The 1997 movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki centers on a Japanese prince, Ashitaka, who seeks a cure for a fatal curse which he received from a demon. As he travels, he meets residents of the western part of the country and learns the story of Princess Mononoke, a woman who was raised by wolves and who consequently despises other people.
According to , the movie's American distributor, Miyazaki is a fan of the American director John Ford and the settlement of Iron Town, at which Ashitaka arrives and where he meets the residents, was intended to be reminiscent of villages seen in Ford's Western films which were peopled with "yearning, ambitious, and tough" settlers.
