Film Theory Analysis of Spirited Away

• Plot Segmentation of Spirited Away

• Cinematography of Spirited Away

• Mise-en-scène of Spirited Away

• Social and Psychoanalytical influences of Spirited Away

• Afterthoughts

Synopsis

Spirited Away, also known as its Japanese title Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, the Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro, is written and directed by anime giant Hayao Miyazaki. The 2001 animated film featuring a disaffected 10-year-old girl named Chihiro who is moving to her new house. Chihiro and her parents accidentally entered the spirit world as they got lost and end up in a forest outside a tunnel. Chihiro was forced to follow her parents in exploring the tunnel, they ended up in an abandoned amusement park and uninhabited village. While her parents were unreservedly eating the food at an eatery, Chihiro wandered around and found the bathhouse. A boy named Haku appears before her eyes and told her to return across the river before nightfall. Unfortunately, Chihiro discovered her parents have transformed into pigs and irreversible, she was trapped in the spirit world after sunset.

As the nightfall comes, Chihiro realized that this village is filled with Shinto (Japanese spirit) and supernatural beings. Haku helps Chihiro get a job with the bathhouse runs by the tyrannical witch, Yubaba. Chihiro was renamed "Sen" by Yubaba, she has to work to avoid punishment and to regain her freedom. Throughout the journey, Chihiro has encountered both foes and friends, including Yubaba's overprotected baby Boh, No-Face, and Yubaba's twin sister Zeniba. At last, Sen was able to dissolve her contract with Yubaba and become Chihiro again. Chihiro also helped Haku found out his real name, which is the name of a river who carried her to safety when she fell into during her childhood. Free at last, the matured Chihiro found her parents and departed from this spirit world.

PREFACE

Entering the era of movie makings, there are many great movies with only one genre/film theory. Spirited Away, however, remains unique and exception from other animated films as it has combined multiple themes like Japanese Shinto, Feminism, Fantasy, Immersive Realism and Marxism. Considering the nature of Spirited Away, it is sufficient to say the combination works well.

The intersection of Fantasy and Japanese Shinto

First, the idea of Shinto is a Japanese predominantly organized religious hierarchy. Shinto can be defined as nearly everything in the nature, be it humans, animals, trees, rivers, etc, contains a divine spirit. A pure heart like Chihiro's is required to experience the Shinto surrounding and within us, literally nowhere to be found. The world building of Spirited Away is impressive, the fantasy nature of this film was best suited to promote his ideals of Shinto to the younger generations. Miyazaki believes that the youth can benefit from the Shinto ritual bathing represented in the film. The central idea of ritual bathing is to cleanse ourselves mentally and physically (the act of spirit cleaning themselves in the bathhouse), and he perfectly introduced the idea that divine spirits exist in almost anything in nature; whether it be animate or inanimate; literal and metaphorically.

On Marxism

Considering Hayao Miyazaki's nomination as the head of Animator's Union (pro- proletariat and socialist beliefs) back in 1964, the director features a strong Category C Marxist narrative in Spirited Away. The category C film in Marxist terms is the definition of work "against the grain" without overtly political content that it becomes "through the criticism practiced on it". In this film, Miyazaki did not use any of the traditional Hollywood three-act structure, traditional continuity editing techniques or any culture references to his Western audience. All of these imply a layer of Marxist meaning in the work.

The first notable Marxist narrative in the film is the storyline of Spirited Away, as mentioned above, Chihiro must work in the bathhouse to avoid punishment and regain freedom. Compared to others who worked in the bathhouse, Sen (Chihiro) mainly focuses on her survival, instead of gaining status and wealth (capitalist nature). The labor of Sen is to preserve her human rights but also avoid turning into lower forms of life (pigs). Suffice to say this situation greatly reflects the criticism of Capitalism, which is those without institutional wealth can only gain wealth and respect through hard labor.

The second notable Marxist characteristics in the film will be the world building of Spirited Away. The physical structure of the bathhouse can be depicted as the class structure, Sen (Chihiro) starts her job hunting from the bottom (boiler room), then she was instructed to get a job from the owner (Yubaba) who lives at the top of the building. The music is bombastic when Miyazaki shows the upper class of society (Spirits), and Sen looks small compared to the spirit in almost all scenes.

On Feminism

The feminism characteristics of Spirited Away can be seen in the drafting of Chihiro's character. The design of her character with small features, lanky, boyish and also sullen expression prevented Chihiro from being sexualized.

The first notable Feminism characteristic in this movie is the design of Yubaba. Being the main antagonist of the film, Miyazaki added multiple layers of meaning to the personality of Yubaba. From a feminist perspective, Yubaba is the formidable witch, owner and boss who runs the bathhouse, which represented in a postfeminism manner. She achieved success as a female through the capitalism system, making her independent of the original feminism. However, this doesn't mean that Miyazaki is soft with Capitalism. Yubaba under his creation, is a cruel and selfish character who subjugate others (females like Chihiro/bathhouse workers) who have not reached the top of hierarchy. Yubaba only weakness is baby Boh, she still needs to provide the baby despite monetary success, this meets the metaphor for how Yubaba is still affected by the gender expectations of capitalism and patriarchy.

The intersection of Feminism and Marxism

Hayao Miyazaki used the character No-Face to criticize the dominant ideology of patriarchy and capitalism. No-Face serves as the metaphor of an individual who starts with literally blank slate and eventually becomes corrupted by the principles surrounding them (people in bathhouse). The character called No-Face also bears no identity (gender, age, sex or class), and no voice (it needs to eat other people in order to gain voice). When No-Face encountered a male-frog creature in the bathhouse, it learned to lure him using the gold, and swallowed his capitalistic greed and male attributes. Miyazaki uses this narrative to suggest that the dominant ideology has influenced the uncorrupted soul, leading them in to commit greed and cruel acts.

The Feminism that intersects with Marxism is the part where Sen gives No-Face food that ends his endless consumption. At last, No-Face is able to return to normal state after leaving the bathhouse (metaphor as corrupted capitalist society). This act can be interpreted as someone from a lower societal position (Sen) showing the injustice of existing power structures to the top societal person, bringing awareness within them. This also shows the outspoken nature of a traditional feminist who fought for their rights.

Spirited Away won the 75th Oscar Academy Award (2003) as the best animated feature. The brilliant use of cinematography, music and color palette in the film are to be lauded. Miyazaki's exceptional directing are what drove Spirited Away in becoming the national treasure in both Japan and world animation.

References

Written by Sean Lim

(1197 words)