| 1. | (8 posts) | Ghost Train |
| 2. | (19 posts) | "Spirited Away" Distribution Strategy |
| 3. | (2 posts) | Water, Water, Everywhere |
We looked at 65 posts by 147 different contributors.
Read, think, repeat.
Sheila Hamanaka started her message with a Zen poem then continued, "The scene on the train really blew me away. You will never see anything this profound, or hauntingly beautiful, in an American animation. . . The figures are ghosts: the dead. Her ease in their presence reflects her unselfconscious naturalness, in the sense that life and death are natural and one does not exist without the other. . . I don't think there are any right answers to these deeper questions of his meaning. It's the beauty of his work. It's not dogmatic. There is no "Way". To me, the "shadow girl" is the spirit of a dead child, Chihiro herself."
Clifton Hestla replied, "My take on the trainride was that the train exists in, and services, both the real world and the spirit world. The shadow figures on the train and at the stations were "real" people who were riding to "real" locations along the train route. I think the little girl saw them because small children see what is really there instead of what they believe they should see.
Maybe if anyone from the bath house ever had the courage to leave (Kamaji had his ticket for 40 years and Lin dreamed of leaving) the real people would see them as shadows too.
Michael Kerpan asked, "Was the shadow girl actually looking at Chihiro -- or was she just waiting for someone who didn't arrive?" Atsushi Fukumoto replied, "Perhaps the scene is a re-telling of the bus-stop sequence of Totoro."
Warren Savage put forth, "Just before the train arrives at the station (Numa Hara, I believe,) one of the passengers grabs a bag off the overhead storage rack. Before he grabs it, the bag is solid and real. The moment he touches it, though, it begins to transform into a dark grey, transparent 'spirit' bag. . . Also, the passengers pass through the exit gate and descend a covered staircase, suggesting that the platform is elevated or on a ridge or viaduct above the station entrance. The staircase structure goes down below the surface of the water. Are these passengers aware of the water? Or is it non-existent to them?
By the way, it's water that traps Chihiro in the spirit world. The water level rises until she takes the train ride, and then it recedes when/while she's at Zeniba's house, kind of paralleling the dramatic arc of the film.
Robin Casady wrote, "It occurs to me that these might be people who entered this world and didn't eat anything. Or, they might be the dead traveling on their destination to their place in the afterlife. It looks very much like an homage to Night on the Galactic Railroad."
Marc Hairston added, "in the Roman Album for Spirited Away they list "Night on the Galactic Railroad" (the book) as one of the books Miyazaki said he drew on for inspiration for SA. Whether he meant them to be the dead (as in "Night") or just liked the imagery is still an open question, but I personally like that interpretation. Remember Kamaji told her that "the train used to go both ways, but now it just goes one way. You have to find your own way back now." You can go further and suggest that, since the bathhouse is supposed to represent modern Japanese society, Miyazaki is saying that the older Japan used to be more in touch with the past, with the dead, (respect for ancestors, etc.) but modern Japan is cut off from that. It's all one way now: you're dead, you're gone, you're forgotten. I'll leave it to the better literary critics on the list to make the points about Chihiro's whole voyage being one to the underworld of the dead and then back to the world of the living."
As "Spirited Away" chugged along in select theaters, the theories about its distribution began to air. Richard Eii wrote, "A friend of mine who works in Los Angeles for the Hollywood reporter let me in on a bit of the insider rumor-mill for the approach that Disney is taking in their development and distribution deal with the Ghibli films. Since this is all second hand and a recounting of people's view-points, you can take it or leave it, but I'll throw it in here since I've been privy to hearing some of the voices of those who whisper through the cracks in the walls. . .
My friend and ex-colleague has told me that on two occasions, two different people (one in the studio and another at L.A.'s Nickelodeon) have confirmed the suspicion that there is a rather lackluster effort being made on the side of the business development and marketing of any and all Ghibli movies since the Tokuma/Disney deal was struck. This does not involve the DVD and video teams which have done a very good job getting the product noticed and onto shelves. . .
