Watching 'Spirited Away' again, and again

I look at it this way: many adults are still kids.

I think that's why they remember it so fondly, with a little footnote at the end about how it was a great example of Japanese engineering and effort used for a horrible end.

This film definitely is uncomfortably close to an intangible border of "war atrocity"; and, considerably more so considering the Zero's usage in the end of WWII and Japanese atrocities. Considering Miyazaki's anti-war stances and efforts, I always was inclined to take his thoughts and messaging on this with a positive light.

By the way, did you know that in Japan, this film was viewed extremely negatively by Japanese nationalists? So, there may be something culturally lost in our interpretation as well. I remember coming out of that movie thinking, "well, that's kinda fucked up". And yet, my understanding of that movie is contrary to the man's many decades of outspoken commentary. So, idk. I think I just didn't "get it".

> The movie’s subject dovetails with an issue currently under heated debate in Japan: the new prime minister’s plan to amend the country’s constitution to allow for the building of a full-fledged military, boosting the limited self-defense forces put in place after the war.

> Miyazaki, a venerated cultural figure in Japan, published an essay last month objecting to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan, in the process raising the ire of some Japanese conservatives, who on Internet message boards labeled him “anti-Japanese” and a “traitor.”

> Miyazaki’s movie, which is seeking U.S. distribution, reflects his pacifist stance. In the subtitled trailer above, he depicts Japan in the years leading up to WWII, when it faced some of the same problems that have plagued the country in recent years, including a devastating earthquake and economic stagnation. The character of Horikoshi appears as a contemplative young man, tossing paper airplanes with a girl, gazing at the Japanese countryside from the window of a steam train and working in a factory, until the war hits and the tone shifts, with a plane breaking up in the sky and blood falling to the ground.

I think that might have a lot to do with his father.

"His father, Katsuji Miyazaki (born 1915),[2] was the director of Miyazaki Airplane, his brother's company,[4] which manufactured rudders for fighter planes during World War II.[5]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki)

He hates war, but his own father played a role in it. I imagine that a person would have to come to terms with that somehow. He also really does think military airplanes are beautiful so there's that too.

So for Spirited Away I warned them in advance, “It’s got scary parts-for example, her parents get turned into pigs! But it all turns out ok in the end. You’ll have to watch to see how.”

And for “Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro” something similar: “Just so you know, there’s one part where he gets shot with a gun and blood comes out. But don’t worry he doesn’t die.”

The shock factor is completely gone, the gory and meant to be traumatic parts aren’t that bad like I’m always waiting for the part that is triggering and it just doesn't come.

And the main characters I can basically only laugh at, the story is a cautionary tale of degeneracy and all the adults point out other choices the whole time. I completely didn’t notice the first time I saw it as a pre-teen. I just saw freedom, desperation that nobody helped and shock at the resolution. I completely missed that it starts as an anonymous homeless person dying their last breath in a subway station, and ending with it. Seeing that and how I actively avoid that specific scenario and so could these main characters, its more of a comedy at “watch this dumbass burn every bridge with the worst decisions” an expected and purely Machiavellian outcome, as its so common in the cities I live in, and everyone compassionate realizes they cant help people that cant help themselves. The story moreso shows humanizing to the dead anonymous homeless off in the corner, but not really empathy as it might be interpreted, just caution of how not to make those choices. the adults point out other choices the whole time, the writers put that in there.

"‘Grave of the Fireflies’ Poster Has Heartbreaking Easter Egg Discovered 30 Years After Release": https://nextshark.com/grave-fireflies-poster-hidden/

I genuinely believe both Spirited Away and Momonoke Hope are better films from a critical standpoint but Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso and The Castle of Cagliostro are the ones I have rewatched the most.

Miyazaki really is a master of the adventure genre. All his movies are incredibly tight when it comes to the pacing and I think lighter plots allow this to really shine and make for incredibly breezy movies.

As someone who watched Lain first, I found it much harder to follow as half of the scenes were distinctively dream-like and weren't "happening".

I love how one of the comments talks about Roger Ebert calling the lamp post a gift. The entirety of Studio Ghibli is a gift. The empowering characters and almost eternal, non-preachy, storylines are truly some of the greatest epics in modern times.

Even on rewatches, the show is powerful for me. There are two episodes that will always make me at least tear up. I would almost hazard to say it is a perfect show for youth. Even the youth qualifier feels shaky sometimes.

Just to add in, an animated show I have rewatched a lot that still inspires me is "Ping Pong the Animation". I recommend the original voice work for the initial run, especially if you understand Chinese. They recasted one of the characters for the bluray release, and the delivery is not quite right in my opinion.

A young girl is thrown out of her daily life when she wanders into a supernatural world and facing hardships, grows with the help of benevolent older figures and finds that she actually possesses the strength to overcome them.

As you rightfully pointed however what distinguishes Spirited Away is how original and evocative its setting is. Miyazaki is a master at reframing common experience in enchanting way. The train is a good example. Anyone can relate to the fear of taking public transport alone for the first time, being surrounded by stranger, having to use a ticket but in the act is both stripped to its bare essential and yet shot beautifully.

I would argue that's not the case as there are plenty of morally naturalistic European works (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, upon which Spirited Away, among other anime, is based) just as there are plenty of morally didactic Japanese works. The movie may not be as blatant as an Aesop. It's certainly layered with subtext, but it's also a much simpler picture than most make it out to be.

There is a lesson, and it's one given in the form of a command by Hakku towards the film's end:

"Leave...and don't look back."

Chihiro's (and the audience's) lesson is to move forward in life, just as she's done up to that point. If you recall, the movie begins in media res as Chihiro is being driven away from her soon-to-be-former hometown. She looks sullen as she fidgets in the back of her father's SUV while clutching a bouquet implied to have been recieved from a friend or wellwisher in an attempt to hold on to the past. Despite being on the road for at most a few hours, she already misses whomever and whatever she and her parents were leaving behind. She's clearly frustrated by what seems to be an unneeded change in her life.

Throughout the movie, she faces one resentful change of circumstance after another. A change almost always inflicted upon her by an authority figure. As she develops a greater sense of agency, she takes it upon herself to change her own circumstances, and eventually the circumstances of almost every character she comes across including said authority figures.

The point of the movie is that things will change whether it's for the worse or the better, and you can either be swept by the river of events that is life or set your own terms and act accordingly. That's not to say that the latter choice will always bear desirable fruit, especially without a prepared plan. Such a choice can horribly backfire even with planning and preparation. Nevertheless, one should refrain from abdicating one's will in the pursuit of a goal. Instead, one should, inasmuch as one can, choose and direct the path that will take one forward.

Spirited Away is beautiful, in the artistic sense of the word. It has no real story, and is just a hodgepodge of Japanese folklore pieced together to half-resemble even a mild plot.

The rest of the stuff that isn't folklore-related is just the anthropomorphic elements Miyazaki added in as filler because of "kawaii".

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And as an aside.... "Had to scroll down quite a bit on the HN page to find your comment, obviously it has been downvoted because having this opinion is apparently not allowed in this world."

It's not the "world" that has this problem. It's hacker news. This place seriously has a groupthink problem. For this site, "Disagree(opinion)" == "Disagree(factually incorrect)" == "Disagree(against group opinion) == "Disagree(no reason)" are all given the same weight, and the same gray-on-offwhite text.