Lesson Plan SPIRITED AWAY Paul Gomes, MA student and Teaching Assistant, Department of Religion, UHM OBJECTIVES OF PLAN

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1 Lesson Plan SPIRITED AWAY Paul Gomes, MA student and Teaching Assistant, Department of Religion, UHM Produced by Toshio Suzuki Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Written by Hayao Miyazaki Running Time: 125 minutes Rating: PG Winner of: Golden Bear Award for Best Picture; 52 nd Berlin Film Festival Best Animated Film; New York Film Critics Circle Best Animated Feature; National Board of Review Best Animated Feature Film; 75 th Annual Academy Awards Buy through Disney : OBJECTIVES OF PLAN 1. Students should be aware of differences in presentation and content of Western Animation and Japanese Anime. 2. An understanding of cinematic metaphor, and Miyazaki s message delivered via the metaphors of spirits, the spirit world and the personal development of characters. 3. An ability to compare and contrast between their own culture and Japanese culture. Prepared with support from the University of Hawaii s National Resource Center East Asia (U.S. Department of Education/Title VI) CURRICULUM APPLICATION Teachers of history, social studies, global issues, Asian studies, Japanese language, Cinematography, and related courses may use this lesson plan. As such, certain sections and activities are more applicable to certain curriculums than others. Non-applicable elements may be dispensed with at the instructor s discretion. STANDARDS ADDRESSED 1

2 This lesson corresponds with the following standards established by the National Council for Social Studies: Standard I: Students develop an understanding of the differences in various human cultures, and evaluate the dynamics behind cultural change. Standard IV: Students observe how an individual s personal development is shaped by one s culture and understand the mechanisms behind it. This lesson also corresponds with these standards of the Hawaii State Social Studies Guidelines for Cultural Anthropology. Standard 1: Standard 3: Standard 4: Understand culture as a system of beliefs, knowledge, and practices shared by a group. Understand culture as dynamic, selective, adaptive, and ever changing. Use the tools and methodology of social scientists to explain and interpret ideas and events. PREVIEWING NOTES FILM SYNOPSIS Chihiro Ogino is a ten year old Japanese girl moving to a new town in the middle of nowhere with her parents. She is not happy to be making the move and misses her old school and friends. When her parents make a wrong turn on the way to their new home, they stumble onto the grounds of an old shrine and a tunnel into another world. When her parents walk into the tunnel, Chihiro is scared, clinging tightly to her mother. When her parents stumble across an empty restaurant with hot food all around, they begin to eat and Chihiro goes off to explore. She runs into a strange boy who tells her that she must leave before night falls or she ll be trapped. When she returns to the restaurant, she finds that her parents have been transformed into pigs and the way out has been turned into a river. Chihiro panics as she begins to literally fade away, trying to convince herself that it is all just a dream. The strange boy named Haku returns to rescue Chihiro and tells her the only way that she can survive in this strange world and save her parents is to get a job at the bathhouse for the gods and spirits run by the sorceress Yubaba. Putting aside her fears and with a little help from kind characters she meets along the way, Chihiro makes her way to the top floor of the bathhouse and requests a job from Yubaba. Yubaba attempts to scare her off but fails, and duty bound by the rules of the world, she gives Chihiro a job on the condition that Chihiro magically sign away her name and memory of her identity. Renamed Sen, she undertakes the difficult task of recovering who she is, saving her parents and finding a way out of the world all while toiling away at the bathhouse. 2

