Spirited Away - A Book About A Film by Ru Tutton

Spirited Away 千と千尋の神隠し

SPIRITED AWAY

Contents 千と千尋の神隠し

Introduction

Characters

The Film

Chihiro - Sen

The Artform

Haku

The Plot

No Face

The Studio

Yubaba

The Director

Zeniba

The Symbols

Stink Spirit

Boh

Spirits

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Themes

Scenes

Shintoism

Way To The Woods

Greed

Between Worlds

Environment

Beyond The Barrier

Identity

The Bath House

The Sea Railway

SPIRITED AWAY

Introduction 千と千尋の神隠し

A BOOK ABOUT A FILM

SPIRITED AWAY

The Film 千と千尋の神隠し

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し千と千尋の神隠し) is a two-hour long Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli.

Inspiration

Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on the ten-yearold daughter of his friend Seiji Okuda, the movie’s associate producer, who came to visit his house each summer.

Production

Each character was mostly hand-drawn, with Miyazaki working alongside his animators to see they were getting it just right. The biggest difficulty in making the film was to reduce its length. When production started, Miyazaki realised it would be more than three hours long if he made it according to his plot. He had to delete many scenes from the story, and tried to reduce the “eye candy”, aesthetics in the film because he wanted it to be simple.

Release

The film was originally released in Japan on 20 July 2001. The film overtook Titanic in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a total of ¥30.8 billion (£230 Million).

INTRODUCTION

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Awards 2001 Animation Kobe Blue Ribbon Awards Mainichi Film Awards

2002 25 th Japan Academy Award 52 nd Berlin International Film Festival Cinekid Festival 21 st Hong Kong Film Awards Tokyo Anime Awards Utah Film Critics Assosiation Awards National Boards of Review New Tork Film Critics Online

2003 75th Academy Awards 30 th Annie Awards 8th Criticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choice Awards 7 th Golden Saterllite Awards Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival Christopher Awards

2017 Best Film of the 21st Century so far The New York Times

2019 OFTA Film Hall of Fame

SPIRITED AWAY

The Artform 千と千尋の神隠し

Anime is a term used to describe the style of Japanese animation and has been around since the early 20th century. Now, anime and its comic book counterpart, Manga, are hugely successful in Japan and beyond with an industrial worth of over 15 billion US dollars. Anime does not only include TV series for children, but also adult’s TV shows and even movies. A few examples of blockbuster anime movies include Studio Ghibli’s highly acclaimed Spirited Away (2001) or the recent popular hit Your Name (2016).

Drawing styles vary depending on artists, but anime characters are usually recognisable by their large eyes, often colourful hair, and small nose and mouth. In Japan, people of all ages and from all walks of life have watched some form of anime at some point and it has become part of their modern culture. Anime series are usually filled with interesting characters along with a captivating story that can make the viewer laugh or cry. Anime also covers a huge range of genres, including drama, romance, horror, and science-fiction. Some anime shows even have more unusual genres such as cyberpunk and mecha (featuring robots).

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In western countries, anime is seen not only as a Japanese series of animation but it has also come to define an art style that the Japanese use as well. A popular aspect of anime is the art style. The style that stems from the anime genre is unique, characters generally sporting big eyes and unique hairstyles. Western countries have also developed series using that particular style. One of the more popular series which has adapted this art style is the ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, which has gained international success. A sequel was also made entitled ‘The Legend of Korra’. There are many people who started to become interested in Japan after watching some of these shows. Sometimes, they are even inspired to learn Japanese. As a result, in 1984, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was created.

SPIRITED AWAY

The Plot 千と千尋の神隠し

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are traveling to their new home, when her father decides to take a short cut. The family’s car stops in front of a tunnel leading to what appears to be an abandoned amusement park which Chihiro’s father insists on exploring, despite his daughter’s protests. They find a seemingly empty restaurant still stocked with cooked food, which Chihiro’s parents immediately begin to devour. While exploring further, Chihiro finds an exquisite bathhouse and meets a boy named Haku, who warns her to return across the riverbed before sunset. However, Chihiro discovers too late that her parents have turned into pigs, and she is unable to cross the now-flooded river.

Fun Fact! Miyazaki draws the

Haku finds Chihiro and tells her to ask for a job from the bathhouse’s boiler-man, Kamaji. He refuses to hire her and asks worker Lin to send Chihiro to Yubaba, the witch who runs the bathhouse. Yubaba tries to frighten Chihiro away, but Chihiro persists. Yubaba decides to give Chihiro a contract to work for her. Yubaba takes away her name and renames her Sen.

story board before writing the script.

