Spirited away – exploring environmental themes | Conservation, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development

A while ago I re-watched Hayao Miyazaki’s master-piece Princess Mononoke to understand some of the core environmental themes the master story-teller was trying to convey to his audience. This inspired me to seek out another Miyazaki master-piece Spirited Away to see how he explores environmental themes in an entirely different story, particularly, through the eyes of its 10-year old protagonist Chihiro. Spirited Away was released in Japan in 2001 and until December last year, it was the highest grossing film in the country. The movie has also won multiple international accolades including an Oscar award in 2003 for ‘best animated feature’.

Similar to Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki’s Spirited Away draws on many traditional and religious Japanese practices and philosophies. My knowledge of these are limited and as such, a deep and comprehensive analysis of Spirited Away is beyond me. One thing is for certain, the movie shares themes that are similar to Princess Mononoke – specifically – our greed and how this impacts our relationship with nature. Where the two movies differ is that Spirited Away is a lot ‘softer’ in its portrayal of this relationship and this makes it much more kids friendly compared to Princess Mononoke.

Synopsis

Spirited Away follows Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl whose family has decided to move to a new house. On the way to their new house, they come across an abandoned theme park. While exploring the theme park, Chihiro’s parents find a banquet and proceed to eat as much food as they can despite Chihiro’s protests. While eating the food, both her parents are turned into pigs and soon Chihiro finds herself in the spirit world.

The abandoned theme park that Chihiro and her parents find while driving. Image credit; Studio Ghibli, 2001.

At the center of the spirit world is a large bathhouse that looks after various guests. It is staffed by a large number of spirits and people and run by a witch called Yubaba. To survive and find a way to save her parents, Chihiro needs to find employment. However, when she does sign a contract, her name becomes Yubaba’s property much like everyone else who works for the witch. Chihiro also meets Haku, a boy who is of similar age to her who tries to help Chihiro survive in the spirit world. As Chihiro works in the bathhouse, she meets a range of interesting characters such as the ‘Stink Spirit’, Lin, Kamaji and ends up befriending all of them.

Towards the end of the movie, she meets Yubaba’s twin sister Zeniba who gives Chihiro the secret to saving herself and her parents. Along the way, she also manages to save Haku by remembering and then reminding him of his true name. In one last test, Yubaba tries to trick Chihiro but she is able to pass the witch’s test and find her parents. In doing so, Chihiro successfully saves them and herself and manages to escape the spirit world.

Analysis

The core premise of Spirited Away is to explore how greed has affected our relationship with nature. Many have highlighted that Spirited Away draws its inspiration from the economic crisis that engulfed Japan between 1990 and 2000. During this period, the nation’s banking sector, the housing market and many industries began to collapse after many years of rapid, post-war economic growth. Essentially, both the public and private sectors had overspent and the collapse of the financial institutions led to a deep restructures and austerity. Chihiro’s father appears to confirm as much when he states that “this must be an abandoned theme park, they built so many in the early 90s but they all went down with the economy”.

Greed is a recurring motif throughout the movie and is portrayed through many of the characters. Chihiro’s parents, for example, gorge themselves when they find a banquet in the abandoned theme park. When Chihiro raises her concerns her father replies “I’ve got a credit card and cash”. As they stuff themselves, they both get turned into pigs destined for slaughter for food themselves. The bathhouse employees are similarly motivated by greed although, initially, they reflect the so-called ‘salary men’ of Japan who work tirelessly and long hours for the corporations.

Chihiro’s parents turn into pigs as they stuff themselves after finding a banquet. Image credit; Studio Ghibli, 2001.

At the top of the bathhouse sits Yubaba and when we first meet here, she is in her office surrounded by bags of gold. For Chihiro to survive in the spirit world, she has to find employment (and find a way to save her parents) and sign a contract with Yubaba. When she signs her name, Yubaba gives her a new name ‘Sen’ which once again reflects the idea of ownership. The bathhouse now owns Chihiro – reflecting her assimilation into capitalism. As Haku tells Chihiro “If she steals your name, you’ll never be able to find your way home”.

