Intro: The discourse of film is a questionable field of study in its own respect. To say whether a film is influence or not by another medium is a problematic area as there are many factors to account for which can influence an artist’s project. In Philip Lutgendorf’s article, Is There An Indian Way of Filmmaking? (2006), he attempts to suggest how texts from the Indian cultural heritage could be used for the discourse of both Indian cinema as well as to the study of cinema itself, which justifies discussion. This essay will attempt to challenge Lutgendorf’s ideas within his article through Hayao Miyazaki’s film, Spirited Away (2001) through the discussion of manga/animae origin, Japanese mythology, and genre hybridity.
Plot Summary: Spirited Away introduces the protagonist of the film, a little girl named Chihiro in the back seat of her parent’s car. Chihiro and her family are driving to their new house located in the Japanese country side. However, Chihiro takes a wrong turn and ends up at an entrance to a tunnel. The family then explores this tunnel, and finds themselves on the other side of the tunnel where they discover an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro’s parents then follow the smell of food, and begin to eat the food. Chihiro then discovers that her parents have turned into pigs and that she is in the middle of town which is inhabited by spirits, demons and magical beings. Chihiro manages to find a job at a bath house owned by a witch named Yubaba in order for her to survive in this new world, and to save her parents from their cursed position.
Historical Context: Similar to the colonisation of India, Japan underwent colonisation after the nations defeat in WWII, and fell under the American hegemonic power and occupa...
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...For Lutgendorf to say that Indian films are not based off epic Sanskrit texts and mythologies is a problematic statement as it assumes that all popular films are not “based on epic archetypes” (230). Spirited Away highlights the complexity of genre through interwoven elements of romance, adventure, animation, and mythology. The film itself is entrenched with various influences of traditional Japanese folk tales and classic western stories, which evoke various different emotions. This text rewards and celebrates its cultural history and practice.
Works Cited
Lutgendorf, Philip. “Is There an Indian Way of Filmmaking?” International Journal of Hindu
Studies, 10.3 (2006): 227-256.
Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Toho. 2001. Film.
Reider, Noriko T. “Spirited Away: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbol” Film Criticism 29, no. 3. (2005): 4-27.
Director Jim Jarmusch’s film Deadman displays many of the accepted conventions for Western genre films, but manipulated in such a way as to create a revisionist, rather than a classical, western. The most obvious example of this manipulation are the characterizations of the hero, William Blake, and his Native American partner, Nobody. Blake is an awkward easterner who travels westward unaware of the different rules governing western life, instead of the rugged, knowledgeable outdoorsman who “does what he has to do” to defend justice and honor. Nobody’s character is unusually independent, educated, and kind towards Blake, instead of the traditional Western genre’s violent, unintelligent Indian.
As a result, both films represent Natives Americans under the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films add in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfold partly unlike. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar say, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
Ogawa, D. (1993) The Japanese of Los Angeles. Journal of Asian and African Studies, v19, pp.142-3.
The story begins in the ordinary world with Chihiro and her family moving to a new home. Chihiro is intimidated by the prospects of starting her life anew. Resulting in her being a whiny, selfish and fearful little girl. All of this changes when her and her parents visit an abandoned theme park and accidentally cross into the spirit world. This is where she meets Haku, outside of a bath house. The young boy informs her of their entry into the spirit world and tries to get her back to her world. But it is too late, in their gross ignorance her parents have already eaten from a feast intended for the spirits and they are turned into pigs as punishment. 10-year-old Chihiro now finds herself left alone in the spirit world. This is what Joseph Campbell calls “the call to adventure”. She’s been transported out of the ordinary world and is now responsible for saving her parents in this new and strange world. Chihiro is frightene...