INTRODUCTION

Haku gives Sen her goodbye card, and at that point she realises that she had already forgotten her real name.

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Haku warns Sen that Yubaba controls people by taking their names, and that if she forgets hers like he has forgotten his, she will not be able to leave the spirit world. Sen faces discrimination because she is human and not a spirit; only Haku and Lin show sympathy for her. While working, she invites a silent creature named No-Face inside, believing him to be a customer. A ‘stink spirit’ arrives as Sen’s first customer, and she discovers he is the spirit of a polluted river. In gratitude for cleaning him, the Stink Spirit gives Sen a magic dumpling. Meanwhile, No-Face imitates the gold that was left behind by the stink spirit, presumably as payment for the cleaning service. No-Face tempts a worker with the gold before swallowing him, then demands food and begins tipping extensively. He swallows two more workers when they interfere with his conversation with Sen. Sen sees paper spirits attacking a Japanese dragon and recognises the dragon as Haku. When a grievously injured Haku crashes into Yubaba’s penthouse, Sen follows him upstairs. A paper spirit that stowed away on her back shapeshifts into Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister.

Zeniba mutates Yubaba’s son, Boh, into a mouse, creates a decoy Boh, and mutates Yubaba’s harpy, a type of foul, into a tiny fly-like bird. Zeniba tells Sen that Haku has stolen a magic golden seal from her, and warns Sen that it carries a deadly curse. Haku attacks the paper spirit, which eliminates Zeniba’s hologram. He falls into the boiler room with Sen, Boh, and the harpy on his back, where Sen feeds him part of the dumpling she had intended to give her parents, causing him to vomit both the seal and a black slug, which Sen crushes with her foot. Sen resolves to return the seal and apologise to Zeniba. Sen confronts NoFace, who is now massive after eating more workers and excessive amounts of food, and feeds him the rest of the dumpling. No-Face follows Sen out of the bathhouse, steadily regurgitating everything he has eaten. Sen, NoFace, Boh, and the harpy travel to see Zeniba with train tickets given to her by Kamaji. Yubaba orders that Sen’s parents be slaughtered.

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Haku informs Yubaba that Boh is missing and offers to retrieve him if Yubaba releases Sen and her parents. Yubaba agrees, but only if Sen can pass a final test where she identifies her parents. Sen, No-Face, Boh, and the harpy meet with Zeniba, who reveals that Sen’s love for Haku broke her curse and that Yubaba used the black slug to take control over Haku. He appears at Zeniba’s home in his dragon form and flies Sen, Boh, and the harpy to the bathhouse. In mid-flight, Sen recalls falling years ago into the Kohaku River and being washed safely ashore, correctly guessing Haku’s real identity as the spirit of the Kohaku River.

When they arrive at the bathhouse, Yubaba tests Sen to identify her parents from among a group of pigs in order to break their curse. After Sen answers correctly that none of the pigs are her parents, her contract disappears and she is given back her real name. Haku takes her to the nowdry riverbed and vows to meet her again. Chihiro crosses the riverbed to her restored parents, who do not remember anything after eating at the restaurant stall. They walk back through the tunnel until they reach their car, now covered in dust and leaves.

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The Studio

Studio Ghibli (スタジオジブリ), is an animation film studio based in Tokyo, Japan. The studio is best known for its animated feature films, and has also produced several short films and television commercials.

History

Founded on 15 June , 1985, the studio is headed by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki. Prior to the formation of the studio, Miyazaki and Takahata had already had long careers in Japanese film and television animation and had worked together on ‘Hols: Prince of the Sun’ and ‘Panda! Go, Panda!’; and Suzuki was an editor at Tokuma Shoten’s Animage manga magazine.

Name

The name Ghibli was given by Hayao Miyazaki from the Italian noun ghibli, based on the Libyan-Arabic name for the hot desert wind of that country, the idea being the studio would “blow a new wind through the anime industry”. It also refers to an Italian aircraft, the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli. Miyazaki’s father was an aeronautical engineer, he was the director of family firm ‘Miyazaki Airplane’ during World War II, then later transitioned to vehicle parts manufacturing.

SPIRITED AWAY

The Director 千と千尋の神隠し

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. He was born 1941 in Tokyo. After receiving a degree in political science and economics from Gakushuin University, Miyazaki worked at Toei-Doga creating scene designs.

