Spirited Away
SPIRITED AWAY- ANIME FEATURE
Spirited Away is the story of a young girl who is fearful of the modern world. Along with her parents, Chihiro stumbles upon an abandoned theme park. Unbeknownst to them, it is a realm of spirits and gods. After her parents exhibit gluttonous behavior, they are turned into pigs and Chihiro finds herself separated from them and trapped in the spirit world. She must then work in a bathhouse that caters to customers of this world until she can find a way home. She must grow and overcome her fears so she can set everything right with the spirits to be able to reunite with her father and mother. In Spirited Away, the fear and anxiety of a young child is due to other human beings in a modern world, and it isn’t until that child enters the spirit world that she discovers her own bravery and ability to create change.
The most fantastic and exciting aspect of this film is the “world” itself. Hiyao Mizayaki uses sound and music to create this environment as well as to distinguish between the modern world and the ancient one. This film is an exceptional example of soundscape because the rendered sound of the Foley effects are equally as important as the musical score, and the ambient sound with moments of silence and stillness provide a reprieve from tension, offering the viewer a slower pace and a time for reflection.
Music:
The instrumental music in Spirited Away is composed by Joe Hasaichi. Hisaichi is the composer for every Miyazaki film since 1984 . His orchestral scores deliver memorable leitmotifs, subtle ambience and deeply emotional songs that guide us through the narrative. His work can be quiet and subtle at times or loud and vibrant. Hisaichi’s music does not overwhelm or invade every aspect of the scene and it doesn't cover up the subtle sounds that Mizayaki uses to build his world. Within the score, there are both eastern and western sounds shepherding the viewer through both the traditional and spirit world that Chihiro inhabits. The music strengthens the narrative perspective and helps the viewer make connections. His music does not accompany the animated sequences closely enough to be referred to as “micky-mousing”; however, it is often coincides with emotional climactic moments.
Hasaichi has also created different leitmotifs for some of his main characters. The tempo, volume and instrumentals of these change depending on what is happening. One of these compositions is One Summer’s Day. It is the leitmotif for Chihiro, the protagonist of the film. We first hear this at the start of the film when Chihiro is sitting in the backseat of the car as her parents drive to their new home. The melody is light and non-threatening. “At the beginning of the film, the song is played on a solo piano to express the loneliness of Chihiro” (Coyle, 68). Hisaichi orchestrates her innocence and her loneliness and underscores her feelings of moving to a new home. Listen Below to four of the versions:
When her parents get lost, the music changes, the tempo increases. Chihiro sees a small shrine on the side of the road and traditional Japanese musical chords are introduced.
It is heard several times throughout the film. In the scene after she witnesses her parents indulge in gluttonous behavior, Chihiro steps out on her own. This is a big step for a girl who had been so tentative at the start of the film. Now the leitmotif is more orchestral, richer. As she sees the bathhouse up ahead the instruments gets louder as it pans up from the bottom to top of the bathhouse. It’s almost like Chihiro has a sense of destiny in this foreshadowing moment. The music stops. Mizayaki allows subtle sounds of Chihiro’s new world take over.
Finally at the end of the film, when she has reunited with her parents, One Summer’s Day becomes wistful and bittersweet. Not only does this score help one feel with Chihiro, but it also helps to understand Chihiro. According to sound and music theoristMichel Chion, film music is a “spatiotemporal apparatus because it allows the film to link to different places and times, to the future and the past. (Music 205). Chihiro’s leitmotif is an example of this because it helps us understand her growth from the first shaky piano key notes at the start of her journey, to her self assured and bittersweet reunion with her family at the end".
No Face is a silent character in Spirited Away. He is from the spirit world. His leitmotif is accompanied by clinking sounds of bells over a drum beat that don’t play a proper melody. Each time he is in the frame, his leitmotif is present. When the song plays there is a silence that depicts the silent nature of No Face. There is a mystery to him that is uncertain which can be felt by this song. Like Chihiro, No Face’s leitmotif changes tempo and speed throughout the film. When he eats the frog and shows gluttonous behavior, “The music immediately changes and the tempo speeds up as an ominous melody starts playing with his original bells and drums still being active in the background,” according to authors Persson and Johannsson (27). When he gets angry, his leitmotif blasts loudly with wind instruments. We learn how he feels based on the change of music. Music is used to divide the real world and the spirit world. The real world has western music, and the spirit world has an asian influence. Instrumentation helps create the foreign world that Chihiro enters, as No Face is accompanied by Japanese bells, indicating he is part of the spirit world. According to Rebecca Coyle, “In the soundtrack of Spirited away, an okinawan-styled melody is used in “Procession of the spirits” to effectively draw a line between Chihiro’s life in japan and the mysterious magic kingdom, a world from “somewhere else” from everyday space” (Coyle, Koizumi, 69).
Yubaba is the villain in the story. Her leitmotif is first heard as piano keys clinking slowly. The notes feel out of place. The feeling one gets, is that Yubaba isn’t trustworthy. The melody sounds like danger. When Yubabab becomes angry, the orchestration intensifies, giving off increased energy. According to Persson and Johansson, when Chihirio first meets Yubaba, the “piano clinking is an atonal device in which the isolated notes feel out of place in both silenced the times it is used with music. It creates an unsettling feeling around Yubaba and that she is not someone to be trusted” (30). The music has a cognitive function and warns us that she is a villain.
