Spirited Away Film Analysis - Movie Review Example

Spirited Away Film Analysis Historical Context behind the Film Japanese culture is integrated with all aspects of Spirited Away; that is, from the ancient roots of the spirits that pay regular visits to the bathhouse to the design of the bathhouse. The spirits in the film are derived from native Shinto practice of Japan (Mason & Caiger 17). This tradition is pegged on the worship for the natural and that all things, from rivers to rocks to plants and whose creation is believed to be as a result of some spirits. The film is also derived from the folk traditions of Japanese Buddhism (MacKenzie 43). Here, there were beliefs that spirits could take away people to their realm and return them later but with no memory of their journey. Synopsis Spirited Away is an animated feature or rather anime that is a Japanese creation whose quality revolves around the modern fairy tale. The story in the film is about a young lady who is moving together with her parents to a new home; however, her family gets lost in the course of the journey. While tracing their way, the family finds itself in a lone park. In the course of their adventure of the lone park, fantastical elements of the story come up. The parents are seen to be so involved in what seems to be free food where they soon change mysteriously into two giant pigs (Miyazaki). The daughter, Chihiro, having been left alone, must now work tirelessly in order to find her parents so that they can go back to the normal world. For Chihiro to accomplish this mission, she is compelled to enter employment in a bath house for the spirit world. In the spirit realm, she finds a number of “weird and wonderful” residents. Yubaba, one of the residents in the spirit world and a supposedly evil mistress, convinces Chihiro into agreeing to take the job. In her adventure, Haku, a river spirit, assists Chihiro to acclimatize with the new environment. In her adventures though, Chihiro knows that she must courageously face her uncertainties to satisfactory escape. In the end, Chihiro finally escapes but that is after getting assistance from some of the spirit world residents (Miyazaki). Introduction of the Film Spirited Away is a Ghibli studio production, the most famous Japanese cartoon studio (Miyazaki). Many other films that have been produced by the same studio have done well in the entertainment industry, and this attests to the popularity of the Ghibli Studio. Spirited Away helped in increasing the popularity of the studio and played a significant role in opening the door to a mainstream audience for Japanese animation (Dani 24). The film director, Hayao Miyazaki, nicknamed as “Japanese Disney” is one of the directors who have done amazingly well and achieved a lot in the film industry. The Japanese anime films differ from Disney and western animations and probably the reason the audience find them quite interesting (Miyazaki 10). Even as anime films serve to entertain the audience, they deal with deep subjects in the society including violence and more adult material not available in their western equivalents. Spirited Away, in its attempts to entertain both children and adults, deviates from the norm and provides the audience something unusually different and that feels quite different, as well. The huge success of Spirited Away has made the western audience explore a wide range of anime and, in some cases, Japanese culture (Dani 46). Themes and Issues The Role of Parents in Bringing up Children (Issue: Relationships) In the film, Chihiro’s parents come out as materialistic beings, selfish and impulsive. They do not perform their roles as parents properly, and this is a critique to the current state of parenting in Japan. Chihiro’s father is portrayed as irresponsible following the way he drives recklessly even endangering his family. In addition, the father seems lost physically not even capable of tracing the way to his family home (Miyazaki). The father ignores advice from his daughter even after she senses danger when they are about to enter the abandoned park. He does not even assist her in crossing the difficult train of the dry river; instead, he laughs her hesitation to steal food. The father is fat and swaggers. He is dressed in a western style and drives top of the range car; the right-hand drive Audi, which correlates well with the wealth people in modern Japan (Miyazaki). His way of speaking and his dressing mode is a clear testimony of a person who has abandoned his Japanese culture while embracing westernization. His attire identifies him instantly with the Western and the eastern audiences. Although the mother’s clothing is western, she, unlike her husband’s show some Japanese culture and history (Mason & Caiger 42). In the film, we see Chihiro having to go and look for her parents after they get lost. In the normal way, it is the parents who should care for their children. However, here it is on the contrary (Miyazaki). In her relentless search for her parents, Chihiro’s loyalty tells of her character because her parents seemed less caring towards her. In another instance, Chihiro makes efforts to distinguish her parents from pigs. Symbolically, this shows that her parents still have some human qualities, and thus they can still change to the better. From her adventures, it is clear that Chihiro is quite intelligent even more than her parents. This gives hope to the Japanese that Japanese family values are still in their children (Miyazaki). Consumerism and Japan’s waning traditional morals The film