Princess Mononoke

There are many things in this movie that make me laugh uproariously. Possible one of the most amusing lines of any movie (maybe it was just the mood I was in that night) is in this movie.
"Great Spirit, we give you back your head!!!"
I had never seen the movie all the way through, but I was really struck by some of the symbolism. My mom once told me that in fairie tales pixies are afraid of iron because of a certain historcal connection. The mythology of pixies was derived from the Picts of the UK. The Picts were conquered by a more advanced race of people who weilded metal weapons. Ergo, the Picts were conquered by iron (of course this is a much abreviated and generalized relation). I saw the same sort of thing in this film. The 'gods' were poisoned and killed w/ iron bullets. The human wars were settled with iron guns.

Freaks

I have been told that the 'freaks' were very happy about this movie and their work being banned. From my point of view, the ban probably hurt them in the short run, but I think that it helped the image of 'freaks' in the long run.
The whole 'freaks in the mud' scene was a little deconstructive for the image of freaks (do I need to apologize for calling them this?). I can't see a group of normal people doing this in a 1930's film.
While writing this I felt very uncomfortable using these terms. What does that say about the PC achievements of this film?