After reading a few of the reviews that Hugh's site linked to concerning the "real" meaning behind the film we watched today, I have to wonder if I watched the same film. I understood the argument that the word used to describe the type of bath house that the girl works in translates into brothel, but I still think it's a stretch to say that the film is about prostitution. I also saw the interview with a man who I guess is the producer who claimed that the film was a warning to those girls in Japan who were becoming "whores" more and more every day. If that is really the message he wanted to get across, I think he should have been much more direct, because I thought of the film as a story, not a message of impending doom. Maybe that will change in the rest of the movie, or maybe I missed something, but I can't really figure out how Chihiro is in any way similar to a prostitute.
Posted by carlos at November 30, 2004 07:37 PM