Spirited Away
Release Dates: July 20, 2001 (Japan), September 20, 2002 (US)
Screenplay, Original Story, Direction: Hayao Miyazaki
Additional Information:
2024
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Donsomsakulkij, Weeraya. Posthumanist reflections in J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001): Alternative environmental ethics of South Africa and Japan. The New English Teacher, 18(1), 15-22.
"This paper aims to investigate the ways in which notions of posthumanism are portrayed and sustained in the post-apartheid South African literature, Disgrace (1999) by J.M. Coetzee and the Japanese animation, Spirited Away (2001) by Hayao Miyazaki, reflecting on alternative environmental ethics. Posthumanism aims for propelling future sustainability by considering what concepts of humanism did to the world, structurally and discursively. Transgressing the binaries of nature and culture, human and non-human, animated and inanimated, posthumanism accredits the archipelic performances beyond modes of positioned identities and their modes of othering. However, as its current main concentration is still on Western countries, its frameworks and outcomes are constrained within Western narrations, ideologies and contexts. This paper, therefore, attempts to transgress this corpus and its epistemologies by looking at two narrations from South Africa and Japan. As a result, the paper attempts to further develop the framework of posthumanism by extending its foci onto Japanese and South African contexts."
2023
Papastavros, Vanessa. Miyazaki's monstrous mother: A study of Yubaba in Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away. Feminist Media Studies, 23(3), 1157-1172.
"Female antagonists in animation often fit within the universal archetype of the monstrous mother, yet there is little scholarly research examining her role in Japanese animation. This paper examines the role of Yubaba as an exemplary model of the monstrous mother in Studio Ghibli’s highly successful animated film Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) to reveal the ways in which female antagonists are locally and globally constructed through the transgression of sex, gender and cultural norms. Through an application of Japanese psychoanalytic theory and Barbara Creed’s theory of the monstrous-feminine, this study finds that both universal and culturally specific sex-based stereotypes inform Japan’s depiction of monstrous mothers."
2022
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Sanders, Lisa. Subtitling, semiotics and Spirited Away. Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 5(1), 1-21.
"When translating a film according to typical subtitling models, the focus is usually solely on the dialogue of the film. Furthermore, the resulting translations are often impoverished to a large extent due to the constraints of the medium. The combined effects of this result in a significant loss of equivalence between the subtitles and the original linguistic and extralinguistic information. A potential method of preventing this loss is the application of a semiotic model for translation during the subtitling process. To this end, an existing model for the semiotranslation of film was enhanced and applied to the subtitling of the wildly popular Japanese animated film Spirited Away (2001). The resulting subtitles were evaluated for equivalence with the source text (ST) against the existing subtitle track that was distributed on a DVD release of the film. It was found that much more information, both from dialogue and on-screen extralinguistic content, could be conveyed by the semiotic subtitles than those created following more traditional subtitling norms."
2020
Izumi, Katsuya. Multiplicities of identities and meanings behind devouring characters in Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.
In Niki Kiviat & Serena J. Rivera (eds.). (In)digestion in literature and film: A transcultural approach (pp. 105-120). New York: Routledge.
"This chapter deals with how devouring acts of some characters in Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning animated film Spirited Away reveal their multiple identities and argues that Miyazaki’s implementation of a postmodern approach to language influences his depictions of these devourers who resist being reduced to any fixed identities. Unlike many other Miyazaki’s films that are set in European cities, Spirited Away chooses as its main setting a bathhouse, one of the Japanese traditional places. Miyazaki also uses a strange character named No Face, who needs to swallow the bathhouse’s workers in order to speak because he himself is voiceless. No Face runs on a rampage and starts devouring as many foods as possible only to throw up what he has swallowed after he is given a dumpling by Chihiro, the ten-year-old girl protagonist in the film. Some have argued that Miyazaki’s choice of the bathhouse for the film’s setting expresses his return or his desire to return to the traditional Japan that evokes nostalgia. However, the elements and constituents of this film cannot be categorized into the traditional Japanese nor into something foreign; rather, they are eclectic. No Face wears a mask that looks like a Noh mask from a genre of classical Japanese drama, but he still does not know his identity. At the moments of his devouring acts, he changes his form and adopts different voices only to reveal that there is no fixed self behind the mask. Similar to No Face, Chihiro’s parents end up becoming pigs as a result of their devouring acts. Arguing that the film’s main topic is the multiple identities, the second half of this chapter links the topic to enigmatic signs of Japanese kanji and hiragana, behind which there are no fixed meanings, either. "
2019
Asakura, Kaori. Translating cultural references in Japanese animation films: The case of Spirited Away. Translation Matters, 1(1), 61-81.
