Cullum ~ Ah! My Goddess!

As I packed my bags for cruise vacation over Thanksgiving break, I made sure to remember Samurai from Outer Space. After reading a full chapter on what seemed like female empowerment, I was ready to get back home and watch Oh! My Goddess (well, not really since I was on a cruise, but I was definitely ready to get it over with!) After struggling with blackboard to get the words and sound effects to stop lagging fifteen seconds behind the actual film, I was ready to write!

On the whole chapter of what I read, I was disappointed to have read very little specific information on Oh! My Goddess. The book was right on the spot when it mentioned the whole bit about how in the film, Keiichi embraced Belldandy’s powers while in American shows, it is quite the opposite. In Bewitched, Darren dislikes Samantha’s powers. In Oh! My Goddess Keiichi is fine with being looked over by his Goddess. Even after all the baggage she comes with (after being used as a ‘Trojan Horse’/virus spreader, losing her memory, and having the pass through the Gate of Judgement) they still end up together in the end, and there love is still as strong as ever. 

While reading the book, it seemed like a romance like Belldandy’s and Keiichi’s is quite normal, but in the film, I felt as if it hinted that it was a bit strange. Celestin seems like he wanted her for himself and was not okay with her choice of a lover. In the book it seemed as if that type of coupling was socially acceptable. I believe one of the ‘salient issues’ was that love can overcome anything. After having her memories of Keiichi erased, she still ended up with him in the end. 

I hate to compare the film with Twilight but I have to for a moment. Let’s not pretend that we didn’t notice that when Keiichi drove to Belldandy’s temple at insane speeds without realizing that he was expecting Belldandy to save him from having an accident. That scene made me think of when Bella was being a complete retard and was driving her motorcycle super fast and jumping off of cliffs to see Edward’s face and be ‘saved’ by him. 

Cullum, Princess Mononoke

Prince Ashitaka received a wound that will kill him by defending his village of Emishi from a boar that turned evil. Now he must venture on to the west to try and find a cure for his disease. He rides right into a battle and begins fighting. His arms starts to change shape and he shoots the arms off of warriors. The warriors call him a demon after he rides off. A wandering monk tells him he fights like a demon, which is evil, but the prince is obviously a good character. He even feels bad about killing that bad samurai. The battle between good and evil is inside each and every one of us and its important. It makes us do things that no one wants to do, but need to be done. Soldiers are defenders of our country and are very good, but they kill other people which is bad. Without them, we wouldn’t be as safe as we are now.

Lady Eboshi believes the wolves stole Princess Mononoke’s soul and now she is out to kill the lady. Toke, the man the prince saved wife, was really nice to Ashitaka, but she yelled at her husband. All the men in iron town are yelling at their wives, but they risk their lives for the food they eat. The women are yelling at the men, but they make the iron in the town. Lady Eboshi is the reason the boar is a demon, because she shot it. Naturally, you would think that this would make Ashitaka hate her, but he actually saves her that night. San, Princess Mononoke, tries to kill her and he uses his curse to stop the fighting between them. Since Eboshi runs Iron Town and goes on the missions with the men, but she turned the boar into a demon. She seems really nice to everyone, but she keeps making weapons to create more destruction. She also took in the lepers, washed them, bandaged them, and let them live in the town when everyone else looked down on them. These reoccurring examples of how people have good and evil inside of them keep turning up.

Iron town, a town for outcasts, is run by Lady Eboshi. In Iron Town, they are at war with the forest for clearing it out to mine the iron in the town. All of the women have the same headdress on, and the same outfits in different colors.  They mine the iron in the town and work long hours and do hard work. The men go on dangerous journeys to obtain the rice that everyone eats. Lady Eboshi is trying to create rifles for the women so they can kill the forest monsters. The women are doing hard work and fighting. When Mononoke invades the town, both the women and men fight.