Learn about Japanese art forms with a presentation from Dr. Minae Savas. Dr. Savas will be spending the first half-hour discussing Princess Mononoke by the director Hayao Miyazaki (from Studio Ghibli). Her talk is titled The Great Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke: The Significance of Morally Ambiguous Character. The remaining half-hour will be an origami lesson. This is the second presentation from Dr. Savas this April on Japanese arts, but you don't need to attend the April 7th program to attend this one. Teens and adults welcome!

The Great Forest Spirit or Shishigami (lit. deer god) is a mighty, yet morally ambiguous character in the award-winning film, Princess Mononoke (1997) directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The Forest Spirit represents both life and death. In the daytime, appearing in its stag form, the Forest Spirit gives life to those that it deems to live and takes life from those that it believes have lived enough. At night the Forest Sprint transforms into the Night-Walker or Daidarabotchi, a horrifying gigantic humanoid form. This talk examines the role of this morally ambiguous character, which has the mighty power to protect or to annihilate the life of the forest. Come and join us for the lecture to find out how Ashitaka, a prince of the Emishi tribe, and San, the wild, beautiful Princess Mononoke, reconcile with the enraged Forest Spirit.

Dr. Minae Yamamoto Savas is an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at Bridgewater State University. She received her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from The Ohio State University. Her primary research interest lies in the dynamic nature of traditional Japanese theater that comes together as negotiations between forces and perspectives in the political, cultural, and aesthetic realms.