[14] Like Alice in Wonderland who
falls through a rabbit hole into a strange realm, or Dorothy in the Wizard of
Oz who follows the yellow brick road, Chihiro together with her parents walks
through a tunnel-like passage,9 across a dry river bed, into
a realm characterized by disorientation, ambiguity and a sense of
otherness. For an engaged audience, the film itself, through its own
artistry, can effect a sense of disorientation and liminal space.
The first quote that I am looking at
is the quote above that explains the “hallucinations” that Chihiro faced during
her time when she walked through the tunnel with her family and that was when
it started to happen. Just like it mentioned in the quote above about other
characters like Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from Wizard of Oz they too
experienced not the same as Chihiro but similar in the way that all three of
them didn’t know what was happening and how they got there and what they needed
to do to get out. They all experienced a different world that wasn’t seen as
normal because there were strange things going on. What I did enjoy about all
these is that they were all interesting in different ways and the
disorientation of them all gave a different aspect and look on things. They
also all had double or more meanings that we don’t know about until we watch it
again for a second or third time.
[2] Spirited Away is the story
of a young Japanese girl named Chihiro, who, with her parents, is moving to a
new city to live. The first scene shows Chihiro sulking in the back seat
of the car when her father takes the wrong road as they approach their new
house.
This next quote I liked because watching the movie I felt
Chihiro’s “pain” or like upset because we have all experienced a time in a car
ride and when one of our parents take the wrong turn its like we get so mad
because now its going to take longer to get home. But watching this scene they
ended up at a dead end and found a tunnel that they could only go through by
walking and not driving. Chihiro was scared to go through the tunnel because
she didn’t know what was on the other side and that reminds me of like when we
have taken a wrong turn and its really dark out and me and my sisters are all
always so scared making up scary stories to tell each other.
[10] The reason for this is that
although we are grounded in this pervasive vital process, we are too often
unable to connect with it. Like a mirror covered with dust, the
disposition of our personality, i.e., our kokoro, becomes clouded and
opaque. Just as aspects of nature can become polluted -- a river can become
dirty and foul-smelling -- so also the interior conditions of the human heart
and mind can lack a sense of freshness and vitality. When so
polluted, we do things poorly and sloppily; our kokoro hardens and
we turn in on ourselves -- the way children do when they sulk and refuse to
openly and politely relate to others.
I agree with this quote completely because everything
that it is saying is true in a way. I like the part where it says a human heart
and mind can lack a sense of freshness and vitality. And when we do things
incorrect or badly we are like hurting or polluting ourselves as it says in the
quote. An example of this is like when we are in a bad mood about something and
we are around our friends or other people and we just get mad at them too even
though they didn’t do anything. We just let it carry over to others and we aren’t
nice to them at the time.