The story takes an interesting turn when the ‘Stink Spirit’ arrives at the bathhouse. Initially, none of the employees want to serve the ‘Stink Spirit’ and so Chihiro is assigned to assist as one of her first acts as an employee. In doing so, she ends up saving the ‘Stink Spirit’ who turns out to be a River Spirit. In thanks, he showers Chihiro and the rest of the bathhouse with gold before vanishing. Greed once again takes hold and the employees fight each other to grab a hold of as much gold as possible. At this point, Yubaba reminds the bathhouse employees “hands off! That’s company property!”.

Chihiro and her friends help the ‘Stink Spirit’ after it visits the bathhouse. Image credit; Studio Ghibli, 2001.

The ‘Stink Spirit’ scene is particularly poignant in the movie. Not only does it showcase greed, it is also the clearest portrayal of environmental themes in the movie. When the ‘Stink Spirit’ is in the bath-tub, Chihiro finds something protruding out of its body. She then proceeds to pull it out and manages to do so with the help of the rest of the employees including Yubaba. What comes out of the ‘Stink Spirit’ is a collection of rubbish that people had dumped into a river – bicycles, trash cans, fishing nets, playground equipment, single-use plastics, steel frames and a whole lot more.

All the rubbish that Chihiro and her friends pull out of the Stink Spirit and in doing so, they cleanse it. For their work, the spirit showers them with gold. Image credit;Studio Ghibli, 2001.

Watching this scene reminded me of the annual clean-up event I take part in at the Cooks River (Clean-up Australia Day). One year, my SES Unit and I pulled out a number of shopping trolleys and e-bikes from the Cooks River and while we were all filthy with mud, everyone was so happy at what they had achieved. Infact, this has now become a recurring event in our Unit’s calendar.

This was taken at the end of a week long clean up event organised by the Cooks River Canoe Club, The Ocean Crusaders and various other local groups. The NSW SES – Marrickville Unit also attended to help clean up and to engage with locals about flood preparedness. A total of 17 tons of waste was collected over the week. Image credit; Cooks River Clean Up, 2020.

The ‘Stink Spirit’ scene is of particular significance in the Japanese context as water is considered a sacred element and there are many ‘water related ceremonies’ that take place across Japan. Further, Japanese culture is famous for its onsens (hot springs / bathhouses) with more than two thousand of these located across the entire country. The belief is that bathing in hot springs is a way to purify the body and soul and in doing so become closer to the Spirits and nature. By depicting something so sacred as being so badly polluted, perhaps Miyazaki is showing that we have been taking nature for granted. I feel the same way when it comes to the River Ganges in India. It is treated as an incredibly sacred water body that has been enshrined in religious texts and ceremonies and yet it is one of the most polluted water bodies on Earth.

Miyazaki’s lesson here, that greed and the capitalist system is making us forget the names of natural wonders in our own backyard. In other words, the ‘biophilia’ (a term coined by O.E Wilson in 1984) is missing from society. Not only is this true for those living in highly urban locations, but also evident in many people who live on and work the land such as farmers. This detachment from nature is further fuelled by social media and electronic devices. The sad paradox is that we now live in an ‘age of exclusion’, while being digitally hyper-connected.

Haku, a character who befriends Chihiro when she enters the spirit world suffers the same fate. Although he acts as Yubaba’s subordinate, he has also forgotten his own name and identity while working at the bathhouse. Towards the end of the movie, Chihiro discovers his real name to be Kohaku and is also a river spirit. Chihiro explains to Haku “my mum told me. Once when I was little I fell into a river. She said that they had drained it and built things on top of it”. This once again reflects how natural places are forgotten in the name of progress.

Like every other Miyazaki movie, there is no clear ‘right or wrong’ and this is also true for Spirited Away. Ultimately, Miyazaki shows that although our relationship with nature and each other has been eroded away by the capitalist system, there is still hope. This is reflected in Chihiro’s act of saving the ‘Stink Spirit’, Haku and ultimately her parents. Capitalism isn’t bad, what is bad is that we have forgotten our place in the world around us. Spirited Away explores many of the same themes that Miyazaki environmental themes that are explored in Princess Mononoke. The movie is now two decades old and there are many lessons within it that are incredibly relevant given the current state of the global environment and our role in it. I just wish that there were more stories like those imagined by Miyazaki for everyone to enjoy and hopefully be inspired by.