SPIRITED AWAY

[ermek]

I remember the time when I first watched the movie Spirited Away. I was 12-year-old boy, and I can't say the perception of the movie was similar to what I got from watching it in class.

Now, it seemed more sophisticated and with deep thoughts of what was going on on the screen.


Teacher's note: Thanks, author, for posting.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[alqurashi88]

The bathhouse for spirits is a magical place where spirits come to rest after a long day. It is owned by a witch called Yubaba and she charges the spirits for the service. The bathhouse offers many services to the spirits such as food and a clean bath.

Haku helped Chihiro from the start of the movie because he felt that there is a connection between them. This connection is true at the end of the movie, when he rememberd that he had helped her while she was drowning in the river.

She became a better person and now she rel[ies] on her self more. She developed self-confidence and had learnt the importance of how family should always stay close together.

I liked spirited away because it provides the viewer with many moral stories such as reliance and self-confidence.

Teacher's note: At the beginning Chihiro is pretty cowardly and clings too closely to her parents, but as this author points out, with Haku's help, she becomes much more self reliant. I had a hard time understanding the back story between Haku and Chihiro at the river. Thank you, author, for getting this straight.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Molly]

Chihiro is the main character of the film. She is the most common year-old girl. At the beginning of the film Chihiro is naughty, she is clearly unhappy with the move and in advance considers her future school boring. With the development of the story Chihiro display their best traits. She is responsible, patient and selfless.

It's an amazing story that touches the soul of every viewer. Despite all the differences between countries, this cartoon is popular all over the world. Why? Because people all over the world have the same values. Love and friendship, kindness and mercy, purity of soul and forgiveness.

Japanese anime always carry a deep meaning. Thanks for the aesthetic pleasure!

Teacher's note: This mini-essay touches on several awesome points. Chihiro's arc is summarized precisely. More importantly, the author points out the universal qualities that make "Spirited Away" a favorite wherever it appears. And so to Japanese Anime creators including Hayao Miyazaki I wish to join in thanks for the aesthetic pleasure.

--mike www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[lucasliu]

The bathroom is a special place for the spirite to rest and clean their bodies during the night.

I knew this movie long time ago, but this is my first time to see it. It is very good. Through the movie, I learn some Japanese culture about spirit. The director use the view of two children to express many thoughts. Human polluted the river so that the spirit of river become dirty, people build many buildings to change the environment around them so that Haku can not find his home again. These problems are very real serious problems today in our world.

Chihiro was a wilful girl. She didn't know do any thing before, but [s]he want[ed] to save her parents to learn how to work in the bathroom. At the end. she become a strong girl and the spirit respect[ed] and love[d] her by her goodness. Haku helped the Chihiro twice, one is in the beginning and another one when she was younger, so Chihiro helped him when he met some difficulties. that a good return.what goes around comes around.

I expect to see another movies by this director.

Teacher's note: Thanks to this author, I think I finally understand how Hayao Miyazaki is trying to express the message of this movie. I knew it was there, but couldn't quite place my finger on it. "Humans polluted the river so that the spirit of river become dirty." Exactly! It was right in front of me the whole time. Thank you author for helping me to organize the context of the story. Now it works. The "spirit of the river" was a good guy the whole time, but the river was ill, and we did it. Thanks for an amazing post!!!!!

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Ulan Korabay]

Spirited away. Cartoon shows girl who came to strange place and had trouble. She moved to new place with her family however on their way they stopped to eat and were trapped by spirits who turned her parents to pigs. This girl met a boy who helped her survive in the world of spirits where she worked hard to return her parents back. While she was there she employed to work in bathhouse, where she got her respect from other employees when she washed most nasty customer.

The owner used the boy, who helped to her in the beginning, to steal something important from her sister who is good person in this story. The girl helped to this boy survive and return this thing back to sister. The boy had a deal with bathhouse owner to return her parents and her to human world. So, good personal qualities as being not greed and being friendly won in this story.

[Kaoriic]

Spirited Away wasn't my first time I watched this movie. Since I'm young, and as a practice of japanese, I watched it several times. And it is surprising how some sentences are translated in English.

This movie is strange but also captivating like all of other animations of Hayao Miyazaki. In this movie, we enter in a completely different world of what we are used to see and there are so many details that everytime I watch this movie, it surprises me.

Kaori

[reneeliu]

Describe the bathhouse for spirits and its many symbols.
The bathhouse refers human society. We can see a rigidly hierarchical structure from the bathroom. If you do not work hard or find a job, you will be turned into a useless animal. Lazy people will be discarded in this place.

Why does Haku help Chihiro?
Just like what Zeniba said,"once you've met someone you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return." Chihiro used to fall in the river which was dominated by Haku, so potentially they have some emotional links.

How does Chihiro change by the end of the story?
Chihiro used to be timid and kind of indifferent. To save her parents, however, she turned into a brave, responsible and warm girl. She set the contract with Yubaba, endured the toughest work in the bathroom and survived in a series of chanllenges. By cleaning the River God,waking up the no-face man, rescuing Haku, She not only found her name back but also learned how to be independent. Never forget to be an honest, kind and diligent guy, only in this way can you earn others' respect and help.

Write a setup/opinion of SPIRITED AWAY.
Most of us are just like the no-face man, who are essentially kind but lost their ways in this society. We are lonely, self-centred and silent individuals, treating the person we care most in the clumsiest way,always getting the opposite results. In this crowed and noisy world, we are attracted by other people's laud, and gradually become greedy and irascible,ignoring those voices sounding from our heart. We lost the courage and capability to love.