2018
Carter, Laz. Marketing anime to a global audience: A paratextual analysis of promotional materials from Spirited Away. East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 4(1), 47-60.
"This article will focus specifically on the marketing materials utilized in the Japanese and American markets for Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away) (Miyazaki, 2001). That is to say, it takes a more in-depth look at the paratextual deployment of film posters and theatrical trailers. Building on the work of Rayna Denison, Keith Johnston and Eriko Ogihara-Schuck, this study delves deeper into the specific paratextual elements present within Spirited Away’s promotional ephemera. Focusing on two primary factors – branding and linguistics – the following campaign analysis examines the meaning behind the addition and elision of certain signifiers. By comparing the different versions of both posters and trailers, this article highlights areas of cultural difference, postulating that the anglophonic paratexts have undergone a process of Disneyfication. Finally, the author extrapolates the key selling points that are accentuated for both the domestic and global markets of Studio Ghibli films and then muses on the resulting hierarchy of brand networks that appear to have formed"
Napier, Susan J. (2018). Anorexic in Miyazaki's land of cockaigne: Excess and abnegation in Spirited Away.
In Nancy K. Stalker (ed.), Devouring Japan: Global perspectives on Japanese culinary identity (pp. 273-286). New York: Oxford University Press.
"This chapter discusses how copious excretion and vomit feature in popular animator Miyazaki Hayao's Academy-award winning feature Spirited Away (2001), arguing that these bodily eruptions are critiques of rampant consumer capitalism in contemporary Japan. Set in a carnivalesque world revolving around a luxurious bathhouse for gods of all shapes and sizes, the film repeatedly portrays scenes of food excess, denial, and expulsion, which can be interpreted as anorexia and bulimia. The chapter sees the eating frenzies depicted as Miyazaki's metaphor for materialistic overconsumption, and perceives the strong work ethic and self-denial that bring about the protagonist Sen's salvation as Miyazaki's call for a return to traditional values."
2017
Fahmi, Marwa Essam Eldin (2017). Fantasy chronotope in two animated children’s films: Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001). Studies in Literature and Language, 14(1), 28-38.
"The aim of this study is to explore fantasy chronotope as exemplified in the complex spatio-temporal configuration in children’s fantasy films. The notion of fantasy chronotope is revisited to conceptualize the way space and time can interrelate through the in-depth analysis of two portal-quest fantasy films: Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Hayao Miyazaki’s (2001) Spirited Away (2001). The theoretical starting point is to examine the representation of the Alternative World and to articulate the aesthetics of animated children’s films as well. The researcher adopts a comparative/theoretical method to question spatiality in visual media and to analyze spatial practices undertaken by fictional/female narratives within multiple locations. Moreover, Japanese anime has not been studied adequately compared to its North American counterparts such as Disney especially in terms of ethnic/national or gender politics encoded in anime images. The study seeks to establish the two animated films as high fantasy films by presenting a fresh view on fantasy chronotope to examine fantasy—as a genre—not designed or intended to express escapism and childishness because it is simply unrealistic. The study sheds light not only on the significance of animation as a medium that has been considered too trivial for serious research, but also the current study offers a better understanding of how Japanese visual culture has brought about potentially crucial changes in the way the Western perceive Asia."
Hartman, Emma (2017). Tradition vs. innovation and the creatures in Spirited Away. Digital Literature Review, 4, 104-116.
"Japan is perhaps best known for creating the world-famous film style: anime. Popular with adults and children alike, anime boasts unfamiliar creatures that are sometimes considered strange or disturbing to the Western world. Hayao Miyazaki,perhaps the most well-known anime director, screenwriter, and animator, presents such fantastical creatures in Spirited Away. The creatures viewers encounter resemble kami, or spirits, from Japanese folklore. This paper explores how these spirits illuminatethe tension between tradition and innovation within modern Japanese society. Traditions are not only preserved through Spirited Away, but are made relevant for Japanese youth, who are often perceived to be slipping away from Japanese tradition.'
