When it comes to Hayao Miyazaki, many people can't help but feel that this is a person who created a fairy tale for Japan and the world. He can be regarded as a master figure in the Japanese animation industry and even the world animation industry. The characters and stories he created are full of innocence and childishness, which makes audiences of different ages gain different impressions.
Watching his films is a kind of enjoyment, a journey away from the real world, and an adventure to find pure and beautiful things. This is how I felt the first time I watched "My Neighbor Totoro" in the cinema.
Now his other work "Spirited Away" is released in China for the first time after 18 years. Eighteen years is a meaningful period of time. It means a person's growth, from childishness, no longer innocence, and towards maturity.
Because of the release of this film, many people have been pulled back to the memories of 18 years ago, and they are all trying to regain their innocence while watching the film, and finally think about whether they have forgotten their name - their original intention.
In 2001, the film was released in Japan and won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Hong Kong Film Awards, the French Caesar Award, the Anne Award and the Academy Award.
At the box office, I saw two sayings, "It hit an unprecedented 30.4 billion yen at the box office in Japan" and "finally won a total of 30.8 billion in the domestic box office", but no matter which one it is, it is so far Japan Box office champion.
It can be seen that whether it is international awards or honors or box office results in the local market, "Spirited Away" is undoubtedly successful and excellent, and can even be regarded as a masterpiece.
But I have some different opinions. After watching Spirited Away, the story kept lingering in my mind, and all kinds of doubts were intertwined, which made me doubt its honor.
Before I say enough, let me say two good points, which are also mentioned in all review articles. The pure beauty and magical imagination shown in "Spirited Away" really makes people feel and amazed.
"The inspiration for Chihiro's story started with my friend's 10-year-old daughter, who would often visit me in summer at her hut in the mountains," Miyazaki said at a press conference for the Paris premiere. "I found that there was no market for her age. A movie prepared by a child, I hope I can make a movie for her and her children of the same age."
His original intention was to create films for 10-year-old children, so he often observed the behavior of 10-year-old children to enrich Chihiro's character and make it more realistic.
Because Chihiro's family was going to move, Chihiro had to change schools, she was very disappointed, and complained that the first time she received a bouquet of flowers, it was because of parting. It can be seen that she is reluctant to give up to her classmates.
Chihiro entered the world of gods and monsters, and her parents turned into pigs. She was very frightened and ran in a panic. Fortunately, she met Bailong. The white dragon taught her how to survive in this world. In the beginning, facing the unfamiliar world, she acted frightened and clumsy, and even cried because she was worried that she would not be able to go back. The tears of grievance fell, which was really distressing, and it also allowed people to see how they looked when they were young.
"Spirited Away" is particularly good in terms of production and has a strong sense of film. The presentation of its pictures has a sense of design. It is not a video-like recording of the activities of the characters, but there will be changes in the long-range and close-range.
What impressed me the most was the process of the real world slowly becoming magical. First, Chihiro met Bailong, and Bailong told her to leave quickly. He turned around and blew a few petals. Then the scene began to change. Chihiro ran quickly, the lanterns on the road lit up one after another, and monsters began to appear around. . Before leaving, Chihiro's parents were eating frantically, and when they came back, the frantic eater had turned into a pig. The strange and magical atmosphere was gradually created in this way.
I admit, "Spirited Away" shaped a real Spirited Away and created a magical world. But in my eyes, it has a big problem with the most basic story.
The story of an animated film is very important and the most basic. If there is something wrong with the story of an animated film, then all the so-called pure beauty, magic and metaphor have no foundation.
1. A journey of growing up alone?
Many articles think that "Spirited Away" tells the story of a little girl's growth, who grew up from timid and petite to independent and brave. Is that so?
The general routine of a growth story should be that the owner is bullied when he is fair or always encounters problems due to his own factors. Occasionally, he has an experience. In the process, he learns from the role of the guide, improves himself, and finally solves the problem and is no longer bullied.