Teacher's note: Thank you, Renee, for writing the first post for this summer 2015 session. You have answered all four prompts with thoughtfulness, kindness, and transparency. I especially note how you describe Chihiro's transformation through the story. This is the key character development.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Xiaoyu]

Describe the bathhouse for spirits and its many symbols.
The bathhouse is like a real society. Though there are some dark side in it, we could also see the true, the good and the beautiful.

Why does Haku help Chihiro?
Chihiro is someone that Haku can remember for a long time. Though Haku's real name was token by the witch, he could also remember their coincidence in the past. And I think they have something attach each other, maybe friendship, maybe love.

How does Chihiro change by the end of the story?
At first, she is a girl lazy and hates changes. But after she entered the magic world and her parents were became pigs, she realized that it's her turn to protect her parents. She is a brave, nice and friendly girl. She served the most dirty guest in bathhouse without complain[t]. Moreover, she tried her best to reach the sister and save Haku's life.

Write a setup/opinion of SPIRITED AWAY.
At first class of this movie, I was attached by bright color and beautiful music of this movie. After finished this movie, i found myself have difficulties to understand the whole story of the movie. It's a adventure superficially, but actually, every role in the movie refer to something. For example, bathhouse refer to society; Chihiro is an example of a girl's transformation. I was so impressed by this movie. I love it!

Teacher's note: I am impressed with the points made by this author. When Chihiro (Sen) cleans the stink spirit, we really get to see how much Chihiro has grown. I must admit that I too have gotten overwhelmed in all the symbolism of "Spirited Away," but this is part of the fun. Thanks for a nice post.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[zuhui]

As a Chinese student, I knew this film from many years ago, but didn’t have a chance to watch it, so I am really glad that I can have this opportunity to watch it. I think this is he most famous Japanese Animation film, and I really love the bright and warm color, the picture structure, and the story. It use[s] a really interesting way to introduce to audience the bathhouse, and I really like it. The bathhouse looks really cute, and when I first time to see it I never thought it is a place only for spirits and only open at night. I have to say that the bathhouse is more beautiful at night than daytime. When Chihiro get into the bathhouse I was shocked that so many spirits and so big the bathhouse is. There are lots of huge tubs inside, and provides delicious food, lots of assistants to help their customers. I am also curious about those spirits, lots of frogs, fat ducks, birds and other kinds of animals, they looked not kind but actually they are all good guys.

I think Haku was willing to help Chihiro is because he knew her from [when] she was a little girl, then Haku always helped her when she got in trouble, this time he found her around the bathhouse he really wants to help and he can feel about his own life, I remembered when Haku give Chihiro rice ball, he said he can’t find the way home and can’t remember his own life, he wanted to help Chihiro to keep her memory and go back to home with her parents. Chihiro changed a lot as everyone can see throughout the film, she was very scared at the first time she been in the bathhouse, however, she needs to live by her own to save her parents. Finally, she growth up to a brave girl to help her parents and Haku, and she can face to No-face to solve the problem with him.

This is a film about love I believe, even there are many points are not nice enough. I can feel Chihiro['s] love [for] her parents, and this is the most important reason to keep her brave and full of energy to do difficult things. I can also feel Chihiro['s] love [for] Haku, she tried her best to save his life even it is dangerous enough to die with Haku together. I also can feel the love between Rin and Chihiro, they are really cute and warm. I think I need to review this film again in some day, and I will have a better understanding of it I believe.

Teacher's note: I'm glad you finally got a chance to see this amazing animation, one of the most famous in the world. GPS note: (Be careful for the infamous "comma splice." There are several here.) One thing I admire about this contribution is that it does a pretty good job of using word pictures to describe the interior of the bath-house. Thanks for your thoughts.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Jessica]

1. The bathhouse is a gigantic resort for the spirits named "油屋" in kanji. It only opens at night and welcomes all kinds of spirit ranged from radish spirit to duck spirit and so on. The waiters in the bathhouse are mainly frogs and women who appear to be human. The bathhouse is run by Yubaba, a witch with distinct facial features. It is a typical traditional Japanese place with all the staffs wearing samue and geta. Many traditional Japanese symbol were seen in the bathhouse, such as the decoration, the sliding doors, and the origami with magic spell.

2. Haku helped Chihiro because they met each other when Chihiro was a little. Haku is a river spirit. He had saved Chihiro once when Chihiro was about to drown. He considered Chihiro as his friend due to that encounter, so he wants to help Chihiro to save her parents.

3. In the beginning, Chihiro was a timid child who always rely on her parents or other people around her. Through her adventure, she becomes more and more courageous. Instead of always seek[ing] Haku for help, she actually started to help Haku. She break the spells that Yubaba put on her and Haku and successfully save her parents.

4. Miyasaki is definitely one of the directors with wildest imagination. I was little when the first time I saw this movie. Frankly I got blown away by "Spirited Away". Every aspect of this movie, picture, storytelling, and music, all of them are just marvelous. People would get hooked in the beginning of the film. A family is moving to a new place, and on the road they get themselves into an unknown land. Unfortunately mom and dad turned into pigs by magic, then a mysterious and good looking boy appears to help. Later Chihiro get a job. All the help and support that Chihiro get from those warmhearted people from the bathhouse just make her a better person. In Chihiro's adventure, she did not lose herself, she kept her name and return to the real world with her parents. Following Chihiro's track of finding friendship, courage, and herself, the audience experienced an adventure in a unknown world.

Teacher's note: Thanks for a most articulate post. Articulate because of the careful use of vocabulary throughout this essay. Need I remind our readers (probably not) that vocabulary skill is a key element of good communication. Nice work!

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com