Spirited Away #36
The top animation film in the IMDB top 250 wasn’t made by
Disney, isn’t primarily in English, is hand-drawn and isn’t made just to keep
kids entertained for two hours whilst parents busy themselves. Instead it was
made by a man who believes children need less comics and video games, and who
thinks children should only watch, at most, two animated films a year, and yet his
film takes the 36th spot on the (predominately western voted) list
of greatest films of all time. What is it that makes Spirited Away as loved and popular as it currently is?
As I mentioned in the post about remakes, films that come
from other culture often have a vast amount of cultural, social, historical,
religious and political layers that generally will go over the heads of any of
the films non-native viewers; these cultural layers are greater in Spirited Away than the majority of
foreign films as the world that constitutes the majority of the films is a
world made of an almost pure mixture Japanese culture, history and religion.
But there is something in Spirited Away
that transcends cultural boundaries, something that speaks to the heart of a
great many western viewers who may know little, or nothing, about Japanese
culture. What I think the common link between all of the films viewers, the
unifying aspect that appeals to all, is childhood; that time where everything
seemed magic, where anything was possible and where you find out whom you
really are.
With elements that either reference, or are reminiscent of,
stories like Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and a dozen folk and fairy
tales, there is always a familiar element of being lost throughout the film, of
being a child in a seemingly new world. The world seems as unfamiliar and
fantastical to us as it does to Chihiro, the films 10-year-old protagonist, and
in that shared unfamiliarity we gain sympathy and shared confusion with Chihiro
as she encounters the spirit world and its ways.
From the film’s opening image of a goodbye card with
Chihiro’s name on it we know that it is going to be a film of finding out who
you really are and about finding home and what is truly important. Despite all
manner of danger, uncertainty and fear it isn’t what Chihiro gains that is
important, it is what she learns about herself. In so many films the
protagonist learns that strength only
lies in others you have around you and the importance of friends to help you
accomplish the impossible (or at least, the really hard), that that is not the
case for Spirited Away. Yes, in the beginning
Chihiro needs the help of Haku, but by the end it is the strength in Chihiro
that helps others find their own place in the world; she helps Haku find out
his true name, she finds no-face a home, she cleanses the river spirit of
pollution and saves her parents. She finds strength in herself that is often
passed over and ignored in a lot of children (and characters). She is not
helpless, patronised or looked down on by the films finale, instead she is
celebrated by those whom recognise her worth and courage. I honestly think more
films should find a character’s worth not only in their friends/allies but in
their character’s own self and identity and worth. I think it is this refusal
to patronise children that has helped elevate Spirited Away to such lofty heights.
The question that follows, then, is this: is Spirited Away a children’s film? For me
the answer is a resounding “no!” I am fully aware that Hayao Miyazaki made this
for a certain child, but the merits of the film for me lie in it being about childhood.
In a similar vein to Where the Wild
Things Are, the film shows the world that being a child is hard, that we
shouldn’t forget the wonder of being a child and that we should never look down
on, or patronise, children. It is a way of temporarily entering back into the
world of childhood to understand who you are by going back to the age when you
first started to get a grasp on yourself. I am by no means suggesting children
shouldn’t watch this. It is, after all, a wonderfully rich and imaginative film
and features a fantastic character that is actually worth looking up to as a
role model.
As a final side note, I just wanted to acknowledge two aspects of the film that have stayed with me ever since I first saw it years ago:
1.
The sublime score which I recommend looking up
as it is as beautiful as it is mystical and is strongly reminiscent of some of
the fabulous pieces of music composed by the superb Ryuchi Sakamoto.
2.
The image of the train travelling alone the
surface of the water…
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