MovieChat Forums > Mononoke-hime (1997) Discussion > I would not let my children watch this m...

I would not let my children watch this movie.

posted 9 years ago by xxxzxxx
23 replies | jump to latest

This movie is so unlikeable because of the blatant hating of men. The movie treats men as useless and disposable while the women are treated as strong as valuable. If the roles were reversed the rating of this movie would have been stuck at 1 or 2. The movie has no problems killing off men here and there. The men gets blown up like nothing and no one gives a *beep* - yet not even one woman dies and even the antagonist woman gets to live in the end with a changed heart.... I usually enjoy movies from Hayao Miyazaki and I probably would have enjoyed this without the misandry but sadly they decided to ruin it....

[–] hgonzalez-3 9 years ago

yaaaaaawn...

[–] jwhiskey89 9 years ago

If you honestly believe that Eboshi was an antagonist... then you didn't understand the movie at all... Sure she is against the animals but in all honesty, why shouldn't she? She only wants to cure her leppers, free prostitutes and give her citizens the best lives possible but the forest gods won't even cut down some trees.

Of course this isn't the whole truth but it's how she sees it and it's understandable. It's not good vs bad, it's people with different interests.

Also, I watched this movie when I was 12 for the first time (my brother was 10) and to this day we both see this movie as one of the most deep, relevant and non-black-of-white. Sure it has some brutal scenes but kids can take more than you would tink as long as it's put into context

[–] xxxzxxx 9 years ago

If she had not been an antagonist the movie would not have needed her to change her way just to spare her. Eboshi was a thief and only cared for her own wishes willing to sacrifice the wishes of the "animals" - in this movie the animals had "higher" intelligence which is why it's even worse. Eboshi was killing innocent beings just to "help" those she herself decided were more worthy (mainly women). Eboshi was basically invading and stealing from another "country".
I understood this movie just fine and even people with "different interests" can be good or bad depending on the point of view - surely if you look at it from the view of Eboshi then she's not bad but that's how it is with everyone. Heck even terrorists think what they are doing is not bad. Eboshi was the one trying to take what was not hers for herself and those she herself deemed worthy and that's why I call her an antagonist.

The point was never really that I didn't want my children to watch this because of the brutal scenes anyway....

[–] Druff 9 years ago

Hayao Miyazaki is pretty much a feminist, and if you watch his movies, most of them should give that impression. He doesn't like how women have been treated as second class citizens through most of the history of human society and he did what he could to say something about that. I don't think that's a bad thing. He routinely puts female characters in positions of power and dominance. Or at least protagonism.

No idea what age your kids are, but Miyazaki himself was the first to say that Mononoke was never intended for young children.

[–] piapaya 9 years ago

"Misandry"? I don't think you understand the movie, let alone the word.

[–] johnnymike91 9 years ago

Well you shouldnt let them watch it because its PG13. Its not a childrens movie.

[–] Xator_Nova 9 years ago

yet the main character is male 😝

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

It's a shame you wouldn't let your children watch a beautiful movie because of your own misogyny.

Can't stop the signal.

[–] chrishc 9 years ago

What film did you watch to make this comment? 'blatant hating of men'...er, not in Princess Mononoke. Also your use of the word 'misandry' tells everything about your attitude prior to watcing this film.
Religious zealot springs to mind. If I see something I don't like I stop watching it. Ditto for reading hearing whatever. I do not enter into a discussion about the wherefore why of my dislike and engage in an argument based on my or their missassumption blah blah blah

[–] xxxzxxx 9 years ago

I don't know if it's hard to realize but this is a discussion board for the movie.... The discussion boards are not limited to people praising the movies only.
I understand pretty well what the word 'misandry' means and Hayao Miyazaki is obviously not stupid - he knows that not having at least one capable male character would probably result in far less male viewers and that the generalization of males being useless would be too evident.

I guess i'm not the only one noticing this though. In the thread of "The Things I Learned Watching Princess." another person also wrote.

"Women are tough and gifted with strong character. Men, however, are goofy, cowardly, abusive, easily confused, and are unprepared to any emergency." - diddymuck.

Whether it was a joke or not I'm not sure but the fact that he did mention it say pretty much how men (beside the main lead) was shown in this movie.

If the same comments made about men in this movie was made about women - i'm pretty sure this board would be floated with people calling the movie misogynistic.

[–] DrinktheCoolaid 9 years ago

But isn't the fact that the main character is a male disprove your point? I'm not sure how a male main character who is likable allows for you to say the creator hates men. You could make the case that this movie's fantasy world is making a point that female characters usually are powerless but before 1997 it is kind of hard to really argue that point. Besides a few examples the vast majority of stories of this sort had a certain power structure. It is your right to hate a story that shows a reverse of that power structure but that also means by necessity you should also hate narratives that show men as strong characters and women are weak, need protecting and dependent on men.

There is a power imbalance in reality between men and women in the world. It is not as big as it used to be in western countries but it still exists. That is why feminists people believe sexism is power + prejudice and a lot say that a man can't experience sexism since they have the power (I do disagree with that statement though). You can also apply that to racism where blacks can have a network called B.E.T but if a white network called White Entertainment Television existed it would be racist. This is the society we exist in. You can disagree with this philosophy but you have to agree that the male power narrative is used much more than the female one. Do you only care when men are betrayed badly?

[–] 9 years ago

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