Spirited Away, an In-Depth Take.

While Pixar films tend to touch the heart, Studio Ghibli films

touch the soul.

Produced by Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away is one of the finest animated

films ever put to screen. Its animation style is gorgeous, characters are

memorable and its story is magical. Even though it came out in 2001,

people still struggle to grasp the true philosophy behind the film. This is

gonna be my attempt in explaining the true meaning behind ‘Spirited

Away’.

Synopsis:

Chihiro is moving with her family to a new house but doesn’t seem too

thrilled about it. Her friends gifted her a farewell bouquet, a sad look on

her face appears when she looks at it. While on a car drive with her

mom and dad to check out their new house, they get lost and end up at

the entrance to an old tunnel. They decide to follow up on it because it

has piqued their curiosity, Chihiro seems apprehensive about this move.

The tunnel leads them to an open grassland which they assume to be an

abandoned and derelict theme park. Her parents feel like exploring this

discovery. After roaming around for a while they find a store counter with

a feast neatly lined up on it, almost inviting to help themselves to it.

Chihiro is still unsure and finds everything around too strange to

comprehend, her father tells her not to worry because he has the cash to

pay for the food. She goes off on her own, looking for any sign of life

around. To her surprise when dusk sets in, all the shops and streets

start to liven up, not by people, but spirits and creatures from another

world.

Frightened by what she has witnessed, Chihiro runs back to her parents,

both of them are still feasting on the food they found, but their size has

exponentially increased, they are not even human anymore, they have

turned into pigs, gorging on whatever they can find. Dazed and confused

she starts running around, scared, looking for a safe place to hide. She

encounters Haku, a boy around the same age as her. He saves her from

being noticed by any other spirit, as humans are not allowed to enter

their world. All the spirits seem to be crossing a bridge that leads into a

floating Onsen (bathhouse). It is a gigantic structure with thousand of

shojis (Japanese sliding doors) and windows on the outside. Its

occupants peering out from the windows and frog-like creatures coercing

potential customers into the bathhouse.

The spirit world is controlled by the witch Yubaba, who runs the

bathhouse and all the spirits there work for her. She aims to kill Chihiro

as humans are not allowed in this world. But Chihiro finds Haku to be

her guardian angel. He tells her to go and look for work in the

bathhouse, It will be difficult but necessary in order to survive and save

her parents. So she takes his advice and her quest for work leads her to

Yubaba. Chihiro enters into a contract of servitude which makes her

forget her real name, the new name provided to her is Sen. Now she

has to find a way out and get back to her world along with her parents

Explained (SPOILERS!)

This film doesn’t pretend to be a “film for all ages”. It instead is an

unapologetic film made for 10-year-old girls, which makes it stand out

from the rest. When you have a film which is meant for everyone, it

becomes a film for no one in particular. This movie has a heart and a

certain charm that can only be found in a Kid’s film.

Spirited away is very imaginative, to say the least. Especially

considering the simplistic theme it tries to portray. The film seems too

overwhelming with the talk of spirits and dragons but has an honest and

sweet lesson behind it all.

Sen is shown to be sullen, almost a bratty kid who pouts whenever

things don’t go her way. She is whiny and slightly irritating in the

beginning, but as she encounters difficulties in the spirit realm and

overcomes them with her good intentions and an honest heart, she

develops and grows into a person adored by the people she befriends

on her journey.

Instead of resenting her fate and crying about it, Sen decides to do her

best and works hard to earn her way out of there. She is the type of

person who treats others with kindness and respect, no matter if they

return the same or not. With her innocence and determination, she wins

our admiration.

The film deals with themes of greed and excess, serving as a critique of

modern capitalism. Especially in post world war Japan which went

through an economic boom and started adopting capitalistic greed;

according to the director, Hayao Miyazaki. This is portrayed through

Sen’s parents who ate the food that did not belong to them, they felt

entitled to it just because they had money. The Faceless Spirit is also

shown to be a symbol of excess, consuming all the resources of the

bathhouse offering gold in return.