Peres, Catia, Corte-Real, Eduardo, & Estela Graca, Maria (2017). Strange creatures – physiology of characters in Spirited Away.
In Proceedings, CONFIA 2017: 5th International Conference on Illustration and Animation (pp. 332-345). Barcelos, Portugal: Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave.
"This essay, analyses the combination of radical configuration and physiologies of human characters and strange creatures in the film Spirited Away (2001). Our analysis is configured through a model based on three levels: meaning, form and movement. The model presents ten categories of which we will only focus on this essay on category number four: character’s configuration. The core of this analysis is to characterize the characters that inhabit the universe of the Ölm and its investment on symbolical meaning. The relevance of this analysis is to expose patterns of classes of characters considerably different, which are intentionally designed to create a confrontation in the experience of animation. The main question in this essay is: what are the visual resources of radical different configurations and physiologies used in characters, and what does the director suggests with it?"
2016
Adachi, Reito. Dubbing of silences in Spirited Away: A comparison of Japanese and English language versions. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 24(1), 142-156.
"This paper clarifies how silences in a particular Japanese animated film are dubbed in the US English version. As a representative sample of Japanese animated films, the author examines the silences in Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning animated fantasy Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away), focusing on its acoustic modifications. First, silences in the Japanese and US English versions are identified using Adobe Audition® CS6. Next, silences in the two versions (acting as specific case studies) are compared with each other to examine the process involved in dubbing them. A quantitative comparison of the number of silences between the US English version and five other foreign-language versions (the versions released in Taiwan [Republic of China], France, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and Germany) is then carried out. In conclusion, the US English version of Spirited Away removes more silences than any other translated version by inserting fillers and by adding or amplifying sound effects. These findings indicate the importance of studying audiovisual translation (AVT) not only from the verbal perspective but also from the acoustic perspective."
2015
Donsomsakulkij, Weeraya. Spirited Away: Negotiation between capitalism and reminiscent environmental ethics. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, 2(3), 147-151.
Swale, Alistair. Miyazaki Hayao and the aesthetics of imagination: Nostalgia and memory in Spirited Away. Asian Studies Review, 39(3), 413-429.
2014
Muir, Chris. Strangers in the night: Spirited Away. Screen Education, 74, 26-37.
"Undoubtedly Miyazaki's most well-known film, this coming-of-age adventure manages to captivate the young and old alike while also offering numerous learning opportunities. Chris Muir looks at how Spirited Away can be used to teach middle years students about diverse topics from Indigenous culture to personal growth."
2013
Lim, Tai Wei. Spirited Away: Conceptualizing a film-based case study through comparative narratives of Japanese ecological and environmental discourses. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8(2), 149-162.
"This article discusses interpretations of environmental themes in the film Spirited Away (2011) directed by Miyazaki Hayao, including views that do not agree with any environment-related reading of the film’s contents. In analyzing this diversity of views obtained through fieldwork and secondary sources, the discussions involve interpretations of the characters and symbolisms related to the physical settings found in the animated feature. This includes: correlations with the Japanese economic fast-growth period in the Showa period from the 1960s onwards; contrasts between characters that are representations of pollution versus traditional symbols of nature; the inter-related ideas of consumption and waste; the delicate co-existence between nature and humans; traditional conceptions of nature; spirituality and interpretations of the environment; human–nature interactions; ideas about state and non-state stakeholders in Japanese society; the impact of economic production; changes in community bonds with development, etc. The methodology is based on textual analysis and interpretive work of scholarly arguments about ideas related to the environment in Japan. A second methodology is based on oral interviews with instructors and scholarly experts within the intellectual community who have experience in teaching or writing materials related to this topical matter. The concluding section discusses reception of the film and the way audiences cognitively react to and interact with the film’s contents to arrive at their own understanding (or rejection) of its environmental themes."
2010
Callis, Cari. Nothing that happens is ever forgotten.
In Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (pp. 93-103). Chicago: Open Court Publishing.
