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Chihiro's amazing story

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Studio Ghibli has turned out many wonderful movies but none quite like Spirited Away.  Chihiro took the world by storm in 2002, as this film became a global phenomenon, winning the Oscar at the 2003 Academy Awards for best animation feature.  Hayao Miyazaki did not go to the Dolby Theater to receive the award, citing the war in Iraq.

I suppose Miyazaki has Disney to thank for lending English voices and distributing his films in the US, but Studio Ghibli and Disney have gone in two separate directions when it comes to animation.  Miyazaki still rejoices in hand-painted frames while Disney has gone entirely Pixar.  It's ironic because the anime master was influenced by early Disney animated features and it shows in his meticulous work.  Upon seeing Spirited Away for the third time, Roger Ebert described it as a film of "generosity and love."  Every corner of every frame is filled with moving scenes, not just technically but emotionally, something you could only find in early Disney movies like Snow White.

There is another important difference here.  Disney was content with recreating favorite children's stories.  Miyazaki personalizes his tales.  Chihiro was inspired by the daughter of one of his friends.  It plays out like a bedtime story you make up as you go along, but tells a very important tale of how to overcome fears.  There was no script.  Miyazaki says he let the frames tell the story, filling them with creatures that defy the imagination and letting them take him where they would.  Probably the closest Disney came to something like this is Fantasia.

The story begins as all tall tales do, with the father showing too much curiosity in an abandoned theme park, and he and the mother gluttonously devouring a feast that obviously wasn't intended for them.  Chihiro is appalled and looks to see what else this strange place has in store, when she happens upon Haku, who warns her that they have to get out before it turns dark.  It's too late.  Her parents have been transformed into pigs and she cowers in a corner, overcome by tears.  Haku returns to give her shelter, only to lead her into a spirit world beyond her imagination.

People have tried to ascribe all sorts of hidden meaning to the movie, including child prostitution in Japan, but when Chihiro has her name stolen by Yubaba and replaced with Sen, it is more about losing the layers of her identity, not being sold into prostitution.  Chihiro implies many things, Sen simply means 1000.  This is why Haku tells her how important it is to remember her name.

No one in this movie is expressly evil or expressly good.  This is probably best personified in No-name, whose character changes dramatically once inside the Bathhouse, which Sen lets him into not knowing the consequences for her action.  Everyone becomes obsessed with the gold the semi-translucent beast seems to create out of thin air, catering to his every desire, which he voices after swallowing a frog.  He becomes a foul beast with a voracious appetite himself, but all he really wants is Sen, because of the kindness she showed him.

The bathhouse is obviously a symbol of vices, which Haku tells her she has to escape before it is too late.  Her parents will be eaten.  She will forget her original name, as he has forgotten his, and she will become a slave to Yubaba.  But, here again Yubaba is not all bad herself.  She is a victim of her own vices, personified in a giant baby that terrorizes her because she has spoiled it rotten.

Chihiro is ultimately the hero of the story as she is the person the story is being told to.  The fears have been literally washed away and she sets out to make things right by returning a gold seal to Zeniba, which Haku had stolen after transforming himself into a flying dragon.  Turns out this had been at the bidding of Yubaba, hoping to steal her twin sister's magic and control everything in her realm.  In the process, Chihiro had also removed the black worm inside Haku that held him under the spell of Yubaba.

It's safe to say there is a lot of Japanese mythology at work here.  I won't pretend to know the origin of the many characters that appear in this film.  It seems as though Miyazaki used the story to tell of some of these characters to his friend's daughter, and in turn Japanese children.  Ultimately, Chihiro finds her way back to the real world with the help of Haku, much in the same way he had rescued her before as a water spirit.  Her parents are oblivious to all that happened to them, but Miyazaki added a nice touch.  The car is covered in leaves, indicating it had been sitting there for a long time.

The film is as popular today as it was when it first appeared on Japanese movie screens in 2001, maybe even moreso as it has tapped into a whole new generation.  Netflix has bought the rights to all of Studio Ghibli's works and is streaming them on its subscription network.  No need for the old DVD in the basement anymore.  I would love to see these films on Criterion.

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