In 2001, an animated film was born—the only animated film to date to win the Oscars and Golden Bears double certification—that created a record in Japanese cinema history that is difficult to surpass at the box office or artistically—and it was the animated film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Miyazaki founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 and officially began his career as an animation film director. In 1986, Miyazaki directed the animated film Castle in the Sky, and in 1988, Miyazaki directed the animated film Totoro. Studio Ghibli later designed the studio logo based on the character Totoro in the film. In 1993, the animated film "Side Ear Listening", directed by Yoshifumi Kondo and scripted, shot by Hayao Miyazaki, began production, and the film was released in 1995. In 1997, Miyazaki directed the animated film Princess Mononoke, which won the Japanese film box office title that year for its grand scenes and profound story meaning, and Miyazaki planned to retire. However, due to the death of his successor Kifumi Kondo, Miyazaki had to make a comeback again, and the animated film "Spirited Away", which had been dormant for 4 years, was released, and it can be said that "Spirited Away" is Miyazaki's masterpiece.
Some people have commented that "Spirited Away" is about a child's adventure, but it gives adults some confidence in life.
Today, on the 20th anniversary of the birth of Spirited Away, let's walk into a different animation world with Little K!
In the film, Miyazaki shows us a mysterious town, where everything is like a dream, but it is portrayed into reality from all aspects. In this hidden world of gods, but hidden in a materialistic society, here are the rules.
For example, you have to find a job because there are no idle people here.
For example, you can only survive by eating, but if you overeat or eat food that doesn't belong to you, you will become a pig.
Humans, for example, are outliers here.
For example, the desire for money is even greater here than in human society, and for money, even the gods can grab the scalp and bleed.
The protagonist of the movie, Chihiro Hagino, is a little girl who has just turned 10 years old, and her ordinary can no longer be ordinary. She's not that pretty, she's a little spoiled, she's crying, she's vulnerable, just like you and me were when she was a child.
In fact, when "Spirited Away" was planned, Miyazaki did not make the heroine a charming beautiful girl, and when the movie was just released in 2001, Miyazaki said: "Charm is something that cannot be known, because people will suddenly change... The heroine's characteristic is that the movement is slow. Apparently, his purpose was to show the transformation of an ordinary girl.
"Today's children, who have become fragile, kind and vulnerable, and have a very high self-esteem... The fact that such a child was born in this turbulent era is ironic and tragic at the same time. Miyazaki once said this in an interview, but he also believes that every child has an innate determination and energy to overcome difficulties. Just like in "Spirited Away", Chihiro, an ordinary girl, when faced with this highly abstract world, she chooses: accept and strive to survive.
In the planning book of Spirited Away, it is written, "Leaving children in this daily life of being surrounded by layers, overprotected, alienated from each other, and only vague feelings of survival will only make their weak egos grow fatter and fatter." So, unexpectedly, this film does not tell a story about heroism, but the experience of an ordinary girl's self-redemption and self-growth. Spirited Away is significant in the history of Japanese cinema because it tells a story of practical significance: each of us is a part of society, and if we do not have the ability to change it, we must learn to accept and adapt to it.
The faceless man, presumably the most discussed character in the movie, has no looks, no voice, no gender, symbolizing every universal humanity, waiting for someone's redemption. Just because Chihiro opened a door for him on a rainy day, he followed an instinct for gratitude. After entering the oil house, the social rules of the supremacy of money make the faceless man greedy, and he gives Chihiro gold, thinking that this is the best way to be grateful. But when Chihiro doesn't accept his "kindness", an extreme, twisted feeling becomes impossible to pin down, which is the scene of chasing Chihiro.
In the film, Miyazaki uses the softest way to understand, criticize and redeem the faceless man. Creatures eaten by faceless men can spit out and are alive. Letting a person who is not good at words, inferiority, and gloom to weave cloth, eat cake, drink tea and work like a normal person, Miyazaki gives this character the greatest kindness in the movie.
At the end of the story, Chihiro bids farewell to this hidden world, whether it is real, fantasy or unknowable, but the last white dragon's sentence "Go, remember, must not look back" will always echo in the ears.
We love Hayao Miyazaki because we love the different world he created. Taking this opportunity, Little K would like to recommend "Hayao Miyazaki and His World", this interesting book, like the road that leads us into the mysterious world of Spirited Away, it reveals the process of building this world, in this long and wonderful process, full of joy or pain, wandering and perseverance, thinking and inspiration, and finally achieving Miyazaki's world, a world loved by people in the real world.
Introduction:
World-famous Japanese animation director, Hayao Miyazaki. He worked at Toei Animation and has personally created many excellent cartoons and animated films. This book will thoroughly analyze the themes, characters, era backgrounds, ideas, and philosophies of life of Miyazaki's works. How did Osamu Tezuka, Takahata, and Yasuki Tokuma affect him? What techniques did he use in his creations? What are the characteristics of Ghibli's cultural circle? What are the mysteries of science, weapons, and magic in animated works? This book will explain them for you. It also includes comments from critics who are well versed in Miyazaki's work, as well as interviews with Miyazaki's beloved manga artist Kuroda Izumi.
Note: The pictures in this article are from the Spirited Away movie and the Internet