SPIRITED AWAY
dir: Hayao Miyazaki
"Once you've met someone you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return." - Zeniba
Brief Synopsis
A young girl moves to a new home and on the way discovers the world of spirits where she gets a job in a spirit bath house.
Why It's Here
Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" is much like the Japanese equivalent of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", a young girl travels to a strange world where the rules of her former world no longer apply and situations and characters are odd yet familiar. However, unlike "Wonderland", Miyazaki infuses the story with his unkind take on labour, greed, and a more direct "growing up" story than that of Lewis Carroll's story. Accompanied by lush visuals animated in rich traditional anime style with some CGI assets included, "Spirited Away" is a gorgeous film to watch, and is also thankfully a deep and rich story as well.
It's not hard to draw the connections to Carroll's classic story, early in the film a young Chihiro slips into a mysterious world where she feels alien, yet is not as surprised as one would expect. One of her first encounters is with the Boiler Man who has a few limbs too many and can outstretch them to incredible lengths--not unlike Alice extending her neck and head as she spins uncontrollably through the jungle, being mistaken for a snake. Like Alice, Chihiro accepts mysterious food and eats it without knowledge of it's safety, of course the food is nourishing and not threatening, though bitter. Many more apparent similarities can be drawn from the naive nature of the protagonist, her sense of manners is primitive and she tries to be polite, but in this odd world she appears as rude and impatient. Many of the characters are anthropomorphic (as seen in many of Miyazaki's films), some more bizarre and abstract than those of Carroll's story. Finally, Chihiro encounters a door that insults her pathetic attempts to enter it, similar to Alice's inability to access a locked door due to her size.
However, "Spirited Away" is far from a Japanese knock-off of "Wonderland", the stories differ greatly in the structure. Alice's adventures are largely nonsense based with characters who question our notions of logic; Chihiro is driven into a world of spirits, lost souls, who not unlike us, are greedy animals. When Chihiro enters their world most spirits show displeasure or alarm when they realize she is human, that she might disrupt the work flow. Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs early in the film as a message that they are greedy pigs for taking the food of the spirits without asking. The expected contrast in humans and spirits (humans being pigs; spirits being humble) is surprisingly nowhere to be seen, instead the spirits are labour driven creatures who have only one focus: wealth. Their hypocritical stance on humans is entirely represented by the elderly witch whom runs the bath house. She refuses to give Chihiro a job because of her worthlessness in the workplace, a young girl with no prior experience is a waste of her time. When she does come around however, she gives Chihiro an alternate name, something to attempt to make Chihiro forget her identity so that she may be a worker trapped in the cycle of her job, with no hope of breaking free. The difficult labour is unusual for Chihiro and we see the girl stumble and groan for the entire first act of the film without as much as a smile from her. This mysterious wonderland acts more as a personal hell.
Later in the film, when Chihiro has grasped the concept of work, a mysterious visitor enters named No Face. His ambiguous nature and enriching powers present him as a judgmental character who feeds off of greed which is why the bath house is the perfect place for him. With the ability to summon gold, the workers all scramble to please him in order to make a profit, which is odd considering they are spirits and there does not appear to be any use for currency within their small world. Perhaps outside their bath house via a train that travels only one way there might be use for money, yet Rin, Chihiro's friend and work mentor, tells her that she wants to leave "some day" as if their house is a prison and free will is nonexistent. No Face's wealth gives him lots to feed from, but when he offers things to Chihiro, she politely declines. An action that is met with a gentle sigh, as if No Face is offended and saddened by her refusal. His deceit does not fool Chihiro whose humility is uncommon in this world, allowing her to keep her innocence from the madness of the other spirits. She claims she has no use for gold and chooses to aid a friend instead which ultimately makes her more powerful than those who dive to the ground for a pebble of wealth.
On the opposite side of things, another elderly woman who demands to be called Granny lives in a small home where she sews and has objects of great value, but remains humble about them, opposed to exploiting them for profit. Her nature makes her a stark contrast to her sister and naturally more aligned with Chihiro whom she decides to assist.
Naturally, the film is largely about Chihiro growing up. Initially, she is a frail and spoiled girl who is hesitant to move or change schools. When she enters the world of the spirits she is taken aback by the creatures she sees, including a "stink spirit" to which she rudely plugs her nose in it's presence (similar to Alice innocently being rude about talking of her cat to the mice). Chihiro is even reluctant to climb down a large set of stairs and her hesitation forces the mysterious world to assist her in moving down more quickly. However, we later see her making bold moves that are not as submissive as her early acts of labour. She stands up for her friend Haku who is in need of help but others are unconcerned because the more important gold producing guest is present or due to the fact that Haku is too weak to be of use. The Chihiro who was once afraid to walk down stairs now tight-rope runs across and unsturdy pipe in order to help a friend. The story is rich, without being overbearing, in personal strength and growth moments where characters truly evolve.