3 In her adventures she meets many strange and memorable characters, learns lessons about life and unravels the mystery of the boy named Haku. (This movie is) for the people who used to be ten years old and the people who are going to be ten years old. Hayao Miyazaki ABOUT THE GENRE Spirited Away is an animated feature from Japan. Animation from Japan is known by its term in Japanese ( anime ) even in the West due to certain stylistic conventions in the art and storytelling processes. Anime is closely linked to Japanese comics called manga. While anime has been popular in Japan since its inception in the 1960s with such shows as Astro Boy and Mach Go-Go (aka Speed Racer ), along with manga it has only recently begun to seep into Western pop culture. Spirited Away marked the arrival of anime as a force with its Oscar win and widespread critical acclaim. The film contains several of the key differences between traditional Western animation and Japanese anime. One is a lack of clearly evil and clearly good characters. While some anime hew to the traditional dichotomy of good and evil, many anime, even this particular feature made for children in mind, choose to display moral ambiguity. Very rare in Japanese anime for children is the use of songs and musical numbers, instead relying on elements of silence and artistic details to captivate audiences. One good example of this is the long sequence detailing the train ride with spirits over the flooded landscape. The music is low key and the dialogue minimal. It is interesting to note that the English-dubbed version of the film contained lines of dialogue that did not exist in the original Japanese. A final area of difference is the depth of character development. Many anime strive to produce nuanced portrayals of the main characters with conflicting internal values, hidden aspects of personality and personal growth over time. Previewing Points of Note for this area are: Ask the students if they know what anime is and if they have seen Spirited Away. Discuss the difference between Japanese anime and Western Animation. It can be assumed within a normal class size that at least a couple students will be aware of anime, if not the specifics of it or Spirited Away. Current popular anime among the age set include shows such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragonball Z, and Inu-Yasha. These shows all also have some element of the supernatural and mention of the spirit world in it. Some preliminary discussion about anime with reactions from students acquainted with it to frame the artistic differences between it and Western animation would be helpful to those students who are unacquainted with the genre. One aspect that should be emphasized is the difference in characterization. If students have any comments on what they ve learned about Japanese culture and history via anime, relate it to salient portions of information in the history and culture section of this lesson 3

4 plan. Those students who have seen the movie should be encouraged to share their reaction of it, without giving away details of the plot. ABOUT THE DIRECTOR Hayao Miyazaki is considered one of the foremost masters of animation in the world. His long career began in the 1950s and he has continued to work until the present. Since the release of Princess Mononoke in 1996, he has repeatedly avowed to go into retirement only to come out of retirement to direct again. He is known for his extreme dedication to the craft, strong opinions and widespread influence. With his friend Isao Takahata he founded Studio Ghibli, in order to maintain complete creative control of all his work. Since its foundation, Miyazaki has striven to produce films for all ages containing strong messages while still being entertaining and moving. Some common themes in his work include environmentalism, war and peace, families, the interaction and tension between the human world and the natural world and the process of growing up. Miyazaki does not hide the fact that he disapproves of much of modern culture, including materialism and consumerism, the widespread acceptance of videogames and television, rampant urbanization and the breakdown of family life and childhood. In his work, he strives not so much to expound his opinions as to provide a nuanced critique of the difficulties in the world. Many of Miyazaki s works draw from his own personal experiences and Spirited Away is no exception. The character of Chihiro was inspired by his experience of spending a summer vacation in the country with a friend who had a granddaughter. The bathhouse was inspired by his various experiences in such places, while his usage of the spirit world was inspired by his own childhood. In his own words he states: In my grandparent s time, it was believed that gods and spirits existed everywhere in trees, rivers, insects, wells, anything. My generation does not believe in this, but I like the idea that we should treasure everything because there is a kind of life to everything. Previewing Points of Note for this area are: Mention Miyazaki s desire for his work to convey messages Prompt students to be aware of Miyazaki s commentary on current social issues in Japan and the world via his depiction of the characters and settings. In this particular movie Miyazaki uses the metaphor of the world of spirits to comment on the dissonance between Japan s traditional reverence for the natural and the relentless push for modernity and progress. The River spirit filled with pollution and the fate of the character Haku exemplifies this. Another topic addressed is the notion of greed. The spirit No-Face is corrupted by the materialistic drive of the bathhouse and consumes food and dispenses fake gold until it goes mad, gets sick, and vomits out everything 4

