【當日免費】 (07/20) Spirited Away: 25 Years Later 《神隱少女》：25年後

[00:00:00][music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Hello everyone. My name is Garrett and today is a great day to learn something new.

[00:00:26]>> So let's do that together friends. My name is Anne Marie.

[00:00:30]>> And friends, you're joining us here on Studio Classroom. Today we remember a classic movie that came out 25 years ago.

[00:00:40]>> I love Studio Ghibli, especially that movie Totoro. That's not the one we're talking about today though.

[00:00:48]>> No, we're talking about a movie called Spirited Away. It's actually the first one from this studio that I heard of and had a chance to watch.

[00:00:57]>> And this movie is celebrating its 25th anniversary. So our article today is called Spirited Away 25 years later.

[00:01:08]Let's get started with our first reading for today.

[00:01:14]>> [music] >> Spirited Away 25 Years Later >> [music] >> Lessons from a Magical World On July 20th, 2001, Spirited Away first hit Japanese theaters.

[00:01:34]Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, a famous Japanese animator, Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a timid girl.

[00:01:44]Chihiro gets trapped in a mysterious world of spirits after her parents are turned into pigs.

[00:01:52]To save her family's lives, she must work in a traditional Japanese bathhouse [music] run by a powerful witch.

[00:02:01]Through this, Chihiro builds courage as she moves through a world filled with strange characters, cultural rules, and moral tests.

[00:02:12]>> [music] [music] >> Hi friends, welcome to Language Lab. I'm Jack.

[00:02:31]For Halloween, Ava dressed up as a friendly witch with a purple hat.

[00:02:54]Sophie looked bewitched by the colorful lights at the night market.

[00:03:13]They felt enchanted by the cozy cafe with its warm yellow lights.

[00:03:25]>> [music] >> The magical animated movie Spirited Away came out 25 years ago and continues to enchant people all around the world.

[00:03:36]Let's talk about it today.

[00:03:38]>> All right, we're not just learning about this movie, we're learning about what we can learn from this movie. We see here lessons from a magical world.

[00:03:50]>> All right, we get into our article on July 20th, 2001, Spirited Away first hit Japanese theaters. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, a famous Japanese animator.

[00:04:05]>> He was a famous Japanese animator. The word we want to take a look at here is that word animator. This is someone who makes moving cartoons.

[00:04:17]>> All right, for example, the animator draws fun characters. Now, the earliest animations made by animators were made with things like clay or just flipping different papers with pictures on them.

[00:04:33]Today, computers allow us to do much more.

[00:04:36]>> Yeah, you've reminded me of a word as you said that word clay. We call those claymations.

[00:04:42]>> Right, some of those early kids movies we grew up watching were made with clay.

[00:04:48]There was something really fun about them. Today though, we're talking about a different kind of cartoon. This Japanese animator made the movie Spirited Away. It tells the story of Chihiro, a timid girl.

[00:05:02]>> Well, let's look at that word timid together, friends. That's used to describe the main person in this movie.

[00:05:09]Timid means that you're shy and you're not brave.

[00:05:13]>> All right, for example, the timid cat hid under the bed when it heard a loud sound.

[00:05:20]>> Let's find out what happens to Chihiro here, friends. She gets trapped in a mysterious world of spirits after her parents are turned into pigs. Now, it has been a long time since I've seen this film, Garrett, but I very distinctly remember this scene where her parents are eating at a big table and they're eating so fast and so much that they transform into pigs.

[00:05:43]>> I remember them eating a lot of food in this movie. somehow I don't remember the pigs part.

[00:05:49]>> Okay, it was uh very It's very interesting.

[00:05:53]>> have blocked it out. [laughter] >> You must have. Let's learn more here together, friends. To save her family's lives, she must work in a traditional Japanese bathhouse run by a powerful witch.

[00:06:05]>> All right, yes, this witch is this woman who has a lot of abilities and doesn't seem too kind in the movie. Through this, Chihiro builds courage as she moves through a world filled with strange characters, cultural rules, and moral tests.

