Spirited Away

Spirited Away 千と千尋の神隠しSen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, lit. Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away, is the story of a ten-year-old girl, who, after her parents are magically turned into pigs, must work at a bath house for spirits until she can find a way to change them back.

Summary
Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are moving to a new town, about which Chihiro is quite unhappy. While driving, they get lost and her father decides to take a “shortcut” down a strange forested pathway. After a quick, rather bumpy drive, they stop at what appears to be an abandoned theme park. Curious, the family goes through a tunnel and explores the park, finding an empty town with stalls strangely full of freshly-cooked food. Chihiro’s parents dive right in, but the young girl wanders off, whereupon she meets a boy named Haku. He seems to know Chihiro and warns her to escape with her parents; she returns only to find that they have turned into pigs, and that the way back to their car has become a deep river. Spirits appear and go about the park. In order to keep her presence hidden from the spirits, Haku sneaks Chihiro to a large bathhouse. There, Haku tells her that she must get a job from the witch Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse, until he can help her recover her parents and escape.

With the help of the six-armed boiler room master Kamajii and a fellow servant girl named Lin, Chihiro is able to convince Yubabato give her a job; in exchange, Chihiro is forced to give up her name so that Yubaba may keep her in service for eternity. Yubaba gives her new servant the name "Sen(千)," which is derived from "Chihiro(千尋)" by removing the second character and using the alternate reading of the first. Chihiro eventually learns that Haku is similarly indebted to Yubaba. Chihiro is put to work alongside Lin, helping to bathe and serve the most difficult spirits in the bathhouse. Chihiro is forced to bathe a massive "stink spirit." In the course of a difficult bath, it is revealed that it is actually a powerful river spirit who had been heavily polluted. In return for her service, the spirit rewards Chihiro with a magic medicine made from special herbs.

Chihiro discovers that Haku's true form is that of a dragon, a form in which he is later attacked by paper birds controlled by Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. Haku had stolen Zeniba's sigil under orders from Yubaba. Chihiro tries to help Haku recover from his injuries by using themedicine given to her by the river spirit. The medicine acts as an emetic, causing the dragon to vomit up the sigil along with a strange black slug that Chihiro squashes with her foot. However, Haku remains comatose, so Chihiro decides to travel to Zeniba's home to return the sigil, hoping to break her curse over Haku. Chihiro sets out on a train ride across the spirit world, along with a wraith-like spirit called No Face, who terrorized the bathhouse and tried to earn the affection of Chihiro, and Boh, Yubaba's gigantic infant son whom Zeniba had transformed into a mouse.

The group arrives at Zeniba's house only to find that Zeniba is in fact quite kind, and that the curse on Haku was placed on him by Yubaba, but that Chihiro's love and caring has broken the spell. Zeniba makes Chihiro a special hairband to show her that her friends are with her, as well as for protection, and offers to let No Face stay there as her assistant. Haku, now recovered, shows up to return Chihiro to the bathhouse. He explains that he has made a deal with Yubaba. She will return Chihiro's parents to normal and allow all three of them to leave in exchange for returning Boh. As they travel on Haku's dragon form, Chihiro realizes that Haku is the same river spirit that saved her as a small child when she fell into the Kohaku River. This realization breaks Yubaba's control on Haku completely.

Once they return, Yubaba tells Chihiro that she must pass one final test as part of Haku's deal: identify which pigs in the huge herd are her parents. Chihiro realizes that none of them are, thereby passing the test. Yubaba is forced to let her and her family go. Haku escorts her to the entrance of the spirit world, telling her that her parents are waiting on the other sid. However, Chihiro must not look back or else the deal will be broken. Chihiro rejoins her parents, not once looking back. The family returns to their car (now covered with dust and fallen leaves and branches, looking as though a long time has passed) and continues on their journey to their new home. As proof that Chihiro's adventure really did occur, we see that the hair band Zeniba gave her is still in her hair. In the English adapation, the movie ends as Chihiro's parents tell her that they understand her worry, to which she replies that she thinks she'll do fine. In the original Japanese, Chihiro is silent as the car drives away.

Themes
The Power to Live

Chihiro finds herself pushed down from all sides. There is every excuse in the world for her to simply give up and let this world overtake her and crush her. Still, despite overwhelming odds, she finds it in herself to keep going. She picks herself up after each setback, and continues on. Miyazaki states that Chihiro is a heroine "because of her power not to let herself be eaten up."

Environmental Pollution

Though not as strong a point in Spirited Away as in, say, Princess Mononoke, there is still an undercurrent of environmental awareness. The "stink spirit" that Chihiro must attend to early on in the movie turns out to be a river god whose river had been extremely polluted. The film is very clearly telling us that our pollution is covering up and destroying the spirit and life that resides in nature.

Words and Names

"Today, words are considered very lightly, as something like bubbles. It is just a reflection of reality being empty. It is still true that a word has power. It's just that the world is filled with empty and powerless words." - Miyazaki

"The act of depriving (a person) of one's name is not jsut changing how one (person) calls the other. It is a way to rule the other (person) completely." - Miyazaki

In the film, Miyazaki endeavors to show us that not all words have lost their strength. Names still have a great pull over the one they are attached to. As we live, we pour our identities into our names. No longer just a word to identify us, they contain a portion of our spirit. Who we are can become wrapped up in our name. Change or lose our names, and we take on an entirely different identity. After Yubaba takes Chihiro's name, she forgets all about who she is and why she is there in the bathhouse. It is not until Haku reminds her of her real name that she regains those memories.

