Spirited Away

[likethebeer]

You would think we would have seen a movie 2 years old already, but no, not until jujupees & WI-C lent it to me last night (thanks again, guys!). It was v.cool, and I'd like to see it again, like, right now. Although for reasons that I cannot trace, mda & I got into a discussion about god and death during 1 of our cigarette breaks (doesn't everyone?) that sidetracked us for an hour. But it was a productive discussion. Well, maybe not productive, but it did have some spiritual consequences.

I declared that had the Buddha met the Christ's end, and vice versa, that the 2 religions would be quite different, and hence the world.

And looking at this statement on the page, I think my declaration still has some validity. And as you can see from that statement, it was quite a conversation. Well, and it was also inspired by mda's current reading of the philosopher Walter Kauffmann. He's finding himself really appreciative of the tradition of intellectual inquiry in Judaism, too.

Oh, which ultimately led me to my other declaration (not a new one, of course), but that the problem is really people's fear of death, and that most people are unaware of that fear. Here we are, the only animals (that we know of) that have a knowledge of the past and future, and we know we're going to die. It's that whole "we're psychotic animals" theory. Personally, I'm terrified of death, and will state so emphatically until I no longer am (a fate I hope for one day in the future).

Aaannnyway--we eventually ran out of steam on the death/god discussion, and went back to watch the movie. I'd love to expouse (sp?) on it, but I would be trite. It does make me want to see his other work. mda v.much like the magicality of the change that comes in the beginning of the movie, from daylight to dusk/dark, and from seemingly normal to suddenly surreal. That was one of many things we liked. So.

Off to do the Saturday thing.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Glad you liked it. We have a bunch of Miyazaki's other goo, and you're welcome to it. SA is far and away the best, though. I'm currently trying to finish Princess Mononoke.

Z says she likes scary movies, and I'm pretty sure that her confidence comes from watching SA, and despite about shitting her pants a couple of times, thinking it was the bee's knees. I really like my kid.

WI-C

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

How old is your little one? I really wanted to get SA for my niece and nephew, but their mom was somehow alarmed that it may be too scary. These are kids who have seen much scarier stuff. I think my 9-year old niece would enjoy a story with a heroine her same age.

[(Anonymous)]

Zora is 3 1/2. She got it for xmas last year. She's a pretty linguistically/conceptually precocious kid. Her mother and I are pretty comfortable that Z will find her own way to relate to/explain certain types of material. We are generally concerned about her exposure to violence and generally not concerned about her exposure to existential/religious/body-related material. We watch movies with her the first time she sees something. The only mistake we feel we made content-wise was "Grave of Fireflies" which, despite a rating indicating it was ok for kids as well as a recommendation to the same effect, was categorically NOT for children. That said, M and I were emotional wrecks after seeing it, while Z was asking about the characters, what happened to them and to see the movie again. I eventually had to lie and say I returned the movie to the library. Z really loves "My Neighbor Totoro" as do I. I appreciate the kid-oriented Miyazaki because it deals with serious topics through a child's perspective while packaging the harshness of life in a magical realism sort of thing.

We saw the dubbed version of SA. WI-C

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I first tried to watch the film with a download of the subtitled one. Halfway through, the video broke. You just can't expect quality from pyr8ts! So, I've only seen the dubbed version in it's entirety. Daveigh Chase's voice bothers me. Well, most precocious child actors do. Normal kids mutter and snivel. Lilo, Chirito, and Samara don't. But I can't begrudge the kid making good money. I just hope she doesn't have to sue her parents later.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I'd not heard of Grave of Fireflies, but Rotten Tomatoes' review snippets make it sound devastating.

[(Anonymous)]

PS Your nine year-old niece will be fine. It's your sister I'd worry about. WI-C

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

These kids were watching Nightmare Before Christmas at younger than 4! I suspect sister just didn't sound impressed with the description, and is using the creepy ideas as an excuse.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Now I have that majestic music going through my head from SA. The music that you first hear when that steam boat pulls up w/the spirits.

I hadn't thought of your interpretation of Z's liking "scary movies" from SA. That's interesting. Wouldn't that be cool if she always had that interpretation to fiction? Maybe not having it in life all the time would be such a good idea, but a little dash wouldn't hurt.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I knew about it because of the buzz that Disney picked it up for distribution. Did you see the dubbed, or subtitled?

It's a very beautiful film. I love how it just goes into the story and ends. No big pre-production. The first time I watched it was late at night. I watched it repeatedly on satellite, prompting my family to exclaim repeatedly "You're watching that, AGAIN?"

I haven't given it much thought, but most religions do seem fixated on the fear of death. Very few people are comfortable with death. Ceasing to exist is very scary. I was reading a book with a Buddhist author, and her teacher was on his deathbead with cancer, saying "I don't want to die".

As you may know, I HAVE been doing a lot of reading on Buddhism lately. If the Buddha taught anything, it is that clinging is what causes everyone's suffering. Clinging to life, clinging to happiness, and the constant frustration that NOTHING is tenable. Once one accepting death and the cycle of rebirths, the cycle ends.

But Buddhism isn't a "spread the word, convert convert convert!" kind of religion. I do have to note that the teachings of Christ have been grossly misinterpreted. Somehow "love thy neighbour/turn the other cheek" led to such bloodbaths.


PS. I had a brief exchange on FLLW yesterday in coconuthead's journal, and you must have been sleeping at the switch.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Did you see the dubbed, or subtitled?--we went w/dubbed, although you can see it w/subtitles.

I love how it just goes into the story and ends. I think mda liked the way it began and ended, too. I was expecting at the beginning that this place would be discovered, *then* she would go back to it and find... whatever.

If the Buddha taught anything, it is that clinging is what causes everyone's suffering. As for Buddhism, I think that's what mda goes for. The importance of the distance stance. That desire causes suffering. I think one of the parts of mda's and my discussion on Friday was trying to ferret out how what Christ said was misinterpreted. The first gospel wasn't written until after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem; that, the Romans and Paul apparently started to twist things.

PS. I had a brief exchange on FLLW yesterday in [info]coconuthead's journal, and you must have been sleeping at the switch. I checked into lj at lunch, and then was hanging out watching the movie/talking about death after work. Cecil Adams has it pretty much right (of course! It's the straight dope, after all). I don't know if he was actually 5'8 1/2", but he was taller than 4'11".