Studio Ghibli

In June 1985, Miyazaki, Takahata, Tokuma and Suzuki founded the animation production company Studio Ghibli, with funding from Tokuma Shoten.

Themes

Miyazaki’s works are characterised by the recurrence of themes such as environmentalism, pacifism, feminism, love and family. His narratives are also notable for not pitting a hero against an unsympathetic antagonist.

Process

Fun Fact! Miyazaki Doesn’t know the film’s ending when he starts drawing.

INTRODUCTION

In each of his films, Miyazaki has employed traditional animation methods by drawing each frame by hand. Although computer-generated imagery was employed in several of his later films, beginning with Princess Mononoke, to “enrich the visual look”.

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Thoughts on the film

“This story is not a show-down between right and wrong. it is a story in which the heroine will be thrown into a place where the good and the bad dwell together, and there, she will experience the world”. Chihiro “will learn about friendship and devotion, and will survive by making full use of her brain. She sees herself through the crisis, avoids danger and gets herself back to the ordinary world somehow. she manages not because she has destroyed the ‘evil’, but because she has acquired the ability to survive.” He says “I created a fantasy set in Japan, though it is a fairy tail, I don’t want to make it like a Western type of story which allows many possibilities for escape, and is likely to be taken as a cliché.” “I think the world of film can have a striking influence by fulfilling the traditional functions, as a piece of a vividly coloured mosaic, to a story which can be applied today. That means, at the same time, we can gain a new understanding of what it means to be the residents of this island country.”

SPIRITED AWAY

The Symbols 千と千尋の神隠し

Water 18

Fun Fact! Bath tokens, shape on the left, are used to exchange for certain herbal remedy baths in the Bathhouse.

INTRODUCTION

Just as food plays contradictory roles in Spirited Away, water represents entrapment and freedom, life and death. When Chihiro tries to escape the abandoned theme park, she discovers that the previously dry ground is now a huge body of water she can’t cross. In order to survive in the spirit world, Sen works at the bathhouse, which depends on water for its livelihood. In the course of Sen’s work, she rescues a polluted river spirit by pouring liberal amounts of water over him. Sen nearly drowns in the process, but the spirit places her in a protective bubble that keeps her from harm, and this and other acts of kindness play a role in her liberation. Later, Sen releases Haku from his imprisonment when she realizes he is really a river spirit. Her assistance is a kind of repayment, as years before Haku saved Chihiro from drowning after she fell into a river.

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Flight Flight usually has ominous purposes in Spirited Away. Yubaba turns into a bird to keep a close watch on her dominion, and when she flies, she resembles a military plane. Haku flies primarily to carry out secret missions for Yubaba. On one of these missions he is attacked by Zeniba’s paper birds, which bring him down and nearly kill him. Flight also promises liberation and hope: when Haku transports Sen from Zeniba’s house to the bathhouse so she can identify her parents and return home, Sen remembers Haku’s true name, which restores his identity and frees him, that also happenes when the ‘stink spirit’ is cleaned and liberrated from all the pollution within it and flies away in his true form, a dragon-like spirit.

Gold Most of the characters in Spirited Away obssess greedily about gold, and it almost always brings misery. No-Face can make gold out of thin air, but those who take the gold find that it brings them no happiness. Yubaba is so enamored with her gold that she thinks of it first, even before her baby Boh, when Haku warns her that something precious has been taken from her. The gold eventually disappears, rendering the pursuit of it pointless, even for Yubaba. Though not all of the characters are evil, how they respond to gold in some cases determines their fate. For example, Sen, who turns down the gold, ends up with a much richer life than those who accepted it.

SPIRITED AWAY

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It’s an adventure story even though there are no weapons or battles involving supernatural powers Hayao Miyazaki’s thoughts on the film

INTRODUCTION

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SPIRITED AWAY

Characters 千と千尋の神隠し

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Chihiro

千尋

千と千尋の神隠し

Chihiro Ogino (荻野千尋), referred throughout most of the film by her nickname ‘Sen’ literally meaning ‘onethousand’ in Japanese.

particular circumstances. He wants his young friends to live like that, and he thinks they, too, have such a wish.

Chihiro is a ten-year old girl. In the beginning of the movie, Chihiro is shown to be a childish, easily scared, and whiny girl. However, after her experiences at the Bathhouse and the Spirit World, she matures into a capable young adult.

Chihiro’s growth into a capable individual is a core factor to the movement of Spirited Away’s plot. During her adventure in the Spirit World, she matures from an easily scared girl with a childlike personality to match her age to a hard-working, responsible, and brave young girl who has learned to put her fears aside for those she cares for.

