essay questions spirited away

Teaching the Environmental Humanities

Discussion Questions for Hayao Miyazaki’s SPIRITED AWAY

At an ecocriticism conference several years ago, a Japanese scholar asked why so few American academics were paying attention to the great filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Today, my class is going to talk about Spirited Away . Here are the discussion questions. I hope they get conversation started for you and your classes.

1. Spirited Away incorporates many elements from classical Western literature and folklore: people who magically turn into pigs (the Odyssey ); the hero’s quest; the prohibition against eating the food of the Faerie (Irish folkore); a girl who goes to Grandma’s house (“Red Riding Hood”); the need to solve riddles. Do these familiar elements make the story easier to understand, or does their appearance in a Japanese film make them too alien to be helpful?

2. Through Chihiro’s transformation from miserable little girl to courageous adventurer, the film suggests that the world of the spirits is necessary to help us live in the everyday world, that spiritual development is part of the solution to environmental crises. What do you think about this?

3. Many of the film’s characters are related to fresh water: Haku, the Sludge Monster, Yubaba. The main action of the film takes place in a bathhouse, where spirits come to relax and refresh themselves in water. Chihiro’s family enters the spirit world by crossing a body of water. Chihiro and Haku first met at an incident in a river. How can the film’s preoccupation with water help us to understand the planetary water crisis?

4. Can you draw any connections between Spirited Away and Ishimure’s Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow or Kurosawa’s Dreams? What do these works tell us about a particularly Japanese approach to nature and environmental issues, if anything? What do these works have to say to an international audience?

5. The character No Face (the one with the white mask who eats everything) can easily be taken as a critique of consumer society, but No Face earns a happy ending. What do you think of Miyazaki’s solution to the endless appetite of the modern world?

6. Does it make sense to think of bodies of water as possessing spirit? Have you ever had a relationship with a river, a pond, an ocean, or the rain that prompted you to speak to water? Have you ever been rescued by a body of water? Have you ever cleaned a body of water?

7. The turning point of Spirited Away occurs when Chihiro cleans the Sludge Monster. The film’s creator, Miyazaki, based this incident on his own experience as a volunteer at a river cleanup, where he actually pulled a bicycle out of a river. What does this incident (in the film and in real life) suggest about the power of individual and communal action in environmental recovery?

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7 thoughts on “discussion questions for hayao miyazaki’s spirited away”.

Dear Lioi, I am writing an essay on the work of Hayao Miyazaki. The questions you pose here are extremely helpful and relevant to the project I am working on. I attempt to answer the question: how does Miyazaki reflect the impact of Western culture on Japanese culture through his work, and what Western audiences can learn from Miyazaki’s work. You can see that many of the questions that you propose on this page are similar to the ones that I will be attempting to answer over the course of my essay. From Bill

Bill, I wish you could post your essay somewhere. I’d love to read it 🙂

Please keep us posted about your article on Miyazaki!

Hello, I teach at a small college in Japan and we are using “Spirited Away” in a class that includes an assignment about environmental issues in the film. Your discussions questions are very helpful–thank you. I will share them with my Japanese colleagues. Thanks, Rebecca

Dear Rebecca,

Thank you for sharing your work on Miyazaki. I would be interested to hear more about your students’ reactions to the film, and I’m glad my questions were helpful.

My oldest child discovered this movie on cartoon network when she was about 4 years old. I have watched it many times, but lately, we watch it almost daily. My youngest, a boy who is not yet two, loves it. I can out it on and he will quiet down instantaneously.

I always loved the movie because I had never seen anything like it. From the storyline to the animation, the movie is incredible. But, lately, I wanted more info, so I began researching the meanings of the Japanese folklore. All folklore has so much to offer.

The story is an incredible tool, especially in the midst of this economic downturn and the influences with which our children are constantly bombarded.

Like I said, we watch the movie alot, maybe too much, but I am amazed each time and learn something new each time.