The bathhouse workers line up to serve him and one-up each other, just

so that the spirit showers some gold into their pockets. Sen does not

turn into a pig nor does she fall for the gold trap, becoming the savior for

people much older than her.

Identity is also held in great regard and is a big talking point in this film.

Yubaba takes Chihiro's name and gives her a new identity. Her life gets

turned around in an instant, the film cleverly dismisses the use of her

original name as it moves along. Even I found it difficult to remember,

after an hour into the film. But, Sen perseveres and keeps her feet

rooted to the ground with the help of her friends to become Chihiro

again. This film is a wake-up call for the people of Japan. Just like how

Chihiro stayed true to her self even after going through life-altering

events, the film expects the same from the Japanese people to not let go

of the traditions and culture that defined them in favor of capitalism.

How's the Animation?

Now I can’t talk about the film without dedicating one section to the

animation. The animation here is stunning, with the backgrounds as

detailed as I’ve ever seen. Being a 19-year-old film, it has aged

gracefully and still looks better than most of the modern animated

features. The backgrounds feel like an extremely detailed oil painting,

while the characters are all 2D animated. That is deliberately done to

make a clear distinction between the two. Sounds a bit jarring but it is

executed so well, that you don’t even pay attention to it. It just becomes

a part of the world.

Thousands of frames have been hand-drawn by the maker of the film

Hayao Miyazaki. There is a tendency to simplify and cut corners while

animating due to its painstaking nature. But Miyazaki refuses to let up on

quality and delivers a film chock-full of detail, even in the most

insignificant of frames or background characters. Each character model

is creatively inspired and unique in its own right.

The team of animators poured their heart and soul into this. Often we

find that animators create motion for the sake of motion, and character

movements can appear to be a bit clunky. Despite most of it being hand

drawn the movements in this film are so fluid and life-like. Even the most

unnoticeable character has a specific meaningful action to perform and

is not just flailing his arms aimlessly. More than half the people that

watch this film will never notice such fine detail and yet, it is there for the

keen eyes to see and appreciate.

The world feels rich with personality in the creatures that inhabit it, as

well as the environment. Only in Japanese animation can you find

creativity let loose like this, with weird but awesome character designs

and sceneries. In the scene where Chihiro visits Yubaba’s sister Zenba,

she gets off the train with the faceless spirit and, is greeted by a light

approaching in the distance. The light turns out to be an old fashioned

light pole hopping around on one foot, coming to greet the visitors. When

they arrive at their destination, it quietly jumps back and assumes his

place on an arch. Madness!

How's the score?

The score is magical, much like everything else in the film. It invites us

on an adventure and makes the ride that much better. It gets faint during

the emotionally vulnerable scenes and knows to swell up during a pivotal

set piece, like Chihiro discovering her name while riding across the sky

on top of a dragon (Haku).

All the elements work so well together that it becomes difficult to

appreciate them individually. They all work seamlessly and create an

immersive experience. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its

parts.

The Ending and My Final Thoughts:

In the end, Chihiro manages to free her parents from Yubaba’s control

by remembering her name and answering a trick question. All the

creatures are cheering her on, happy that she prevailed. Her honesty

and determination won their hearts. Yubaba gives her a snarky look, but

deep down she was rooting for her as well.

Haku takes her hand and guides her to the exit, he assures her that they

will meet again. As both friends are parting ways I couldn’t help but get

emotional, witnessing what was happening here. Chihiro has worked so

hard to get back to her world, but at the end when she is conflicted about

her choice and is leaving Haku, you feel that conflict within you too (the

damned score swells up at the right moment as well). A bittersweet

ending to a story so beautifully told.

Spirited Away is hands down one of the best-animated films of all time.

Also, the first and only Japanese film to win the best-animated feature

film award at the Oscars.

It is a mythic coming of age story filled with complex animation

techniques which makes it stand out from the crowd.

The visuals and the soundtrack created a very soothing experience.

When I finished the film I felt as if my soul has been detoxified. The story

is simple yet, endearing and so are the characters. Filled to the brim with

creativity and imagination, I won’t be remiss in calling it a film for the

ages.

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