Chihiro’s character was inspired by Miyazaki’s producer friend’s daughter. Miyazaki created a heroine who is an ordinary girl, someone with whom the audience can sympathise. It’s not a story in which the characters grow up, but a story in which they draw on something already inside them, brought out by the

To protect her friends and rescue her parents from a spell that has turned them into livestock, Chihiro sheds her former personality and adapts to her environment to become a courageous, quick-witted and reliable girl.

CHARACTERS

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SPIRITED AWAY

千と千尋の神隠し

CHARACTERS

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Haku ハク

千と千尋の神隠し

Fun Fact! ‘Haku’ means white like the colour of his dragon form and his clothing.

The Spirit of the Swift Amber River ( ニギハヤミコハクヌシ), referred throughout most of the film by the name ‘Haku’, He is what Hayao Miyazaki often refers to as a ‘transparent’ character. The character designer gave him ‘strange looking eyes’, they look into the distance as if he has insight into a person’s inner thoughts. Haku is a lean-built twelve-year-old boy and, as Yubaba’s apprentice, he is second in command at the spiritual bathhouse. Haku is not an ordinary human, he is a spirit being who has the ability to transform into a dragon, who is able to fly all around the Spirit Realm, running multiple errands for Yubaba. Haku is also able to change between his dragon form and human form at will. Haku has multiple personalities.

CHARACTERS

He can be kind-hearted and supportive at times, strict and high-strung at other times. He is wise, and is able to act accordingly to the situation. He is more than willing to stick his neck out when he cares about someone. From the beginning of the story, through to the end, he does everything within his power to keep Chihiro unharmed and to help her leave safely. His steadfast resolve helps Chihiro finally trust him, amidst contradictory information from other Spirited Away characters about him. Yubaba’s twin sister, Zeniba insisted that Haku is a greedy thief, who had stolen her golden seal. Later on, it is revealed that Haku is Yubaba’s slave, who controlled him with a black worm in his body.

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No Face カオナシ

千と千尋の神隠し

No-Face (カオナシ), is a spirit and a secondary antagonist in the Japanese animated film. He is shown to be capable of reacting to emotions and ingesting other individuals in order to gain their personality and physical traits. No-Face is a lonely spirit who begins to follow Chihiro after having developed an interest in her sincerity. His vocabulary consisted of grunts and moans as opposed to coherent words. Not knowing much about the Bathhouse or about other spirits in general, NoFace learned by example and adapted to his surroundings. Exposed to the corruptive thoughts and greed of the workers, he quickly grew to encompass their personalities, hoping that his endeavour to be like

CHARACTERS

those around Chihiro would eventually garner her affection for him. No-Face becomes obsessed with Chihiro, and wants to see her and her only. He becomes extremely volatile after being fed the River Spirit’s dumpling by Chihiro, and regurgitates the contents of his stomach. At this time Chihiro escapes the violent scene to a train station, however, a now calm No-Face follows her. She accepts him as a co-journeyer into the train ride on her way to Swamp Bottom. At this stage, No-Face is no longer aggressive and is quite docile, even obeying Chihiro’s orders, like “sit” and “behave yourself.”

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千と千尋の神隠し

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Yubaba

湯婆婆

千と千尋の神隠し

Yubaba (湯婆婆), is the proprietor of the Bathhouse and the main antagonist of the film. She is the identical younger twin sister of Zeniba and the mother of Boh. As the main antagonist of the film, Yubaba has an extremely overbearing and intimidating personality. Like many other workers of her infamous bathhouse, Yubaba obsesses greedily over gold and is shown to be willing to view gold as a priority over her own family. However, she has, in some instances, shown a great amount of motherly care for her son, Boh, and is seen completely devastated when he states that he won’t like her anymore if she continues to treat Chihiro Ogino unfairly towards the end of the film.

CHARACTERS

Her magical capabilities have allowed her to “steal” the names of her workers, binding them in a contract to her bathhouse forever unless they manage to miraculously recall their full names. She is also seen to be able to spit fire when angered to a certain extent. When she goes out to fly, she wraps herself in a cloak and makes herself look like a large bird. Yubaba is strict to her employees like the Queen of Hearts in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. When Yubaba ordered the slaughter of Chihiro’s parents, this action resembled the Queen of Hearts’ infamous line “Off with their heads!”. Chihiro’s parents were allured by the smell of food stalls to transform them into pigs, this is likened to the witch in ‘Hansel and Gretel’.

