“Spirited away”, which is the masterpiece of Hayao Miyazaki, was called “eastern Alice Wonderland.” In the film, the main character Chihiro moves to a new house with her parents. On their way, they accidently go into a mystery world as a result of a wrong turn. Chihiro’s parents are attracted by the delicious food’s smell and eat without permission, which turns them into pigs. Then, Chihiro starts her adventure with the help of Haku, and prepared to live in the Magical World in order to save her parents. In the film, food takes a really important role. Different people have totally different regards on “how to eat” and “what to eat”. They see food as absolutely distinct meanings. Through the food, it is easy to understand each character better. Although food seems easy and simple, it exactly reflects each person’s identity and desire.
This scene happens in the start of the movie when Chihiro’s parents eat too much and turn into pigs. This scene is a medium shot. Chihiro holds her parents and tries to save them, but it is too late. The music in this scene is rapid which reflected Chihiro’s worries. Also, the food is wasted everywhere in the shot shows that Chihiro’s parents represent the identity of greed. Food to them is like desires of enjoyments and happiness. So, they eat food without any controls that lead them turn into pigs. Ironically, they eat foods but meanwhile become the food for others. This implies that greedy people will eventually bring the retribution. When the parents eat the food, they say that they can pay later. However, sometimes it is not only about the money, but also about the respect. When they eat the food without permission, they already controlled by their desires of enjoyments. Just like Chihiro said her parents “Don’t eat too much or you will be killed”, which implies that even the good things should not take too much. Otherwise, the desires may bring bad effects.
There is another prominent character in this film that is called No Face. No face represents the identity of loneliness. He has no friends and nobody loves him. At this specific scene, No face eats the Frog and changed to the Frog’s voice which indicates that the food for the No Face is desire of identity. In this shot, there is no music and dialogues, and the lights are dark. This setting emphasizes that No face is lonely and empty. Therefore, eating the food is a way of feeding him full and a way of proving his existence. However, he eats too much food at last, which changes him to a monster. He is not being loved by Chihiro as he expected, but is being scared by others.
Instead of eating the food themselves, Chihiro and Haku choose to share the food. Therefore, unlike Chihiro’s parents and No face are dominated by food, they seem to use the food as a way of love.
This scene happens right after Chihiro saw her parent’s as pigs. Her parents are totally forgot her. She is sad, alone and helpless. After seeing her parents, Chihiro and Haku sit in front of flowers when Haku passes her a magical rice boll and let her to eat. This shot is bright and the lyric is slow and comfortable, which provides an environment of warm and peace. At this moment, this Rice boll stands for not only the food, but also the support. By giving the rice boll to the Chihiro, Haku is in another approach tries to tell Chihiro that he will be here to help her. Food serves as an encouragement for Chihiro to keep going ahead. It is also interesting to notice that it is the only one time in the film when Chihiro cries. Chihiro is a tough girl, even when her parents changes to pigs or climbing the perilous ladder, she does not even cry. However, when she receives the rice boll made by Haku, she cries out loud. This is because the warm and delicious rice boll tells Chihiro that even in this terrible situation, there is still someone here cares about her and she is definitely not alone. So, at this moment, food also serves as desire of “love”. Chihiro cries not because she eats the rice boll, but because she receives the love and the care.
Chihiro receives the love given by Haku, and in the last part of the film she shares her love back to Haku. This is where this scene happens. Haku steals Yubaba’s seal and hurt by her paper birds. He is injured so much and even worse there is a “curse spell” in Haku’s body. Haku is nearly dead that is when Chihiro gives the Haku the emetic dumplings. As known, Chihiro saves the emetic dumplings for her parents in order to change them back to humans. However, at this point, Chihiro bestows the Haku emetic dumplings without hesitation, which shows her kindness. In the shot, Chihiro opens Haku’s mouth with a lot effort, which indicates her determination of saving Haku. Emetic dumplings also can serve as a desire of living. Emetic dumpling gives Haku the energy and chance to survive. Also, when Haku steals the seal from Yubaba, no one understands him. Everyone sees him as a thief. Nonetheless, this time, only Chihiro gives him support. By sharing dumplings with Haku, Chihiro passes the ideas of forgiveness. So in fact, sharing the food is another way of sharing the love.
It is similar to the everyday life. Desires are definitely important to people, but still people need to control themselves. Sometimes, people keep pursuing their dreams too far, which lead them to lose themselves. Even if something people like so much, they still should not have them all. Food is implication of desires. However, if a person only thinks about getting them, he will in turn lose more. Sometimes, people should learn more about “let it go”. Only sharing the things we desire, we could get what we want finally.
food and foodies in japan 