5 poisoning it. Chihiro s refusal of gold, since it isn t what she desires as her goal, is juxtaposed against Yubaba not realizing her own child has disappeared while she was counting her earnings. Miyazaki also comments on the disappearance of traditional Japanese social conventions. Chihiro succeeds due to her bravery, hard work, politeness, and her ability to master the rules of the world. Her innate sense of what is right allows her to stay human while her parents rudely consume the food made for the spirits. At the beginning of the movie she is a spoiled whining child and at the end she is a confident young woman. Miyazaki believes strongly that children are being robbed of their sense of wonder and imagination while their independence and developing maturity are being stifled. He is well known for his distaste of videogames and licensed commercial products. In fact he states that children should not watch his movies more than once every six months, in order that they not become desensitized to them. HISTORY AND CULTURE OF JAPAN Quick Facts: Capital: Tokyo Population: 127,000,000 (10 th in world) Main Islands: Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido, Shikoku Area: 377,835 Sq Km. Language: Japanese History People have been living in the Japanese archipelago for thousands of years, but recorded history does not start until the 8 th Century ACE. The first records of Japan are the Kojiki and the Nihongi. They detail the creation of the world and the descent of the imperial family from the deity Amaterasu. Japan s imperial line is the oldest continuing monarchy in the world, though throughout much of Japanese history, the political power has been in other hands such as military leaders like the Shogun or the current Japanese parliamentary system. From the 1600s to 1854 Japan almost completely shut itself off from the outside world due to fears of foreign influence. In 1854 Commodore Perry of the American Navy signed a treaty that reopened Japan to the rest of the world. The shock of reopening toppled the Tokugawa Shogunate and the power of the Emperor was restored in the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Japan then undertook a rapid course of industrialization and modernization. Part of this course was a strengthening of military power, and after wars with China and Russia and participation in World War One, Japan was a regional power with many territorial acquisitions. This led to an ultra-militaristic government and World War Two. After the disasters of the war, Japan rebuilt its infrastructure and economy with the help of the United States. Japan developed a reputation as a cutting edge industrial 5

6 and technological powerhouse that experienced rapid economic growth from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1990s Japan entered a long-term recession from which it is only now starting to get out of. Due to the small area of Japan, it is highly urbanized and densely populated, leading to much issues of balancing proper land management and preservation of resources with the need for economic growth. The history of Japan is reflected in all aspects of Spirited Away from the ancient roots of the spirits that visit the bathhouse, to the traditional design of the bathhouse layout itself. Chihiro s father also mentions a closed theme park during the economic decline of the 1990s as a possible explanation for the origins of the world of spirits. The issues raised by Miyazaki are ones that are currently being debated in Japan as well. In order to better understand the film, certain areas of Japanese culture should be discussed at length. Japanese Religion and Mythology The two traditional religions of Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. Traditional understanding of religion in Japanese culture is very different from Western understanding in that belief is something very flexible, where one can be both Buddhist or Shinto at different times. This has led to much blending in modern Japanese culture, so that in Japan holidays can include ones that are Shinto like New Year s, ones that are Buddhist like Obon and ones that are completely Western like Christmas and Halloween. Like Miyazaki s quote stated earlier, most people in modern Japan do not strongly believe in the supernatural, but the influence still remains in cultural behavior and in the mythology The main source behind the spirits in Spirited Away comes from the native Shinto tradition of Japan. The Shinto tradition is based on the reverence for the natural and that all things, from rivers to rocks to plants have an essential spirit behind them. These spirits can take on an anthropomorphic form and reflect the nature of the object they represent. The spirits are called kami and they are so numerous that traditionally it was said that there were eight million of them in all Japan, which stood as shorthand for an indefinite amount. The term kami can also be translated as god. Another source in the movie is derived from the folk traditions of Japanese Buddhism. The term Spirited Away in Japanese is kakushi. Tengu, which were a type of spirit originally from China, were known in Japan for taking people away to their realm and returning them to the real world with no memory of their journey. Missing children were often blamed on these creatures. Tengu were said to transform into crows and had large noses. Tengu were also known for being arrogant, but despite this, they punished humans who were vain, greedy, dishonest and disrespectful. Previewing Points of Note for this area are: See how much the students know about Japanese History. Observe if any students know about Japanese culture and mythology. 6