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SPIRITED AWAY

千と千尋の神隠し

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Zeniba 千と千尋の神隠し

ぜにーば

Zeniba (ぜにーば), is a witch, as well as the older twin sister of Yubaba. When she first appears in the second half of the film, she seems to be just as dangerous as her sister is. After wreaking havoc in Yubaba’s office, she warns Chihiro to keep quiet about the incident or she will ‘rip her mouth out’. When Chihiro refuses to hand over Haku and the golden seal, Zeniba becomes angry and yells at Chihiro, informing her that Haku is a greedy thief who needs to be punished, and that she placed a curse on the golden seal so that whoever steals it will die. She also appears to particularly dislike her nephew, Boh, example when she makes fun of his weight and low intelligence.

CHARACTERS

When Chihiro visits Zeniba’s cottage in Swamp Bottom with No-Face, Boh and Yubaba’s Bird in order to return the golden seal and apologise on Haku’s behalf, her true nature is revealed as a kind and helpful old lady. She gives encouraging advice to Chihiro about remembering Haku’s name and later forgives Haku for the theft of her seal. She appears to form a bond with Chihiro, seen when Chihiro refers to Zeniba as “Granny” at her request.

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千と千尋の神隠し

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Stink Spirit

オクサレ様

千と千尋の神隠し

The River Spirit (河の神), first appears as a grubby, sludge-infested spirit, referred to by Yubaba and her subordinates as a ‘Stink Spirit’(オクサレ様), but is soon revealed to be an extremely wealthy and powerful spirit in the Spirit Realm. By his appearance, he is an extremely old river spirit, evident by the countless wrinkles on his face, white-coloured eyebrows and the thinning amounts of facial hair and lack of teeth. The River Spirit is revealed to have a water-based body in his original form with multiple, wiry, avian legs. Not much of the River Spirit’s personality is made apparent in the film. He is shown to be very energetic once freed of his polluted burden,

CHARACTERS

and displays a hefty amount of gratitude to Chihiro, who freed him, by giving her a famous type of medicine (magic dumpling) as thanks. He is also generous, leaving a great amount of gold pieces on the ground as a tip to the Bathhouse workers for their service to him. The character was inspired by a real experience, when Miyazaki cleaned his local river. “There really was a bicycle, it was stuck in there. Ten of us wrapped a rope around the bars and slowly pulled it out. We really cleaned up the river, and the fish are back. And that’s why I added that scene.”

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千と千尋の神隠し

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Boh

坊

千と千尋の神隠し

Fun Fact! On his bib, it says the kanji for his Japanese name (坊 Bou).

Bō (坊), also known as Boh or Baby, is the infant son of Yubaba. He is portrayed as an extremely large and overfed sumo baby wearing a red bib that covers his front side, leaving the rest of his back exposed. Although a big sumo baby, Boh is able to talk, surprisingly, fluently for his apparent young age, and walk. His mother frequently spoils him, leaving him in a large cushioned room where nothing can harm him, and giving him whatever he wants on command. Boh is two times bigger than his mother. His appearance and personality are inspired by the Kintarou Japanese character.

CHARACTERS

In folklore, Kintarou is described to be raised by a witch mother on the Ashigara mountain, and his popularity is such that even today, Kintarou dolls, wearing a red Harakake, a bib, are used on the Japanese Boys’ Day celebration. Some Japanese would pray to him to provide their sons with the same strength as his. Like Kintarou, Boh’s bib has (坊) on it, meaning ‘boy’. His mother Yubaba, who is a witch, frequently spoils him, He is the only person in the world that Yubaba loves, apart from her love of gold.

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千と千尋の神隠し

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Spirits

妖怪

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In this film, there are countless references to Japanese mythology and cultural practices, particularly in regards to the religion of Shintōism. Several spirits are seen in the film, many of whom need to be cleansed in the Japanese bathhouse due to pollution caused by human activity. This mirrors the Shintō concept of the necessity to purify spirits as well as addressing the Shintō concern of respecting one’s environment.

Giant Radish Spirit

A notable imposing character in the form of the giant ‘Radish Spirit’. In the Japanese culture, this character is referred to as Oshira-sama, referencing a Shintō deity of the same name all though not of the same traditional depictions.

