Slide 1
Mainly focusing on psychoanalytical and auteur theory of
spirited away
Slide 2
Sigmund Freud's theory is the idea of having a
character or an object which takes the role of The Ego, The Super Ego or The
Id. The Ego would be the general normal character with dreams or ideas, the
Super Ego is the character bringing them down to earth and telling them what to
do or that something is un-accomplishable, The Id is the bad influence,
persuading them to do something which usually they shouldn't be doing.
Applying this to spirited, The main protagonist,
Chihiro would be the ego as her dreams or her role in the movie is to get out of
the fantasy land and save her parents. The super ego would be Yubaba who owns the
bath house where she is working, telling chihiro that she’s going to work
there for the rest of her life and takes away her name to control her. The id
in spirited away would be no face who first comes to bath house and takes a
liking to chihiro, but gets her into trouble with evil Yubaba and her twin sister Zeniba.
Freud's further idea is 'The Uncanny' which is
the theory that something is coming back from childhood in an unfamiliar and
often scary manner. This theory applies very strongly to spirited away with the relationship between chihiro and haku. We find out towards the end of the film that haku is actually the spirit of the river that chihiro almost died in as a child. This uncanny memory is represented through a shoe that chihiro lost in the river, it also helps haku to remember is name and be free'd from Yubaba bathhouse.
Jaques Lacan's theory is the idea of
'Object Petita' where a character needs to accomplish something to
complete themselves. The 'Object Petita' is often unachievable. There is also
the idea of the 'Mirror Phase' which is something holding you back or stopping
you from being able to complete yourself. Applying this to spirited away, we can relate this to how Chihiro must work at the bathhouse and save yubabas baby to free her parents.
Jaques Lacans theory goes on to develop onto how
an object or location can unconsciously remind us of something. The theory of
The Symbolic Realm draws upon the ideas of the signifier and the signified (the
signifier is the thing which makes you think of something and the signified is
what you think). This links to semiotics which is where a symbol automatically
makes you think of something. For example the heart shape reminds you of love
and romance etc
Hayao Miyazaki uses this a lot in his his films, which could show us he is an auteur director
Slide 3
for the overall influence, with most films Miyazaki has not only directed but written and drawn for too showing he has a large involvement in the overall production.
Miyazaki has a very distinct style always does Anime Fantasy Adventure films. The characters (human and creatures) always look similar from when he started out in stop motion to CGI. The main characters are always children often living in a adult world so it appeals to children but has a lot of adult concepts. Miyazaki also has a very distinct style in the visual. Locations and characters have very strong similarities throughout his films.
Recurring themes we see are that Miyazaki frequently makes references to nature and pollution in his films for example Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. Most films start with a female main character going into an enchanted world like he floating islands of Castle in the Sky, the forests in Princess Mononoke, the spirit land in Spirited Away. they Also often meet a male main character who they have a connected past with . In most of Miyakis films characters often fly. He always creates well developed characters and Builds emotional connection with them.
With Miyazakis whole body of work he started tarted of directing japanese tv series before moving onto film. he has a massive collection of 21 films with his first film in 1979 so thats roughly a film every 18 months.
As Miyazakis films are always anime, he doesn't tend to re use voice overs but he always works with Studio Ghibli and frequently uses music by Jo Hisaishi
Hayao Miyazaki uses this a lot in his his films, which could show us he is an auteur director
Slide 3
for the overall influence, with most films Miyazaki has not only directed but written and drawn for too showing he has a large involvement in the overall production.
Miyazaki has a very distinct style always does Anime Fantasy Adventure films. The characters (human and creatures) always look similar from when he started out in stop motion to CGI. The main characters are always children often living in a adult world so it appeals to children but has a lot of adult concepts. Miyazaki also has a very distinct style in the visual. Locations and characters have very strong similarities throughout his films.
Recurring themes we see are that Miyazaki frequently makes references to nature and pollution in his films for example Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. Most films start with a female main character going into an enchanted world like he floating islands of Castle in the Sky, the forests in Princess Mononoke, the spirit land in Spirited Away. they Also often meet a male main character who they have a connected past with . In most of Miyakis films characters often fly. He always creates well developed characters and Builds emotional connection with them.
With Miyazakis whole body of work he started tarted of directing japanese tv series before moving onto film. he has a massive collection of 21 films with his first film in 1979 so thats roughly a film every 18 months.
As Miyazakis films are always anime, he doesn't tend to re use voice overs but he always works with Studio Ghibli and frequently uses music by Jo Hisaishi
Slide 4
Structuralism in film relates to audience and what they see. There are many theories within structuralism such as juxtaposition which works on how the audience interoperates it. The Kuleshov effect is also another theory in film where the director or editor controls the audience to feel a certain emotion through shots, for example if we see a shot of a man then a shot of a graveyard we feel sad. These tools aren't so obviously used in spirited away because anime characters are renowned for using exaggerated facial expressions so this is the primary way of displaying emotion, mainly because it needs to be made clear to its younger audiences
Structuralism in film relates to audience and what they see. There are many theories within structuralism such as juxtaposition which works on how the audience interoperates it. The Kuleshov effect is also another theory in film where the director or editor controls the audience to feel a certain emotion through shots, for example if we see a shot of a man then a shot of a graveyard we feel sad. These tools aren't so obviously used in spirited away because anime characters are renowned for using exaggerated facial expressions so this is the primary way of displaying emotion, mainly because it needs to be made clear to its younger audiences
Feminism is the idea of people, often women fighting for women being equal to men, often a hugely debated theory because of a variety of factors.
The first argue is the fact of the words existence; most words like racist, sexist, terrorist are derogatory of the general belief, that these words are 'bad' people going against the common view. However a 'feminist' is someone who is fighting for womans rights, which leads to the idea that all people think men are superior to women. In nearly all Miyazaki films, females are the main characters and although they sometimes seem weak to begin with they always end up as the heroin.
Another argument of feminism is the idea of feminism in film. Continuously women in film are displayed is certain view that is seen as 'normal' because it so frequently shown. There is an idea of the 'Bechdel Test' which is a test to see if movies consist of a scene with 2 woman who have a conversation not about a man. Many films fail the 'Bechdel Test', with only a few passing although most of the films passing don't actually include any female roles.
Even in spirited away, which is classed a children's film, it still passes the bechdel test
Genre theory is the idea that films fit to a certain genre, this means that the film follows the codes and conventions and structure of a particular genre. Many films are classed and sub genres as they have more than one genre. Spirited away could be classed under Anime, Fantasy, Supernatural, Drama, Action or Adventure, showing the varsity of genres films can relate to
I think Genre is an endlessly flexible tool because it gives the artists the opportunity to either stick to it and produce something creative within a strict structure or it gives them the opportunity to break the format and make something entirely original by using sub genres or genre hybrids.
Even in spirited away, which is classed a children's film, it still passes the bechdel test
Genre theory is the idea that films fit to a certain genre, this means that the film follows the codes and conventions and structure of a particular genre. Many films are classed and sub genres as they have more than one genre. Spirited away could be classed under Anime, Fantasy, Supernatural, Drama, Action or Adventure, showing the varsity of genres films can relate to
I think Genre is an endlessly flexible tool because it gives the artists the opportunity to either stick to it and produce something creative within a strict structure or it gives them the opportunity to break the format and make something entirely original by using sub genres or genre hybrids.
