The Tale of the Princess KaguyaEvery father thinks of his daughter as a princess, and some push too hard to make that desire into the reality. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is an animated movie adapted by Isao Takahata from the 10th century Japanese tale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter". A mix of drama and fantasy, the film begins with a humble bamboo cutter who discovers a diminutive princess within a bamboo tree. He brings the tiny princess home, and his wife says that they should raise her as their child. The princess transforms into a baby--who grows rapidly, like a bamboo shoot--as the bamboo cutter continues to find ever more rewards within the bamboo forest.
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Produced by the acclaimed Studio Ghibli, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is an achievement in animation. (It also happens to be the most expensive Japanese movie ever made.) Employing an animation technique designed to resemble ancient Japanese ink painting (a.k.a. "sumi-e"), watching the film is akin to watching these vivid images come to life before your eyes. Add to this a touching and very traditionally Japanese tale, and some might say that The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is the ultimate way to experience historical Japanese imagery in animated form. Were that this was all that the film was, it would be more of an art piece than a movie, however. Instead, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a heartfelt story filled with elements and themes that remain identifiable today. To begin, the bamboo cutter and his wife scrape by to survive in the woods, alongside others in a community, including a teenager named Sutemaru. Others in the collective make bowls from trees, with some carving the insides out, others polishing the outsides, and others carting them on their backs to the market. Everyone chips in, but they live in poverty, living under the rule of the nobility. So it isn't too surprising that the bamboo cutter and his wife would romanticize life in the capital, surrounded by opulence and servants for their little girl, who would later be named Kaguya. Despite growing at an alarming rate, Kaguya keeps up emotionally and intellectually as she sprouts into a young woman. She is called "Lil' Bamboo" by Sutemaru and the others, owing to how fast she grows, and she joyously plays alongside the other kids, picking mushrooms, grapes, and even helping to catch a pheasant. All the while, the bamboo cutter cuts the bamboo in the woods. One day, after cutting into yet another luminescent bamboo tree, it spills forth with gold nuggets, and later fine kimonos. Convinced that this is a sign that he must transform his daughter into the princess she was destined to be, he and his wife take Kaguya to the bustling city without even giving her the opportunity to say goodbye to Sutemaru. Their palatial mansion is gorgeous, but Kaguya rankles at the arbitrary and unnatural behaviors and costumes that she expected to adopt. She also feels disconnected from her own life for the first time, and so her new home thus transforms into nothing more than a gilded cage.
Several themes get explored in The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, but the one I find most compelling concerns the disparity between the nobility and the woodland community, the "haves" and the "have nots". The world in which Kaguya is thrust into is one that is obsessed with status and image, where Kaguya's role is simply to become the wife of a noble, regardless of whether or not they love one another. One wonders whether the gold which the bamboo cutter discovered later wasn't truly sent to test his resolve, to see if he could resist leading his daughter into a wealthy--yet empty--way of life. Everything depicted in the film about the nobility seems unnatural, forced, and decadent, perhaps exemplified best by her tutor, Lady Sagami, who informs her that she must pluck her eyebrows out entirely and paint her teeth black to appear "beautiful" by their standards. Kaguya resists at first, yet acquiesces after she catches sight of Sutemaru being beaten in the street for stealing a hen. She is more acutely aware than anyone of the outright wrongness of this world, despite its beautiful textiles and mansions. For her, the ideal remains living in the woods in a natural and clean existence, even if--as Sutemaru puts it--they would be half-starved and forced to steal to survive at times. Kaguya refutes her courtly suitors with impossible tasks, which ultimately attracts the attention of the emperor himself. Instead of wooing her, however, he issues a summons for her to join him at court. (Yeah, really romantic.) But the emperor is unaccustomed to having anything deprived to him. When he comes to see Kaguya for the first time, he all but tries to kidnap her by force, putting his arms around her without invitation, and stating that when he wants something, he gets it. He's correct about this, but his behavior makes it obvious how his entitlement blinds him to the moral corruption within him...and the rest of the nobility, for that matter. But what is ironic is that after this, Kaguya understands that she will be summoned back to the Moon and taken from her life on Earth. When that day comes, the emergence of Buddha and his entourage is not dissimilar to that of the Emperor. They show up by force, resist the arrows of the uplifted bamboo cutter's army--turning them to flowers in midair--and essentially abduct Kaguya via their mystical power and brainwashing. The great tragedy of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is that everyone else has an idea about what Kaguya's life should be, yet her desire to live a simple life in the country with Sutemaru is always denied to her because of this.
Recommended for: Fans of an absolutely gorgeous animated film that explores a classic tale from Japanese folklore with vivid visuals that transport the audience into a living watercolor and ink painting. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya may be a sorrowful tale of old, but its exploration of themes like class disparity and the struggles of finding individual agency within these confines will always be relevant.
Several themes get explored in The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, but the one I find most compelling concerns the disparity between the nobility and the woodland community, the "haves" and the "have nots". The world in which Kaguya is thrust into is one that is obsessed with status and image, where Kaguya's role is simply to become the wife of a noble, regardless of whether or not they love one another. One wonders whether the gold which the bamboo cutter discovered later wasn't truly sent to test his resolve, to see if he could resist leading his daughter into a wealthy--yet empty--way of life. Everything depicted in the film about the nobility seems unnatural, forced, and decadent, perhaps exemplified best by her tutor, Lady Sagami, who informs her that she must pluck her eyebrows out entirely and paint her teeth black to appear "beautiful" by their standards. Kaguya resists at first, yet acquiesces after she catches sight of Sutemaru being beaten in the street for stealing a hen. She is more acutely aware than anyone of the outright wrongness of this world, despite its beautiful textiles and mansions. For her, the ideal remains living in the woods in a natural and clean existence, even if--as Sutemaru puts it--they would be half-starved and forced to steal to survive at times. Kaguya refutes her courtly suitors with impossible tasks, which ultimately attracts the attention of the emperor himself. Instead of wooing her, however, he issues a summons for her to join him at court. (Yeah, really romantic.) But the emperor is unaccustomed to having anything deprived to him. When he comes to see Kaguya for the first time, he all but tries to kidnap her by force, putting his arms around her without invitation, and stating that when he wants something, he gets it. He's correct about this, but his behavior makes it obvious how his entitlement blinds him to the moral corruption within him...and the rest of the nobility, for that matter. But what is ironic is that after this, Kaguya understands that she will be summoned back to the Moon and taken from her life on Earth. When that day comes, the emergence of Buddha and his entourage is not dissimilar to that of the Emperor. They show up by force, resist the arrows of the uplifted bamboo cutter's army--turning them to flowers in midair--and essentially abduct Kaguya via their mystical power and brainwashing. The great tragedy of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is that everyone else has an idea about what Kaguya's life should be, yet her desire to live a simple life in the country with Sutemaru is always denied to her because of this.
Recommended for: Fans of an absolutely gorgeous animated film that explores a classic tale from Japanese folklore with vivid visuals that transport the audience into a living watercolor and ink painting. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya may be a sorrowful tale of old, but its exploration of themes like class disparity and the struggles of finding individual agency within these confines will always be relevant.