The world of "Spirited Away" is strange and foreign, but wonderfully realized in colourful character. As a fantasy world of absurd creatures, the characters are rendered in a comforting cartoon nature, opposed to rigid realism. Accompanied by warm, almost childish music, the world feels majestic rather than threatening. It is a film that tests the moral standings of it's characters, but also reminding us of the great humanity in people, even if they are occasionally pigs.
It's not hard to draw the connections to Carroll's classic story, early in the film a young Chihiro slips into a mysterious world where she feels alien, yet is not as surprised as one would expect. One of her first encounters is with the Boiler Man who has a few limbs too many and can outstretch them to incredible lengths--not unlike Alice extending her neck and head as she spins uncontrollably through the jungle, being mistaken for a snake. Like Alice, Chihiro accepts mysterious food and eats it without knowledge of it's safety, of course the food is nourishing and not threatening, though bitter. Many more apparent similarities can be drawn from the naive nature of the protagonist, her sense of manners is primitive and she tries to be polite, but in this odd world she appears as rude and impatient. Many of the characters are anthropomorphic (as seen in many of Miyazaki's films), some more bizarre and abstract than those of Carroll's story. Finally, Chihiro encounters a door that insults her pathetic attempts to enter it, similar to Alice's inability to access a locked door due to her size.
However, "Spirited Away" is far from a Japanese knock-off of "Wonderland", the stories differ greatly in the structure. Alice's adventures are largely nonsense based with characters who question our notions of logic; Chihiro is driven into a world of spirits, lost souls, who not unlike us, are greedy animals. When Chihiro enters their world most spirits show displeasure or alarm when they realize she is human, that she might disrupt the work flow. Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs early in the film as a message that they are greedy pigs for taking the food of the spirits without asking. The expected contrast in humans and spirits (humans being pigs; spirits being humble) is surprisingly nowhere to be seen, instead the spirits are labour driven creatures who have only one focus: wealth. Their hypocritical stance on humans is entirely represented by the elderly witch whom runs the bath house. She refuses to give Chihiro a job because of her worthlessness in the workplace, a young girl with no prior experience is a waste of her time. When she does come around however, she gives Chihiro an alternate name, something to attempt to make Chihiro forget her identity so that she may be a worker trapped in the cycle of her job, with no hope of breaking free. The difficult labour is unusual for Chihiro and we see the girl stumble and groan for the entire first act of the film without as much as a smile from her. This mysterious wonderland acts more as a personal hell.
Later in the film, when Chihiro has grasped the concept of work, a mysterious visitor enters named No Face. His ambiguous nature and enriching powers present him as a judgmental character who feeds off of greed which is why the bath house is the perfect place for him. With the ability to summon gold, the workers all scramble to please him in order to make a profit, which is odd considering they are spirits and there does not appear to be any use for currency within their small world. Perhaps outside their bath house via a train that travels only one way there might be use for money, yet Rin, Chihiro's friend and work mentor, tells her that she wants to leave "some day" as if their house is a prison and free will is nonexistent. No Face's wealth gives him lots to feed from, but when he offers things to Chihiro, she politely declines. An action that is met with a gentle sigh, as if No Face is offended and saddened by her refusal. His deceit does not fool Chihiro whose humility is uncommon in this world, allowing her to keep her innocence from the madness of the other spirits. She claims she has no use for gold and chooses to aid a friend instead which ultimately makes her more powerful than those who dive to the ground for a pebble of wealth.
On the opposite side of things, another elderly woman who demands to be called Granny lives in a small home where she sews and has objects of great value, but remains humble about them, opposed to exploiting them for profit. Her nature makes her a stark contrast to her sister and naturally more aligned with Chihiro whom she decides to assist.
Naturally, the film is largely about Chihiro growing up. Initially, she is a frail and spoiled girl who is hesitant to move or change schools. When she enters the world of the spirits she is taken aback by the creatures she sees, including a "stink spirit" to which she rudely plugs her nose in it's presence (similar to Alice innocently being rude about talking of her cat to the mice). Chihiro is even reluctant to climb down a large set of stairs and her hesitation forces the mysterious world to assist her in moving down more quickly. However, we later see her making bold moves that are not as submissive as her early acts of labour. She stands up for her friend Haku who is in need of help but others are unconcerned because the more important gold producing guest is present or due to the fact that Haku is too weak to be of use. The Chihiro who was once afraid to walk down stairs now tight-rope runs across and unsturdy pipe in order to help a friend. The story is rich, without being overbearing, in personal strength and growth moments where characters truly evolve.
The world of "Spirited Away" is strange and foreign, but wonderfully realized in colourful character. As a fantasy world of absurd creatures, the characters are rendered in a comforting cartoon nature, opposed to rigid realism. Accompanied by warm, almost childish music, the world feels majestic rather than threatening. It is a film that tests the moral standings of it's characters, but also reminding us of the great humanity in people, even if they are occasionally pigs.