Set in Japan's Muromachi period, Princess Mononoke is a combination of an adventure, a love story, and a tale of morals. The movie opens with Prince Ashitaka, the main protagonist, fighting a cursed demon, which transfers its curse to him. He leaves his village in order to meet his curse, instead of waiting for it to kill him, and eventually finds himself in Irontown. This town is right next to a great forest filled with animal gods, among them the shishigami and a small pack of wolves who have taken a human girl, San, as their own. Irontown and the animals are greatly at odds with each other, and it is up to Ashitaka to try and bring them together while finding a cure for his curse. Along the way, he of course falls in love with San, who is herself conflicted between the animals among whom she was raised and the human that she is.Now, I have seen more than a couple of Miyazaki's films, and I have to say Princess Mononoke has been my favorite by far, mostly due to the plot. The majority of my favorite anime is such because of historical and/or fantastical elements. To me, this movie came across as a combination of the shows The Twelve Kingdoms and Wolf's Rain, and I loved it.
However, as is often the case, the dubbing in Princess Mononoke began to irritate me quickly. Sure, it goes with the mouth movements and such, but the dialouge often sounds awkward because things are not expressed the English speakers typically speak. The Japanese language has concepts that Americans have no words for, and we speak differently to each other regarding things like formality and titles, so often, the beauty of that is lost in translation. I understand it's not practical to learn an entire foreign language to watch a film, but I will nine times out of 10 recommend watching it in its native language with subtitles so the film sounds the way it's meant to sound. This movie has such profound messages in it that I'm sure were much more effective pre-translation. There are also times when what the characters say, and the way they say it, just sound ridiculous in English. Flaws aside, it's beautifully drawn and the story is unique.
I enjoyed reading Kelsey's editorials on the various topics she discussed in her blog. Each entry is well researched and very insightful. Kelsey also provides links to some of the resources she's used or in some cases a video, which allows the reader to read or view more information on the topic if they choose to do so.
ReplyDeleteKelsey presents a young (not an insult), but fresh perspective on what she writes about. She does a good job of not just informing, but also sharing her own opinion on each topic. In reading through her different entries, it is easy to feel like you have at least a basic idea of who she is and what makes her tick. I think that is important, especially if you're hoping for a large readership. People who follow specific editorial writers want to feel like they know who the author is and what they stand for, at least on some level.
Kelsey also took the time to respond to comments that readers posted on her blog. More than anything, her blog entries are very entertaining, complete in thought, and well written. I would hire Kelsey without hesitation.
I agree with the dubbing, though I didn't mind the translation as much since I'm a Neil Gaiman fan. I found the animal's voices annoying; the way they were mixed sounded ridiculous. I was disappointed when I found out the DVD didn't have the original language track.
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Spot on. I've taught here for five years now. I've been friendly with most of them, but there's only a handful of students I wouldn't hesitate to hire if given the opportunity; you are one of them. Keep up the good work.
That's really encouraging to hear, and I very much appreciate it. Thanks. :)
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