7 Students should be told to watch for the specific mentions of Japanese history, culture and mythology in the film. In Hawaii, due to the large population of Japanese-Americans and the influence of Japan on Hawaiian history, some students might be very aware of details that they have received from friends and relatives on the topics. If anyone has stories to tell dealing with spirits from the cultural context such as obake tales, or personal experiences with Japanese cultural practices they should be encouraged to share them. It should be emphasized repeatedly that the students watch to see how Miyazaki uses the theme of traditional spirits to address contemporary issues in Japan and the world today. OTHER CULTURAL NOTES Japanese Bathhouses Bathhouse in Modern Japan Bathhouse in Spirited Away In Japan there are two different types of public bathhouses: onsen, which are heated by natural springs and sento, which are heated by artificial means. Public baths are something completely unknown for the most part in our culture, but they have a long and detailed history in Japan. Until the last couple of decades, bathing in Japan was a communal activity, where individuals and families would pay to wash themselves and then soak in large tubs of hot water. Unlike in the West, tubs are only used after one has washed clean using a bucket and soap in another room. It is considered very rude to enter a tub either dirty or with soap still on the body. Public baths are divided by gender and provided places in which people could gather and socialize in relaxed settings where the boundaries of social class and status are lowered. In recent years the number of public bathhouses has declined in Japan due to the popularity of private tubs in the home and changing values in the younger generation. However, many Japanese hold fond memories of their experiences relaxing in the public bath. Japanese Etiquette and Language 7

8 Proper social behavior is very important in Japanese culture, with many behavioral and linguistic facets that have no parallel in American culture. One very noticeable thing is bowing. How one bows and to whom determines the meaning of the bow. For example, when two people are introduced in Japan, they bow quickly and slightly, with a conveyed meaning much like that of a handshake. However, if one is meeting someone of a higher social status than oneself, or of an older generation, the bow is deeper and longer, indicating respect for the other s age and/or social status. Another meaning a bow can convey is of gratitude. When someone does a favor for you, one bows deeply while thanking that person. If the favor done was onerous or done by someone of greater status or age than you, then one should display even more of a bow. In the movie, when Kamaji helps Chihiro get a job at the bathhouse, Chihiro does the most respectful and meaningful bow of thanks, which consists of kneeling on the floor and bowing till one s forehead touches the ground while saying thank you in the most humble way. This demonstrates her respect for the fact that Kamaji just did her a very big favor and that he is much older and senior to her. In all, Japanese culture places a heavy emphasis on one s age and social status in determining how one should act. Very young people are expected to learn to respect elders and superiors, and often bowing is learned before one can even read the most basic Japanese. The way Japanese language operates is also reflective of Japanese culture as a whole. In Japanese there are in general three different ways of speaking: informal language, polite language, and honorific language. Informal language is what one would use speaking with people who you are acquainted with and have equal social status to, family members, or someone of lower social status than yourself. Polite language is used with strangers, people you are unacquainted with, or people directly above you, such as work supervisors or upperclassmen. Honorific language is used with people you are serving, such as customers and clientele or people of much higher status than you, like politicians or corporate heads. In general one can tell which form one is using without knowing much Japanese. Most characters in Spirited Away talk to Chihiro in very informal language reflecting her young age and low status. Chihiro in return usually talks in polite language due to most people being older and of higher position than her. The employees of the bathhouse talk to the customers in honorific language. Listening closely can help distinguish the different types of language. Previewing Points of Note for this area are: Provide an explanation of the Japanese customs of bowing and of formal language. The discussion for classes not dealing with Japanese language or social culture should be geared more towards the differences in social behavior. Ask students if in their own personal life they alter the way they talk and behave around people of higher status or of greater age than them. 8