portrays Chihiro’s parents as having bad eating habits. As a result of those habits, they are transformed into consumerist pigs; however, Chihiro is not involved in the consumer society and hence begins to disappear. For Chihiro to save her parents, she must now enslave herself so that she can pay for the evils committed by the parents. This film cites various ways in which consumerism has led to the deterioration of Japanese traditional values, for instance, Shinto spirits buying people’s affection using gold (Mason & Caiger 34). Kaonashi is also portrayed in the film as a representative of consumerism. After being unable to tempt Chihiro, he later on realizes that his gold can enable him get anything he wants. In the film, we see the bath workers ready to work for him so that he can pay them. Kaonashi finds this a great opportunity and starts to consume the bath workers. He, however, fails to consume Chihiro simply because, unlike bath workers, she does not fall for materialism. Miyazaki is hoping that the young Japanese will not fall for consumerism (MacKenzie 62). The film portrays a sharp contrast of wealth among individuals. Yubaba’s grand apartment, for example, contrasts sharply with the workers’ poor Japanese traditional dwelling places. Yubaba continues perpetuating consumerism in the society by living a lavish lifestyle while the workers wallow in abject poverty demarcated by poor housing and working conditions. Miyazaki, in this instance, shows just how the Japanese domestic setting is poor compared to that of European setting. Even though Chihiro lives in poor conditions, she still appreciates Japan’s rural beauty. Chihiro is a representative of the young generation that appreciates traditional Japanese values (Mason & Caiger 54). The power contained in words and names (Issue: Search for identity) In this film, many characters are without names and this is perhaps to cement the need for Japan to build/regain its identity. For instance, when Chihiro enters slavery, Yubaba takes most of her name’s characters and only leaves her with ‘Sen’. In Japan, ‘Sen’ means ‘1000’ and could also imply a ‘river.’ By Yubaba shortening Chihiro’s name to ‘Sen,’ she manages to bring the river spirit and Haku, who is the actual river spirit close together. Haku also remains vulnerable to Yubaba’s rule simply because he forgets his true name. Yubaba is portrayed in the film as taking advantage of withholding Haku’s name to exploit his extraordinary abilities (Miyazaki). Without her name (true identity), Chihiro is portrayed as being quite vulnerable. This is evidenced by her loss of normal costume and how she almost vanishes when she is separated from her parents. Chihiro is, however, lucky for the part of the name she retains is quite strong. This is seen how recapturing of power over her name drives her to gain independence. Consequently, she takes a train journey and travels across a landscape that is quite flooded and reflective. In the train, we see faceless and nameless ordinary people perhaps an indication of the general Japanese populace (Mason & Caiger 36). The Childhood Theme Hayao Miyazaki alludes to the fact that the thoughts of creating the story came as a result of meeting the sullen 10-year-old of a friend. In addition, his desire to produce a film from which she could get some useful lessons. Through the lessons, the film’s other themes unfold. It is important to note that young girls often the main characters in anime stories. They are referred to as ‘Shojo’ in Japan. They often use the perspective and situation of a young girl in an attempt to explore a myriad of themes and stories (Mason & Caiger 30). In Spirited Away, Chihiro represents Shojo. The film commences when she is portrayed as a ‘whining’ character. She is not happy about their move and is also complaining about the number of flowers bought for her during her birthday. The journey awaiting her is probably the director’s way of communicating to her counterparts in the real world that she should change her ways and act little spoiled. In addition, Chihiro ought to know more things than what she already knows. As the movie advances, Chihiro is portrayed as growing to a more self-reliant and confident girl. She quits her spoilt habits and is more aware of what is expected of her as a girl. Once her family gets lost, Chihiro appears shocked, and her character of valuing her family so much is brought out (Miyazaki). Stylistic Analysis of Spirited Away Film Style and Genre Spirited Away is a perfect example of a film that uses the traditional hand-drawn animation style. Much as computers are used in its production, the reliance on thousands of drawings remain clear. The drawings are significant as they portray many aspects of the traditional Japanese art and culture. The use hand-drawn animation helps in intensifying the feeling of strangeness that is one of the film’s most appealing features. The anime style deployed in the film draws its influences from quite a number of sources. Elements of traditional Japanese art and story-telling and more modern television can be found. The anime features make the film more interesting especially the way it is used to bring out the Japanese culture. Story, Structure and Direction The story is more like a nightmare that Chihiro has, an unknown fairy tale that she practises. Spirited Away story is a creation of a fantasy world that is occupied by gods and emotional state and is a result of Miyazaki’s imagination. The structure of the narrative is pegged on a series of confrontations that