Japanese Animation and New Media
Lecture Four: Chapter Eight: Giving Up the Gun
A subsequent scene, in which we see people under the command of Lady Eboshi firing on animals, makes the clear the fundamental conflict between the world of firearms (Iron Town) and the world of animals (Forest). Again we see a tension between ballistic movement (targeting that tends toward cinematism) and animal movement (lateral weaving that tends toward animetism). This fundamental tension becomes more complex in the context of the story. The humans are firing at animals because they wish to clear the land to obtain iron sand. Iron Town is not a military complex but an industrial complex that demands military-style protection for its expansion — a precursor of the military-industrial complex. The animals are not fleeing from the humans but fighting against them to protect the Forest. As such, their animetism is already moving into closer relations with cinematism, flirting with it, engaging it, but not embodying it.
