Throughout its existence, the celebrated Japanese studio has produced multiple masterpieces like Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies and Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro among several others.
Through the use of soft world-building, Miyazaki constructs a memorable heterotopic environment that is infinitely nuanced and densely packed with mysterious entities that we don’t quite know or understand.
These magical creations linger on in our minds long after the film is over, shaping our own memories of the indelible experience of witnessing Miyazaki’s mastery.
Miyazaki explained: “I created a heroine who is an ordinary girl, someone with whom the audience can sympathise.
Children can relate to Chihiro’s feelings of alienation and loneliness brought on by her father’s transfer to an unknown town.
More mature audiences have found Miyazaki’s film to be an intellectual commentary on the excesses of consumerism (Chihiro’s parents literally turn into pigs).
In many ways, Spirited Away symbolises Miyazaki’s hope for a secret world that still exists somewhere without being tarnished by modernity. »