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Film “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki Essay (Critical Writing)

The incredibly beautiful and meaningful Spirited Away anime fantasy film created by the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki in 2001 captivates one’s attention by its fairy-tale transformations and simultaneously makes one’s ponder over a range of issues. For example, in the five-minute sequence, when Chihiro calmly takes No-Face with her on the journey by the train, a viewer may note honesty, courage, and desire to help others.

The bright picture is just a pleasant addition to the rich inner world of the film. The secret of the mentioned scene is that it is close and understandable to everyone like the journey to the fairy tale that is designed not only to amuse and amaze, but also to compel heroes, remember childhood, and believe in the miracle (Ewens). In the flow of the narration, there are some of the most beautiful frames of modern cinema, not to mention animation. As noted in his review of the cartoon by the critic Roger Ebert, each frame is shot with incredible magnanimity and love, while some of them can be described as “gratuitous motions” that Japanese call “ma”. For each of such “ma”, there are details in the corners or in the background that express a certain idea. The key idea is that they offer some time to breathe and live in the world of Miyazaki. According to one of his interviews, people who make films are afraid of silence, so they want to fill it with paper and cover it up, worrying that the audience will be bored (Ebert). The underlying emotions are more important rather than the filling of the film.

The function of this scene with the train is to stop for a while and take thought to start something new. The master of anime uses stunning animation, detailed graphics, and luxurious design to depict beautiful landscapes that are observed by passengers (Ewens). The scene logically flows from the previous events and is told linearly, thus supporting the general idea of the anime movie. The sequence presents Chihiro calling No-Face to follow her as she cannot leave him alone. No-Face looks unnecessary, aimless, spineless, and empty. Even in the world of Yubaba, he is a stranger as he has no magic. Understanding these, the girl does not need anything from him yet regrets lonely No-Face, standing under the rain on the street (Runyon). After that, the sequence presents the characters on the train, where a viewer can point out the emptying railway carriage and the awesome colors of the sunset. At this point, various means of the interaction of the filmic elements are used, including meditative music, the lack of speech, and expressive images – all these channels interact with each other.

The sequence focuses on a steady perspective. The characters act as if there is no spectator – everything happens rather naturally. Chihiro presented as the main heroine is not idolized, yet she incorporates the impact of the society, primarily her parents, and her power to resist harmful issues, instead of raising positive ones. It also essential to point out the elaboration of background images, on which with every scan one can find more and more details, for example, flowers in a field where each petal is viewed. Peters states that “the fact that Miyazaki and his team hand-draw the images before they’re digitally colored and animated gives them artistry that has been woefully lacking from so many recent American features”. The film was depicted without inalienable computers and graphic editors: each frame was worked by hand. The music was performed by the new Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra, showing that the musical accompaniment performed on classical instruments is a win-win option. This music immerses a viewer in the fairy-tale world while such a natural effect of immersion is possible only at the highest level of music, and in this case, it sets the bar of quality.

The selected sequence supports the idea that Spirited Away does not know the division into positive and negative characters. Each character combines both good and bad, and the characters can change significantly, when they interact with each other. The character of Chihiro seems to be not so good at first, but the further, the more fully her kindness, responsiveness, sincerity, and courage are revealed (Runyon). At the same time, No-Face becomes gentle and kind to her. Such multifaceted images of characters favorably distinguish Spirited Away from a typical children’s animated cartoon, where the division into good and evil is indicated clearly. The particularly striking example of a change in character in this anime relates to No-Face, who takes over and mirrors the features of those with whom he talks (Runyon). Next to Chihiro, he is shy and kind and offers her gold. With the other workers of the bathhouse, he behaves like a greedy monster, because they are greedy.

