Sen Broke the Record

[Aaron Gerow]

>Can any other list members who have seen 
>the film offer comments on their feelings about how and why the film is 
>succeeding?  Succeeding story-wise or in the box office, either way.

My Daily Yomiuri review of the film was positive, but somewhat reserved. 
My main problem was the film was the discourse on youth problems it 
intersected with.  The press pamphlet was half-full of commentary, 
centered in a long essay by Miyazaki himself, about how this film was 
tackling the problem of young people who were stuck in their own world, 
no longer caring for others. That's all nice and good, but in the way 
this discourse helps shape the film, it all ends being a bit too preachy 
and helps create some of the holes Mike noticed. For instance, Miyazaki's 
whole object in this film was to create a more average, less heroic 
heroine who, instead of relying on the special powers usually given to 
anime heroes, has to search in herself for her own power. The depiction 
of the weak, somewhat pathetic Chihiro at the beginning is quite 
interesting in this regard, and perhaps did help some kids identify with 
Chihiro more than, say, San in Mononoke (Miyazaki said Sen to Chihiro was 
intended for 12-year old girls).  But then the central narrative problems 
becomes the process of Chihiro/Sen finding her own powers, and thus 
changing from a weakling to a strong little girl. Frankly, the film does 
a bad job with this: in the end, she just changes, and we don't really 
get any sense of how or why. Eventually, it just assumes that all 
Japanese girls are basically good and strong inside, an assumption which 
makes it hard for the film to connect to the reality of enjo kosai, etc., 
that it is trying to interface.

Other elements in the film, like Chihiro's relation with Haku, and the 
nice sister of Yubaba, also seem slapped on without sufficient 
development.

I would argue that these holes are in part manifestations of the 
ideological holes. But at the same time, I do get the feeling that they 
are not unconnected to the sense of emptiness that does lurk behind the 
happy ending and encouraging story.  This is evident from the very dark 
train ride, the far too clear blue skies and waters, and the somewhat 
ambiguous ending, and is a continuation of a certain emptiness that has 
always been a part of Miyazaki's work (and rose most to the fore in 
Mononoke).

As for why the film is successful, apart from the fact that it can 
attract children in a way the violent Mononoke could not, I think one 
consensus opinion is the proliferation of detail. From the first shots of 
Chihiro slumped in the back seat with the flowers from parted friends, 
there is great attention paid to small details that give a certain 
fullness to the characters and their world.  There is not just a 
narrative, but also a certain spectacular pleasure from this detail (even 
if it doesn't always mesh together well).  One also cannot ignore the 
immense publicity and media backing the film had.

Still, I too am surprised by the film's enormous success. Any other ideas?

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171