9 FROM THIS POINT ON THE LESSON PLAN CONTAINS FILM SPOILERS. VIEWING NOTES CHARACTER LIST WITH ANALYSIS Chihiro Ogino: The heroine of the movie, Chihiro Ogino is an archetypical Japanese ten-year-old girl. At the beginning of the movie she is sullen and whiny, but shows signs of containing an innate sense of right and wrong by refusing to eat the food made for the spirits. When her parents are transformed, she panics, but is found and comforted by Haku. When she is told of what she needs to do in order to save her parents and escape the spirit world, she puts aside her fears and insecurities and bravely faces the challenges in front of her without protest. Despite being an awkward interloper in the world, her spirit, respectfulness, ingenuity and drive win over those that she meets. In the end, the challenges that she faces make her a much more confident and mature individual. Chihiro s Parents: Though they appear only at the beginning and end of the movie, one gets a strong sense of Chihiro s parents. Her father is a manly person who often does things without thinking them through, and while her mother can be critical of what Chihiro s father does, in the end she takes his lead in things. Despite this, it is very clear that they love their daughter and want her to be happy. Haku: The mysterious boy is the first person Chihiro meets in the movie. On meeting her, he seems to recognize her and tells her she must leave immediately. When it is too late and Chihiro is trapped in the world, Haku again appears and saves her, telling her what she must do in order to save her parents and escape. When he is alone with Chihiro he is very caring and sensitive, yet in public he presents a very stern and strict façade. The employees of the bathhouse say that he is Yubaba s personal servant and gets sent out to do all sorts of dubious deeds. Over time it is revealed that he originally came to Yubaba in order to learn her magic, and that he gave up his name and memory of himself to become her apprentice. He does his missions in the form of a flying dragon, and when he returns gravely wounded by Zeniba s paper birds; Yubaba tries to have him disposed of. He is rescued by Chihiro who feeds him the purifying herb and then goes to visit Zeniba in order to apologize for him and return what Yubaba ordered him to steal. When he discovers what she did for him, he goes to Yubaba and makes a deal to help free her and her 9

10 parents. He then follows her to Zeniba s, and on the return to the bathhouse Chihiro recalls how they first met. It turns out that he is the spirit of a river that Chihiro nearly drowned in when she was three. He saved Chihiro and remembers her despite his memory being taken away. The river was later drained for housing development and he found his way to the spirit world. When Chihiro tells him that his name was the river Kohaku, he remembers who he is and is freed from Yubaba s spell. At the end of the movie, he and Chihiro part ways, saying that they will meet again sometime in the future. No-Face (Kaonashi): No-Face is a strange mute spirit that first appears when Chihiro enters the bathhouse. He seems to have no place of his own and isn t allowed inside the bathhouse. When Chihiro later sees him outside in the rain, she opens a door for him to come in. He tries to show his gratitude to her, but doesn t know how to express it other than by giving her material things. The other employees seem quite happy to take gold so he produces fake gold by the handful to give out. He is corrupted by the presence of rampant greed and begins to endlessly consume food and later employees. When Chihiro again refuses his offer of gold and feeds him the purifying herb, he goes on a rampage, destroying things and vomiting out all that he ate. When he exits the bathhouse, he is purged of all the corrupting things and returns to his gentle and mild self. He then accompanies Chihiro on the way to Zeniba s house and is offered to live with the old woman as a helper. Kamaji: The operator of the bathhouse boiler, Kamaji is the being that Haku sends Chihiro to seek help from. Despite his fearsome appearance as a mixture of man and spider, and his gruff manner, he is very kind and helpful to Chihiro during her time at the bathhouse. He appears to have a strong love of both tea and sake. Lin: Lin is the teenaged girl that Chihiro gets assigned to as her junior partner. She initially is not happy to be paired with a human, especially one as awkward as Chihiro, but in the end comes to admire and respect her diligence and hard work. She harbors dreams of someday being able to leave the bathhouse herself and go to the city on the far horizon. Yubaba: The operator of the bathhouse and a powerful sorceress, Yubaba is ruler of this particular part of the land of spirits. She is very ugly, but lives in beautiful and opulent surroundings. She is quite greedy and conniving, but is scrupulously honest in keeping her word. Despite seeming devoid of positive qualities, she is devoted to her child Boh and will do anything to please him and keep him safe, even putting aside her desire for money. Boh: A gigantic baby, Boh is Yubaba s child. He is spoiled rotten and very sheltered, afraid to leave his nursery. He seems very lonely and attempts to blackmail Chihiro into playing with him. When Zeniba turns him into a fat mouse, he accompanies Chihiro to Zeniba s house. Along the way he 10

