Message from hpenrod

[Anonymous]

Spirited Away was the first Japanese animated movie I had ever seen. I was familiar with short animated programs: as a teenager I was addicted to the Robotech series. It was the first cartoon in which I saw people die and deal with emotional crises. Spirited Away is a beautiful animated movie depicting the growth of a young girl who matures from a withdrawn child to a strong and independent character. Chihiro has to undergo a series of hardships to free her parents. The movie carries with it a message of love, endurance, and patience, and it is these qualities tht enable Chihiro to fulfill her goal of rescuing her parents and returning to the human world.

I found this movie similar to a fairy tale in that the character had to fulfil a number of requirements to meet her goal. What made this movie different from the Disney fairy tale is that the main character undergoes a significant change, and the movie carries a significant message or moral to the tale. The main character must exhibit the positive qualitites of love, endurance, patience and loyalty to complete her mission. It is evident in Spirited Awayy that if Chihiro did not exhibit these qualities that she would still be toiling away in the Spirit World. Her love for Haku inspired the Boiler Man to give her the train tickets. Her lack of greed prevented the No-Face Spirit from hurting her. Chihiro's love for her parents enable her to pass the last test of picking her parents out from a group of pigs. The Disney heroine does not change significantly in the fairy tale. The audience expects the heroine to be rewarded in the end only because she is a virtuous characrer and not rewarded from any specific action taken in the movie. The beginning of the movie establishes the character as being good, and American audiences do expect a happy ending. For example, in Cinderella it is established in the beginning of the movie that she is a hardworking, good character through the portrayal of her relationship with the animals. She does not undergo any change, nor must she undergo a series of tests or hardships. It is expected that she be rewarded in the end of the movie, not as a result of a direct action she took during the course of the story, but merely because she is a good person.

I was struck by the complexity of the story in Spirited Away. The director Miyazaki, created a world within a world--an alternate universe. Susan Napier's article "Magical Girls and Fantasy World," states that, "Although Miyazaki's worlds are indeed 'independent,' their care ful mixture of realism and fantastic details makes them able to exist comfortably inside a larger realm that could legitimately include our own universe as well..." (122). I watched the extra features that included a documentary on the making of Spirited Away. Miyazaki drew upon his own experiences, relationships with people, and memories of familiar places to create texture within the movie. For example, he based the character of Chihiro on his friend's daughter. The character of the mother was based upon a producer who works for him,. It was even pointed out that her posture while eating was emulated in the film. The setting of the magical town was based upon a real town that he was fond of, and had visited several times. The animated of the dragon was based upon his experiences with dogs. In fact, a humorous point in the documentary was when the director asked his staff if they had any childhood experiences with dogs and could relate to what he was telling them. His entire staff had no dealing with dogs, to which he replied that, this situation "was pathetic." His staff had to visit a veterinary hospital to learn how to animate the dragon based upon the expressions and actions of dogs.

It was interesting to read in "Anime and Local/Global Identity" that women are portrayed opposite to their status in Japanese society, According to Napier "Because Japanese women are still relatively disempowered, the overturning of the stereotype of feminine submissiveness may create a particularly festive resonance. I the animated space, female characters seem to glorify in manifestations of power still denied them in the real world" (31).

I have already discussed the power of the main character Chihiro. The characters in charge of this magical world are female. Yubaba and her sister Zeniba exert control over every magical creature, which exists in the magical realm. Yubaba is in charge of the bathhouse and controls the workers through contracts and the power of capturing and retaining their names and identities. It is Yubaba that Chihiro must overcome, not a powerful male figure.

I truly enjoyed this movie, for the beautiful animation and the positive messages that are reinforced throughout. Also, as a side note: it was interesting to watch the documentary. Unlike American cinema, it seems that Japapnese cinema cannot push back the date of the release. The animation studio had to work at a feverish rate to meet the deadline. I couldn't help thinking that in America the deadline would have been pushed back.
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