Cooper, Damon. Finding the spirit within: A critical analysis of film techniques in Spirited Away. Babel, 45(1), 30-36.
Geortz, Dee. The hero with the thousand-and-first face: Miyazaki’s girl quester in Spirited Away and Campbell’s monomyth.
In John Perlich & David Whitt (eds.), Millennial Mythmaking: Essays on the Power of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Film, and Games (pp. 67-82). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Ogihara, Eriko. "Estranged religion" in anime: American and German translations of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.
In Jeanne Cortiel, et al. (Eds.), Religion in the United States (pp. 253-268). Heidelberg, Germany: Universitatsverlag Winter.
Yang, Andrew. The two Japans of "Spirited Away". International Journal of Comic Art, 12(1), 435-452.
2009
Suzuki, Ayumi. A nightmare of capitalist Japan: Spirited Away. Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 51.
2008
Ando, Satoshi (2008). Regaining continuity with the past: "Spirited Away" and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, 46(1), 23-29.
"What can a classic of Victorian children's literature have in common with a recent Japanese film? ANDO Satoshi argues that they represent, respectively, the crisis of Victorian England and that of contemporary Japan, through their heroines' identity crises as they pass from childhood into adolescence."
op de Beek, Nathalie (2008). Anima and anime: Environmental perspectives and new frontiers in Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.
In Mark West (ed.). The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture (pp. 267-284). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Osmond, Andrew. BFI Film Classics: Spirited Away. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yoshioka, Shiro. Heart of Japaneseness: History and nostalgia in Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.
In Mark MacWilliams (ed.). Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime (pp. 256-273). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
2007
Denison, Rayna. Global markets for Japanese film: Miyazaki Hayao's Spirited Away.
In Alastair Phillips & Julian Stringer (eds.). Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts (pp. 308-321). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
2006
Matthews, Kate . Logic and narrative in Spirited Away. Screen Education, 43, 135-140.
"A critical evaluation of the animated film 'Spirited Away' is presented. An examination of the lack of logic, and the structure that it retains and the relationship of the context of studying provides ways to approach the idea of logic."
Napier, Susan. Matter out of place: Carnival, containment, and cultural recovery in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Journal of Japanese Studies, 32(2), 287-310.
"This essay deals with the recent animated film Spirited Away by the foremost Japanese animator, Miyazaki Hayao. It examines Spirited Away as a representation of "cultural boundedness," a reaction to globalization in which cultural products are used to reinforce notions of local culture as a form of resistance to perceived outside threats. It goes on to query the success of this attempt, arguing that Spirited Away undermines its overt agenda, ultimately expressing a culture beset by polluting and transgressing forces."
2005
Cortez, Marison. Environmentalism without guarantees: The spectral and scatological politics of displacement in Miyazaki Hayao’s Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away). Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, 6, 39-49.
Ites, Timothy. Female voices, male words: Problems of communication, identity and gendered social construction in contemporary Japanese cinema. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, Discussion Paper 3.
2004
Reider, Noriko. Spirited Away: Film of the fantastic and evolving Japanese folk symbols. Film Criticism, 29(3), 4-27.
Stranieri, Vyvyan and Evely, Christine (2004). Spirited Away: Study guide. Screen Education, 34, 57-67.
2003
Boyd, James and Nishimura, Tetsuya. Shinto perspectives in Miyazaki's anime film "Spirited Away." Journal of Religion and Film, 8(2).
"Among the anime films by Hayao Miyazaki made available in English translation, Spirited Away contains the most folk and Shrine Shinto motifs.1 The central locale of the film is a bathhouse where a great variety of creatures, including kami, come to bathe and be refreshed. This feature, plus the portrayal of various other folk beliefs and Shrine Shinto perspectives, suggests that Miyazaki is affirming some basic Japanese cultural values which can be a source of confidence and renewal for contemporary viewers."
Broderick, Michael. Spirited away by Miyazaki's fantasy. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, 9.
Morgan, Josh. Flying with Miyazaki: Flight as a metaphor for power in "Spirited Away". Animatrix, 12, 14-22.
2002
Thill, Scott (2002). The wizard of awe: Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Bright Lights Film Journal, 38.