Lew Crippen
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2002
- Messages
- 12,060
It is interesting that this film has caused such lengthy discussion. I really know nothing about anime and especially what distinguishes it from Western animation, and as I don’t keep up with the anime threads, it is really interesting to read Dome and Rob’s posts.
But when my wife and I saw this in the theatre, we were just blown away—she later bought me the DVD, which I need to break out and watch a couple of times so I can properly address George’s concern with character treatment and development.
I do think that your comparison to ‘Alice’ is not necessarily off-base, as the mixture of the real and spirit worlds in Spirited Away is not always clear. But don’t forget that the national religion of Japan (Shinto) is basically animist and as such many ordinary objects of the real world are imbued with spirits—so this admixture of the real and the spirit is much less confusing to Japanese than to many Westerners.
Don’t forget that the spirits are like humans—some are mostly good, some pretty bad, some childlike and most a mixture and just want to get on with their jobs and lives (if life is the proper term).
I don’t recall that the character inconsistency was not logical, but as I mentioned, I’ll need to watch a couple more times to comment accurately.
But when my wife and I saw this in the theatre, we were just blown away—she later bought me the DVD, which I need to break out and watch a couple of times so I can properly address George’s concern with character treatment and development.
I do think that your comparison to ‘Alice’ is not necessarily off-base, as the mixture of the real and spirit worlds in Spirited Away is not always clear. But don’t forget that the national religion of Japan (Shinto) is basically animist and as such many ordinary objects of the real world are imbued with spirits—so this admixture of the real and the spirit is much less confusing to Japanese than to many Westerners.
Don’t forget that the spirits are like humans—some are mostly good, some pretty bad, some childlike and most a mixture and just want to get on with their jobs and lives (if life is the proper term).
I don’t recall that the character inconsistency was not logical, but as I mentioned, I’ll need to watch a couple more times to comment accurately.