Movie Analysis between My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away

Introduction

In My Neighbour Totoro, it is a children film being made in 1988. The world in

the animation itself is what almost everyone would hopes to live in because the movie
does not have the appearance of villains, evil adult as well as scary monsters. This
animation is written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki a production from Studio Ghibli,
portraying the strange beliefs of people towards supernatural creatures and spirits. One
of the example is when Tatsuo Kusakabe (father) along with his 2 daughters entered
the forest meeting the 25 metres tall Camphor Tree, they bowed and ask the tree spirits
if they would watch over them. Once the movie debut, Totoro then appears in cameo as
well as others movie. Totoro had appeared as a plush toy in some of the scenes of Toy
Story 3 (Liu, 2014). This amazing movie not only gives you an extra amuse and
meanings but also a recall on what is childhood like.

Spirited Away is on the list of British Film Institute for Top 50 films for children
as well as winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The movie itself had mainly
portrayed the blurred line between good and evil. The people who seems good and kind
also have their side of evil within them. Unlike others movie where the good and evil
divides very clearly. Haku seems to be very kind helping Chihiro at the beginning scene
and No-Face are pretty harmless at first sight however No-Face turns into a Greed
Monster and eats others spirits. Same goes to Zeniba, Kamaji and Lin who looks like a
bad person at the beginning but ended up helping Chihiro to escape the world that she
does not belongs to.

In both movie My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away had shares common
genres and themes. Many families have written review saying the movie is a must
watch because it is a kid-friendly film, not only the animation has many beautiful
sceneries but also makes you feel joy while watching the movie.
Identification of Genre

Fantasy
The movies are being categorized as fantasy because it has show many things
that it is not scientifically proven, the appearance of magic and supernatural are exist in
these both movies.

In My Neighbor Totoro there is the existence of kind spirit met by the main
character Satsuki and Mei. One day the Kusakabe family moves into a new area. Mei
ventures into the forest located just beside their home after seeing a tiny friend of
Totoro. She went into the tree trunk and met Totoro the huge forest spirit that lives
inside the Camphor Tree. Satsuki and Mei also happen to see the sooth spirits which
Tatsuo are not able to see. When the story goes on, they encounter the magical Catbus
as well as having odd dreams where they experience dancing with Totoro and friend to
make their plant grow. There is also others magical moment after meeting Totoro like
riding the Catbus, playing with Totoros friend, sleeping on Totoros tummy as well as
sharing the pretty umbrella that was then becomes an item for Totoro to have fun with.

For Spirited Away, it is a magic once Chihiro parents turns into a pig after
consuming the food in the other world. There is many different types of spirits shown in
the movie which does not have scientific proves that it existed in the real world. The
example of spirits are Haku represent the spirit of Kohaku river, Yubaba the evil witch,
Kamaji the boiler geezer with his tiny fur ball spirits that works for him, Radish Spirit and
also No-Face the greed monster who grow bigger in size after encountering people who
greeds for things and satisfy them. It is also a fantasy because spell and magic appears
in the movie itself. Chihiros parents being curse after they greed for food, Haku being
chase by flying papers, Boh and Yubabas assistant turns into a rat and a bird by
Zeniba, magical pills given by the rare spirits is able to cure any illness, injuries and
break spells.
 Adventure
Next, both movie is an adventures film because it shows how the character is
exposing itself with new things and experience new stuff. My Neighbor Totoro had
demonstrate that Satsuki and Mei moves out from their area and went into an old house
so to be closer to their mothers hospital where she is trying to recover from a long-term
illness. They met new people and learns to farm from them, playing together as well as
sharing stories and cares for each other. There is one scene where granny shares her
story regarding on she could see spirit when she was still a small kid and as she grow
older the ability of seeing this spirit will eventually wear off. It is also an adventure is
because there is a trip where they had to go to meet their mother in Shichikokuyama
Hospital, they ride bicycle and have fun on their way there.

In Spirited Away it is almost the same plot like My Neighbor Totoro, Chihiro moves
out from her area that she is familiar for years however the difference from My
Neighbor Totoro is that Chihiro does not want to move to the new area with her
parents. Chichiro greeds for her parents attention at the beginning of the story, she kept
whining and complaining about moving to the new area and how things are familiar
toward the town and home that she lives in before. Then later when she met Haku
saving her from Yubaba who is flying in the sky keeping watch of this fantasy world.
They sneaks into the bathhouse where Chihiro meets Kamaji and Lin. Chihiro exposed
to things she had never experience before and meet different spirits who most of them
does not welcome her working in the bathhouse. From there, Chihiro begin not to
complain and listen to orders being made by the spirits. Sooner or later, Chihiro had
slowly begin to be welcome by these spirits.
 Family
The movie is a family film or a childrens film which have stories relates to home
or family. In My Neighbor Totoro there is simply a family spending time together where
the they moves in so to get closer to the Satsukis mother. Next, there is several scene
that shows our family lifestyle such as doing household chores. Satsuki and Mei help
their father to clean the house, mops the floor and also cooks meal for the family.
Tatsuo also a responsible father who cares for his kids and teach them things. There is
a scene to prove regarding to this point, when during a stormy night, the family
encounter a huge wind, the girls were afraid, but Tatsuo taught them to overcome it by
laughing and smiling. (Yuen, 2012)