11 learns the beauty of the world outside and how to live for himself. When Zeniba says that he can turn back into his original form anytime he likes, he refuses to do so until he returns to his mother. He has a newfound independence from his experiences with Chihiro. The Polluted River Spirit: Chihiro s first big challenge at the bathhouse, the River Spirit is at first mistaken for a stink spirit, so noxious that everyone refuses to serve him until Lin and Chihiro are assigned to him. Chihiro bravely goes forth with bathing him in an herbal bath, finding the source of his pollution and with the help of everyone else, ridding him of what befouls him. The grateful spirit then gives Chihiro a ball of purifying herbs, which she intended to use to save her parents, but sacrifices in order to save No- Face and Haku. Zeniba: Yubaba s twin sister, Zeniba is as generous, humble and nice as Yubaba is greedy, ostentatious and mean. She and Yubaba have a long running feud, and when Haku steals her personal seal, she sends her paper birds to attack him. When Chihiro visits her to give her back her seal and seek assistance, she comforts Chihiro and tells her she must ultimately make her own way in the world. This inspires Chihiro, who then resolutely identifies herself, and sets forth to complete her mission. PLOT THEMES In general, Miyazaki wishes to address three interrelated topics of concern in Spirited Away. All of them in some way relate to his concern with the past versus the present, and with the potent metaphor of traditional spirits he wishes to juxtapose the two positions against each other. This part of the lesson plan will attempt to highlight some of the key ones for use in instruction and assessment. Being that Miyazaki attempts to instill deep meaning in his movies and uses various levels of subtlety, it should not be assumed that this is an exhaustive exploration. Miyazaki takes great care to insert things more easily noticed and seen by children and young adults than adults, and any viable idea that is brought up by a student should be entertained. The most noticeable theme is that of the environment. Japan s traditional belief in the spirit behind all natural objects is in direct tension to the needs of an industrial and modern society. As recent history shows, however, when humans alter their natural environment too much, bad things may happen that were not foreseen. Miyazaki attempts to remind us that the human world and the natural world are irrevocably linked, via the intermediary of anthropomorphized spirits. The polluted river spirit is one character demonstrating what carelessness can do to the world around us, as piles of garbage are extracted from the body of the spirit. Everyone is disgusted by the spirit, but in the end it is seen that human action and not it s own nature that made it noxious to the point of sickness. The character of Haku is much more tragic. The river that he was the spirit of was drained in order to make room for development. He lost his memory and identity and is subjugated by the greedy Yubaba. However, when Chihiro 11

