The Enchanted City: dreams and visions of Hayao Miyazaki

The Enchanted City is one of the most loved films of the Japanese animation film master Hayao Miyazaki. Produced by Studio Ghibli founded by the aforementioned director and Isao Takahata, The Enchanted City was distributed in Japanese theaters on July 20, 2001 and immediately had a huge success, so much so that it won the Oscar for best film that year. animation.

Miyazaki's film is not a simple animated feature as none of his films are, but it is a real journey inside what seems almost an infernal bedlam but which shows at the same time, a stratification of meaning that goes beyond the image on the screen. The Enchanted City is the most complex film with the greatest interpretations of the Japanese director, who reveals an infinite range of reflections that can only be understood by a more careful vision.

A story, many meanings

The story tells us about the vicissitudes of Chihiro, a capricious little girl traveling with her parents towards a new life. In the first images, in fact, we see the young woman in the car with her parents, complaining about this move that took her away from her friends. During the journey, Chihiro's father, to get to the destination first, already close in itself, decides to take a shortcut.

The three, mother father and daughter, will find themselves at the entrance of a strange tunnel where it is impossible to proceed by car, and therefore decide to continue on foot. After a long walk, the family will find themselves inside what looks like an abandoned amusement park, but which hides an unspeakable secret.

The shock of Chihiro at the first vision of this Enchanted Town that slowly, after sunset, begins to take life and transform the things that are known into something absolutely delirious, is very strong, the girl seems to almost go crazy in the first moments of loss. Chihiro witnessed the transformation of her parents into pigs, meaning transfigured their greed before a buffet of sumptuous feast where they could not contain their greed.

The girl, shocked, tries to escape from the city “haunted”, but to save his loved ones is forced to come to terms with someone or something. She discovers that the leader of the city there is a fearsome witch named Yubaba and came to know a young guy, a disciple of the witch, whose name is Haku , which will help you during this dangerous adventure.

The plot , which is analysed here, in outline, is much more complex than it may seem at an initial vision of the film, because it brings us back to within a complex dynamics, which are inspired by the culture and traditions of Japan, such as animism and shintoism , for example. But, beyond this, a strong spirituality that is the film's most layered of the master Miyazaki, we also find a strong critique of contemporary society and politics in the west . It speaks, as we have seen in the story of the transformation of the parents of Chihiro in pigs, of human greed.

The pigs in this sense, they become real transfiguration of the capital sin of avarice. In this case, however, the christian concept of sin is in some way passed, we are no longer the punishment for something that has been done, but there is, instead, the transfiguration. It is tangible on the figure of the two spouses, the parents of Chihiro, as gluttony and greed have hindered , without looking for the meaning of punishment in the theology.

The Enchanted City, a society structured

Another important story from the deep meaning is that of the young Haku. The boy who helps Chihiro in the moments of greatest loss initial, is a disciple of the witch Yubaba and live with it a relationship of inferiority where he is, therefore, submissive to the will of the witch. Haku seems almost an automaton, pale, moves in a manner almost mechanical. These are characteristics that will be revealed to Chihiro by another character in the service of Yubaba, Kamaji , that will say to the girl as the young man does not have even more awareness of his past, before becoming a pupil of the witch.

The story here becomes a kind of allegory for moral awareness and responsibility for their own actions in a hierarchical society, where the base of the pyramid has no dignity, but produces goods and consumes them and then, simply, let it place to another gear of the machine at the service of the company's senior management.

The system told, they The Enchanted City , then, takes on the characteristics of the capitalist society, the exploitation and the alienation of every component of it. This connotation of meaning that Miyazaki gives the film is a harsh criticism of contemporary society where the man loses his identity, to alienate in a larger project. This, in the end, it does not bring benefit to the worker, but only at the head, who is at the top of this society is pyramidal.

Miyazaki also makes all the graphics and style, in addition the narrative function of this alienation programmatic of the inhabitants of the city. The characters take on the characteristics of the subject alienated from , both figuratively both inwardly and. We recognize immediately who it is meant to work more, and who, instead, less work. But, why all these people are cogs in a perfect machine which can not stop working?

Simply to receive their pay, but never the freedom so hoped for. In addition, these entities may be able to live as free people? Having no consciousness, nor of life, nor, much less, of their alienation, the workers de The Enchanted City are stereotypes, which are typical characters that represent the void, the frantic search of money, which in the end brings absolutely nothing because they can't buy their freedom, for every man, is the most valuable asset.

A movie the universal

the size of The Miyazaki movie that now, after nineteen years, it still makes us reflect and debate on the various keys of reading, is a landmark of world cinema. This is because the issues dealt with are universal , as universal is the staging. We're not talking about a product that is brainy, difficult to understand or is a member of some of the current stylistic detail. No, the film The Enchanted City is as simple as it is complex in the meanings of the reflections that we can do in the rear.

The Enchanted City leads us by the hand in a world that is an allegory, and the transfiguration of our reality and to live it to the viewer something totally unexpected , wonderful and excruciating at the same time. This is the characteristic of every work of art that claims the honour of becoming a great classic. The film is so beautiful, explosive and full of different meanings and layered that can be seen at any age , is suitable for children but also for adults, who can certainly find in it a lucid critique of contemporary society, already present, almost twenty years ago.

If you want to delve into the issues de The Enchanted City , we advise you to read the essay by Valeria Arnaldi that you can buy at this link .