Disney could control who, where, and how many people got to see it. This strategy of keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer is
hard to argue: Disney is treating Spirited Away not as a mainstream feature, for all ages and audiences (which was the whole point of the high-quality dub) - but as a foreign film, destined for only boutique theatres and art houses. In the Vancouver, B.C. area which I live, Spirited Away is currently only playing in one theatre. This city has a large population, a huge fan-base not only for animation; but for pretty much anything mainstream. The argument for a test case of a couple of theatres at a time is a red herring, because the less theatres it's playing in, the less people will see it. Why it has been relegated to the backwater of a single 150 seat theatre in the city's art-house cinema in it's first week of release stands as evidence of this unwillingness on the part of the studio's strategists to throw the full weight of the Mouse behind the endeavour. To add to this, to date, I have yet to see a single print ad (with the exception of a tiny poster in the theatres section) radio spot or television commercial for the film. Everyone that myself or my reporter-in-arms friend have talked to don't even know the film exists. . .
In closing, the Totoro video will also be another telling example of Disney's inability to show any real commitment. 20th Century Fox will loose it's rights to distribute the video come 2004, when the copyright will default to Disney according to the partnership arrangement. 20th Century Fox has made a good effort to get Totoro into Blockbuster's and video stores as well as retail chains that carry videos. Disney will most likely change this by conforming it to their current VHS strategy. As of this writing, it is hard to find a copy of any Ghibli films in local Vancouver video and music stores. Instead of using the brand power of the Disney label, and including the video as part of the Disney stable of animated products. At the local Virgin mega-store, I found Mononoke relegated to only the "anime" section of the local Virgin megastore.
Deborah Goldsmith replied, "I have to admit I don't understand what Disney is up to. On the one hand, it can only offer the film to theaters, which decide themselves whether to take it or leave it. Maybe the theaters here and in some other locations are more willing to go for the film. On the other hand, Disney has a lot of influence, and I find it hard to believe the extremely slow roll-out strategy is due simply to theaters being reluctant to take "Spirited Away." The film has gotten amazing reviews and seems to be doing very well in markets where it has gone wide.
I definitely believe that Disney is not putting its full weight behind the film, but I don't know if that's caution (advertising is expensive) or half-heartedness or something worse. From a business perspective, it seems stupid. Why view Miyazaki's films as a threat if there is only one every two or three years? The conspiracy theory doesn't make a lot of sense to me, either. Being a huge Miyazaki fan didn't stop me from wanting to see, and enjoying, "Lilo and Stitch."
Nogami Saeko added, "I think that part of the problem with the Disney distribution of Ghibli movies (specifically Sen and Mononoke), is that Disney really just doesn't know how to handle these films because of the Asian content in them, not to mention the intelligence of the films.
Let's face it, pablum sells - a no-brain "good guys vs bad guys", cut and dry, white and black video is something Disney is comfortable with. It's formula, and the suits know it'll sell based on past efforts. Let's face it, they are in it to make money by separating viewers from their $$$ as quickly as possible - and if that requires formula, then formula they will make. . .
Mononoke was violent enough that it wasn't appropriate for small children to see it. Sen wasn't violent, but the imagery was probably a little too complex for younger viewers to comprehend. Remember, both of these were originally targeted at the teen/adult viewers in Japan - a market virtually non-existent to animation marketers in North America. . . So what would be an easy sell? Of course, Laputa springs to mind - it's probably the best crowd pleaser and doesn't have the heavier Asian influence of the more recent Ghibli movies. . . Totoro will hopefully also be given a wide release - it's another guaranteed success if Disney doesn't under-market and under-release it.
Marc Hairston added, "There is a lot of NIH ("not invented here") attitude from what I can tell. The folks in the marketing half see this as something from the outside the Disney corporation. Not that they see it as "evil" or "alien", but rather it's not something they have a vested interest in seeing it succeed the way they would with a Disney product. . .
