Spirited Away

Persephone is a maiden goddess, she is the daughter of Demeter the goddess of fertility and harvest. Persephone ate 6 seeds of a pomegranate when she was in the underworld and therefore had to live 6 months there and 6 months on land.  Demeter was completely distraught, and sought for ways to rescue her daughter.  In Spirited Away, it is the parents who eat the food that traps them and their daughter, Chihiro, who saves them. Persephone and Chihiro are both maidens who go through a coming of age heroine's journey.

Hayao Miyazaki has a way of telling stories that feel like a dream.  He creates such unusual worlds full of unique characters that leave an emotional impact similar to the sensation waking up from a dream.  The magical creatures add to this sense of being in another world where anything can happen.  The liminal spaces in the film mirror the space between sleeping and waking. The space where strange images come and bring important messages.  Chihiro moves through these worlds in Spirited Away, developing a deeper understanding of herself and others.

Chihiro’s name being taken from her symbolises a loss of sense of self.  A name is personal and part of your identity, for it to be taken away is significant.  Part of coming of age is discovering who you are.  Chihiro is 10 years-old, this is around the age when many people start to feel they are no longer the child they were, and are not an adolescent yet. This is also a kind of liminal space navigated internally.  Haku reminds Chihiro of her name, saying that she needs to remember it in order to save herself and her parents.  Her name symbolises her essence and freedom. She is growing and changing, but her essence comes from her depths and needs to be part of who she becomes.

Chihiro is a warrior girl and incredible heroine. Her story follows the heroine’s journey as we see change happen around and within her. She travels from the normal world into a special magical world and back. Throughout the whole film she always listens to her intuition which guides her within the different worlds and herself. It is her feminine superpower which helps her to save herself, her parents, Haku, and to change the world.

Image from Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”