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spirited away is amazing because of the chihiro's journey through the fantastical world of the kami, where she has to contend with not only her own present but

spirited away is amazing because of the chihiro's journey through the fantastical world of the kami, where she has to contend with not only her own present but generations past and all their virtue and vice. it's about the ever-present struggle to place oneself in a world built upon tradition and deference. this is a common theme in east asian tv and film, but miyazaki explores it in such an enveloping and actually rather gentle way, filled with symbolism and mysticism. the film's representation of coming of age seems to be external (overcoming spirits), but it's all about the girl's coming to terms with herself in relation to her parents and everyone who came before them. it's a blip in her life externally but internally, everything has changed. chihiro transforms in that little blip. i haven't seen nausicaä yet, but all the ghibli films are great (except perhaps arrietty, as noted in a nearby comment). porco rosso was fun and more action oriented than most ghibli films. it's been a while since i've seen castle in the sky but it sits storywise between mononoke and howl's moving castle in my head.

pcdoodle 4y ago
Interesting perspective. I'll watch it again sometime. You must watch nausicaa, it'll blow your hair back.
- pvaldes 4y ago
  Here is a simpler and less prosaic perspective to you: A spoiled young girl must enter as a slave worker in a bath/massage club to repay their parents debt. She must work hard doing difficult and dirt chores while trying to find a way out. He cleans the body of a client plagued from a nasty contamination, and as reward receives a small gift that could help her to be free. Meanwhile, she treats nicely a shy client and allow him in the building. The client soon gets obsessed with the girl and starts spending a lot of gold to pass more and more time with her. Yep, is a film for children. When the rich weirdo realizes is being blocked and distracted by the greedy staff, he has a tantrum, turns in a violent monster and starts destroying the place and eating alive anybody that stands in the path to her. The girl flees, but finally decides to return to help him, the monster is appeased, they travel together and the character is finally rehabilitated far away from the bathhouse. After a last chore, finally the girl befriends the madamme and is allowed to go and quit the bathhouse in good terms, see their parents again and keep with their former life. She is ordered to never tell anybody, never look back and forget all about the sordid place. Happy end. Moral of the history: the solution to child abuse is hide it, never tell to anybody and pretend that nothing happened. Powerful message for children, yep.

pcdoodle 4y ago

Interesting perspective. I'll watch it again sometime. You must watch nausicaa, it'll blow your hair back.

pvaldes 4y ago
Here is a simpler and less prosaic perspective to you: A spoiled young girl must enter as a slave worker in a bath/massage club to repay their parents debt. She must work hard doing difficult and dirt chores while trying to find a way out. He cleans the body of a client plagued from a nasty contamination, and as reward receives a small gift that could help her to be free. Meanwhile, she treats nicely a shy client and allow him in the building. The client soon gets obsessed with the girl and starts spending a lot of gold to pass more and more time with her. Yep, is a film for children. When the rich weirdo realizes is being blocked and distracted by the greedy staff, he has a tantrum, turns in a violent monster and starts destroying the place and eating alive anybody that stands in the path to her. The girl flees, but finally decides to return to help him, the monster is appeased, they travel together and the character is finally rehabilitated far away from the bathhouse. After a last chore, finally the girl befriends the madamme and is allowed to go and quit the bathhouse in good terms, see their parents again and keep with their former life. She is ordered to never tell anybody, never look back and forget all about the sordid place. Happy end. Moral of the history: the solution to child abuse is hide it, never tell to anybody and pretend that nothing happened. Powerful message for children, yep.