1

Online chapter

In this case study we will cover:

some of the organisations and processes involved in the production

of Spirited Away

the themes and issues raised within the fi lm

the ways in which people, places and events are represented

the style and genre of the fi lm

possible creative responses.

5 Case study: Spirited Away

1 Promotional poster for Spirited Away

Country: Japan

Japanese title: Sen to Chihiro no

Kamikakushi

Production year: 2001

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Certifi cate: PG

Main awards:

Academy Award (Oscar), 2003 –

Best Animated Feature

Berlin International Film Festival,

2002 – Golden Bear

Cambridge Film Festival, 2003 –

Audience Award

Section C New horizons

2

Section C, Case study: Spirited Away

Synopsis

Spirited Away is an animated feature or anime from Japan with the quality of a modern

fairy tale. It tells the story of a young girl and her parents who are moving house. On

this journey the family loses their way. They fi nd themselves in what they assume to

be an abandoned theme park. As they explore, the fantastical elements of the story

emerge. The parents overindulge in what appears to be free food and as a result they

change magically into two giant pigs.

Their daughter, Chihiro, is alone and must fi nd a way to get her parents back and

return to the normal world. To do this she must enter employment in a bath house

for the spirit world. There are many ‘weird and wonderful’ residents here. Yubaba is the

seemingly evil mistress of the house who tricks Chihiro into signing away her name

for a job. Haku is the boy/dragon/river spirit who helps Chihiro and many others.

Throughout her adventure she has to take on responsibility and face her fears in order

to escape. Eventually, through help from some of the residents and the help she gives

them, she is able to triumph.

Introduction

Spirited Away was produced by perhaps Japan’s most famous animation studio and

animator, Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. The fi lms produced by this studio have

become increasingly popular over recent years. Spirited Away is important in this wider

degree of popularity and in many ways opened the door to a mainstream audience for

Japanese animation. There were many popular fi lms and television series from Japan

before Spirited Away but none on the scale of its success.

The director, Hayao Miyazaki, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Japanese Disney’, which

perhaps only accurately refl ects his level of success and fame rather than the fi lms

themselves. In many ways it is how these (and other anime fi lms) diff er from Disney and

other western animation which interests and entertains audiences. Even within ‘family’

fi lms, anime often includes darker subjects involving violence and more adult material

not found in their western equivalent.

In off ering a vision that entertains adults and children alike, Spirited Away provides

something that not only looks very diff erent from what we are used to but which feels

very diff erent too. Its commercial and critical success has led to western audiences

exploring a much wider range of anime and in some cases Japanese culture itself.

Style and genre

In style, Spirited Away is very much a traditional example of hand-drawn animation.

Although computers were used in its production, it still relies upon thousands of

drawings. These are highly detailed and refl ect many aspects of traditional Japanese

art and culture. From the smallest detail to the broadest stroke, we are in a world which

is unmistakably Japanese. This ‘old-fashioned’ style contrasts with the current western

standard of CGI-based animation in feature fi lms.

Key termsAnime: a general term to

cover all forms of Japanese

animation from cartoons

through to feature fi lms

(not to be confused with

Manga – see below)

Manga: Japanese comic

strips or comic books

(these are not animated

but often provide the

source material for anime)

Key termsCGI: computer-generated

imagery – both in

animation and live action,

this technique involves

using sophisticated

software to manufacture

the image (Toy Story (1995)

is an early success in

popularising this style for

animation)

3

Section C, Case study: Spirited Away

2 The strange world of

Spirited Away

3 Themes and issues in

Spirited Away

4 Chihiro, the central

character

The hand-drawn animation

heightens the feeling of

strangeness that is one of Spirited

Away’s most appealing features.

Any western references that we can

pick out are there to make a point.

The fact that the family is travelling

to their new home in an Audi car

is a symbol of the change that has

come to Japan in general.

The style of anime draws its

infl uences from many sources.

Elements of traditional Japanese art and storytelling and more modern television can

be found. Indeed when we enjoy an anime feature we are taking in a wider experience

of Japanese culture which, if we choose to research it further, can increase our

enjoyment even more.

Themes and issues

Childhood

Family values

Culturalchange

Friendship

The strongest theme in Spirited Away is that of childhood. Hayao Miyazaki says that

the inspiration for the story came from meeting the sullen 10-year-old daughter of

a friend and his desire to make a fi lm that would give her some useful lessons. These

lessons provide us with the fi lm’s main themes. Young girls as the main characters are

a common form of story in anime. This

is referred to as ‘Shojo’ in Japan and

uses the perspective and situation of a

young girl to explore many themes and

stories. These can be issues of cultural

change, family values, growing up or a

convenient way to inject the ‘cuteness’

factor that is very popular in Japan.

Chihiro is Spirited Away’s Shojo. She

starts the fi lm as a ‘whining’ character,

complaining about the move and

4

Section C, Case study: Spirited Away

the number of fl owers bought for her on her birthday. The journey that awaits her is

the director’s way of telling her counterparts in the real world that she should act a

little less spoiled and be aware of more things than herself. Chihiro develops over the

course of the fi lm into a more self-reliant and confi dent individual who, by the end, is

no longer spoiled and is far more aware of who she is and what is important. The most

personal thing she comes to value is her family. The simple idea of ‘you never know

what you have until it’s gone’ is played out through her initial isolation and her struggle

to get back what she has lost. Never was the adult request to ‘grow up’ so imaginatively

and impressively realised.