[00:06:26]>> There are a couple of things we can take a look at in this last sentence, friends. First, we want to talk about cultural rules.

[00:06:34]>> All right, cultural rules are the ways people behave or are expected to behave in a certain culture.

[00:06:43]>> For example, it's important before you travel to learn the cultural rules of the area you'll be visiting.

[00:06:50]>> Absolutely, that is so true. When you travel, it's not just important to know the government's laws. Of course, you don't want to go to prison. It's also important to understand how people are expected to behave.

[00:07:04]>> Yeah, it's a very respectful thing to do if you learn what people from that area like and don't like or what they expect.

[00:07:13]>> All right, we have one more thing to talk about here. That is these moral tests that Chihiro had to go through.

[00:07:20]Moral tests are situations that check to see if you know the difference between right and wrong.

[00:07:28]>> This is something we go through every day in our lives. We see and we have a chance to choose between right and wrong. Life is always going to give us these moral tests.

[00:07:40]>> Yeah, I think of maybe an opportunity to cheat on a test in school or maybe you buy something at a store and they give you too much change. You have the opportunity to decide if you're going to keep it or not.

[00:07:54]>> Another example of a moral test could be if you stand up for someone who's being bullied. You know that bullying someone is wrong. Are you going to help them and stand up for them or not?

[00:08:07]>> Really, that moral test shows the kind of person that you are. Sometimes you might feel bad cuz you feel like you failed one of these. That doesn't mean you won't have new opportunities in the future.

[00:08:20]>> That's a really great point. All right, friends. Well, we have more to learn about Spirited Away. So, let's keep going with our next reading right now.

[00:08:31]>> [music] >> Spirited Away 25 Years Later.

[00:08:42]At heart, Spirited Away is a story about growing up. The theme of identity is shown when the witch takes Chihiro's name, forcing her to discover who she is again.

[00:08:56]The film also contrasts greedy characters with those who show empathy and generosity. Additionally, it explores ideas of environmental preservation. It serves as a reminder of the price one has to pay when they pollute. [music] >> [music] >> Pilu >> The community raised money for the preservation of the historic lighthouse.

[00:09:45]>> Rangers work hard to preserve the forest and protect its wildlife.

[00:09:57]Preservative is a mouthful G.

[00:10:01]A preservative is a substance added to food to keep it fresh longer.

[00:10:13]>> [music] >> Even though Spirited Away takes place in a world very different from our own, just like any story, it's trying to teach us lessons about our own worlds and our own lives.

[00:10:27]>> And all about growing up. That's what we read here in this first sentence, friends. At heart, Spirited Away is a story about growing up. Let's talk about what it means to say at heart.

[00:10:41]>> Yeah, I love this phrase. At heart means that you're saying something that you believe is really true or it's from somewhere deep inside of you.

[00:10:52]>> You could say that someone is kind at heart. You might say this phrase in a situation where you're not quite sure how someone is or what their character is like and you want to reassure someone else that he means well. He is kind at heart.

[00:11:08]>> Yeah, sometimes what you see from their actions might be different, but you're saying what is true of them really deep inside who they are.

[00:11:16]>> Yeah, and Spirited Away is a story about growing up at heart. So, that is really what this movie is all about.

[00:11:25]>> Okay, we continue the theme of identity is shown when the witch takes Chihiro's name, forcing her to discover who she is again.

[00:11:37]>> When we're talking about movies or books or things like that, it's very important to identify the theme. The theme is the main idea or subject.

[00:11:49]>> All right. For example, the theme of the book is friendship. There are many themes you can find in a story.

[00:11:57]>> And here we see that the theme is identity.

[00:12:02]What do we mean by this? Well, identity is who you are or what makes you who you are.

[00:12:08]>> Uh for example, some people might say playing music is a part of my identity.

[00:12:15]It's just who I am. I don't know about you, friends, but for much of my life, struggling with my identity and who I really was at heart uh was a big struggle and something that helped me learn about myself.

[00:12:30]>> Yeah, identity can be anything from who your family is or what you want to do with your life. Sometimes people take their hobbies and make them their identity. But regardless, identity is something we all have to figure out as we go through life.

