Post #6- Spirited Away and An Alternative Pantheon

Spirited Away presents an alternative pantheon that combines elements from many mythologies. Select two characters from the film and compare them to two mythological entities previously discussed in the class or in the readings. Provide examples from both the film and the pantheon readings. (Post #6)

Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro. Chihiro, a ten-year old girl, and her parents are on their way to move to a new town. They accidentally take a wrong turn and end up in an abandoned amusement park. Together, they find tons of food. Excitedly, Chihiro’s parents eat tons of the foods. However, Chihiro gets a funny feeling and avoids eating the food. Meanwhile, Chihiro encounters a young boy, named Haku. Haku warns Chihiro to return across the river before dark. Chihiro is unable to leave the themepark and go back across the river before dark. As a result, her parents later turn into pigs and Chihiro is trapped in a spirit world where she has a crazy adventure trying to escape. After a series of events, Chihiro and her parents, all in human form, are able to eventually escape the spirit world.

The character of Haku in the film has similar qualities to the goddess Hiiaka in the Polynesian myth included in the Pantheon readings. Haku in many parts of the movie is associated with the river, which often symbolizes resurrection/new life qualities. Haku warns Chihiro in the beginning of the film to go across the river in attempts to save her from the spirit world. Chihiro also tells Haku later in the movie that when she was younger, she fell into a river. Chihiro tells Haku that she believes he was the river that prevented her from drowning. All of these instances with Haku and the river show that a major purpose of Haku in the story is to help to save others from harm’s way. In the Polynesian myth, the goddess Hiiaka and her goddess sister, Pele, go into the mortal world. Pele falls in love with a mortal prince, Lohiau. However, Pele must leave Lohiau and Lohiau dies from heartbreak. Hiiaka, by the end of the myth, brings Lohaiu back to life. Both Haku and Hiiaka save and resurrect their stories’ major characters.

The characters of Chihiro’s parents and Persephone in Greek mythology are similar. Chihiro’s parents thoughtlessly eat food they find in the abandoned themepark. As a result, they turn into pigs, are stuck in the underworld and are only able to return to human form/ escape from the spirit world with a lot of effort on Chihiro’s part. Meanwhile, Persephone is involved in a famous myth where Hades kidnaps Persephone in attempt to make her his wife. Hades takes her to his underworld and thoughtlessly, Persephone eats pomegranate seeds. This thoughtless eating leads to her being stuck in his underworld and only with contract, is Persephone able to leave the underworld for half a year. Both Chihiro’s parents’ and Persephone’s thoughtless eating leads them to be stuck in a dark world. For Chihiro’s parents, this dark world is the spirit world. For Persephone, this dark world is Hade’s underworld.