I just watched... Spirited Away

Strike three, for Miyazaki.

Late Post, originally written a while ago. 

                What is with this world and the number three? Why is the number three used as a number to define, decide and contain so many things? Trilogies are the most common format, forming a mass equivalent to forty-two blue whales if you try to somehow calculate the masses of forms of media. What is this fixation with the number three?

                Perhaps the easiest assumption to make is that it is smallest number with a ‘central’ value, since it is the smallest odd number which lets it form a ‘typical’ arc of Introduction – Build up – Climax that is usually how so many stories enjoy progressing, as it is the most basic and the easiest to digest format, and one that is rather ‘self-serving’ in many ways.

                Perhaps the rule of three makes sense when you watch anime, since a certain magical girl series taught the world that you should watch at least three episodes of a series to get a heads-up about it. But right now the number three isn’t relevant to media in any direct way right now, nor does this bit of arithmetic have anything to with Spirited Away. Why am I talking about it then? I don’t know. I also don’t know why cheese is called cheese and not called SMF (Solidified Mammary Fluids), but I digress.

The spirit world is... strange. 

                The number three is relevant because this marks my third Ghibli/Miyazaki movie and thus cements the two in the high echelons of my mind where other things that are high in the echelons of my mind exist, which makes me realise that I am guilty of committing the arithmetic sin I was just talking about, but I suppose three is a decent number to judge something by. The truth is that three is a nice number because it can be used to make a heart or a penis and thus symbolises love and lust, and thus symbolises the universe.

                Spirited Away could perhaps be described as ‘Alice in wonderland meets Japanese folklore’ but that would be selling it incredibly short. It’s a rather dichotomous movie and despite its incredibly crazy and unique nature is surprisingly subtle in several ways.

                The movie follows Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the world of spirits and gods and must work at a bath-house for the gods while looking for a way to save her parents and escape. The setting and the world is, delightfully so, every bit as crazy as it sounds and, almost unsurprisingly so, features some rather wild creativity and takes on Japanese mythology.

                Now, I have spoken in the past about how one of the easiest ways to make me fall in love with something is to have it be creative enough to start little tremors in my mind, expansive tremors that reach a critical mass turn into a quake, a quake in which I exclaim ‘holy shit, how did the writer(s) think of this?’, which is a rather rare sentiment but a delightful one when I come across.

                Now you might observe that I have been using the word delightful rather extensively, and that is because that is perhaps the best word to describe the movie in its entirety, and because when I say delightful I general picture myself sitting on a hammock in a suit, swirling a glass of blue wine while I slowly nod affirming-ly at the world. A rather delightful feeling to feel delightful about something delightfully so because the entire movie is just a delight to watch.

                Even though it is marketed as, and more or less ‘is’, a children’s film it contains a rather strong dosage of themes and subjects relevant to the modern world and the world of those familiar with the world. In what seems to be true Miyazaki fashion it has environmental themes, as well as strong discussions regarding the relationship between cultural/traditional life and contemporary life, as well as a look at the nature and ‘purpose’ of avarice in society. Hidden are also reflections on parenthood and child rearing in the modern world, reflections on militant loyalty and obedience towards the whims of others. None of these are forced down your throat and are instead left to your interpretation, as it should be.

                Among the list of other delightful things are the animation, art and music. Now when this movie won the academy award the world was filled with trivia about it and I’m all too familiar with some of it, such as how Miyazaki went through a great deal of trouble studying various animals to get the movement of a dragon to feel right. The detail and art gone into this movie is just astounding in several ways, and the movie almost seems to belong to the Golden Age of animation with its lack of obstructive CG throttling its detailed vistas and quirky characters. Chihiro is rather adorable, and all the other characters – even those who are of the creepy disposition – are loveable and, may I dare say, incredibly delightful.

Even the more 'repulsive' characters are adorable. 

                Another thing I just feel the intrinsic need to gloss over is the pacing of the movie and how it felt just perfect. It felt just right and flowed along smoothly from one part to another, so much so that the length and the highs and the lows seemed to be synchronised just right; it never dragged and never felt abrupt or short-lived. Though it is worth noting that it is rather long for a ‘children’s movie’, though I feel that it is the kind of movie that would be enjoyed a great deal more by an older audience.

                All in all, as the last 938 words might suggest I had a very tough time writing this because it felt rather odd to write about this movie, as writing in detail about the various parts and characters would ruin the fun of it, and excluding that leaves me with bare-bones, ambiguous matter to write on. I think I need to get some objectivity back into these articles so that I don’t keep meandering about in circles talking about things on the fly as they come to my mind and then reach my fingertips which reach the keyboard and click these keys, and since I made a decision to stick to stream of consciousness for these I feel oddly obligated to keep writing and not start again from scratch – but is that an excuse to just keep going forward? Oh great, surprise existentialism. Oh well, delight yourself in a delightfully delighting way watching this delightful delight of a movie.