The
Purpose of the Film, by Hayao Miyazaki
This
film is an adventure story, although the characters neither swing
weapons around, nor use supernatural powers in battle. It is an
adventure story, but its theme is not a confrontation between good
and evil. It will be a story of a girl who was thrown into a world
where both good and evil exist. She gets trained, learns about friendship
and devotion, and survives by using her wisdom. She finds her way
out, dodges, and comes back to her old daily life for the time being.
However, it is not because evil was destroyed -- just as the world
does not disappear, (evil does not disappear). It is because she
gained the power to live. Today, the world has become ambigous;
but even though it is ambiguous, the world is encroaching and trying
to consume (everything). It is the main theme of this film to describe
such a world clearly in the form of a fantasy.
Being
enclosed, protected, and kept away (from dangers), children cannot
help but enlarge their fragile egos in their daily lives where they
feel their lives as something dim. Chihiro's skinny limbs and sullen
face, which indicate she would not be amused so easily, are a symbol
of that. Still, when reality becomes clear and she finds herself
in a crisis, her adaptability and endurance will well up within
her. She would find an existence in which she can bravely decide
and act within herself.
Certainly,
many people might simply panic and sink down to the ground. But
such people would vanish or quickly be eaten in the situation Chihiro
faced. Chihiro is a heroine, because of her power not to let herself
be eaten up. She is a heroine, (but) not because she is beautiful
or because she has a matchless heart. This is the merit of this
film, and this is why it is a film for 10 year old girls.
A word
has power. In the world into which Chihiro has wandered, to say
a word out of one's mouth has a grave importance. At Yuya, which
is ruled by Yu-baaba, if Chihiro says one word like "No"
or "I wanna go home," the witch would quickly throw Chihiro
out. She would have no choice but to keep aimlessly wandering until
she vanishes, or is changed into a chicken to keep laying eggs until
she is eaten. In turn, if Chihiro says "I will work here,"
even the witch cannot ignore her. Today, words are considered very
lightly, as something like bubbles. It is just a reflection of reality
being empty. It is still true that a word has power. It's just that
the world is filled with empty and powerless words.
The
act of depriving (a person) of one's name is not just changing how
one (person) calls the other. It is a way to rule the other (person)
completely. Sen becomes horrified when she realizes that she is
losing the memory of her name, Chihiro. And every time she visits
her parents at the pigsty, she becomes (more) accustomed to her
parents as pigs. In the world of Yu-baaba, you should always live
in the danger of being eaten up.
In
this difficult world, Chihiro becomes lively. The sullen, listless
character would have a surprisingly attractive expression in the
end of the film. The essence of the world has not changed a bit.
This film will persuade one of the fact that a word is one's will,
oneself, and one's power.
It
is also the reason why we make a fantasy that takes place in Japan.
Even though it is a fairytale, I do not want make it a Western one
in which we can find many ways out. This film will probably be looked
at as one of those run-of-the-mill other-world stories. But I'd
like you to consider is as a direct descendant of "Suzume no
Oyado (Sparrows' House)" and "Nezumi no Goten (The Palace
of Mice)" in the Japanese folktales. Although they did not
use such a phrase as "parallel world," our ancestors have
blundered at Sparrows' House or enjoyed a party at The Palace of
Mice.
The
reason why I made the world of Yu-baaba pseudo-Western is because
it is a world filled with Japanese traditional designs, as well
as to make it ambiguous whether it is a dream or reality. We just
don't know how rich and unique our folk world - from stories, folklore,
events, designs, gods to magic - is. Certainly, Kachikachi Yama
and Momotaro have lost their power of persuasion. But it is poor
imagination to put all the traditional things into a snug folk-like
world. Children are losing their roots, being surrounded by high
technology and cheap industrial goods. We have to tell them how
rich a tradition we have.
By
combining traditional designs with a modern story, and putting them
in as pieces of colorful mosaic, (I think) the world in the film
will have a fresh persuasion. At the same time, (we must) recognize
again that we are inhabitants of this island country.
In
an era of no borders, people who do not have a place to stand will
be treated unseriously. A place is the past and history. A person
with no history, a people who have forgotten their past, will vanish
like snow, or be turned into chickens to keep laying eggs until
they are eaten.
