Why doesn’t the White Dragon in Spirited Away let Chihiro look back?
I have to say that Eastern cultures are connected, maybe because of Chinese characters. Although it is a Japanese film, the few Chinese characters in the film allow Chinese audiences to understand the profound meaning of the film very well. Western audiences must be blind.
Let me talk about the title of this film first. The title of the film can explain the theme and idea. Let's just say "thousand": to describe a large number, "a thousand worlds" is an adjective. And "Qianxun": verb, tirelessly searching and exploring. Taken together, it means: tirelessly exploring (the value of life) in (this confusing) world. This is a story about the spiritual growth of a child who has just left his parents and seeks independence.
“Moving, transferring to another school, and saying goodbye” is the beginning of the story, which points to the coming of the “big world”. The little girl's expression at this time was that she was unhappy. She said: "The old school is better" and "the first time I received flowers was to say goodbye." She showed nostalgia for the happy times in the past.
Through the Cave: Entering the Subconscious.
My parents turned into pigs because of their greed. The symbolic meaning of "pig": focusing on realistic food, clothing, housing and transportation, and mental paralysis. The little girl subconsciously believes that her parents are pig parents because they rarely have in-depth spiritual communication with her. The parents of the little girl in the film are always pigs who cannot speak or understand human language. In other words, the parents did not provide any support for the spiritual growth of the little girl. This may be the director's satire that parents in real life should not be like pigs.
Qianxun, Bailong, Big Baby, and the Faceless Man. They are the four most important characters in the film. In fact, these four characters are four sides of the author's self.
Qianxun: feminine, kind, sensitive, tough, weak, expressing true nature.
White Dragon: Masculinity, justice, responsibility, perseverance, suppression of authenticity.
Big baby: high IQ, low EQ, spoiled.
Faceless Man: Low self-esteem, withdrawn, autistic, extremely depressed and indulgent, resentful.
Qianxun is a subconscious intruder. His constant exploration and reflection, her tacit understanding with Bailong, finally helped her save her parents who turned into pigs (good spiritual communication with their parents), and finally helped her Bailong finds his name (finds himself), helps the big baby learn to walk (spiritually independent), helps the faceless man find a job (value of life).
Other symbols.
Soup restaurant. Soup is hot spring water, which represents material consumption. The entire soup house symbolizes social consciousness centered on material consumption. Elevator represents: clear social hierarchy. There are no more than two groups of "monsters" of all kinds. One group is for enjoying, and the other group is for serving. The only thing they have in common is that they are not human. But there are degrees. Some have no human form at all. Like the white radish with a bowl on its head, the frog, the coal-carrying ant, the three heads, the crow, and the robed man wearing various masks. This is a serious form of psychological abnormality. There are also humanoid ones, such as Xiaoling and Grandpa Boiler, which are relatively realistic in psychology. Even if you are a human being, you will lose your sense of humanity after just three days of eating from a soup restaurant. This symbolizes that young people who have just entered society will soon be contaminated by society. To forget the name is to lose yourself.
River God: Symbolizes "the masses". Qianxun bathed in the river god to "experience the sufferings of life of the masses" and gain an education in social responsibility.
Niwan: It has the power of "healing" (I wonder if the inspiration came from Jigong). Niwan is the old skin on the body, symbolizing "social experience". Niwan helped the faceless man spit out three "little citizens" and restored his true self. Although he was wretched and autistic, at least he was not a false self-satisfier. Niwan also helps Bailong spit out the spell of the seal (symbolizing power).
Grandma Qian: Grandma Qian is a symbol of correct values. Authentic, kind and not greedy.
Popo Tang: Greed, desire for control.
Dragon: Symbolizes responsibility and masculinity. There are two, the white dragon and the river god. The former is self-responsibility, and the latter is social responsibility.
White paper birds: A large group, seemingly weak and frivolous, but can force white dragons and rats to flee.
White paper may seem frivolous, but it is very powerful. "A piece of paper", "a piece of diploma", "a piece of engagement", "a piece of certificate", how many people in life are forced to vomit blood by writing in black and white. Of course, the only difference between paper is that it must have a seal on it to be effective, and the reason why Bailong was attacked by the white paper bird was because he swallowed the cursed seal. The seal obviously represents power. Even if the person responsible for demolition writes the word "Demolish" on the wall, he has to draw a circle outside the word. Only then does it look like an official seal and has coercive power.
Headband: Symbolizes control over reason. As Zhou Libo said, "The hair is combed very thoughtfully," and the hair symbolizes rational thinking. The rope tying the hair naturally symbolizes the control of rational thinking. And is this rope made of magic? It was completed by several people together. It represents the doted sub-personality (mouse) and the autistic sub-personality (faceless man) under the guidance of correct values (Grandma Qian). ), through constant experience (spinning wheel), the head rope is a "real" ability.
Watching this movie makes people pity those monsters who have lost their human form. While people lament the confusion, greed, and depression of people in the world of material consumption, they are also moved by the combination of Bailong's justice and responsibility and Chihiro's kindness and authenticity. Even in a world filled with materialistic desires, people's unremitting pursuit of higher levels of spiritual value has never stopped.