CHARACTERS

The Kasuga

The Kasuga (春日様), are spirits who come to the bathhouse in groups by ferry. They wear strange masks and Sokutai (traditional clothes worn by the Japanese nobility), but their bodies are made out of shadows. Kasuga is the name of a famous Shintō Shrine in Japan. There is a traditional ritual dance called “Ama” at Kasuga Shrine, in which the dancers wear paper masks called “Zoumen.” The mask looks like the one the Kasuga spirits are wearing.

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SPIRITED AWAY

千と千尋の神隠し

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千と千尋の神隠し

It is not a story in which the characters grow up, but one where they draw on something already inside them. Hayao Miyazaki’s thoughts on the film

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Themes 千と千尋の神隠し

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Shintoism 千と千尋の神隠し

The Shinto religion originates in ancient Japan, and focuses on humans’ relationship with nature, involving a multitude of practices to show respect to the nature spirits. The practice of Shinto is extremely important to the Japanese people, and its influence stretches far and wide enough, to become a major inspiration for Spirited Away. Shintō’s emphasis on respect towards nature, and humans need to live in harmony with it; it is an obvious message in the film. Chihiro, the protagonist, helps clean a river spirit that has become so polluted its body transforms into a sticky, smelly blob. The other river spirit Haku is unable to ever return home after his river was paved over for apartments. Many spirits are found in the movie’s Bathhouse, the main setting of the film. While communal baths, called sento, are a long-standing tradition in Japan, the inspiration for the film’s Bathhouse lies in the Shinto ritual of inviting local spirits to come and bathe in the villagers’ baths. This highlights the Shinto value of literal cleanliness, and hints at the metaphorical cleanliness emphasised in the religion as well.

THEMES

In Shintoism, it’s important that mankind “purifies” themselves of the pollution they’ve caused, both in the environment (seen through the cleaning of the river spirit), and the “pollution” of negative attitudes and hearts within oneself. This message is consistent throughout the film, as it follows Chihiro’s journey from a whiny, insecure young girl to a more selfassured version of herself. At the beginning of the film, Chihiro spots a number of miniature stone houses, half-hidden in the grass verges. When her mother says “they believe that spirits live in those houses,” she is doubtlessly referring to the practitioners of Shintoism. Shintoists place small shrines alongside places of natural wonder, like rivers, waterfalls and mountains, where they believe that these “natural” spirits live.

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Greed 千と千尋の神隠し

In the beginning of the film, Chihiro’s parents discover a food stall with a buffet of food. No one is at the stall to give them permission to eat the food, nor to accept payment for the food. Without any hesitation, Chihiro’s parents begin to stuff their faces in large portions, claiming that they will pay the bill later, but they are transformed into pigs – an animal that has clear representations of greed and gluttony. Miyazaki quite literally represents these qualities through the illustrations of the pigs as they continue to unappealingly and revoltingly indulge on the food. Chihiro’s parents’ transformation into pigs is caused by their inability to not self-indulge, and thus, their greedy actions come at a cost. The parents’ decision to eat the food is what causes them to get caught in the spirit world. The effect of greed is most prominent through the character of No-Face. NoFace comes to the aid of Chihiro when the manager of the bathhouse refuses to give her a token. When No-Face takes the token and gives it to Chihiro, she expresses her gratitude toward No-Face. Once the token has been used for the stink spirit, No-Face presents Chihiro with a handful of bath tokens,

THEMES

which she refuses to take. NoFace assumes that the only way to gain Chihiro’s friendship is through material gifts. No-Face thinks that he can buy people’s attention with money and he quickly learns that his emptiness isn’t being satisfied through the attention, false friendship and lots of gifts that the bathhouse workers provide. He becomes attached to the idea of being loved and admired so he continues to consume more and more. Miyazaki quite obviously implies that people think that happiness comes from material goods, but instead, they are disillusioned hense they think they feel happy from a constant flow of material goods. Miyazaki purposefully shows that greed can’t buy happiness, and rather it only creates chaos and discord.

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Environment 千と千尋の神隠し

Spirited Away examines the consequences of irresponsible actions that ultimately affect the natural world in an extremely destructive manor. As seen in the film, Haku and the ancient River Spirit represent these harmful consequences most dramatically. Where, Haku lost his home as it was remarked in the film that the river is “all apartments now”, identifying that this was due to human destruction of nature. He had nowhere to go, ended up at the bathhouse, and lost sight of his origins. The River Spirit was over polluted hens it was originally referred to as the ‘Stink Spirit’. The abandoned amusement park at the beginning of the movie is linked to the issue of land management. Chihiro’s father notes that many theme parks were built in Japan during the boom times, and they were abandoned when the economy collapsed. Mass amounts of nature were destroyed to put theme parks like this up for no lasting reason.

