.
• Karen Han at Polygon discusses the use of animation in Princess Mononoke to underscore the movie’s core themes and ideas, May 2020.
• Susano Polo at Polygon discusses Hayao Miyazaki’s complicated relationship with computer-generated imagery, May 2020.
• Eric McAdams at Bright Wall/Dark Room discusses the anger and passion that drives so much of Princess Mononoke, May 2019.
• Tasha Robinson at Polygon discusses the ethical complexity that defines the work of Hayao Miyazaki, May 2020.
• Brian Ashcroft at Kotaku reports on Hayao Miyazaki’s desire to raise awareness of leprosy, January 2016.
• Nippon reports on Hayao Miyazaki’s personal experiences with people suffering from leprosy and his efforts to raise awareness of the condition, February 2016.
• Billy Bob Thornton talks to Todd Gold about his work with the Boxmasters, September 2019.
• James LaPierre at Cinematheque on the infamous “Warriors of the Wind”, the English language dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, September 2016.
• Desson Howe at The Washington Post debates over whether or not Princess Mononoke is child-friendly, November 1999.
• Stephen Hunter reviews Princess Mononoke for The Washington Post, November 1999.
• Roger Ebert shares his initial reactions to Princess Mononoke at The Chicago Sun Times, September 1999.
• Austin Gilkeson at Tor.com discusses the arbitrary fates that govern Hayao Miyazaki’s worlds, like Princess Mononoke, November 2018.
• Voltaire argues that “if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”, in “Epistle to the author of the book, The Three Imposters”, 1768.
• Bakunin argues that “if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him”, in God and the State, 1871.
• Arby’s share their celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Princess Mononoke on Facebook, January 2017.
• Jon Herskovitz at Variety reports on Princess Mononoke as the first animated film to win the Japan Academy Prize, March 1998.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: ani-may, animals, animated, anime, anime april, brid martin, cartoon, deirdre molumby, environmentalism, fantasy, Forest, gods, graham day, history, japan, manga, nature, podcast, princess mononoke, The 250, wilderness, wildlife |