In addition to the impressive spatial dimension, the phenomenon of time in the sequence should be noted as well. Putting thoughts into a metaphorical form, one can say that time here is associated with those of our world by the so-called twin connection to some extent (Razak). Having access to time management within his animation creation, Miyazaki manages our time indirectly, or rather the perception of this time by a viewer. For the most part, the passage of time inside the work of the screen art remains for a viewer unnoticed and imperceptible. Time in this case is only a category of the duration of actions and certain conventionality, existing for the logical and habitual ordering of plot events. In this sequence, the time has a special meaning as it exists on a par with the beauty of drawings and the nobility of the actions of the main characters (Razak). The phenomenon of time and also its flow within the anime cause a sense of beauty and aesthetic pleasure. The phenomenon of time in the picture is inextricably linked with its rhythm. The cartoon in its internal structure is similar to a classical musical composition that is sometimes diluted by the sound of modern instruments, in particular, such as a bass guitar.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that Spirited Away takes a special place not only in the world of Japanese anime but also in the world in general. The scene with the train shows a new Chihiro, who had to grow up quickly, and opened her abilities up that were unclaimed and forgotten under the supervision of parents. The fabulous adventure radically changed the character of Chihiro, namely, childish whims gave way to courage, compassion, and independence. The mentioned meaning is revealed through music, images, specific effects, and symbols.

Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. “Spirited Away.” Roger Ebert . 2017. Web.

Ewens, Hannah. “Why ‘Spirited Away’ Is the Best Animated Film of All Time.” Vice , 2017. Web.

Peters, Patrick. “ Spirited Away Review .” Empire Movies. 2017. Web.

Razak, Matthew. “ Deep Analysis: Spirited Away .” Flixist. 2017. Web.

Runyon, Christopher. “ The Studio Ghibli Retrospective: ‘Spirited Away’ .” Movie Mezzanine . 2017. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, August 28). Film "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-spirited-away-by-hayao-miyazaki/

"Film "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki." IvyPanda , 28 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/film-spirited-away-by-hayao-miyazaki/.

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IvyPanda . 2020. "Film "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki." August 28, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-spirited-away-by-hayao-miyazaki/.

1. IvyPanda . "Film "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki." August 28, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-spirited-away-by-hayao-miyazaki/.

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Spirited Away: an Analytical Hybrid of Classical and Art Cinema

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The National and Cultural Identity in Children's Films Toy Story 3 and Spirited Away

The concepts of belonging and alienation in spirited away and romulus, my father, a view of female protagonist and femininity as illustrated in the movie moolade and spirited away, comparative analysis of hayao miyazaki’s spirited away and guillermo del toro’s pan’s labyrinth, relevant topics.

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On Hayao Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' and the Anxieties of Growing Up

'Spirited Away' is a manifestation of fears and anxieties as seen through the lens of its young lead female character, Chihiro.

The Big Picture

• Spirited Away is a coming-of-age film that explores the fears and anxieties of its young protagonist, Chihiro.
• The movie focuses on Chihiro's journey to save her parents and how it represents her transition into adulthood.
• Through symbolism and fantasy elements, the film tackles themes of identity, selflessness, and the fear of the unknown.

Hayao Miyazaki 's mystifying animated film Spirited Away made its debut over 20 years ago. Written by Miyazaki and inspired by the 10-year-old daughter of a close friend , Spirited Away follows Chihiro, voiced in the original Japanese by Rumi Hiiragi ( Netto Koshien ) and in English by Daveigh Chase ( Lilo & Stitch ), down the Japanese Shinto folklore spirit realm known as Kami. To save her parents from the powerful witch Yubaba, voiced by Mari Natsuki ( Nobuta o Produce ) and Suzanne Pleshette ( The Birds ), Chihiro will face more than any story's typical trials along the way: She will face herself.

Spirited Away (2001)

During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, a world where humans are changed into beasts.

What Does the Symbolism in 'Spirited Away' Mean?

Spirited Away is a manifestation of fears and anxieties as seen through the lens of its young lead female characte r, Chihiro. How Chihiro chooses to react to the ever-changing circumstances around her, even the most horrifying ones, defines this film's central moral . It’s the terrifying fear any child could have, perhaps their biggest fear of all: being separated from her parents. However, it’s conquering that fear and finding her parents that spur Chihiro's journey into adulthood.

