Hayao Miyazaki’s works have been critically acclaimed in Japan, as well as in the Western world, with his Spirited Away winning an Academy Award and becoming the first Japanese animation film to do so. Miyazaki’s works immerse the audience in fantasy worlds, created by the imagination of the director. What connects all these worlds together is the fact that they are set in the past, in relation to the present time, and possess a high degree of traditional Japanese culture infused in the backgrounds, characters and overall mood. Spirited Away is not an exception; however, it is the first film in Miyazaki’s career to feature a representation of a contemporary Japan rather than being completely set in the fictional world of the past (Macwilliams). What makes Spirited Away stand out among other works of Japanese animation genius is that the world of the past in it is portrayed as being completely fantastic and bearing no resemblance to the actual world of the past. Of course, it can be argued that other Miyazaki’s worlds of the past are a work of fiction too; while they are, indeed, and to a very large extent, the characters in them and the world itself perceive themselves as real and serious, while in Spirited Away all the characters that inhabit the fantastic bathhouse are aware of the existence of the real world and make references to it in the form of mentioning that Chihiro, the protagonist, has to return there.
Commenters argue that Miyazaki often subtly criticizes the Japanese historical past in his works because he spent his childhood and young years witnessing Japanese post-war crisis and was very disappointed in his country (Macwilliams). While this could be true, another important aspect to remember is that artist’s work is more often, than not, aimed at evoking emotions and establishing a connection between itself and the audience. One of the tools Miyazaki uses to achieve this is appealing to his country’s historical past.
According to the research, Spirited Away is set in the Taisho period (Macwilliams), which is favored by many artists in a variety of visual mediums for it is easily identifiable as Japanese. Another reason Miyazaki has opted to depict this era is because the childhood memories of that time he had allowed for a much more deep and sincere representation. While for the majority of artists Taisho period setting is a mere means to identify something as belonging to the Japanese culture, in case with Miyazaki and Spirited Away it is a truly nostalgic experience.
It has to be mentioned, however, that Miyazaki’s nostalgia is not something connected to a specific memory or bound to a certain place in his life (Swale 413-429). It is argued that a sound, a color, or a combination of both can evoke sudden waves of nostalgic feelings in a person’s mind. It is true; however, for such nostalgia session to occur, the visual and aural stimuli have to align well with an imprint of a memory in a person’s mind. It is also the case when two people can share a common stimulus, say, an approaching train sound, but in each individual case this sound brings up different memories and feelings; for one person it could be sadness because they had to part with someone they loved, for another it is the sound of hope that a dear person is going to be on the arriving train.
This brings up a question of how is it possible to achieve similar nostalgic feelings with the same stimulus for a very large group of people, which Spirited Away successfully does. What is more striking about the work is that it manages to spread the genuine nostalgic mood on all the viewers, despite their ethnicity, which is close to impossible, because a Western person could hardly associate themselves with the Japan and its culture in the same way native Japanese do.
In order to successfully convey the nostalgic feeling in Spirited Away, Miyazaki uses various tools, one of which has been mentioned before, namely choosing a visually representative period of Japanese history. When it comes to traditional architecture and garments, it is easy to spot what is “Japanese”, even for the Western eye. But the mere representation of a historical period, however rich and vibrant, is not going to plant the feeling of bright sadness and “missing something” in peoples’ minds. Although it can be argued that the characters and their relationships are not essential for successfully creating and conveying a nostalgic feeling, in Spirited Away they are as much important for creating a mood of the story as the visuals and the plot. It is interesting to observe how two eras meet each other in the sequence when Haku first sees Chihiro and attempts to draw her away from the amusement park. Both characters are wearing clothes that belong to their time periods, but what is more important is how they feel in this situation. Haku represents the past, he is willing to help and, in doing so, maintains rational and emphatic state of mind, giving an impression of a strong and composed character. Chihiro, who represents the current era, is scared and uncertain; she has lost sight of her parents, which can be perceived as an allegory on the modern world and people in it, unsure of the direction they are willing to go, lacking something essential to feel confident about their future and themselves.
The first location itself, despite being set in the present day, sends the viewer a decade back to the times when Japan experienced an economic boom and all kinds of businesses were being established all over the country. Chihiro’s father mentions that there were many amusement parks like this back in the 90s; however, almost all of them went bankrupt. This reference on its own is not supposed to evoke nostalgia; it is rather a means to introduce a much older period, enriched with memories and impressions.
Nostalgia in Spirited Away is not bound to specific items or places; it is rather intertwined within the world itself. Perhaps, the train sequence is the most nostalgia-rich in the whole film. It presents a travel in an old two-cart train through a rural countryside. It is hard to find a person not familiar with train travels, so the sequence is already sure to appeal to the majority of people in the same way. It begins in a warm sunny midday, gradually developing first into a burning pleasant sunset and, eventually, into the pitch black night. The travel features a lot of greenery and water and some elements identifying the era are present in the scene as well, like people, their clothes and possessions, and the stations and villages the train passes by. What is interesting about the sequence is that almost all the elements are universal, e.g. nothing specifically points out that the scene is happening in Japan. This is what makes it possible for the sequence to engage with as many people as possible, because all of us, in some form, have a pleasant traveling memory. The feeling of nostalgia in Spirited Away is largely based on personal experiences of each individual and the film serves as a catalyst for them.
Works cited
Primary Source:
Miyazaki, Hayao. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi [Spirited Away]. 2001
Secondary Sources:
MacWilliams, Mark W., ed. Japanese Visual Culture : Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. Armonk, NY, USA: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. April 5 2016
Swale, Alistair. Miyazaki Hayao and the Aesthetics of Imagination: Nostalgia and Memory in Spirited Away. Asian Studies Review , Sep 2015 Web. April 5 2016