12 helps him remember who he is, he is joyously set free, to a somewhat uncertain future. Miyazaki believes that even if there isn t an actual spirit behind the natural, that the reverence that was held for it served a purpose and was beautiful in it s own way, and that we in the modern world must revere the natural in our own way Another theme is that of social values. Part of the mythology behind the tengu from which the idea of being taken away to the spirit world addresses is that of what should be valued. The tengu were not fond of people who had negative social traits such as disrespect and greed. In the movie, Miyazaki comments several times about what greed can reap. In the beginning Chihiro s father mentions the fact that he believes the spirit world was a closed theme park built during better economic times. This reflects the fact that land was wasted to build fake worlds of commercialism that are now just rotting edifices. The character of No-Face is a demonstration of what happens when society praises money above all else. No-Face is empty and lost until he receives kindness from Chihiro and entrance into the bathhouse. There he attempts to repay the kindness in the manner valued in the bathhouse, with money and material goods. Chihiro refuses, but everyone else accepts his money and serves him hand and foot, feeding him and bathing him even after he eats a couple of the employees. Despite all this, No-Face cannot find fulfillment, which is something that cannot be bought or sold. He loses his mind and has to be saved by Chihiro, who takes him to Zeniba s house, were he finds just what he needs, a place for himself in the world. The pointless greed and self-serving nature of the bathhouse is juxtaposed against the purity of intent and purpose in Chihiro. A final aspect addressed is of personal growth and values. The movie overall represents Chihiro s growing up from a self-centered child to a well-rounded young adult. Along the way she learns the traditional values of respect for elders, following the rules, personal sacrifice, and perseverance. One of Miyazaki s great concerns is what is happening to children and childhood. He believes that as society gets more modern, children are being exposed to more and more depersonalizing isolating media such as television and video games which lead to an early destruction of such positive traits such as imagination, perseverance, and respect for others and the world around you while extending poor ones, such as irresponsibility, immaturity and materialism. One must not rush headlong into the future, nor should one live entirely in the past, but one must judiciously take the best of both worlds in his own opinion. Chihiro was designed to be an archetypical girl because the example she sets should be one that would be understandable and attainable. While the cultural values she displays and masters may be recognizably Japanese, such deferential respect towards elders and strict following of the rules are found to be valued universally. 12

13 ACTIVITIES AND ASSESMENT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What was the theme or themes of this film? How did the director use the element of spirits to tell us a message? What were the messages? Was he successful in doing so? 2. This movie was made using Japanese storytelling techniques and art design. Was the movie something that could be understood and appreciated without knowing much about Japan? Why? 3. Did the main characters learn anything or change over the course of movie? Describe how. 4. How was Spirited Away different from animation that you watched when you were ten? Does it make a big difference? 5. Do you think there were clear portrayals of good and evil in this movie? Why? 6. How does the conception of spirits portrayed in this movie differ from our own cultural conception of spirits? 7. (For classes on Japanese Language and Culture) What scenes portrayed usage of Japanese language and social customs such as bowing and honorific language? Why were they used in that occasion? ACTIVITES 13

14 1. Write a film review. Did you like the movie? Why or why not? Use specific examples from the movie to prove your argument. See information on the student film review contest. 2. Write a letter to Hayao Miyazaki. Respond to the messages he makes in the movie. Do you agree with what he is saying in the movie? Why or why not? 3. Pretend you have a pen pal in Japan and you are writing to them. Describe what cultural differences you have seen in the movie and compare them to your own. Use examples. ASSESMENT The material received from the written activities above should be graded on how closely they watched the film for details from the plot of movie, their understanding of the characters, their discernment of Japanese cultural details of the movie and their grasp of the filmmaker s message. An A grade would display understanding of the synthesis between the explicit movie details and the inferred message and/or an ability to pinpoint the exact differences between their own cultural context and values and that displayed in the movie. Ideally, some form of critical thinking about the thematic message and distancing from one s own cultural values in order to better evaluate another culture s should be the most valuable learning tool in achieving that goal. RESOURCES Books McCarthy, Helen. Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Berkeley CA: Stone Bridge Press, A good source of information on the animator. Levi, Antonia. Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation. Chicago: Open Court, An in-depth analysis of the aesthetics and cultural background of anime. Gives anime a historical context within the social and art history of Japan. Mason, R.H.P and J.G. Caiger. A History of Japan: Revised Edition. Rutland VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, A short primer of Japanese history, including economics, politics and the arts. 14

15 Kasulis, Thomas P. Shinto: The Way Home. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, A short readable book about the tradition that informed the design and themes of the movie. MacKenzie, Donald Alexander, Myths of China and Japan. New York: Gramercy Books, reprint A classic of East Asian mythology. Websites -- This site contains free source information provided by the public at large. The articles on Japanese baths, bowing, Japanese mythology, Japanese etiquette, Tengu and the Japanese language are good. It s the only easy place to find detailed information on Japanese baths. 15