[00:12:46]>> And Chihiro had to struggle with this as somehow she lost her name.

[00:12:51]>> The witch took her name and put her through a series of tests to help her figure out who she really is.

[00:12:58]>> All right. We continue. The film also contrasts greedy characters with those who show empathy and generosity.

[00:13:07]>> Greedy is a great term for you to know, friends. Greedy means that you want more than you need. And often times it means that you are taking something from someone else to fulfill your own desires.

[00:13:20]>> Yeah, let's use that in another sentence. One boy might be very greedy and take some candy from his younger brother.

[00:13:28]>> Mhm, so he's taking something that belongs to someone else to fulfill his own desires. We see here that this movie is full of greedy characters. It reminds me of those pigs we talked about earlier.

[00:13:40]>> Yeah, we have greedy characters, but we also have good characters, ones with empathy and generosity, so we're able to compare and contrast.

[00:13:50]>> All right, so we have several different themes here and now we're looking at another one that Spirited Away has.

[00:13:56]Additionally, it explores ideas of environmental preservation.

[00:14:02]It serves as a reminder of the price one has to pay when they pollute.

[00:14:07]>> Oh, interesting. That is a very different theme than we talked about earlier. When someone pollutes, they make something, maybe even a natural area, dirty or make it harmful to people.

[00:14:20]>> Here's an example. Exhaust from cars pollutes the air.

[00:14:24]>> Okay. So, we have a number of different themes and things that we can learn from this movie, from identity all the way to environmental preservation.

[00:14:36]Friends, we're not quite done yet, but first, let's go take a deep dive.

[00:14:43]>> dive >> Hi friends. Let's take a deep dive into the English language together. What are we looking for today? It's the price we have to pay.

[00:14:56]What if you were saving up for the coolest new skateboard? Every week you skip ice cream, skip the arcade, skip that extra game time. Finally, you buy it, zoom down the street feeling like a superhero, but then you realize you missed hanging out with your friends all those weekends.

[00:15:16]That sacrifice, the thing you give up to get what you wanted, that's the price one has to pay. It's not always money.

[00:15:25]Sometimes it's time, effort, comfort, or fun. The price one has to pay means the cost or consequence you must accept to achieve something. It often hints that success or a goal comes with a downside, a trade-off you can't avoid. For example, winning the championship was amazing, but the price she had to pay was months of painful training and no social life.

[00:15:56]How about saying, "Moving to a big city for a dream job meant the price he had to pay was leaving his family far behind." Here are two similar phrases.

[00:16:07]Pay the price is shorter and very common, meaning to suffer the consequences. For example, uh if you stay up late gaming every night, you'll pay the price with tired eyes and bad grades.

[00:16:21]At a cost highlights that something good came with a sacrifice. For example, she became the top student, but it came at a cost. She barely slept and missed all the school parties.

[00:16:34]I once stayed up all night finishing a comic book project. The drawings looked awesome, but the price I had to pay was falling asleep in class the next day.

[00:16:45]Worth it? Maybe. These phrases remind us that every big win usually has a hidden bill to settle. Thanks for diving deep with me. Stay afloat until next time.

[00:17:01]>> [music] [music] >> Spirited Away 25 years later.

[00:17:10]>> [music] >> These themes show that Spirited Away is not just a fantasy story.

[00:17:17]>> [music] >> It's a reminder that growing up requires courage, kindness, and respect.

[00:17:24]>> [music] >> That message remains powerful even 25 years after the film's release.

[00:17:33]>> [music] >> The rescue team plans to release the healed bird back into the forest.

[00:17:56]Release the synonym is releasable. It is correct to say that it can function that The police officer said the suspect was releasable after the questioning was finished.

[00:18:14]Set someone free from something.

[00:18:21]You after years of debt, Chris finally was set free from financial stress when he paid off his loan.

[00:18:37]Today the language lab is over. I'll see you next time.

[00:18:42]>> [music] >> So after everything we've learned about Spirited Away, what kind of story is it exactly?