Similarly, Haku is unable to break free of Yubaba's control over him as he cannot remember his name. Along with this, he is unable to recall his former life as well. It is only once Chihiro remembers it for him that he is able to break free from Yubaba's hold.

Influences
"This movie is a story about a 10-year-old whose father and mother happened to eat something they shouldn't have, and sp became pigs. The movie appears to be satire, but that isn't my purpose. I have five young female friends who are about the same age as Hiiragi-san (the 13-year-old voice actress of Chihiro), and I spend every summer with them at my mountain cabin. I wanted to make a movie they could enjoy. That is why I started this film, and that is my true purpose."

The world of Spirited Away was greatly influenced by concepts of the Shinto religion. The spirits present in the film are the Kami (gods or spirits) that are believed to be present in all things. While some gods have definite, distinct forms that they take, the majority of these spirits do not have any such verifiable form. As such, Miyazaki endeavored to envision forms for these beings that would fit them.

In terms of the setting, Miyazaki states that "for [him], a bath house is a mysterious place in town. The first time [he] saw an oil painting was in a bath house. And there was a small door next to the bath tub. [He] wondered what was behind that door." "It would be fun if there were [a bath house for the gods]. It's the same as when we go to hot springs. Japanese gods go there to rest for a few days, then return home saying they wished they could stay for a little while longer. I was imagining such things as I made images (of the film). I was thinking that it's tough being a Japanese god today. (Laughs)"

In a sense, Miyazaki gives us a glimpse of how we might see these spirits in relaxation. They take a break from being the mysterious and powerful kami of various aspects of life and nature, and head off to the bathhouse for some R&R.

Reception
Spirited Away was received with rave reviews worldwide. In Japan, the movie made approximately ¥30 billion, making it the highest-grossing film in Japanese history. As of 2008, Spirited Away's worldwide revenue was $364,869,236.

In reviews, Spirited Away almost always received high praise. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 94, and a score of 97 on Rotten Tomatoes.

In a study performed at UGA, some American viewers found the film to be too strange, considering its fantasy world to be "hard to wrap your mind around." This is not as surprising, considering the film was made with an eye towards Japanese audiences, the majority of whom would be familiar with the concept of the spirits that inhabit the movie. It should also be noted that in the study taken, the viewers who were dissatisfied with the film were in the minority, and all of them admitted having little to no exposure to animé or any other aspect of Japanese culture.

Awards

 * Best Animated Feature Film; 75th           Awards


 * Best Film; 2001 Awards


 * Golden Bear (tied); 2002     Berlin International Film Festival


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002 Film  Awards


 * Special Commendation for     Achievement in Animation; 2002       Society of Film Critics Awards


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002 Film Critics Awards


 * Outstanding Achievement in an     Animated Feature Production; 2002 Annie Awards


 * Best Directing in an Animated     Feature Production; 2002 Annie Awards


 * Best Writing in an Animated     Feature Production; 2002 Annie Awards


 * Best Music in an Animated     Feature Production; 2002 Annie Awards


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002     Critics' Choice Awards


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002 Film Critics Online Award


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002      Film


 * Best Animated Feature; 2002     National Board of Review


 * Best Original Score in the     Category of Comedy or Musical; 78th Annual Glaubber Awards


 * Motion Picture, Animated or     Mixed Media; 7th Annual Golden Satellite Awards


 * Audience Award for Best     Narrative Feature; 45th       International Film Festival


 * Special Mention from the     Jury; 2002 Sitges Film Festival


 * Best Asian Film; 2002 Hong     Kong Film Awards


 * Best Animated Film; 29th     Annual Saturn Awards


 * Best Film (tied); Cinekid     2002 International Children's Film Festival


 * Best Animated Feature; Online     Film Critic Society


 * Best Animated Feature; Dallas-Forth     Worth Critics


 * Best Animated Film;      Film Critics Society


 * Silver Scream Award; 19th      Fantastic Film Festival


 * Best Family/Animation     Trailer; Fourth Annual Golden Trailer Awards


 * Brilliant Dreams Award 2003; Bulgari


 * Award Winner, Film; 2003     Christopher Awards


 * Award Winner, Most     Spiritually Literate Films of 2002 (You); Spirituality & Health Awards
 * Best Movie for Grownups who Refuse to Grow Up, Best Movies for Grownups Awards; AARP The Magazine

Cast
Japanese:


 * Chihiro - Rumi Hiiragi


 * Haku - Miyu Irino


 * Yubaba, Zeniba - Mari Natsuki


 * Kamajii - Bunta Sugawara


 * Lin - Yuumi Tamai


 * Bou - Ryunosuke Kamiki


 * Chihiro's father - Takeshi Naitou


 * Chihiro's mother - Yasuko Sawaguchi

English:


 * Chihiro - Daveigh Chase


 * Haku - Jason Marsden


 * Yubaba, Zeniba - Suzanne Pleshette


 * Kamajii - David Ogden Stiers


 * Lin - Susan Egan


 * Bou - Tara Strong


 * Chihiro's father - Michael Chiklis


 * Chihiro's mother - Lauren Holly


 * Assistant Manager - John Ratzenberger