Chihiro has and these are sorted when she finally grows up and becomes more mature. This story portrays the life of an independent woman. Chihiro, at first, is unable to face her fears, grows to a courageous and strong lady and is seen to confront and cope with people’s comments to her (Miyazaki). The great focus given on characterisation and its development is expressed via conflict, and this adds to the dramatic tension in the story. Conflict is quite important as it is at the heart of any narrative. Since the start of the film, Chihiro is portrayed as being at odds with many things. For instance, her farewell flowers are dying; she is repulsed by the sight of her parents as pigs and she also resists Haku at first although he is trying to help her (Miyazaki). In the film, Miyazaki also uses some humour acts in order to create comic effects. This can be depicted when Chihiro runs and falls down the outdoor stairs. Such moments help bring relief to the ongoing drama. Another component in the film is that of performance. This is clear on how the animators obtain a convincing performance from the characters through their animation of them (Dani 64). Film and Video Technique (Functions of Framing, lighting and editing) This is a very important technique that has been deployed extensively in Spirited Away. It is composed of cinematography including framing, angle and shot composition; lighting, visual effects and editing. In Spirited Away, Miyazaki, the film director constructs his animation in a way that depicts his deep understanding of the cinematographic approach. For instance, he ‘lights’ the scene and goes on to create a ‘camera’ movement that is more like making a live-action movie. The only difference is the absence of camera or lights, but only drawings that show their effects. At the commencement of the film, we see the application of cinematography when the family walks along the theme park street. As the family goes past the shops and restaurants, the ‘camera’ moves along with them all the way to their destination (Miyazaki). Lighting plays a very significant role in film making because for one; lighting affects the way the scene are taken. Lighting helps to reinforce the accomplishment of a scene by representing, visually, what is significant and what is not. In general, lighting is essential in providing the overall feel of the scene and how it appears on the screen. There are various instances where lighting has been applied. In the tank room partition with Kamaji, combination of shadows and lighting helps transform the two-dimensional artwork to a three-dimensional look. A shadow is also visible used over part of Chihiro’s face while the rest of her face remains illuminated. This assists in making her presence even more believable (Miyazaki). Visual effects have also been variously employed in the creation of the film. Although some could argue that the use animation in the film depicts visual effects, there are some sequences in Spirited Away that have been creatively designed and engineered. An exemplification of this in the film is the transparency in appearance of the No-Face character in the film. In this instance, the character is added using a digital platform in order to complete the scene. Another vivid example of visual effect is the particle cartoon of water in the big bath (Miyazaki). Editing has also been used in Spirited Away. Editing entails assembling the various scenes and sequences of the film in a way that they have a smooth flow. In the film, editing is used especially on the pace of the anime. We see a variation of tempo in various scenes, for example, a fast tempo in the case where Chihiro runs out of control down the wooden stairs. On the other hand, Haku and Sen are seen hovering and moving in the sky at a very unhurried tempo (Japanese HSC Extension course Support materials 2009-2013). All these are instances where editing has been applied (Miyazaki). Soundtrack The use of soundtrack in the film helps in establishing the mood of the anime. The first instance where it is applied is when the family goes to a theme park. Leaves can be heard rustling as a result of the blowing wind on the soundtrack. Following the sounds, Chihiro comments; “Did you hear that building? It was moaning” and her mother answers that “It’s just the wind”. Apart from this, Miyazaki also uses voice performances, sound effects and musical interludes by the moonlight. There is also the employment of silence and stillness in the film. These are particularly significant as they relate to Japanese traditional forms of art. All these contribute immensely to soundtrack (Miyazaki). In conclusion, Spirited Away film is a creation with ideas derived from the traditional Japanese culture and the modern western culture. It is a film that seeks to draw differences between the two cultures, but most importantly, show an appreciation of the Japanese traditional culture. Works Cited Cavallaro, Dani. The Animé Art of Hayao Miyazaki. New York, NY: McFarland & Company, 2006. Print. "Japanese HSC Extension course Support materials 2009-2013." 2013. State of New South Wales. Web. 31 October 2014. Miyazaki, Hayao. Spirited Away. New York, NY: VIZ Media LLC, 2002. Print MacKenzie, Donald Alexander. Myths of China and Japan. New York: Gramercy Books, reprint 1994. Mason, R.H.P and J.G. Caiger. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Rutland VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1997. Print. Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Perf. Hayao Miyazaki. 2002. Film. Read More