I would
like to make it a film in which 10 year old girls can find their
true wishes.
Hayao
Miyazaki (Translated from original)
©
2001 by Tokuma Shoten and Studio Ghibli
|
Miyazaki:
This movie is a story about a 10-year-old whose father and mother
happened to eat something they shouldn't have, and so became pigs.
The movie appears to be satire, but that isn't my purpose. I have
five young female friends who are about the same age as Hiiragi-san*,
and I spend every summer with them at my mountain cabin. I wanted
to make a movie they could enjoy. That is why I started this film,
and that is my true purpose.
*HIIRAGI
Rumi, the 13-year-old voice actress of Chihiro. She was at the
press conference during which this interview took place.
We
have made "Totoro," which was for small children, "Laputa,"
in which a boy sets out on a journey, and "Kiki's Delivery
Service," in which a teenager has to live with herself. We
have not made a film for 10-year-old girls, who are in the first
stage of their adolescence. So, I read the shoujo manga such as
Nakayoshi or Ribon which they left at my mountain cabin.
I felt this country only offered such things as crushes and romance
to 10-year-old girls, though, and looking at my young friends, I
felt this was not what they held dear in their hearts, not what
they wanted. And so I wondered if I could make a movie in which
they could be heroines...
If they find this movie to be exciting, it will be a success in
my mind. They can't lie. Until now, I made "I wish there was
such a person" leading characters. This time, however, I created
a heroine who is an ordinary girl, someone with whom the audience
can sympathize, someone about whom they can say, "Yes, it's
like that." It's very important to make it plain and unexaggerated.
Starting with that, it's not a story in which the characters grow
up, but a story in which they draw on something already inside them,
brought out by the particular circumstances... I wanted to tell
such a story in this movie. I want my young friends to live like
that, and I think they, too, have such a wish.
-When did you start thinking about making a new film?
M: There is a book for children, "Kirino Mukouno
Fushigina Machi (A Mysterious Town Over the Mist)" (by Sachiko
KASHIWABA, published by Kodansha). It was published in 1980, and
I wondered if I could make a movie based on it. This was before
we started work on "Mononoke Hime". There is a staff member
who loved this book when s/he was in fifth grade, and s/he read
it many times. But I couldn't understand why it was so interesting;
I was mortified, and I really wanted to know why. So, I wrote a
project proposal (based on the book), but it was rejected in the
end.
After that, I thought it would be better to have a more lively character,
so I wrote a proposal called "Rin and the Chimney Painter."
It was a contemporary story with a heroine who was a little bit
older, but it was rejected as well. It ended up being a story with
a scary old woman sitting on the bandai* of a bath house. Looking
back, all three stories had bath houses in them.
*Bandai
- a seat on a raised platform where the manager of a bath house
sits.
-Why
did you make a story that takes place at a bath house?
M: For me, a bath house is a mysterious place in
town. The first time I saw an oil painting was in a bath house.
And there was a small door next to the bath tub. I wondered what
was behind that door. So, I thought up a story about a young man
the same age as Hiiragi-san, but it was rejected as well. (laughs)
-Where did the idea of bath house being a place for gods
come from?
M: It would be fun if there were such a bath house.
It's the same as when we go to hot springs. Japanese gods go there
to rest for a few days, then return home saying they wished they
could stay for a little while longer. I was imagining such things
as I made images (of the film). I was thinking that it's tough being
a Japanese god today. (laughs)
- Are there any models for the gods (in the film)?
M: The Shinto ritual at Kasuga Shrine uses a piece of paper (mask)
with a drawing of an old man's face. I borrowed such images, but
Japanese gods have no actual form: They are in the rocks, in pillars,
or in the trees. But they need a form to go to the bath house. A
god of Daikoku looks like Daikoku*, and some of them have shapes
too strange to figure out.
*Daikoku:
a Japanese deity.
-
Why did you set the story in the present time?
M: It's a world like this Edo Tokyo Tatemonoen
(Edo Tokyo Museum, Building Park*) rather than our modern world.