Disregarding Chihiro's warnings of eating food not meant for them, the powerful witch Yubaba punishes her parents by turning them into pigs . Chihiro must venture into the bathhouse and overcome the reality of this new child/adult role reversal to save them . She is not so much tested as she is provided the space to resolve her anxieties about moving to a strange new town. Mostly, it’s concerns of the unknown that prompt Chihiro’s journey and metamorphosis — personified by the aberration of finding herself trapped in a spiritual realm that could eventually keep her there forever.

'Spirited Away' Artfully Tackles a Child's Transition to Adulthood.

When Chihiro first works within the bathhouse under Yubaba to free her parents, she is overwhelmed with doubt . In some of the first few scenes, we see Chihiro trail after her parents, clutching her mother's arm with a firm grip in terror. In the end, it’s Chihiro who leads her parents out of the bathhouse, across the bridge, and back to the human world. The in-between, the journey there, makes Chihiro brave enough to cross that metaphorical bridge from childhood to adulthood .

With the help of Haku, voiced by Miyu Irino and Jason Marsden , Chihiro realizes that growing up is not about your age but about how you love, understand, and show compassion to others . Chihiro’s love for Haku is what saves them. She defies Yubaba, risking her own life, by returning the magical seal she stole from Yubaba's twin sister Zeniba, voiced by the same actress who voices Yubaba. Spirited Away anchors adulthood in Chihiro’s acts of selflessness. In doing so, she overpowers those same anxieties that once rendered her powerless to Yubaba.

Despite being an animated film centered around the practical issues of a young girl’s moral ethics and fears, Spirited Away isn’t afraid to use horror and fantasy elements to expand these issues. Likely, the most terrifying manifestation of these anxieties is the spirit of No-Face , voiced in Japanese by Akio Nakamura and English by Bob Bergen . No-Face is a multifaceted entity representing so much of Chihiro’s fears of abandonment, loneliness, and identity. It is, in its vacant form, and need of friendship, that No-Face mirrors Chihiro’s crisis. No-Face begins a rampage that consumes both food and people with the promise of unlimited gold as a symbolic parallel to Chihiro’s own need to feed her loneliness .

'Spirited Away's Audience Embraces Chihiro

While Chihiro rejects the boundless gold No-Face offers her, she expels the fear of being alone on a deeper level, of being unknown to herself and others. By the time the film ends, Chihiro not only saves her parents but gains a sense of selfhood and belief that wasn't there otherwise . Yubaba, herself a double as a twin, uses the threat of identity to control Chihiro and everyone who works at the bathhouse. As her last act of resistance and love, Chihiro gives Haku back his identity. Recapturing her and Haku’s identity from Yubaba becomes a symbol of autonomy and maturity that crystallizes Chihiro’s turn into adulthood, a release from both Yubaba and Chihiro’s fears.

What drives Spirited Away is not just the fantastical nature of the narrative but also wanting Chihiro to triumph despite her circumstances. Her resilience is the true driving force behind the film that has withstood the test of time. People go back to this film because it takes them back to their childhoods, where the anxieties of being unloved, abandoned, judged, and criticized were always present. Chihiro is not that different from the child everyone once was. As the weight of Chihiro’s ever-changing world festers her anxieties, audiences are invited to that feeling through the nature of their own world . They feel comforted in Chihiro’s triumphant final moments, as she crosses the bridge and never looks back.

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Spirited Away (2001 Film) Irony

By hayao miyazaki.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by jelo singson

Irony of Parents

It is ironic that Sen/Chihiro’s parents display very little parental caution or sensibility: they cut across into a shortcut to a rural road that they knew nothing about, rudely help themselves to food obviously not prepared for them, and blatantly ignore all the eerie strangeness they encounter. They also display behavior that is decidedly un-Japanese, like brashly declaring that it’s ok to just eat the food that was set out because they had sufficient resources to pay for the meal.

Irony of The Bathhouse and No-Face

No-Face isn’t actually evil per se . He is lonely because the rest of the supernatural beings community, for reasons never clearly disclosed, shuns him. He is drawn to the bathhouse because of the kindness that Sen/Chihiro shows him. In order to gain entrance to the bathhouse he tempts a small frog-spirit with gold nuggets he produces and swallows him whole allowing him to speak with his voice. What turns him into a monster is staying in the bathhouse where starts to drink and consume more than what he needs, consuming more for the pleasure of it and because it generates so much attention for him. The real trouble begins though when he starts consuming the staff that put in the “ extra effort ” to try to curry more tips from him; when he starts consuming them, he also absorbs their brashness and crude behavior, demanding that they produce Sen/Chihiro for him.

