This is how great Princess Mononoke is. It is so great that I couldn’t contain all my fangirl feels into just one post.
Because while San is awesome, so is Lady Eboshi.
Look at her. Just Look.
She is in charge of the richest Iron town in the country. She took in brothel girls and gave them a safe place to live and work and be happy. She took in LEPERS and gave them a purpose and a sanctuary. She’s so bad ass that war lords don’t stand a chance. GODS don’t stand a chance. She personally kills not one, but TWO mother fucking GODS in this movie. And in the end, she sees reason. She’s not ambitious to the point of insanity. She just wants what is best for the people she’s in charge of.
She’s snarky and awesome, and designs guns, and kicks ass AND empowers OTHER women as well. She’s caring too, empathetic. She’s kind of the villain of the movie, and yet she’s not a villain at all. While San is all feral and nature and wild, Eboshi is humanity and civilization embodied. Not evil. Not good. Complex and wonderful, empowered and powerful.
This woman is one of the main reasons I love Princess Monoke so much, but it also just one of many examples of why I have loved and found nearly all of the Miyazaki movies so inspiring…they all have villains who are just bad people. The Miyazaki films are often about people who are at odds with one another, but they are never The Bad Guy and the Good Guy…usually they are just different people with different points of views who think that they are doing the correct thing (and often ARE, depending on how you are looking at it). I have always found that to be one of the most endearing traits of these movies and the things that I try hard to carry into my own future as an artist.
