This Week, I will be talking about Spirited Away directed by, Hayao Miyazaki, another of my favourites. It is a story about a little girl, Chihiro Ogino, a 10 Year old Girl, who was bored about her own life and did not really cherish her parents and was always reluctant to explore places with them until they were turned into pigs by a witch. The movie consists of many vibrant coloured scenes and interesting looking spirits with human like personalities.  

Spirited Away was the highest grossing film in the history of Japanese cinema. The most astounding thing about this movie is that Miyazaki wrote, directed, storyboarded and even wrote song lyrics for this film. 

In the special features of the Spirited Away DVD, "The Art of Spirited Away<" a commentor said of Miyazaki, "He writes in pictures." 

Storyboard:

The completed scene from the movie:

Most of the film was drawn by hand. Even though computer graphics was used, it did not overwhelmed the film. The film as a whole seems very 2D. But that gives it its own special charm and innocence. 

The character Chihiro, was inspired by a real life 10 year old girl who was the daughter of Miyazaki's friend. Miyazaki thought that the girl was a  " lazy bum" ( he said so in the special features) but he felt that children had strong inner resources. 

In the booklet of the DVD Miyazaki said that, " I tried as much as possible to make the main character an everyday person. So her face is not particularly beautiful. She was not cute or appealing, and I was wondering what do to with her. But by the end of the film, i wasn't worried about her at all and felt quite sure that she would become an attractive person."

i am glad that he did not make her look like Sailormoon because she would not have been as sympathetic.  Her simple dressing and more ordinary features make her more likable so that the audience will care about her journey and adventure. She becomes like the little sister that we want to look after.

The plot with all the gods taking a break at the bath house allows Miyazaki to create many unique creatures that adds to the flavour.

When the rights were bought by Disney  the dubbing process was done meticulously. First, they had to translate the movie not only literally but also had to make sure that American audiences could understand the cultural references. When dubbing, the voice actors had to watch the  movie and match the mouth movements of the characters. 

In total I think that Spirited Away's art is less graphic in the sense that it is suitable for all ages. While Paprika provokes a lot of thinking, Spirited Away finds its way to peoples' hearts. By telling the story from a perspective of a child, the audience is able to think about their own childhood and growth. The lines for Spirited Away are very simple and the scenes not as detailed as Paprika which can be an assualt on the senses. This works well for the film because the simplicity emphasises the innocence of the world. Even the villains Yubaba and Noface are not truly scary and they seem like what a child would imagine.