An Analysis of Spirited Away

Spirited Away is probably my favourite film. Sometimes I consider other films that might take the top spot, then I remember I wrote an 80,000 word document analysing the film a few years back (I was unemployed at the time, ok?). So I guess anyone who devotes that many words to a film should probably class it as their favourite.

I'm new to Steemit, I'm still getting my head round how works. I just uploaded a video analysing the opening scene from Spirited Away to dtube (link below) but I thought I'd talk a little bit more about it here as a chance to get the hang of how these posts work.
https://d.tube/v/thoughttree/mx8rpkht6t3

You see, one of the little, interesting things about Spirited Away is that you technically have a fantasy film without any fight scenes. It plays on a lot of typical fantasy/fairytale tropes: the wicked witch Yubaba (although she's not actually too wicked), the innocent, fearful protagonist who needs to learn courage, the strange world she's thrown into, even technically monsters in the form of No Face and the Stink/River Spirit.

And yet it's strange if we think about Chihiro's main objectives in this film: none of them involve defeating the wicked witch/beating up the bad guy/overthrowing a tyranny/any of those typical fantasy tropes. Chihiro's overarching objective is of course to get her parents back but her plan to achieve this, and a large portion of the plot, is simply for Chihiro to get a job.

She gets Yubaba to hire her, she works for Yubaba, and then kind of slowly earns her parent's freedom and breaks away. And in many ways, that's all a metaphor for growing up and having to enter the adult world of work, where things do feel strange and alien, as it does here, and where you can't rely on your parents to hold you hand.

The great difficulty with growing up and entering the world of work is that many of those already in that world are worn down and have been turned cynical, bitter, and greedy by it. The difficulty then is in growing up and entering that world without becoming bitter and cynical; without losing touch with the loving person you are deep down. That's Chihiro's struggle here: to survive this mad and dangerous world of work without losing touch of who she is or, as the metaphor goes, without forgetting that her real name is Chihiro, rather than what Yubaba calls her: Sen.

As such, Spirited Away is essentially a film about growing up without growing cold. How to become an adult without losing your childlike heart. Chihiro manages it and I think the film's creator, Hayao Miyazaki, wishes we could all manage it too.