Vipavee Limsitthikul
Dr. Brett Farmer
Selected Cultural Studies I – Media Cultures
November 1, 2013
Music Used in Spirited Away Brings Emotions to the Audience
There are many elements in each film; however, music is one of most crucial elements in the film that helps us generate the feeling which makes us feel even more connected to the film as we are watching it (Pacific Cinémathèque, 2). There are two types of sound in the music, diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is the sound that is actually happening in the film such as dialogue and door slamming while non-diegetic is the opposite (Cohen, 253), (Pacific Cinémathèque, 1). This essay will only focus on non-diegetic ...view middle of the document...
Hisaishi states that “The Hollywood style of using music to introduce characters and explain what’s on screen is a method that I don’t normally use in Japan.†As a result of this, Hisaishi does not put the music that symbolizes the certain character, he puts the music which conveys certain emotion instead. When a character is in the same emotion, the music will replay in the background. This kind of music scoring happens to provide Hisaishi a better sense of independence when scoring the films because he does not have to stick tightly to the movie (Rusli, 21).
There are three songs that are very similar and, of course, in some parts of the song, they contain the same chords and melodies. There are “One Summer’ Day,†“The Name of Life,†and “The Return.†However, they can give slightly different meanings. One Summer’s Day is a slow song and its rhythm is slow throughout the song. The Name of Life is the same song as One Summer’s Day, however, the song has been added by the voice of the female vocalist. Last but not least, The Return is quite the same as the two mentioned formerly but only the song starts with the fast tempo, then gradually goes slower.
In the beginning scene and Haku bringing Chihiro to see her parents scene use the same music score called One Summer’s Day. One Summer’s Day is a slow song with a slow pace. This song mainly focuses on piano at the beginning of the song which makes the melodies very outstanding and beautiful. Later on in the song, Hisaishi adds more instruments to the song. This song represents sorrow, loneliness, and insecurity. In the beginning scene, Chihiro feels insecure because she and her parents are in the car, moving to a new house, also to a completely new town. According to her facial expression, it is obvious that Chihiro does not want to move to a new house, also a new town. One Summer’s Day is, then, placed in this scene just to represent Chihiro feelings towards the audience. When Haku brings Chihiro to see her parents and reveals that her real name was Chihiro instead of Sen, the song in the background is also One Summer’s Day. It also represents Chihiro’s loneliness and insecurity because her parents are turned into giant pigs and does not even recognize her. Therefore, she has to be by herself having no one to lean on.
This film also contains the happy-theme song. In the scene where Haku discovers his real name that it is Nigihayami Kohakunushi, the music in this scene is used to regard as a “joyful moment.†The joyous music...