The themes or lessons beyond this central one are more general and involve the wider

audience as well as any ‘sulky teenagers’. One is Hayao Miyazaki’s concern over the

clash of the old and the new Japan. The new Japan is found mainly in the attitude and

actions of the parents – their consumerist obsessions, their greed when faced with the

food and their casual attitude towards paying for it with their credit card. Although this

world is depicted only briefl y, its infl uence is strong. The appetite for more things and

more money to pay for them as a dominant force is one that most western audiences

can readily recognise as well.

The old Japan is refl ected in the fantasy world Chihiro fi nds herself in when her

parents disappear. It is the world of the traditional bath house – a world of traditional

architecture and strange, steam-driven machines. Nostalgia for many bygone eras

can be felt here. The world is no paradise but it has a simplicity and purity that is new

and alien to Chihiro. Ultimately, the greed of the modern infects this world too as the

residents’ hunger for gold almost destroys it. They continue to give the ‘no face’ demon

what they think it wants in return for increasing amounts of gold despite its almost

insatiable appetite. It is up to Chihiro and her childhood innocence to give it what it

really wants – not things or empty sensation but company and friendship alongside her

on her quest. Increasingly in Chihiro we see that Miyazaki is saying it is not too late to

realise what is important.

5 No Face comes from the

spirit world

The next major theme is similar to the ‘old versus the new’ and it is about the impact

of the modern world on the environment. We are introduced to a world of spirits that

represent aspects of the natural world (a more traditional and complex Japanese way of

considering ‘mother nature’).

5

Section C, Case study: Spirited Away

Although this theme is present throughout most of the fi lm, it is dealt with most

directly in the ‘stink demon’ or ‘stink god’ incident. When a huge pile of stinking mud

and ooze arrives at the bath house, it is Chihiro’s fi rst major challenge to bathe it.

Chihiro surprises both herself and the bath house residents in her determination to

succeed. As she bathes the demon, she fi nds what appears to be some kind of thorn in

its side. As everybody joins in to pull it clear, a stream of modern pollution and rubbish

emerges that reveals the ‘stink demon’ to be a river spirit that has been polluted by the

modern world. A clear lesson in how we should ignore the natural world at our peril.

The story is brought to a conclusion when Chihiro learns the fi nal lesson, of self-reliance

and the importance of love and support for herself and others. Her journey towards

self-knowledge and her ability to save herself and her parents has been achieved

through her:

childlike love for Haku, another river spirit

friendship with Yubaba’s baby and pet and No Face

adventure involving the return of a magic stamp to Yubaba’s sister, Zeniba.

This redemption, achieved by concentrating on what is important and on other people

rather than just oneself, is the most important lesson for Chihiro. In the fi lm’s closing

scene she has become a hero for virtually all of the residents of this magical realm.

Even though the scheming Yubaba tries to foil the ‘happy ending’, Chihiro has learned

enough to see through her trick. Through these fi nal lessons, Chihiro is reunited with

both her parents and the real world. Despite these familiar ingredients for the ‘happy

ending’, it is not so straightforward. As they drive away from the vanishing spirit world,

Chihiro has only taken the fi rst steps on her journey to adulthood in the real world. We

are left with mixed feelings of nostalgia for the world she has left behind and doubt

about the world she is being driven towards.

Summary

So why is a ‘children’s’ anime fi lm worthy of our attention? At the most basic level it is

a charming story told through stunning visuals, the like of which we may never have

seen before. On a deeper level it contains many things for us to think about. We can

pick up on more than the three or four discussed here as we watch the fi lm. The lessons

Hayao Miyazaki sets out to teach that sulky 10-year-old are ones from which we can all

learn.

Additional resources

Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki off er us a long list of other anime fi lms we can enjoy,

each with their own lessons to teach. The more famous include:

Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind (1984) The story of a young princess set in a future

world where human civilisation has largely been destroyed. Princess Nausicaä leads a

struggle to balance the worlds of humanity and earth.

My Neighbour Totoro (1988) Two girls move to the country and discover a new world

and a new friend in the creature Totoro.

6

Section C, Case study: Spirited Away

Princess Mononoke (1997) An exiled Prince quests for a cure to his demon-infl icted

curse. He becomes involved in a confl ict between Iron Town, Samurai, the ancient

Spirit World and Princess Mononoke.

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) A young girl is transformed and explores what it is like

to be a 90-year-old woman. Along her journey to lift the curse she seeks refuge in

Howl’s Moving Castle (adapted from an English children’s book by Diana Wynne

Jones).

Outside of Studio Ghibli, the world of anime is extensive and often confusing. Some

are feature fi lms, some are television series, some are both and some are made to go

straight to DVD. There are many publications and websites that can help:

Animated Films in the Virgin Film Series (ISBN 0753508044) is a decent basic guide to

some of the main fi lms.

The recent SFX Collection magazine guides to Japanimation are good general

introductions.

The magazine Neo provides good current coverage of all aspects of eastern popular

culture.

In terms of specifi c fi lms, the two other anime critical and commercial successes are

Akira (1988) and Ghost in the Shell (1995). While both are based in science fi ction rather

than fantasy, they also showcase startling and impressive imagery.

Akira is set in a post third world war Tokyo of military dictatorship and teenage

street gangs. It deals with the themes of nuclear destruction, human frailty and

adolescence, among others.

Ghost in the Shell is set in a slightly less dystopian future dominated by computer

technology and the new crime that arises from this. It deals with the themes of the

role of the state, identity and our relationship with technology.

Whatever direction any further study into anime might take, it is sure to open up

a whole new world of fi lm, all the more interesting and rewarding for its cultural

diff erence and ‘alienness’ from what we may be used to.