Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is one of the most important films of all time, as well as a personal favorite of mine.  In this amazing movie, Miyazaki manages to combine Eastern and Western Folklore,  use classic tropes to explore various ideas, and employ symbols in a way that is both creative and thought provoking, all while creating an extraordinary piece of entertainment for children and adults.  For these reasons, it must be preserved.
	Released in July 20th, 2001, the story of Spirited Away centers on a ten-year old girl named Chihiro and is set in modern-day Japan, though only for a short while (Britannica).  Chihiro and her parents are moving to a new town when they make a detour and end up in what initially appears to be an abandoned theme park.  As the sun goes down, the parents are suddenly overcome by greed and gluttony and begin stealing food from an empty restaurant while Chihiro ends up meeting a boy named Haku in front of a bath house.  He yells at her to leave, but before she can she finds herself trapped in the spirit world.  Her parents were transformed into pigs by Yubaba, the witch who rules the bath house, and now Chihiro, aided by Haku, must work for her to ensure her family’s safety.  However, in order to do so she must give up her name and live as Sen.  Throughout the story, she encounters many spirits, including a River Spirit, the shadowy No-Face, and Zeniba, Yubaba’s twin sister.  Each of them are central to a unique challenge Chihiro must overcome on her path to freedom.  Eventually, she realizes she knows Haku and discovers the way to rescue him, herself, and her parents.  
	There were many influences that went into this movie.  Chihiro herself, the spoiled, whiny, but also determined and loving protagonist, was based on the daughter of some of Miyazaki’s friends (Britannica).  The primary reason why the movie was made was because he wanted to make a movie for kids to enjoy (Britannica).  This was the reason it was set in a Bath House, because Miyazaki as a child thought of bath houses as places of wonder and mystery (Britannica).  However, there were many folklore themes present in the movie as well.  The film derived themes from the Shinto religion, such as the belief that everything has a spirit as visualized by every spirit being a spirit of a particular place or thing (Vega).  However, it also was influenced by Western folk tales, specifically the story of Baba Yaga.  In one of the renditions of this Russian tale, a girl leaves her father’s home to go to Baba Yaga, a witch who lives in the forest (Bilibin).  Like Chihiro, the girl is primarily protected from the witch by her good heart (Bilibin).  Its representation of both eastern and western themes is possibly one of the reasons it was able to appeal to such a wide audience.
	The movie’s primary achievement was its expert use of symbolism and tropes.  Many of the symbols used could represent multiple things, some of them being antithetical, but Miyazaki used both.  For example, Old Women traditionally have fulfilled the role of hags, witches, and crones, but also wise women and loving grandmothers (Bilibin).  They can be used as symbols of cynicism, treachery, and ancient evil, but also of wisdom and compassion (Nalvic).  In Zeniba and Yubaba, all these are present.  Another example is No-Face, the shadow being who befriends Chihiro and becomes one of her trials.  Shadows have been used to represent unknown, ominous evils, but also hidden potential and shyness, which are both exhibited in No-Face (Vega).  By having characters that have seemingly opposite qualities but still appear as whole people (as in not having a split personality), Miyazaki is able to fully flesh out the characters and illustrate how complicated people are.  In all the characters of Spirited Away, though they all help and hinder Chihiro to varying degrees, there are no definite heroes or villains.  Each ‘good’ character has a series of flaws and each ‘evil’ character has a series of good qualities.  Miyazaki believes that the “idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it” is “rotten” and portrays that belief in the absence of absolutely good or evil characters (Miyazaki).  
In this aspect, he portrayed a similar theme in the movie Princess Mononoke.  One of the primary themes is the idea that in a battle, neither side is completely right or wrong and trying to find a peaceful solution instead of simply destroying the other side should be the highest priority.  Princess Mononoke is also similar in that it featured spirits of nature and a theme of pollution and destruction of nature.  In a way, Spirited Away can be seen as Princess Mononoke remade for children.  
Spirited Away was incredibly well received in its time, winning many awards and being named the Best Animated Feature at the 2003 Academy Awards, and remains one of Miyazaki’s most definitive works.   It’s a timeless classic, makes expert use of symbols and tropes, crosses cultural barriers, and is highly entertaining.  Spirited Away needs to be preserved not just for an audience, but for future artists to learn how to tell a story, how to build complex characters, and how to build a world.  

Works Cited
Bilibin, Ivan. "Baba Yaga." Baba Yaga. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Where I got information on Baba Yaga and the Old Woman as a symbol and trope.
Chandler, Otis. "Hayao Miyazaki Quotes." Hayao Miyazaki Quotes (Author of NausicaÃ¤ of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 1). N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Here was where I got some quotes from Miyazaki on his ideas of good and evil.
"Miyazaki Hayao (Japanese Director)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Encyclopedia Britannica page where I got information on Miyazaki.
Nalvic, Calvin. "Nalvic's Reviews." Nalvics Reviews. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Page where I got supplementary information on various themes of Spirited Away.
"Spirited Away (film by Miyazaki)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Encyclopedia Britannica article where I got information on the movie, its reception, its symbolism, and the tropes used. 
Vega, Manuel. "Spirited Away: An Interpretation of Its Symbolism." Circle of Meditation. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Here was where I got some insight into Spirited Away’s symbolism.
