Spirited Away - spoilers!

April 19, 2005 4:55 AM

I have a question about Spirited Away. Spoilers within.

How did Chihiro pass Yubaba's final test? How did she know that her parents were not among the pigs on display?

posted by obiwanwasabi to media & arts (8 comments total)

I just sort of figured that she knew her parents so well that she could recognize them even in pig form, and was observant and clever enough to realize that it was a trick question. Nothing mysterious about it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:02 AM on April 19, 2005

Even though, earlier in the film, she visited the pens to find her parents and couldn't spot them.

That puzzled me too, obiwanwasabi.
posted by NinjaPirate at 5:08 AM on April 19, 2005

I thought I remembered during that scene that the camera passed over each of the pigs' faces. For some reason to me it was also obvious (before she said so) that none of those pigs were her parents. I think the animators made the pigs' faces a little angry or distant, compared to the pigs in the pen we see earlier.
posted by neustile at 5:43 AM on April 19, 2005

Wasn't it also that she had learned stuff and grown up a lot due to her experiences there? She was a spoiled brat at the beginning of the movie.
posted by amberglow at 6:17 AM on April 19, 2005

neustile, I think it was fairly obvious to all viewers simply because it's a well-worn plot device.
posted by NinjaPirate at 6:26 AM on April 19, 2005

Yeah, as I remember it the point was that she had grown & learned to sense an inner spirit, not just the outer form, kinda thing. I don't think the idea was that she "realized" it was a trick; she was meant to have really become the sort of 'master' who wasn't deceived by form. She knew who the dragon was; she understood that feeding spirit guy... she'd opened her 'third eye,' or whatever.
posted by mdn at 7:07 AM on April 19, 2005

But remember, NinjaPirate, the earlier scene with her not recognizing her parents was a dream/vision from which she awoke with a start, afraid she'd forget her parents.

From that, she learned to rely on herself as she knew she was the only one who could save them. Which led to awakening her inner spirit, etc.
posted by jazon at 7:47 AM on April 19, 2005

earlier in the film, she visited the pens to find her parents and couldn't spot them.

...demonstrating that by the end she's changed, her character arc is complete. She matures, learns right from wrong, illusion from truth, or something.
posted by scarabic at 9:06 AM on April 19, 2005