Studio Ghibli has contributed towards making some of the greatest animated films of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, two of which are Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). Through examining the attitudes towards tradition and modernity found in both these films, it can be argued that they serve as critiques on how Western practice, such as mass industrialisation and consumerism, have led to the neglect of the country’s cultural roots in modern day Japan.

Read More Soot, Steel & Spirits: Tradition and Modernity in Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (1997)