beginning: moving to new place, outside of that world, uphill, [hears train], her dad saying this must be an abandoned amusement park, they built a lot of them but the economy went bad so they all went down. [wind] it’s just the wind, the mum said. ‘We should have brought our lunch with us’. - picnic (pandemic) - I’ve never really thought about it this way idk why but it is all abandoned landscape. in that way it is immersive. thinking about heterotopia and the very very strange stillness of the cemetery in Lisbon. it must be a similar stillness, except without the imminent death. even when the wind hit there I do not remember it particularly. my head aches after. - back to the film. there’s still running water. for such a small child to navigate. When her parents are eager to go in. ‘there is raw’ sign on one of the restaurants when they first walk up. The characters, without knowing Japanese, is like ‘birth’ and the in your face decor of some of these buildings (like the one that says 骨,肉) remind me of the ones in Camden when you first come out the station. So strange and like an amusement park or that island in Pinocchio. a lot of lanterns too. the one tree at the end is like a foreshadowing. Lanterns scattered across. just like those photos I took two summers ago (?) on the rooftop of a mall. very strange break from the day, a sunny afternoon, much like what they’re experiencing now. The food the dad leads them too is phenomenal of course, in the way that you almost recognise them as real foods but there’s something off about them something different like you’ve never seen them before, but they look like the most delicious foods in the world. I feel the way they animated this scene, which is very iconic, is how one of the seven sins gluttony comes to mind. the never ending eating here, with no reserve whatsoever, somehow disgusts chihiro.. the fact that they’re eating without permission too. it is like chihiro recognises how wrong this is - maybe it is not a big deal, really, but from a child’s perspective this is breaking an invisible rule, and one that should be considered, as they are in an entirely new territory, one that is unknowingly so removed from their human world. the subtle shifts in the food size like the fish head or this pile of meat that resemble chickens is ingeniously jarring. the backdrop to these piles of food is scary too - in the darkness but with some light shining through revealing something like a kitchen/butcher. Like a lot of activity should be happening but is not - the fire is still burning, however. The way it looks like it should be occupied but isn’t is terrifying - like they are going to return soon at any moment. The meat looks unnaturally supple, soft, and shiny. Her mum tempts her with the food while it is in her mouth. the dad says he’s got credit card and cash.. it’s fine.. while he served himself three huge plates.. the music becomes more anxiety inducing and they seem to be eating in a more animalistic manner by the second.. chihiro yells at them, not knowing what to do cause she can’t stop them. she walks out and onto the Main Street, another section of the music is played as she sees the tree and infrastructure again up those stairs. here she will embark on a journey that is left ambiguously, at the end of the film, unforgettable (perhaps the hair tie enables her to remember) (he tells her not to look back. - here, when she first encounters that building, the train appears under the bridge, and that sound... (Of course, she takes the train at the end for consolation too.. and the visuals of those scenes, like the floating signs that don’t seem to belong.. and shadow people.. ) -anyway, she’s on that bridge and the day transitions into night extremely rapidly - this is when chaos ensues.. the beginning of that soundtrack begins.. and the shadows lengthen at a speed that it is terrifying.. that bridge.. is significant too.. (when she crosses it.. she has to hold her breath so they don’t detect her) haku spots her and is very alarmed.. / she runs back to find her parents only to see two unnaturally huge pigs getting whipped by whoever’s behind that counter.. covered in smoke .. terrifying. she continues to call for her mum and dad.. when she tries to get across the plain they crossed in the daytime it’s just a dark body of water.. the abandoned became occupied like it was never in that state at all. Like a time warp. She hits her head and squeezes her eyes shut. This is a dream! A dream! she says. (another intriguing idea.. wishing your reality is a dream so you can wake up from it..) ‘wake up, wake up..’ ‘it’s just a dream, a dream.’ ‘Go away, disappear.. Disappear’ and she really starts to fade away in the light of the approaching boat.
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