[00:18:49]>> Okay, well we find out here in the last part of our article friends. We read these themes show that Spirited Away is not just a fantasy story. When we see that phrase not just, it's telling us that something is more than only one thing.

[00:19:08]>> All right. For example, you could say going to a theme park is not just fun, it can be educational as well.

[00:19:17]>> Yeah, so it's saying that one thing is more than just what it seems. And that's what's going on with this movie as well.

[00:19:26]It's not just a fantasy story. We can learn things from it.

[00:19:29]>> Yeah, so we're saying that this story or this movie fits into that fantasy genre, uh but it's not just a fantasy story that's fun to watch, but we can't get anything out of it.

[00:19:42]>> Yeah, I totally agree. Let's read on, friends. It's a reminder that growing up requires courage, kindness, and respect.

[00:19:52]Let's talk about courage, friends, because we did talk about that word timid earlier.

[00:19:57]>> Ooh, and this word means something quite different. Courage is the bravery to face your fears.

[00:20:05]>> For example, it takes courage to speak up. And earlier we found out that Chihiro is not very courageous. She is a very timid girl, but it seems like through this story she is learning and growing.

[00:20:20]>> Yeah, and that definitely is part of growing up. Uh we don't We're not born as complete people. We learn new things as we get older and become the people I guess that we were meant to be.

[00:20:34]>> Yeah, I think so. So we found out here that growing up requires courage, kindness, and respect. That message remains powerful even 25 years after the film's release. I want to take a look at a word we saw in this last sentence, friends, because it goes along with that word theme that we talked about earlier.

[00:20:56]Now we're talking about a message.

[00:20:59]>> All right. Now, this word as we're using it here is different from how we normally use it. We're not talking about a text message or a letter you send to someone. The message of a story is the important idea or a lesson that it's trying to teach.

[00:21:16]>> You might read a book and the story has a strong message. Here we're talking about the message that growing up requires courage, kindness, and respect.

[00:21:27]>> All right. So, this story has impacted many, many people throughout the years.

[00:21:32]Hopefully, you can learn something from it as well.

[00:21:35]>> I think I'm going to have to go back and watch it again. I think it's been at least 10 or 15 years since I've seen this film. And now that I see all of these themes that it has, I think I'll go back and watch it to look for those themes.

[00:21:49]>> It's a perfect year as it is this anniversary. And of course, there are many other great movies from the same director and studio. Well, friends, we'll be back in just a moment, but right now, let's go to our usage tip.

[00:22:05]>> [music] >> Hi, I'm Rex.

[00:22:43]It is interesting to contrast her early paintings with her more recent works.

[00:22:56]>> [music] >> Friends, our talk-about-it question today has two parts. The first part is have you seen Spirited Away? I've already answered that, but what about you, Garrett?

[00:23:07]>> I have also seen it. I think it might have been around 8 years ago.

[00:23:11]>> Okay, so what do you think is the most important theme?

[00:23:16]>> Well, I definitely think I need to watch this movie again because I don't remember it all that well, but out of all the themes we talked about, I think that theme of identity is the one that sticks with me the most.

[00:23:29]>> Okay, why do you think that is?

[00:23:31]>> Well, I think for me figuring out what my identity was exactly was always a struggle. My family moved around to different countries. I spoke different languages and always had a time hard time fitting in and figuring out just who I was among my classmates.

[00:23:49]>> That makes a lot of sense. I think for me the theme that sticks out a lot is that theme of greed. Maybe it's just because I remember those pigs so clearly.

[00:23:58]>> Uh yes, that is a good one, too. What do you think, friends? If you've seen this movie, what did you learn from the most?

[00:24:06]>> What do you think, friends? What themes stand out to you the most? Maybe you should go back and watch Spirited Away again and figure it out. That's all the time we have for today. My name is Anne Marie.

[00:24:20]>> And my name is Garrett. We'll see you again next time right here on Studio Classroom.

[00:24:25]>> Bye. [music] >> [music] >> I am so proud to have you in my life. A good friend lasts a lifetime.

[00:24:37]>> [music]