Obviously, "Spirited Away" does not conform to such a routine. It doesn't show Chihiro's inadequacies, so it can't create a significant contrast at the end of the journey, allowing people to see her change and growth.
Let's look at Chihiro's original question. Chihiro's house moves, and her father drives her mother and Chihiro to their new home. Chihiro, who is sitting in the car, appears sullen. When her parents told her about the location of the new school, she got up and stuck her tongue out of the car window in the direction of the school. Chihiro has been holding the flower of separation given to her by her friend, because the hold is too tight, and the flower is a little wilted.
It can be seen that the problem Chihiro encountered was separation anxiety. Ordinarily, it should be about how she resolves this anxiety, adjusts her state, and then adapts to the new environment and meets new classmates.
However, Hayao Miyazaki didn't play cards according to the routine, and just gave Chihiro this fantasy journey directly, not targeting the problem at all. Chihiro still wants to go to a new school and continues to be reluctant to leave her old friends. If he is like this, the original clue that caused depression due to moving has become a waste line. It can be replaced with any event. It is said that the Qianxun family went out for a spring outing, and then strayed into the realm of gods and continued the story of the movie. Violation.
Some people pointed out that Chihiro had many problems at the beginning, timid, delicate, dependent, crying, clumsy, but from the perspective of the plot, is this a problem? Does it have any impact?
Said that she was timid, because her parents were walking towards the tunnel, but she never dared to go, and finally reluctantly followed. This is very normal. You will be afraid of unfamiliar environments, so don’t be brave if you have nothing to do.
Said that she likes to cry, but it is also because of the fear of unfamiliar environment, the fear of the unknown future, and the worry that her parents will be turned into pigs. It's normal, if your parents turn into pigs in a blink of an eye, you probably have to cry too.
She is said to be clumsy, but she is only a 10-year-old child, and she has to do the work that adults do. And in the movie, I didn't see her clumsy, she was only half a beat slower than others because of her weak strength.
2. A story full of metaphors?
In the interpretation of the animated film "Spirited Away", in addition to the childlike innocence, the most talked about is the various interpretations of the characters or images in the film, and some even see that the film is a symbol of Japan as a whole.
The more things a movie can decipher, sometimes it doesn't necessarily mean it's better. To put it nicely, it is called all-inclusive and rich in meaning;
A good movie can have multiple themes, but you have to unify it and integrate it into the story, and you have to differentiate between primary and secondary.
In the title of "Spirited Away", Qianxun is the original name of the little girl, and Qian is the name that Granny Tang gave her (to be precise, the new name is Xiaoqian). Different names have different meanings. Qianxun represents reality and Qianxun represents magic. The title of the film can also be understood as a different world and a different identity.
In addition to the meaning pointed out above, another reason why the name is used as the title of the film is that there is a setting about names in this magical world: Yuba controls others by taking away their names, and the names are taken away , I can no longer remember the way home, and hide my real name well.
Names are tied to individuals, and even the key to getting home.
In fact, the name as a symbol has its great significance. Except for people who have names, all things have names. In the Bible, God asked Adam to name all things, which is God's confirmation of all things. Legend has it that when the Chinese characters were created, the world was shaking, because all mysterious things could be named and confirmed.
In "Journey to the West", whether the King of the Golden Horn and the King of the Silver Horn are going to collect Sun Wukong with a purple-gold red gourd or a jade bottle, they have to call each other's name, and the other party will be taken away as long as they agree. This also reflects the correspondence between names and individuals and even things.
Regardless of Eastern and Western cultures, names are symbolic. Originally, if Miyazaki started the story mainly around the themes of "name" and "identity", it would be a work with a profound theme.
However, the setting about "name" is just a setting, and the development of the movie's story is completely separated from this setting. There are also two related episodes, one is that the mother-in-law stole Chihiro's name and gave her a new name, and Bailong told Qianxun the rules; the other was that Qianxun remembered Bailong's name, and Bailong regained his memory. .
