So this week we watched Nausicaa, which I think was an okay film. It was slightly hard to watch due to my “restlessness”, but overall I think it was enjoyable. Like Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa deals with environmental concerns and also has the theme of powerful women. Nausicaa willingly fights for her people and even protects the insects that threaten their existence. She’s also a very peaceful person and tries to solve problems without resorting to violence, unlike San from Princess Mononoke. The one time she is violent in the film is when her father was attacked. And even then she felt guilty for letting her anger allow her kill and hurt others. Also like San, she loves nature and is willing to protect it.
Though the environmental issues in both Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa are caused by humans, I found it interesting that Princess Mononoke takes place in the past while Nausicaa is post-apocalyptic and set in the future. In both cases of the films, the environment and ecology was only messed up because of the actions of humans. I’d say that it’s kind of the same thing in real life. Plant too many crops consistently on one plot of land, the soil will become infertile, etc. Nature replenishes itself, but it’s humans who hinder the process and even make the problem worse. The fact that the earth, or nature, doesn’t really need humans is something I never really thought of before. It makes me feel like a parasite almost =/
The sad truth is we are just parasites slowly destroying the Earth and we do not realize this until we take universally neutral look at things. Prior to our discussion, the only other time the thought came up for me was when I was watching a Joe Rogan on Netflix. He did a little speech of sorts before his routine saying we are just like infectious bacteria scatter all over the Earth. We constantly destroy nature, use up natural resources, and hunt animals into extinction. Without us, nature would probably look ten times more beautiful, instead of in select remote areas we have not gotten to yet. Nausicaa pretty much claims that same thing, except it sort of ends on a more positive note. In real life it is not all bad though, some organizations try their hardest to go green preserving the Earth. Other organizations, or foundations, have natural reserves to protect the natural world from other humans. Hopefully, such actions become more prominent and we all learn to live in harmony with nature.
ReplyDeleteI found it hard to follow along with this movie, but not necessarily because it was confusing, but rather because it did not really catch my attention. This might sound harsh, but I would not consider this particular film one of his better works. Yes, it most definitely has a message, but it's pretty much the same message as Princess Mononoke, one of his later, better films. It raises ecological concerns and points out that humans are indeed harmful to the natural world. I do find the view that humans are parasites to Earth interesting, and personally, I now feel bad because of it. However, this revelation will not make me live any differently than I already do; I am just aware of it.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I am not necessarily a fan of this movie is because of all the bugs in it. This may seem a little silly, but I do have a legitimate fear of insects.
We are parasites haha. I guess you could say that humans don't belong here, but we have nowhere else to go. Everything works to survive in the circle of life, but it all plays out according the mother nature's plans. We're the ones fighting mother nature. We don't agree with her plan, so we build structures and plow her forests and pollute her oceans, so that we can live as the dominant species and suck every last drop of resources from the earth. All of it for what? Just so we can live comfortably? Mrs. McCay's friend is right, we don't consider a natural disaster a natural disaster unless humans are involved. I'm such a hypocrite for saying all of that, because I'm sitting here on my 900 watt desktop and driving a 15mpg car, while using all other sorts of bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about this movie is that it not only shows humans as selfish parasites who have destroyed nature, but it also realizes that we CAN change our ways to be compassionate toward nature and do great things. Most of the time, though, the only way for the human race to realize this is for something bad to happen. Maybe something bad does need to happen for nature to get its point across to everyone. The people in Nausicaa's valley went on living even after most of the world was damaged. They had to go back to a more natural way of life to survive.
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