Though most of the female heroines are accompanied by other male protagonists, it is shown that a lot of the women in his films are not dependent on the male to be strong on their own. San from Princess Mononoke is a prime example of an independent female figure. Throughout the film San struggles in an ongoing battle to fight for the protection of the forest which is her home. Although she shows a strong hatred towards the humans for destroying her forest home, she eventually realizes that violence will not solve the fighting and she overcomes this hatred. The fact that she has to fight for the protection of her home and overcome her inner hatred of the human race is proof enough that she shows a strong independence for herself. Another prime example of strong female role is Chihiro from Spirited Away. Chihiro becomes trapped in the spirit world by herself after her parents are turned into pigs and she has to find a way out of it. Even though at first she seems alone, she meets people within the spirit world who she befriends and they also help to guide her. Throughout the film she shows courage to overcome her fears as well as compassion and trust towards her friends especially Haku the male secondary character that she first meets. In the end she makes it out of the spirit world with the help of her friends, but also by showing independence and transitioning from a girl into a woman. A third example of one of Miyazaki 's strong female roles is Kiki from Kiki 's Delivery Service. Kiki is young girl who leaves home to live by the seaside and live her life as a delivery girl for a baker who she meets. Throughout the film Kiki faces self doubt, social anxiety, and a variety of other challenges. At one point her broomstick that she uses to fly around on and make deliveries with fails to work for her and she becomes unable to fly. She also has to deal
The film Wendy and Lucy, directed by Kelly Reichardt, presents a sparse narrative. The film has been criticised for its lack of background story, and as a short film, much of the story is left to the viewer to infer from what is presented in the plot. However, Wendy and Lucy is able to depict the intimate relationship between Wendy and her dog as well as reflecting more broadly on the everyday, and commenting on the current economic state of the film’s setting in America. This essay will examine how film form contributes to the viewer’s awareness of the story in Wendy and Lucy and allows a deeper understanding of the themes presented. The aspects of mise-en-scene, shot and editing and sound in the film will be explored.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
This essay will seek to outline my findings on movie and theatre by looking at still image and moving image. I will discuss the relationship between cinema and film, and also compare some works of artists in order to answer the question which how might photography be contextualized as image on the threshold of still and moving – as an object incorporating the temporal and the narrative, the writing of history, or the presentation of documentation as record.
Most of the fantasy stories that were produced made use of film as a tool to expose the shows. Study proved that the world of film has a various capacity in persuading and changing the perspectives of a viewer. A film functions as an int...
Since the late 1890’s films have been constantly changing the history of pop culture and the way people view war, politics, and the world as a whole. As the timeline of the history of film progressed, there were many different phases: gothic noir, slapstick comedy, tragedy vs. love, romance, and many more. Towards the more recent times, the central ideas of films started drifting to the greatness of the directors. Directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and many more were noted as outstanding directors of action and cinematography. In this paper I will speak about Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and the ever so infamous Baz Luhrmann. These directors have changed the way filmmaking has been and will be looked at from this point on.
Hayao Miyazaki’s film, Spirited Away, depicts the journey of a young girl, Chihiro, into the spirited world and the struggle to escape back into the real world with her parents. Chihiro is the protagonist in Spirited Away. She is a ten year old girl moving to a new house in new town. While travelling to the new house her parents take a wrong shortcut which ends up in front of a tunnel. After entering into tunnel they found it was the entrance to abandoned theme park which was closed a long time ago because of economy. In the course of the time she matures and finds the things she truly values. Spirited away is a animated movie by a japanese anime studio, which was made in 2001. Life is race there
Drawing on pictorial traditions as venerable as sumi-e (black and white ink brush painting), yamato-e (landscape painting in the Japanese style), and emaki-mono (narrative picture scrolls), the Japanese cinema was characterized by a pictorial elegance not seen anywhere else in the world. A propensity for long takes and long shots gave many of the films a stately, leisurely, contemplative pacing that appealed to many young film critics and filmmakers. The creation of mood, of tone, was similarly a unique property of the Japanese cinema. Combined with many theatrical elements, the films presented themselves as the product of a culture that seemed far from the one that waged fierce war on the world. The stylistic experiments of Kurosawa (one of the rare directors who were as comfortable with dynamic montage as he was with long takes) and Ozu (a filmmaker virtually unique, but not sui generis, with his graphic matches, narrative ellipses, dramatic de-emphasis, and singular thematic concern) grew out of a prolific, varied, and exciting cinematic period. (Grant p.
McDonald, Keiko I. Cinema East: A Critical Study of Major Japanese Films. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1983.
Spirited Away, titled Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi in Japan, follows a young girl named Chihiro on an adventurous, yet threatening journey into a magical realm after her parents are turned into pigs. She forms relationships with people that will help her find her way back home such as Haku, Zeniba, and Mr. Kamaji. She also encounters those like Yubaba who try to make her time in the realm of spirits difficult. Spirited Away quickly became Japan’s highest grossing film of all time. It received many great reviews in every aspect of filmmaking. It won several awards, including A Golden Bear in 2002 at the Berlin International Film Festival, and an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Animated Film. Hayao Miyazaki, the film’s writer and director, strongly encourages Japanese culture and its survival. He believes that “surrounded by high technology and its flimsy devices, children are more and more losing their roots”(Reider). Hayao Miyazaki’s aim is to present not only an animated motion picture, but a work of art. He does so by using certain animation and film techniques, applying Japanese culture, and creating in depth characters, all of which highlight key symbols in the film.
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.