Hayao Miyazaki Interview Script

MARYAM: Hayao Miyazaki, pleasure to meet you! How are you?

MIYAZAKI: Hi Maryam, I’m well, thanks!
MARYAM: Recently, the world’s been raving about Spirited Away. It’s lovely, and it won multiple
awards, including an Oscar in 2003! Congratulations! It’s evident you’re an exceptional storyteller.
MIYAZAKI: [smiles] Thank you. Yes, I was very pleased at the Oscar news. It was a pleasant
surprise. But, really, I’m not a storyteller.
MARYAM: No?
MIYAZAKI: Nope. I’m just a man who draws pictures. However, I do believe in the power of story.
I believe that stories play an important role in the formation of human beings, that they can stimulate,
inspire, and really touch their listeners’ hearts.
MARYAM: Very well said.
MIYAZAKI: [nodding] It’s very important to remind yourself of that, and to, ultimately, know what
you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
MARYAM: I agree. You mention that it’s important to know why you’re doing what you are. In the
case of Spirited Away, why were spirits such a compelling theme through your film and were they
symbolic at all?
MIYAZAKI: Well, a big influence on this story were tales I’d heard about spirits hiding
everywhere. [smiling] Now I found a certain beauty in these old superstitions, which is why it is such
an important theme. These spirits added an aberration to the film, and yes, they were symbolic. I
wanted them to be a reminder to the viewers to respect all things, as I believe they all have an essence
of their own. For example, when the family drives by the Hokora in the beginning of the film, the
audience sees a close up of the spirit houses, and they look down upon them from a high angle
because I wanted to portray that something as small as the Hokora have their own spirits.
MARYAM: So, there is a lot of symbolism in this film. It makes the story dynamic deeper.
MIYAZAKI: [nodding] Absolutely.
MARYAM: Brilliant. Something else I noticed was that greed was one of the big subtopics in this
film, is that right?
MIYAZAKI: Definitely. This was actually because I wanted to include topics that children could
learn from. There was a scene in the film where Chihiro’s parents find a restaurant at the theme park
and start eating non-stop. The aim was to show that greed is a terrible thing, and it leads to future
suffering and very bad consequences. Their greed leads to their own demise. In the film, Chihiro’s
parents- well, you saw what happened.
MARYAM: [laughs] We see that Chihiro’s parents do not develop much as characters. But there
were other characters that had significant character arcs, your lead character being one of them.
MIYAZAKI: Chihiro’s arc is of courage and rigidness. In the beginning, we see how upset she is
about moving away. At the tunnel, she is terrified to go inside. Obviously, Chihiro matured a lot by
the end of the movie and has a newfound confidence. You may have noticed that towards the end of
the movie, I stopped using a lot of high angles for Chihiro and most of her scenes are shot eye-level or
with low angles.
MARYAM: So, this was all intentional?
MIYAZAKI: Absolutely. I wanted to empower Chihiro’s character and show her courage and
confidence, as well as her emboldened sense of identity.
MARYAM: That’s very interesting. Speaking of identity, or in this case, lack thereof, there is another
character I wanted to mention; No Face. I’m sure you know, we’re all very fascinated by this
character.
MIYAZAKI: [chuckling] You might be surprised to know; No Face was the result of a quick sketch.
Most of my characters are born from an outline in my head. To really create a meaningful character, I
visit the locations of my story many times, but as the character.
MARYAM: Wow. So, what’s the story behind No Face?
MIYAZAKI: A sad, voiceless, and lonely spirit. No real sense of identity until someone paid
attention to it. This character too has a deeper meaning. No Face symbolizes how children form their
identity based on the people around them. Identity is truly an important theme in the film. You see
identity in Yubaba stealing her worker’s names, Haku regain his identity as he learns who he is, the
struggle of Chihiro forgetting her name and being just Sen, the identity that was forced onto her.
MARYAM: That is amazing. This is a very emotionally beautiful film, very thoroughly planned as
well. Personally, I think Spirited Away is an amazing film.
MIYAZAKI: [smiling] Thank you! I’m pleased you see the emotional weight behind it.
MARYAM: Of course. Well, I would like to thank you for taking your time and sitting this interview.
MIYAZAKI: It’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

End Script.

By Maryam Farhan.