Pixar *did* license their characters for Disney to merchandize and both Disney and Pixar have done well from that. Ghibli didn't grant any merchandizing licenses for their characters, so once Disney gets the box office revenues, plus the ones from the CDs and the ultimate DVD sales, that's pretty much it.
Bottom line, there just simply isn't as much motivation for the Disney marketing people to push "Spirited Away" as there is for them to push
their own products. That's why we have to "pull" by getting as many of our friends and family members to see it while it's in the theater.
More analysis of "Spirited Away", this time Andy Garland, "Two comments made lately on the list, one sarcastically
anticipating a Jungian interpretation of "Spirited Away," and the new discussion of water imagery throughout the film particularly struck me. Honestly, and I know some list members might cringe at this statement, when I watched Spirited Away, I understood it through its use of
"Jungian" archetypal images, and especially through Miyazaki's use of water imagery.
I felt (and have only seen the film twice, so could very well be wrong) that the central episode of the film was Sen's confrontation with the River God. Several things most influenced my perception of this episode as central. First, it seemed to me that "Spirited Away" was organized in a very Shakespearean manner (and I think I started to draw this conclusion from many reviews which have been floating around the internet), with the climax in the center of the film, and then a long, smooth resolution. In this sense, the story arc is very much a triangle, with the River God episode at the peak of the triangle. . .
I also think that Miyazaki makes this happen with two important elements: water imagery, and an interchange of symbolism with his previous films. Water imagery is probably one of the most common forms of symbolism in all of cinema. . . Chihiro grows the moment the River God envelopes her, she has went in to herself, and come out a stronger person. She has, as they say, gone in to the depths in order to reach the heights. This motif is not uncommon for Miyazaki. Ashitaka is always near water when he encounters the Shishi-gami. Indeed, he is submersed in water the one time they touch. I would say this is a turning point in Mononoke Hime as well, but that's another story altogether. . .
some other symbols shared with Mononoke Hime: The River God as Stink God's resemblance to the cursed boar, the River God's sloughing off of his "ooze" resemblance to the Night Crawler after he lost his head. The prevalence of rain after the protagonist has acquired a "mission." The resemblance of No-Face to the angered Night crawler looking for his head.
Zurui Chibi replied, "let's not forget that the only thing that can calm the Tatari embedded in Ashitaka's arm is water (first time he sees the Deer-God, Wittig knows why Tatari begins to wiggle wildly in his arm, so he plunges his arm in water, and that seems to work). Moreover, water also dissolves the muck created by Tatari-gami (I'm still trying to figure out how come a living organic structure does not stand
water, but...)
The little worm (Yubaba's spell) evoked (to me) furiously the Tatari-gami (yeah, I know, it's an obsession), and couldn't help but chuckle : while, in Mononoke, the "worms" were so scary that no one would come close too them (except for San, but I maintain that her perception of hazard needs a complete overhaul...) and, there in SA, the thing is running from terror, and Chihiro (as terrorized as the little worm) unwittingly stamps it.
RIP. Seesh, and we were afraid of that ? things change. and for the Stink God/Tatari-gami, I'm pleased that now kami go to hospital first instead of going into rampage spree when they got a foreign body in them.
Wei-Hwa Huang points out some puns in "Spirited Away", if you understand Japanese. Marc Hairston notes a mention of "Spirited Away" on Studio 360. Chris Collette spots Daniel Neman's review of "Spirited Away". Mary Neno links to a DVD Journal review of "Grave of the Fireflies"; Nathan Layman types out a review from "Entertainment Weekly". Reports from the "Spirited Away" trenches by Michael Rieper (Boston), Steve (Dallas), Michael Howe (Chicago), sherlgirl (Atlanta), Chris Miller (Sacramento), and Sharon Westfall (Hawaii)
Site hasn't been evicted yet, but I'll try and beat the clock and avoid breaking the four or five links to these pages.