Fighting the Monsters in the Closet—Studio Ghibli Style

With their signature animation style and imaginative plots, Studio Ghibli movies are quite captivating. At first glance, the beautiful animation and unique characters are what has contributed to films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle remaining timeless classics for all ages. However the themes embedded within the stories are what makes them linger in audiences’ minds for years. One recurring motif that makes these films stand out is the tackling of dark themes about growing up and life in general in a whimsical way, typically through the eyes of a child exploring a fantastical world.

 A quintessential example is the iconic Spirited Away. Within the film, the 10 year old protagonist Chihiro witnesses her parents turn into pigs after they eat some food at a restaurant in an abandoned amusement park. She spends the rest of the story on an adventure through the world of the spirits trying to get her parents back. As the fear of being without your parents and having to navigate life alone is very real for a young child, Spirited Away can be seen as both a fun and magical journey and a thoughtfully constructed story that explores the fears and the imaginations of children. The creative way that Spirited Away tackles a relatively dark theme is likely what helped it win an Oscar in 2003 for Best Animated Feature. 

Twenty years later, The Boy and the Heron, Studio Ghibli's most recent production, would accomplish the same feat. The film follows a young boy named Mahito, who recently lost his mother during the Pacific War in Tokyo. When his father gets remarried to his aunt, Mahito is forced to relocate to the countryside estate where his aunt and his mother grew up. There, Mahito meets the grannies that knew his mother when she was younger, because it wouldn’t be a Studio Ghibli movie without a granny, as well as a mysterious grey Heron that won’t seem to leave him alone. The dark side of this story is prevalent from the beginning, as it is revealed that Mahito’s mother died in a fire that Mahito witnessed but couldn't do anything about. This causes him to have frequent nightmares about the incident. The movie deals heavily with the effect of grief on one’s mental health, as Mahito is clearly traumatized from the way that his mother died and is going through the five stages of grief. The major sign that something is wrong is when he purposely injures himself by smashing his head with a rock after he gets into a fight at school. However, the mood is still kept relatively light by Mahito’s humorous encounters with the Heron and the grannies. The strangest encounter of the early part of the film is when the Heron’s true form is slightly revealed, as a human nose can be seen poking out of the beak when he begins to talk to Mahito. The Heron says that Mahito’s mother can be found. Shortly after, a swarm of toads begin to crawl over Mahito. Thankfully, Natusko saves him with an arrow. Realizing that he wants a bow and arrow of his own, Mahito creates one that includes one of the Heron’s feathers. When Mahito and a granny named Kiriko follow his aunt Natsuko into the mysterious tower where his granduncle disappeared, the truly magical aspect of the story begins. 

When Mahito enters the tower he sees what looks like his mother, but is revealed to be an imitation of her made out of water. This causes him to shoot an arrow at the Heron out of anger, which hits the Heron’s beak perfectly because of the magic of the feather. Losing the ability to fly, the Heron is revealed to be a Birdman and not an actual bird. The Birdman becomes a constant guide of Mahito’s throughout his journey in the tower world. While navigating the world and trying to find Natsuko, Mahito meets a fisherwoman who is revealed to be a younger Kiriko, and a magical young girl named Himi who is revealed to be his mom as a girl. In younger Kirko’s house, Mahito sleeps on a bed surrounded by little figurines of the grannies, including a granny Kirko. Further on in his journey, Mahito encounters the ridiculous but evil anthropomorphic parakeets who try to eat him, adding to the whimsy of the story. Like most Studio Ghibli worlds, the tower world is bursting with imaginative creatures and characters. However, there are elements of the world that are rather concerning. It is revealed that Mahito’s granduncle is the Wizard who rules the world by remaining in control of the blocks that represent the dimensions. He wants Mahito to take over the world with new blocks that are free of malice, but Mahito states that he is inflicted with malice himself which his self harm is evidence of. This encounter can be interpreted as both individuals admitting their struggle with mental health. This interaction between the Wizard and Mahito represents the idea of the younger generation creating a world of their own without conflict. The Parakeet King, who is clearly a very conflicted being, attempts to build with the blocks, causing the blocks to fall down and the world to begin to collapse. Through this moment, the film conveys the message that it is important to talk about issues surrounding mental health with others instead of keeping everything bottled up inside, and in the case of the Wizard, hiding from the outside world. Mahito realizes that he has to resolve his inner emotional conflict brought on by grief. He also understands that he does not want to use the tower world as a way of escaping his problems, and comes to terms with the fact that even though his mother is no longer with him, he still has a father and new mother figure who love him. The journey to save Natusko helped him realize how much he loves her, and that he can appreciate her being his mother from then on. His fantastical journey with the magical Himi gave him closure in regards to his mother’s passing, as he warns her of her fate, however she knows that she must return back to her timeline to become his mother. This eases his guilt, as he realizes that even with access to the past there was really nothing he could do. Younger Kiriko goes with Himi back to their timeline, but thankfully the figurine that Mahito took transforms into the actual granny Kiriko. The fantastical time travel element of the plot can be seen as being included in the film to make the story more imaginative, and to show that you can’t hide from the future forever, even when you feel like escaping into your own world. Younger Kiriko and Himi had to return to their timeline in order to become such important people in Mahito’s life. Mahito realizes that he has to return to his world and grow to love Natsuko like he loved his mother, and that he has a life full of people who love him to look forward to. It only took the help of a magical Heron for him to take the next step in his healing journey. 

Grief is difficult for anyone to deal with, especially as a young child, however The Boy and the Heron reminds viewers in a purposely magical way that those that you love will help you get through the tough times in life. After its recent Oscar win, The Boy and the Heron will fall in the ranks with Spirited Away as a classic to be enjoyed by generations of viewers in need of a story with whimsical characters and meaningful themes.