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Self-pollution, a more personal aspect of environmentalism, occurs through NoFace’s gluttony and Chihiro’s parents’ over-consumption of food. Haku, too, was polluted by Yubaba’s black slug. Environmentalism is a familiar motif in Miyazaki’s films, and critiquing the consequences of over development and mass pollution through animated characters sheds new and unusual light on these issues.

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Identity 千と千尋の神隠し

The theme that stands out from the rest is the search for an identity, which can be found in the owning and taking of names, the repetition and echoing of people, the outcasts, and transformations of the self, in appearance and personality, that are riddled throughout the film. The first instance of transformation comes very early on in the film, and is the reason for Chihiro’s need to remain in the spirit world, her parents turning into pigs. It is beyond obvious here that the symbolism refers to their greed, something that was already present and echoed in her father’s fat body before the change. The enlargement of bodies symbolic of greed and gluttony can also be seen in the character of Yubaba, whose head is severely engorged, putting forth a literal representation of her ‘big head’ or ego alongside her immense wealth and greed for more. Her identical twin sister, Zeniba, also carries these physical traits but is self-professedly “the complete opposite” to her – though her greed can be seen through the zealous and ruthless chasing of her magical solid gold seal. It can be said that her large head takes the form of her abundance

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of goodness and kindness, in opposition to Yubaba. Transformation, as a form of literal representation of traits, is also exhibited by the spirit initially thought to be a stink spirit, then proved to be a wealth river spirit, who was removed of all his pollution and debris to be cleansed back into his original purity and his natural state by Chihiro. Interestingly, as No-Face seems to have no identifying qualities or attributes, he takes on those of which he eats – he adopts the frog’s general body shape and voice, and bulges grotesquely, as he engulfs more and more food. Grotesque though he may be, it has become so clear his loneliness and wish to be accepted, a feeling that he established with Sen. Sen shared these feelings with No-Face, as a human, she was constantly pointed at and ostracised by all but Lin, Haku and now No-Face. His importance to Sen is through their positions as outcasts within this world they are both a part of yet excluded from, connecting them deeply through this intangible bond of experience.

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千と千尋の神隠し

Repetition is also found with the appearances of Yubaba and Zeniba, who are twin sisters, both with gloriously large heads, the same costume and jewellery, and strong magical powers. The duplication of these two creates a conversation between the good and evil in the world, similar to the Chinese Yin Yang philosophy. Thereby, emphasising the dichotomy that only a very fine line separates them. When Chihiro is contracted to work by Yubaba, she signs away her name in the most literal manner. Yubaba owns the name, and takes away part of it, leaving only ‘Sen’ behind. Sen is ultimately just a part of Chihiro, a facet, and this makes her struggle even harder. Her identity is locked within the parts of her that live in the human world and she must retain it all, if she wants to leave. Haku has suffered the fate they both try to keep Chihiro away from and it makes him capable of Yubaba’s wrongdoing. Haku is only a facet of Kohaku, the spirit of the Kohaku River. It is poignant and moving that both of these characters find their names. Through these four elements – repetition, transformation,

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representation and the name – this film, Spirited Away, creates a deep dialogue with the audience. By captivating our attention on the little details to notice what it is that is different and worth noticing. Chihiro’s search for her identity is marked by these elements, in the taking and changing of her name, her connection as outcast with No-Face, her echoed future self in Lin, and her gradual transformation throughout the entire film – from a spoilt little girl of ten-years, to the capable and independent Chihiro who saved her friend and parents, and saved her identity.

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千と千尋の神隠し

Once someone becomes a pig, they don’t return to being human, but instead gradually start to have the “body and soul of a pig”. Hayao Miyazaki’s thoughts on the film

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Way to the Woods 00:00:22 / 02:04:32

The film starts with a view on the way to Chihiro and her parents’ new house, with the residential development showing on the quarried mountain peak. The first indication that Chihiro is about to enter a realm of the extraordinary is an old Shinto gateway leaning against an ancient tree towering under the blue cloudy sky. As the family accidentally enters the forest they are surrounded by little stone house-like shrines. The houses are called Hokora, and the heavy clustering of them in Ghibli movies tends to be unusual, as they are often solitary or spaced out, rather than awkwardly placed right around each other. Since those shrines are supposed to house spirits, a huge cluster of them

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indicates an area of high spiritual activity. This is something that is likely lost on western audiences in such a specific way, but yet they still retain a strong feeling of mystery about them even without knowing their meaning. The Shintō gate marks a place of superior potency that can effect changes in one’s life. But to benefit from the spirit presence that inhabit such a place, something special is required; one must be sensitized to their presence. This can occur if one experientially moves from the mundane and everyday world, into a Spirit Realm.

