i'm feeling a traditional animation vibe at the moment so i watched the last unicorn this morning. i don't in any way think what i'm about to say is reflective of any kind of author intention. it's more in the realms of "if you look hard enough, you can make anything fit", but since i have a lot of anarchy in my mind, i tend to watch things through that lens.

full spoilers.

this isn't an essay or analysis but these are the notes i made while i was watching it:

• the unicorn just wants to exist. she exists in nature, and as long as she exists there it is always spring, the trees always bloom, fruit always grows, and the animals who exist there are strong together (there is a repeating shot of this forest that shows all the animals--different (bears, deer, foxes, etc.), but all free and existing in this place.

• the unicorn is alone and wants to find others like her.

• the first person she meets--the "man"--doesn't recognise her for what she is. he thinks she is a horse. something to be owned. property. he tries to harness her and after she beats him into the dirt he doesn't even understand why it happened. as she runs away he makes an excuse for why it happened, because he can't comprehend that property might have feelings.

• the unicorn is captured and caged by a witch to be sold as an attraction at a midnight carnival. all the other captured creatures--the manticore, the satyr, the midgard serpent, the harpy--are haggard and completely drained by this existence of slavery. the witch doesn't care about the harm she does to them as long as she profits.

• when the unicorn breaks free from the cage, she frees all of the other creatures. even the "dangerous" harpy; despite everyone's warnings that if she releases the harpy it will kill her, she abolishes all cages indiscriminately.

• in the forest, the unicorn and her new friend shmedrick the mage (i think that's what his name was) come across a band of outlaws under the command of captain cully. they all call each other "comrade" but still have leadership. they are friendly and invite the unicorn and shmedrick to share their soup, but as soon as shmedrick refuses to conform to their way of thinking, they tie him to tree and threaten to kill him.

• everyone pins their hopes on trying to take something from the unicorn. the capitalist witch. the comrades. the king. they all just want to take something.

• the king's country is a wasteland. everything the monarchy touches is dead.

• "the red bull" drove all the unicorns into imprisonment, then erased the memory of their existence.

• once the unicorn and shmedrick arrive at the castle they become stuck in a stasis of perpetual drudgery. they join with the monarchy and their life becomes endless work. they forget who they are. their identity strips away. the longer they stay there, the further they get from themselves.

• if the king can't own the unicorn, he would kill her.

• when the unicorn fights back against the red bull, the other imprisoned unicorns appear as a great wave and collapse the king's castle into the sea.

• the prince loves the unicorn, but she knows she can't stay tied down to that monarchy shit so she leaves him out in the cold.

that's all i came up with.