I've always been interested in the pseudo-Western-style buildings**
you can find here. I feel nostalgic here, especially when I stand
here alone in the evening, near closing time, and the sun is setting--tears
well up in my eyes. (laughs)
*Edo
Tokyo Tatemonoen: A park with Japanese houses and shops from
the Meiji and Taisho era (about 120 to 70 years ago). Miyazaki-San
loves the park and often visits there. The interview took place
in the park.
**Pseudo-Western
style - A style of Japanese architecture in the early Meiji era.
It's a mixture of traditional Japanese design and Western design.
I think
we have forgotten the life, the buildings, and the streets we used
to have not so long ago. I feel that we weren't so weak...for example,
a life in that house you see there (pointing at one of the buildings
in the park) was a modest one. They ate a small amount of food,
enough to fit on a small table in a tiny room. Everyone thinks our
problems today are the big problems we have for the first time in
the world. But I think we just aren't used to them, what with the
recession and all. Well, it's enough since everyone is talking about
these current problems. Rather, let's cheer up (laughs). I'm making
a film with such a feeling.
- What was the biggest difficulty in making the film?
M: As usual, after the production started, I realized
that it would be more than three hours long if I made it according
to my plot (laughs). So, I had to cut a lot from the story, and
make a complete change. I'm also trying to make this film using
an ordinary man's eye this time, so I reduced the eye-candy as much
as possible and made it simple. I didn't want to make the heroine
a pretty girl, but even I was frustrated at the beginning of the
movie: I thought, "What a dull girl she is" (laughs).
When I saw the rushes, I thought, "She isn't cute. Isn't there
something we can do?" But as the film neared the end, I was
a bit relieved to feel, "Oh, she will be a charming woman."
- How do you feel about Chihiro, Ms. Hiiragi?
Hiiragi: She is willful and spoiled, very much
like girls today. I think that she is a bit like me.
M: I think this story is similar to that of a girl
who comes to, for example, Ghibli, and says, "Let me work here."
For us, Ghibli is a familiar place, but it would look like a labyrinth
to a girl coming here for the first time, a scary place. There are
a lot of grumpy people here. Joining an organization, finding your
own place, and being recognized there requires a lot of effort.
In many instances, you must use your own strength. But that's a
matter of course, that's living in the world. So, I am making the
film with the idea that it is the world, rather than bad guys or
good guys. The scary woman, Yu-baaba, who looks like a bad guy in
this film, is actually the manager of the bath house where the heroine
works. She's having a hard time managing the bath house; she has
many employees, a son, and her own desires, and she is suffering
because of those things. So I don't intend to portray her as a simple
villain.
-Do you have any ideas on how today's children, such as
Chihiro, can regain their energy?
M: If you let me have my own way, I'd first reduce
the amount of manga, video games, and weekly magazines. I would
drastically reduce the number of businesses that target children.
Our work is part of them, but I think we should let our children
watch animation only once or twice a year, and ban cram school as
well. If we let children have more of their own time and have their
own way, they'll become more lively in a year or so. There are too
many people who make money off of children. There is evidence we
can live without such things here in this park, yet there are too
many things around us to relieve our unsatisfied hearts and boredom.
This is the fault of adults; it's adults who are in the wrong shape.
Children are just mirrors, so no wonder they are in the wrong shape.
- When Mr. Takahata made "My Neighbor the Yamadas,"
he was questioning the act of telling a story in the fantasy genre.
Are you trying to answer that by making “Sen to Chihiro”?
M: No, I don't mean that, but I do think we need
fantasy. For those who are in their powerless childhood, when they
feel helpless, fantasy has something to give them relief. When children
face complicated or difficult problems, they have to dodge at first.
They would surely lose if they tried to tackle it head-on. We don't
need to use a complex and questionable phrase such as "escaping
from reality". There are many people who were saved by Tezuka-san's
manga, not just in my generation, but also in older generations.
I have no doubt about the power of fantasy itself. Still, it is
true that the creators of fantasy are getting emotionally weaker.
Surely more and more people are saying, "I can't believe such
a thing." But it's just that a fantasy that can confront this
complicated era has not been created yet. I think so.
Source:
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/ |