But these two episodes are not important, because Chihiro still remembers her name, and no one makes her forget it; because Bai Long has not changed much after knowing her name, he changed from a dragon to a little boy, Before, he was clearly able to change freely.
Without this theme about the relationship between "name" and "identity", the meaning of the title "Spirited Away" would be greatly reduced.
There are more metaphors in the movie, such as the parents who turned into pigs because of gluttony are greedy and deformed people, such as the faceless man can be either a marginal person or a person with an empty heart, a huge baby suffering from soup The closed guardian of the mother-in-law is the mother's baby boy or the unweaned adult.
But I want to say that the movie is not a riddle, let alone a collection of riddles, these so-called metaphors are more just labels, that is, if you see this is a giant baby, you just think about the giant baby, and then the next plot can be Forget this metaphor.
To be precise, they only appear once, and the narrative function is weak. Let's just say the faceless man, does his appearance promote the plot? In the front here, he is still eating frantically, and in the next scene, he can sit in Grandma Qian's house and drink tea and eat dessert very gentlemanly, and finally he is left behind.
3. Not enough characters, not enough stories
The whole film gave me the greatest feeling, that the characters are not well-built, and Chihiro is fuller. Everyone else has a story behind it, but the film doesn't tell it. It's more like a clip taken from a long-form anime.
The story of Chihiro and the White Dragon. Chihiro and Bailong can be regarded as friends or lovers. After all, Grandpa Boiler said, "Don't you understand? This is love." After all, Granny Qian said, "Your boyfriend Long Either way, you can only save yourself."
However, there is only a flashback about how the two met in the past. When Bailong was still the God of the Amber River, he rescued Chihiro who fell into the river. This is another story about the little dragon girl and the pig brother, Xu Xian and the white snake? There is only a story when a mortal saves a fairy or a fairy. It's not impossible for you, a river god, to save mortals. Then how many people have you saved over the past few hundred years? Why do you only like Chihiro?
In my opinion, apart from the short story of how the two met, the story of Bai Long was not mentioned. There should be a fact or material basis for the existence of the gods. The Amber River has been filled, the water has been drained, and the river god is not dead yet. In the movie, it is said that he came to visit Granny Tang to learn magic, and it is also said that he has done a lot of bad things. The river is gone, I don't know what else he can do with spells!
Faceless Man and Chihiro. Some say that the faceless man likes Chihiro because everyone ignores him, only Chihiro greets him and invites him into the oil house. The movie does not show that he is marginalized, he is more of a ghost. It wasn't that others ignored him, it was clearly that he only appeared in front of Chihiro.
Where is he holy? It was creepy when I saw him eating like a black beast at the end. But he didn't seem to be able to digest things. The oil house staff who had eaten before were all spit out, and nothing happened.
Granny Tang and Granny Qian. The two are twin sisters, but they don't get along. Granny Yu opened a hot spring place called Youwu, to wash away the dirt on her body for the gods and gods, and she played with gold and silver jewelry all day long. Granny Qian lived in the country, lived alone, spinning by herself.
The most amazing thing is Granny Qian's character design. At first, Granny Tang used paper magic to beat the white dragon who was stealing her seal to vomit blood. When she appeared in the room, she also cast magic on the giant baby and the three heads, as if she was going to follow her. Granny Tang did a great job, but fortunately, Bai Long shredded the paper with a flick of his tail. Waiting for Qianxun to get on the train and then go to Grandma Qian and ask her to save Bailong, she seems to be a different person, pouring tea and snacks, with a kind look, and giving Qianxun earnest teachings. .
By the way, what does Granny Yu fly out of the oil house in the form of a bird every morning? What's the use of her asking for Granny Qian's seal? The movie didn't explain it.
Anyway, when I was worried about Chihiro's next adventure, the next second became my boyfriend (White Dragon) and flew the little girl to the sky. He shouted "I'm going to save the white dragon" in front of him, but it turned out to be a false alarm. He didn't have to do anything except feed the almighty golden elixir sent by the river god.
View more about Spirited Away reviews