Empathetic Music
In the most perfunctory analysis, film music is generally credited with the role of emotional reinforcement. But music acts in a more complex way than usually thought -an idea that lead me to coin the terms “empathetic and an empathetic”music.~ Michel Chion 244
Chion goes on to explain that empathetic music is that which reinforces the feeling generated by the sound.He explains that this music-image-story connection is often referred to as “redundant”. Often Hisaichi’s orchestrations underscore the feeling and the moment of the scene. That is what makes his work so emotional and why viewers are so connected with this story. An example of this is one of the final scenes. Music occurs at Chihiro’s happiest moment in the film evoking a new freedom in her. As she says goodbye to Zeniba the notes of the score get higher and create a happy melody that allows the viewer to comprehend Chihiro’s sense of relief at being reunited with her family. Chihiro takes off as the wind heightens the energetic moment until an orchestra of trumpets is played. Chihiro and Haku fly away as the music builds up to a loud bang of noise prompting more excitement. It then gets more silent and the music more ominous and Chihiro hears and remembers the sound of water. This sound she remembers is what ultimately frees Haku. In this scene, “the music has a cognitive and emotive function to it in order to create the ultimate atmosphere. The melody sounds almost reassuring as Chihiro sees Haku, allowing the viewer to get a better understanding of her feelings for him and the worry that she felt when he was hurt” (Persson and Johannsson, 25). According to Persson and Johanson in, Spirits, BathHouses, and Music, Hisaichi’s music has a “cognitive and emotive function to it in order to create the ultimate atmosphere “(25).
In contrast to empathetic music, anempatheric music is “ when the music we hear flaunts its supreme indifference by continuing to play as if nothing were amiss” (Chion, Music, 245). There are great examples of this concept of “anempathetic music” in the next media selection,Waltz with Bashir.
Sound Effects:
While the music in Spirited Away is non-diegetic, the sound effects are diegetic. The most incredible aspect of the movie is the world itself. The spirit world is unearthly and it is not simply the visuals that have built this world but also the foley sounds. From the moment that Chihiro and her parents enter through the portal to the spirit world, each sound has purpose. Each sound defines a space and gives it texture. There is a lot of atmospheric foley work and Miyazaki is very careful not to let it get obscured by the incredible musical score. Each has its own space. One does not invade the other. An example of Mizakaki’s world building through sound is when Chihiro draws near to Yubaba’s bathhouse. There is silence except for a few distinct sounds: A smoke stack making sputtering noise with billowing smoke, rattling windows, and a gushing waterfall. According to Kristian Williams known at Kaptain Kristian on youtube, each of those sounds foreshadows the three major locations that Chihiro will find herself part of: The fire in the boiler room, the winds of the bathhouse balconies and the water of the baths. Miyazaki has given these elemental forces a voice as much as any other character. (KaptianKristian/ Kristian Williams/Youtube link). The combination of renedered sound and ambient sound helps the viewer to understand the bathhouse she has just approached. The diegetic sounds add depth to this two-dimensional world. This is a stellar example of how Miyazaki builds his world and how it helps the viewers comprehend what is ahead.
Silence:
Silence is also frequently used by Miyazaki to build the world of his movies. It gives a texture and ambience that Mizayaki refers to as “ma.”There is a two minute scene with no dialog that defines Miyazaki’s concept of “ma”. Chihiro and No Face must get on board a spirit train. The characters here take a pause to contemplate, and so does the viewer. There is little character movement. The only thing one notices is the landscape passing by and the horizon shifting. The silence builds an atmosphere and lets us concentrate on the subtle sounds of the water and train. The ambient sounds are all that is heard. The lack of dialogue lets the music stand out. It allows the viewer to breathe and become aware of Chihiro’s bravery and transformation; This silent train journey conveys how far Chihiro has come. The viewers are given this opportunity, through silence, to feel what she is feeling. This train ride is a metaphor for setting out on your own, and the silence of this scene underscores that.
In an 2002 interview with film critic Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times, filmmaker Hiyao Miyazaki explains this concept and elaborates on why it is important for him:
“We have a word for that in Japanese. It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally. [claps his hands] The time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just business, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb….The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over…They're worried that the audience will get bored. They might go up and get some popcorn. But just because it's 80 percent intense all the time doesn't mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions--that you never let go of those.” (https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayao-miyazaki-interview)
Silence and Foley Sounds Together
When Chihiro enters the boiler room for the first time, we have examples of Miyazaki’s indelible foley work, as well as an excellent example of his concept of ma. Michel Chion’s concept of ambient sound can be well-understood in this scene. Here, when Chihiro first enters the boiler room, the sound of the pervasive steam builds atmosphere. It is overpowering so that we barely hear her footsteps and become aware of how small she is in this spirit bathhouse. The viewer can empathize with feeling small and lost in the haze. We are introduced to Kamaji, a spirit with multiple arms who is grinding something and the soot-like spirits who make a series of small noises as they toil away throwing charcoal into the furnace. The foley sounds introduce us to this underground spirit world. There is some dramatic music which enhances her initial fear. The music then takes a light tone as if to convey Chihiro's sense of exploration. This is only the beginning of her journey and the music illustrates and accompanies this.
The soundscape of Spirited Away is extremely rich, not only with orchestral music but also rendered sound and ambient sound. There are numerous examples of rendered sounds from the various footsteps, the sound effects of the spirits of the bathhouse and the the robust sound effects that accompany Chihiro’s foray into the boiler room. In Spirited Away, ambient sounds play a crucial role in creating the immersive atmosphere of the spirit world. For example, the sounds of nature, such as wind, water, and steam can be heard in many scenes, contributing to the overall ambiance and enhancing the viewer's sense of being in a mystical and otherworldly setting. The reduced sound during some of the quieter moments of the film help the viewer focus on Chihiro’s internal emotions. Michel’s Chion’s explanation of empathetic music as something that matches the emotion of the scene is part of the audio-visual contract in this film.