Studio Ghibli makes an appearance on the LAMBcast with Hayao Miyazaki’s spectacular success “Princess Mononoke”. When it was first released in Japan, it set box office records and toppled E.T. from the throne of Japanese box office champion. Although it’s reign was short (it was Replaced as the top box office film in Japan by Titanic, just a few months later) Princess Mononoke was influential in making animation a mainstream film format and with introducing Westerners to the culture of Japanese mysticism.
Tony Coogan takes the hosting reins as the champion of the film, and he leads Richard, Lisa Leaheey, Todd Liebenow and Bubbawheat through the ancient forest, the various demons, gods, samurai, and brothel workers that make up this elaborate fantasy. Along the way we learn of our guests history, with and prejudices about the film.
We visit Iron Town and learn that heroes and villains are not always easy to pick out, and everyone is capable of doing mundane work and then slaying invaders during their breaks. The cursed hero Ashitaka meets San, the girl-wolf who is leading a battle against those exploiting the forest. She hates humankind and tries to kill Ashitaka a couple of times before their relationship evolves. It is she who is dubbed Princess Mononoke, which means supernatural, shape-shifting being that possess people and cause suffering, disease, or death.
Man against nature, iron vs. organic, greed against conservation, these are all themes the film purports to confront and the guests confront those themes as well. There are amazing creatures in every frame and some of them will give you nightmares without saying a word or actually doing anything malevolent.
We also have Rants/Raves/and Reviews as well as a spirited game. There is no reason you should stay away, unless you are worried about decapitation, which is a feature of this film, which should not be confused as a kid’s movie.
Introductions
Discussion 3:43
Lambscores 1:02:52
Rants/Raves/Reviews 1:10:13
No Jockeys Game 1:28:15
Lisa Rabbit Hole Podcasts
Bubbawheat Flights/Tights and Movie Nights
Tony Coogs Reviews Directors Chair
Todd Forgotten Films In and Around Denver
Richard KAMAD
The show can be found, of course, via iTunes – just do a search for “LAMBcast.” Also, I always post a link to the show on the LAMBcast’s Facebook page, and there’s a player there if you’d like to listen online. Find the show here:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-08-15T09_49_16-07_00
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