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.