FILM

EVERY TIME A MASTERPIECE

the greatness of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away

By Zilin Yuan

A Strange Masterpiece

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away was re-released in China in 2019 and was yet again, as if we needed reminding, heralded as a masterpiece. It is a movie that is universally acclaimed and seemingly popular in every single culture in the world. People just don’t love it, they gush over it, give it to friends, insist that those who haven’t seen it go and see it, etc, etc, etc. It gets rereleased again and the whole process happens over and over and over. It is clearly a great film, but what is it really about? That seems dumb, but it’s actually a bit harder to answer than you would think. Lots and lots of people have lots and lots of ideas about what the movie is “really” about. When you start reading and categorizing all those opinions, you realize that part of the film’s greatness is that it either continually means a lot of things to people or that they identify with many of the different characters’ imperfections. And that because the characters are so imperfect, viewers feel that they can grow and improve with them.

Looking at what critics say about Spirited Away, we can come up with a fairly clear rubric of what they love about the movie: bravery, love, consumerism, and death. In Austin Trunick’s review of the movie for Under The Radar, he points out, “She (Ogino Chihiro) maintains a brave face through her various challenges, and that bravery should carry over to all but the most timid viewers.” In Tasha Robinson’s review for The A.V. Club, she mentions, “Gradually, in a series of almost episodic adventures, she learns to be brave and face up to her responsibilities to herself and the people she loves.” These reactions are interesting, because Chihiro isn’t a brave child at the beginning of the story. In an early scene in the movie her parents make a wrong turn and stop in front of an old shrine. When her parents suggest that they should explore what is inside the shrine, Chihiro is scared and clings tightly to her mother.

There's Chihiro

So one of the qualities that people love about the film is how it deals with and understands bravery or maybe more specifically, how you become brave by watching it. In a later scene of the movie Haku suggests that Chihiro should work in a bathhouse so that she can save her parents who happen to be pigs at the time. He tells Chihiro all workers in the bathhouse are spirits. Even though Chihiro is scared, she decides to pass through the bathhouse on her own to find the most powerful witch, Yubaba, and negotiate with her for a job that might possibly help save her parents. Chihiro is timid and cowardly as most children are, but she has learned to be brave and responsible to save the people she loves. Mizyakai’s portrayal of Chihiro’s growing bravery seems to inspire audiences. They watch Chihiro becoming more powerful and so they, too, start to feel a sense of power and control about a very chaotic world.

Another prominent line of interpretation is a kind of anti-consumerism. In Rubén Rosario’s review for The Spool, he points out, “Grown-ups will probably detect a jab at consumerism when her parents begin to wolf down succulent dishes at an unattended food stand at this theme park that is not as abandoned as it appears.” Miyazaki also mentions “Chihiro’s parents turning into pigs symbolizes how some humans become greedy.” The metamorphosis of Chihiro’s parents is shocking, but then our shock turns to anger at what we see as their bad behavior. In a later scene in the film, Haku brings Chihiro to a pigsty near the bathhouse. There are thousands of pigs being held captive and waiting to be fed. All these pigs used to be people and they have lost themselves in a world of money and buying, a world that everyone in the audience probably understands all too well, our consumer society. Like the idea of bravery, Miziyaki makes us reflect on our actions and he wants us to do better.

What's wrong with a pig?

Love is also an important theme in the movie. In Dorothy Woodend’s review for The Tyee, she points out, “There is so much in this film that you will have to watch it numerous times simply to register all that it has to offer: adventure, pure love and a few subtle lessons about environmentalism, parenting and other assorted mysteries.” Jack Mathews review for New York Daily News, also states that, “Miyazaki uses ancient Japanese superstitions about ubiquitous spirits as his inspiration, and some of the spirits are ghosts behind kabuki masks. But this version of Spirited Away has no cultural speed bumps for anyone, and its themes about love and self-esteem are universal.” Love is a popular theme for many movies, but the love in Spirited Away is different.

The movie portrays how Chihiro learns to love and care for other people, starting with her parents, her friends, and the customers she meets in the bathhouse and even strangers. She is trying to use her heart to feel the world. When Chihiro works in the bathhouse, she meets River Spirit and No Face. River Spirit is a stinky customer, he is stinky because of people’s pollution in the river. All the workers refuse to clean him up, Chihiro helps him. No face is a strange spirit standing in the rain and Chihiro lets him in the bathhouse and out of the storm. What Miziyaki presents is a young girl whose love is so all encompassing that she can now take in the outcasts of the world and isn’t afraid of them. And that’s an incredibly powerful message for all viewers.

Ghosts are everywhere

Even though different people have different responses to the movie, the energy and inspiration that they get from it is the same. Whether Miyazaki is showing us how young people become brave, or criticizing social problems, the film is always inspiring and is always a joy to experience.

©Zilin Yuan and the CCA Arts Review