Spirited Away: Change for Good

One of my favorite movies of all time is "Spirited Away." It also happens to be my favorite Studio Ghibli film, well ahead of Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro (my 2nd and 3rd, respectively). I even wrote an essay on it for a Japanese class one semester and was convinced after watching it for the 50th time that there was some meaning to the food presented. This article from The Artifice reminded me of an essay I read to write my own essay. In this essay, Susan Napier states that the film is a reaction to globalization and its perceived threat to sustaining Japan's unique culture and national identity. And the imagery does show this. In the first few minutes, there are the cars, the roads, and the houses, all neat and modern. But the fictional world seems to be reminiscent of Japan from at least two hundred years ago, if not longer.



The article asks the reader to think about Spirited Away as a change for good, not for loss of culture and identity like Napier suggests. To someone who read Napier first and believed in it, it was a good read, and eye-opening. I'm vaguely reminded of the essay I wrote, which drew heavily on Napier. I wonder if I would have been allowed to use this article to also argue points I made?

The two main points the article makes is "personal change" and "a stagnant environment." When you think about it, history is all about change and dynamic environments. Yes, the Heian and Tokugawa periods happened and art and literature flourished, but the country couldn't remain isolated forever. A state of "sameness" can make one go mad (as No-Face does in the movie). And in a world that's growing smaller, why wouldn't you want to step outside of "sameness"?

This article is a good thing to keep in mind for rewatching Spirited Away a 51st time. If you haven't watched Spirited Away yet, you're totally missing out. It's a beautiful film that makes commentary on history and change (if it's perceived that way, like Napier thinks) or on personal change (like the article says), or a coming-of-age story (like Miyazaki says it is), or a commentary about ecological damage (which others think). If you haven't watched it, you need to. Go find it right now. The internet awaits. And if you have, rewatch it. It deserves a rewatch.