Veith Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a visually beautiful, extremely engaging movie. The plot is so so crazy, and its perfect Japanaese oddities are what make it so AWESOME, and appealing especially to teenage girls like myself.   It is clear, by the time Hayao Miyazaki made this movie, he had enough respect and artistic liberty to create anything he anted. No longer was he really trying to make an impression by raising awareness to the public of environmental destruction, as in Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa.

And although Miyazaki did make sure there were underlying elements that were a commentary on how Japanese traditions are deteriorating and Japanese children may be becoming lazy under influence of the west, what really makes the film so good is the beautiful spiritual and fantastical aspects. And, of course, there was Chihiro's spunk and strength that allowed for young girls to look up to her. But what I'd really like to discuss is those fantastical things, and I'm just going to go ahead and relate to them on a personal level.

I've been feeling really lonely lately. This always happens around winter, and I've just been feeling like escaping from reality a lot due to certain events. I've been making art, focusing on trying to create things that represent other universes, space oddities, and just funky stuff as a means to feel better. And, cheesy as it is, Spirited Away just inspires me so much. I cannot stress enough how intrigued I am by Japanese culture, how much the aesthetics of all their cute stuff in modern culture, as well as their traditional art, really appeals to me. And all of the characters in Spirited Away are so COOL. They are as beautiful as they are strange. I really look up to Miyazaki and whatever team of artists created the spiritual world and the creatures in Spirited Away. Because when I watch the movie, I really feel like I've been spirited away, in some gorgeous Japanese world where everything is harmonious and okay.

And now on a side/end note, I'm just going to stress how much I like Japan and how much I've learned in this Japanese Anime course. Although I could learn much more about how Japanese society works, I feel I have enough of an understanding to know that Japan is a pretty harmonious place. I've been think a lot about what Professor McCay said about how in Japan individualism isn't really stressed. And that's so cool, duty is so important to them. Japan's got a crazy awesome thing going on, and some really awesome movies come out of there. I LOVE JAPAN! It's been a really awesome calss :)