#AGhibliADay #SpiritedAway

Today we watched Spirited Away. We'd both watched it before, and this is the girl's second-favorite Ghibli film (after Whisper of the Heart). It's maybe my fourth or fifth (I will rank them all at the end of this because I like to rank things 😃 )

I had forgotten just how much truly horrifying imagery there was in the film. From the jump, you've got parents turning into pigs, a spider-man (not a Spider-Man), and more yokai than you can shake a stick at. But it doesn't end there, oh no. There's the three rolling green heads. There's Yubaba's familiar, which has Yubaba's face. There's Yubaba herself, who has grossly incorrect proportions and a giant face. There's the creepy old-man-faced dragon that comes out of a stink monster after Chihiro washes it properly. There's No Face basically at all times, but especially when he starts eating and has arms and legs (fuck you, No Face!). There's the giant baby, which is almost as horrifying as the giant baby from Akira.

I understand that most of these people/creatures are ultimately friendly or at least not awful (and the giant baby and Yubaba's familiar are both transformed into some pretty adorable creatures), but that doesn't make them any less terrifying the first time they pop up on screen. I hope parents aren't letting their kids watch this.

My favorite scene in this movie is after Haku takes Chihiro to see her parents in the pig farm for the first time. Chihiro squats down near a field of something (wheat? corn? rice?) and Haku offers her some rice balls, assuring her they're good for her. She finally breaks down and cries after a long day and night of running on only adrenaline, of trying to figure out this new world, of deciding whether or not to trust the people that are trying to help her.

Chihiro is able to traverse this world and its many dangers and pitfalls for two reasons, and two reasons only: because people are nice to her (including some of the horrifying creatures/people, like Kamaji, No Face, Baby, Zeniba, etc.), and because she is nice to people, even the ones that have maybe tried to hurt her before, or she's been told not to trust. If this movie has any message beyond yokai are both terrifying and cool, it is to be kind to each other. If we're kind to each other, we can do anything, even escape a seemingly inescapable situation (and if this film has a second message, it's to not judge anybody on appearance alone). I hope parents are letting their kids watch this.