Irony of Transforming into Pigs

Sen/Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs as punishment for their gluttony and disrespect for the rules of etiquette governing the spirit world. These rules and acts of gluttony however are committed while her parents are still human and incomplete control of their mental facilities. It is ironic therefore that they are turned into pigs; changing them as if it were to match their physical forms with the behavior that they’ve displayed.

Irony of Haku

Haku is the spirit and embodiment of the Kohaku River; a river that unfortunately, has been dredged up and diverted and is now a row of apartment houses. It is ironic that the spirit of the river has somehow outlived the river that it is supposed to embody.

Irony of Returning to Civilization

When the Chihiro and her parents make their way back to the car they find it covered in a considerable amount of dust and dry leaves, indicating that they had been away for much longer than they think. It is ironic to think they could have been gone for a couple of days or even a month and have absolutely no recall of the ordeal that their daughter had gone through in order to save her parents.

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Spirited Away (2001 Film) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Spirited Away (2001 Film) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Spirited Away (2001 Film)

Spirited Away (2001 Film) study guide contains a biography of director Hayao Miyazaki, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Spirited Away (2001 Film)
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• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Spirited Away (2001 Film)

Spirited Away (2001 Film) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Spirited Away (2001 Film), directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

• Identity and Isolation from Society: Evaluating Emily Dickinson's Poetry and 'Spirited Away'
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Wikipedia Entries for Spirited Away (2001 Film)

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Essay Samples on Spirited Away

Analysis of subtext and characters from the anime movie spirited away.

The subtext of Spirited Away is when Hayao Miyazaki said that the inspiration for the story came from meeting the sullen 10-year-old daughter of a friend and his desire to make a film that would give her some useful lessons. These lessons provide us with...

• Personal Growth and Development
• Spirited Away

Spirited Away: The Beautiful Messages in the Picture

“Spirited Away” is an animated movie produced by Studio Ghibli in Japan. The movie itself is a masterpiece of story and imagery, and has a wonderful lesson for people of all ages watching it. The film centers around a young girl named Chihiro who loses...

Application of Phyconanilitic Theory in Spirited Away

Spirited Away was Best Animation Award of Oscar in 2003, and it also was the first win the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival as a animation. It is majorly made by Miyazaki Hayao who is a very famous Japanese animator. This movie...

• Psychoanalytic Theory

Bad Monsters and Good Sprites in the Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a 2001 fantasy animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli’s most well-known film, and to no surprise, it is noteworthy for being the first ever anime (Japanese animation) to win an Academy Award. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a...

Best topics on Spirited Away

1. Analysis of Subtext and Characters from the Anime Movie Spirited Away

2. Spirited Away: The Beautiful Messages in the Picture

3. Application of Phyconanilitic Theory in Spirited Away

4. Bad Monsters and Good Sprites in the Spirited Away

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Spirited Away

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“Mom, my flowers are dying.”

When the family begins driving through the forest and unknowingly toward the amusement park, the flowers Chihiro received from her friend as a goodbye gift suddenly begin to wilt. Chihiro panics and shows her mother , who downplays it by blaming Chihiro for holding them too tightly. Chihiro’s mother does not realize that the flowers only began wilting moments before. On the other hand, Chihiro already realizes that something is not quite right.

“It’s fun to move to a new place. It’s an adventure.”

Chihiro is not at all impressed with the idea of moving to a new place. She is leaving behind her best friend and everything she knows, and it is clear that the family is moving to a remote town with few people or things to do. Chihiro’s mother attempts to change her daughter’s attitude toward the move by calling it an adventure. Ironically, the family ends up going on a much more spiritual sort of adventure instead.

“They’re shrines. Some people think little spirits live there.”

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