Spirited Away

Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time watch challenge #190 - (film =75 out of 264) There is so much I can say about this film, one of the few animated films ont he S&S list. I practically grew up with it. My sister and I would watch and rewatch this film over and over again during long car rides. Sometimes we would even break it up over the course of smaller trip, each small detail memorized. It’s an incredible piece of art displaying extreme craftsmanship and attention to detail. Miyazaki and his team spent a lot of hours studying how children act and behave in order to make Chihiro feel like a real little girl, with all the small mannerisms that a bratty child might have, especially one upset with changes happening in their life that they cannot control. One shot that I always take note of isn’t even one that necessarily shows a character’s full body in order to showcase believable acting and movement in animation. It’s a simple shot of Kamaji, the boiler room spirit, reaching his arm up into a series of cabinets to retrieve the herbs used in the various healing and soothing bathwaters used for the customers. In that shot he drops a few pieces of straw twice, both corresponding to when an actual hand would tense up and relax in order to grab something. I wonder sometimes if me noticing that back then, as a child, showed some sort of eye for detail and movement that would make me want to pursue the career I did. While I don’t necessarily think that there’s a “wrong” way to read a piece of media, I do really abhor the interpretations of this film that treat it as darker than it is, loose and flimsy “theories” about how Spirited Away is about child trafficking. This is a film made for children that is so well crafted with themes so universal that it is still engrossing for older audiences as well and I always felt that these “darker” interpretations are just a way for people to justify liking something clearly made with children in mind. I think it does a disservice to childrens’ media to not approach it seriously and on its own level. After all, Spirited Away, a film for children, still has such deep themes presented in a simple way, threading the fine line between whimsy and horror to tell a story that is about how children grow and change, even without their parents. Spirited Away, in a lot of regards, has a lot of the trappings of the sort of “dutiful child” stories you’ll see in folktale, as Chihiro works to survive the spirit bathhouse and also save her parents, but does a lot to showcase how a lot of that duty is formed while she’s away from her parents. She’s portrayed as whiny and spoiled early on in the film and we see how her parents’ actions reflect that as they eat food meant for the spirits. She’s a frightened child and as Haku protects her and guides her she slowly starts to change, even displaying base level kindness and tenacity despite her early cowardice that convinces Kamaji to vouch for her. Children learn by observing and in those first few moments as the spirit world awakens she sees frightening things but is also witness to different forms of kindness. Haku, who knew her and showed her kindness to protect her, Kamaji, who took pity on a child who was trying her best, Lin, who was only kind at first because she was pushed to doing so, and even small background characters like the Radish Spirit, who gave her basic respect as a complete stranger. She takes all of these and it is reflected back out into the world. It’s such a fantastic film, rich with empathy and artistry.