Spirited away was a very different filmed from any other that we have watched throughout the semester. In this film, Chihiro, a young girl, gets trapped in the spirit world and matures and learns life lessons as the film progresses. Unlike other films that we have watched, there was no ONE specific story line to follow. This film went by event after event and each was their own little story, which I found very interesting. It wasn’t until you watched the entire film that everything was connected, because during the film, each event had no real relation to the next.
There are many key events in the movie that most do not realize until the end of the film comes, and they can link everything together. In order to explain the events that occurred and their importance in the film, I will have to work backwards from the end to the beginning.
In order for Chihiro to get her parents back from Yubaba and get back to the human world, she needed Haku. Unfortunately, Haku was badly injured and was dying. Chihiro was luckily able to save Haku by feeding him the herbal cake and returning the golden seal to Zeniiba. The only way she was able to retrieve the golden seal was with help from the herbal cake she fed to Haku. The only way she was able to get the herbal cake is when she cleaned the river spirit. The only reason she was able to clean the river spirit was because she was given many bath tokens from no face. This happened because of a couple of reasons. One was because she was the only person who was truly nice to no face, and the other was because she was given a job by Yubaba. The only way she could have even gotten the job from Yubaba was because of Haku helping her, and the only reason she is even alive is because Haku gave her food from the spirit world.
When these events happen in order, it seems very random, and almost as if there is no logic in the movie, but that is not the case at all. Just like in reality, you cannot plan out every step of your life. Unexpected things are going to happen, and you need to handle them as they come. Things didn’t make sense, and all seemed unrelated, but in the end, all worked out well for Chihiro. I guess the message in this film is to take things as they come, because if you try to plan everything out, and something goes wrong, you have just wasted all your time.
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| AREN'T THESE GUYS CUTE?! - Image from Kokona |
Wow, your explanation of the key events in reverse was certainly intense to read. You're totally right though, the only way to explain it and still make sense is to list the events backwards. It's true, it totally did make sense in the end and all the seemingly random events all tied together and became logical in the end. When you mentioned the real life aspect of your analysis, it made me think about what it would be like if people's lives happened in reverse. There wouldn't be any confusion and everything would have a clear purpose. If only life worked that way, then everything would be pretty simple and somewhat easy to handle. Anyways, I really enjoyed this movie, and your blog on it is very good :P
ReplyDeleteI don't think my comment went through for some reason, but I would like to say that you make a valid point in your blog. The film did go from event to event, but in such a pace that the viewer wouldn't notice it straying from the normal path the movie was taking. Interesting take on how the events play out as well. It is true that one thing leads to another and without one event, others would not have taken place most likely but there is still a chance that other events might happen had there not been medicine. It seemed as though love cured Haku in the end, so there was no real need to help him out with the medicine, although the seal had cursed him, it was lifted from the power of love. Possibly, that love could have inspiried the old witches (yubaba and zineeba) to come to terms with themselves and make up for this conflict. Your overall view of the message of the movie makes perfect sense, but more-so, its a journey to adolescence and a greater sense of independence. Having been a spoiled child, she had no qualities exhibiting such independence of individual strength but after the movie had ended, she was evidently matured. Hopefully you enjoyed the movie, it was one of the better Miyazaki films and its music and artwork is by far the best in my opinion.
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