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Between Worlds 00:02:59 / 02:04:32

Chihiro’s family’s car abruptly stops at the big red building, the entrance is protected by a double-faced spirit statue. These statues often mark boundaries, they are also thought to protect travellers and those in transitional phases. Although Chihiro didn’t pass the first Shintō gate, it might have been a hint that she will pass through another gate soon, the train station. The red gate is what connects the Human World to the Spirit Realm. It is depicted (from the perspective of individuals in the Spirit Realm) as a large clock tower built onto a plastermade (fake) tunnel. It has a red, green and dark brown colour scheme of plaster, and although only one tunnel

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can be entered through from either side of the different worlds, there are three identical openings inside the very front and even another opening much farther away to the right side. Inside, there are multiple benches, chairs, and even decorative pillars, as if it is one of the train stations for spirits to sit and wait for the train.

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Beyond the Barrier 00:05:54 / 02:04:32

Chihiro and her parents get out of the tunnel through a strange clock tower building, designed in the Kawagoewarehouse style. They explore the area surrounded by plains covered with summer grass, at the end of the path, her parents rush up stone stairs with garden lanterns. The Spirit Realm, is the main setting for the film. It is home to the bathhouse owned by Yubaba and the cottage owned by Zeniba, two of the film’s core locations. Unlike the Human World, most of the Spirit Realm’s occupants usually go about their activities at night rather than during the day. The Spirit Realm is largely similar and directly linked to the Human World. It has a substantially less-polluted

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environment and less-advanced technology. In exchange for their lack of technology, some inhabitants of the Spirit Realm are known to be capable of practicing magic, as well as exhibit various other, inhuman powers. Chihiro and her parents continue walking to finally arrive at the restaurant district, which also seemed abandoned. Then signboard architecture becomes visible as they climb the stone stairs. The buildings are awkwardly lopsided, and all the restaurants have a Japanese arcade style. As darkness sets in, the garden lanterns light up the restaurants and alleys with a reddish tint.

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The Bath House 00:10:31 / 02:04:32

The Bathhouse, which stands on a half-dried swamp is a very grandiose and opulent structure on the island Yūya in the Spirit Realm. Built in a traditional Japanese bathhouse style, its colour scheme encompasses shades of red, green and semi-dark tones of brown. A waterfall is also present at its bridge crossing. Aside from the bridge, waterfall, entrance and side stairs, the Bathhouse has multiple side entrances and back doors that can be used to dump water outside without being seen by the customers. The bathhouse is a structure with multiple floors. The floors above ground level are numbered in a special manner that incorporates the use of

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the words “天”, literally meaning “heaven” and “地”, literally meaning “ground”. The floors below ground are not given any names in the film. The ground floor is seemingly dedicated to kitchens and customer-use baths. The second floor is dedicated to traditional Japanese Tatami-matted dining rooms for customers. A long hallway with rooms separated by rice paper doors line the second floor. The top floor is home to Yubaba’s office and Boh’s room. It is an opulentlybuilt, largely unoccupied space lined with expensive vases accentuated by intricate architecture.

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The Sea Railway 01:36:58 / 02:04:32

There’s something subtle with the train that carries the spirits. The boiler man said: “The train used to run both ways, but these days it’s a one-way trip”. The train carries opaque shadows of people. These are the spirits of the recently deceased. Recall that in Japanese mythology (similar to other cultures), there were days when the spirits of the dead could return and commune with the living. But, in our modern era that clearly doesn’t happen. This is the movie’s explanation for it. The train scene was a long and quiet one, Miyazaki explained “If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness. The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over. They’re worried

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that the audience will get bored. But just because it is 80 percent intense all the time doesn’t mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions,that you never let go of those”. He said “What my friends and I have been trying to do since the 1970’s is to try and quiet things down a little bit; don’t just bombard them with noise and distraction. To follow the path of children’s emotions and feelings as we make a film. If you stay true to joy and astonishment and empathy you don’t have to have violence and you don’t have to have action. They’ll follow you. This is our principle.”

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There are too many people in the world, and too many wrong turns along the way. Hayao Miyazaki

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