Spirited Away shows it is a family oriented film by making the Ogino family
reunite after Chihiro had saved her parents from being slaughter. Due to Studio Ghibli
has portrayed karma in the movie, every scene now contains moral value which can be
learn to people who is watching this film. There are several scene that demonstrate this,
the first one is about greed. Not only Chihiros parents have greed but also the spirits
here contain greed however their greed is always a destructive one. The bathhouse
workers have been blinded by greed ended up getting eaten by No-Face. Yubaba is the
greediest of all which leads her to serve those who are rich even though she knows they
will cause destruction to the bathhouse. Because of this, she became careless towards
her most important possession, baby Boh which had been cast a spell becoming a rat
and kidnapped by Chihiro when she is on her way escaping the bathhouse to meet
Zeniba. This is happening now in the society itself, in some family their parents are
always very busy on working and earning money in order to raise the family ended up
they do not have time to take care and watch after their children.
Identification of Themes

Urban Legend And Cultures

Hayao Miyazaki had always borrowed characters and concept from Japanese
culture, folklore as well as urban legends. According to Toshien (2014) he stated that
the story was actually based on the very popular Sayama murder case happen in May
1, 1963. It is a famous tale about a 16 years old teenage girl being raped and murdered
on her way home after school. Her older sister kept looking for her but few days later
her sisters slippers was then found near its dead body along with 6 Jizo-stone statue.
The scene in movie does have Meis slippers and the older sister Satsuki desperate
looking for her when she went missing. Then there is 6 Jizo-stone appearing beside Mei
together with Meis name being carve on one of the stone when Satsuki is finding for
her. Next both Satsuki and Meis name are referring to the month of May which is also
the time where the Sayama murder case happen. In the scene when Satsuki and Mei
met granny, the background shows the word which eventually means Sayama
Tea. Back to the murder case, the tea field is where the older sister delivered ransom
for her young sister.

Another legend appears in this movie is the Catbus. Catbus is originated as a

bakeneko in the Japanese Tales which means the ability to shape shifts. The
appearance of Catbus are pretty much same as bakeneko. In the movie itself, Catbus
changes one part of its body just to space out a space or an outline of the door so that
Satsuki can go into the Catbus to search for Mei. There is also the appearance of the
Jizo-stone at the scene where Satsuki is finding for Mei. In Japanese culture, the stone
statue appear only near graveyard and they are also a protector or guardian of children
who passes away(Japan Info, 2015). Furthermore, the susuwatari (sooth spirit) is a
Japanese mythology meaning that death is near. Similar to the sooth spirits is Totoro,
the God of death, people who sees Totoro is either they are dead or going to be dead
therefore in the story, Totoro is Satsuki and Meis guidance to the afterlife.
 Now in Spirited Away movie is less of a legend but more on teaching values and
showing the Japanese cultures and beliefs. The movie portrays the prostitution culture
of Japan which Miyazaki himself admitted it (OKane, 2016). For example, Chihiro
signing the contract and her name being forced to changed has portrayed women works
as prostitution in Edo Period of Japan. Chihiro was not only force to work in the
bathhouse due to her selfish parents debt but also she has to listen to Yubabas
command. It is called a debt because in return of her parents not being slaughtered by
Yubaba, Chihiro needs to work in the bathhouse. Therefore a lesson learned is parents
needs to be careful on what there are doing or else karma will hits them badly as well as
their next generation.

People And Nature

In the movie My Neighbor Totoro, the two girls showed their appreciation and
respect towards nature once they had received the acorns and nuts from the spirits.
They are eager to learn and immediately planted the gifts seeds behind their backyard.
Then the spirits came in the middle of the night having a sprout dancing ceremony with
the girls. This shows that Satsuki and Mei are having fun while appreciating the natural
process of life for the growing seeds. (Anderson, 2014)

In Spirited Away it has shows that how the environment of nature is being
destroyed by people. Haku the river spirits ended up in Yubabas bathhouse is because
his river was paved so to build apartment and buildings he has nowhere to go but to
followed Yubaba. Another example is the stinks spirit who arrived at the bathhouse is an
obvious portrayal of people polluting the environment. After all the stinks spirit is the
river spirit who have been damaged by endless pollution of the river, people throws all
sorts of garbage into the river. (Saporito, 2015)

In conclusion, the both movie had showed moral value to inform the people that
they should be aware on what is happening to their surrounding.
Appendix

The picture above shows Totoro appearing in the movie, Toy Story 3.

The 2 pictures above shows the forms of bakeneko in the Japanese urban legends.

The word appearing in the background means Sayama Tea.

References

Anderson, K. (2014) Miyazaki Masterclass: My Neighbor Totoro. Link:

http://nerdist.com/miyazaki-masterclass-my-neighbor-totoro/ [Accessed: 16.02.2017]

Japan Info, 2015. Jizo, The Protector of The Childrens Souls. Link:
http://jpninfo.com/7494 [Accessed: 15.02.2017]

Liu, J. (2014) Totoro Inspires Toy Story Director. Link:

http://news.asiaone.com/news/showbiz/totoro-inspires-toy-story-director [Accessed:
30.02.2017]

OKane, J. (2016) There Is An Incredible Message In Spirited Away...And It Will Shock

You. Link: https://moviepilot.com/posts/2297900 [Accessed: 08.02.2017]

Saporito, J. (2015) What Does Spirited Away Says About Environmentalism? Link:
http://screenprism.com/insights/article/what-does-spirited-away-say-about-environmenta
lism [Accessed: 15.02.2017]

Toshien, 2014. My Neighbor Totoro: Urban Legend of Studio Ghibli Anime. Link:
http://urbanlegend-en.com/?p=88 [Accessed: 30.02.2017]

Yuen, I. (2012) Children And Nature: My Neighbor Totoro. Link:

https://ekostories.com/2012/04/13/children-nature-totoro/ [Accessed: 14.02.2017]