Japanese Animation and New Media
Lecture Four: Chapter Eight: Giving Up the Gun
As the boar pursues Ashitaka, the film strives to give a strong sense of movement into and out of depth.
A few points are important in assessing this cinematism. First, it appears as a disruption of, and threat to, the previously ‘animetic’ world. Second, as we later learn, it is the shot from a firearm that has transformed the giant boar into a monster. Its cinematism is literally associated with ballistics. Third, this scene was one of the few in the film that used digital technologies (which Miyazaki normally avoids) for movement as well as digital colouring. Fourth, even at the height this cinematism, Ashitaka’s elk zigzags back and forth, imparting a sense of lateral non-linear movement (which will generally be associated with animals). Fifth, the sequence ends with Ashitaka’s arm infected with the ‘mono no ke.’ His movements and actions will thus be a continuous negotiation with cinematism.
