For many, Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 classic Spirited Away is the ultimate comfort movie, packed full of incredible animation and whimsical characters. However, it is hard to look the film up online without finding one fan theory posted hundreds of times. One that puts a dark twist on the beloved movie.
This dark fan theory suggests that Spirited Away is an extended metaphor for prostitution. This theory suggests that Chihiro Ogino's situation and several of the characters she encounters on her journey are metaphors for certain things linked to this industry and its history in Japan.
One of the main pieces of evidence people use for this is one of the movie's main settings, the beautifully strange bathhouse. In some periods of Japanese history, especially the Edo period, it wasn't uncommon for bathhouses to double as brothels, with the women working in them selling bathing and companionship to visiting men. In this theory, two details about the bathhouse are spotlighted. The first is that the sign for the bathhouse reads "Hot Water," and that Yuna or "Hot water woman" was a common term for women who worked in the prostitution industry during the Edo period. In the Japanese version of the film, Chihiro is explicitly hired as a Yuna, linking her to this industry. The second point is the main antagonist and the bathhouse's operator, Yubaba dressed like a stereotypical brothel madam.
The theory also posits that Chihiro being forced to work in this bathhouse to save her parents is a metaphor for girls getting trapped in debt. This would cause them to be forced to work in bathhouses owned by unscrupulous business people to pay off their debt, keep themselves afloat, and support their families. On top of this, Yubaba took Chihiro's name, turning her into Sen. In the same way that many working in the sex industry use pseudonyms rather than their actual name. Also, Sen is the Japanese for 1000, turning Chihiro from a person to a mere statement of value. After this, Chihiro actually started to forget her original name. Those who believe this theory say that this amnesia is a metaphor for how hard it was to escape the industry once you had fallen into it.
However, most of the theory focuses on No-Face, the iconic masked spirit from the film. When Chihiro lets No-Face into the bathhouse, he seemingly became obsessed with the girl offering her lots of gold and bath tokens, suggesting that he is trying to buy her or her services despite her being underage. When Chihiro refused to accept these things, No-Face started to hoard the attention of the other workers, having them bring it mountains of food. However, when Chihiro returned, No-Face started to follow Chihiro, suggesting it was obsessed with the girl.
This theory is usually presented with a Miyazaki quote that says: "I think the most appropriate way to symbolize the modern world is the sex industry. Hasn't Japanese society become like the sex industry?" Alas, while this quote is often reposted across the internet, no one seems to know the original source, with many considering it a mistranslation at best or a complete fabrication at worst.
However, while this theory is popular, it simply isn't true. Miyazaki has talked about Spirited Away's origins, creation, and themes in many different interviews. For instance, in an interview with Animage magazine in 2001. Miyazaki said the film was inspired by the vacations he took with his family and their friends. In this group were five young girls who were friends of the family. While on this trip, Miyazaki realized he had directed movies for small kids and teenagers but never one aimed at ten-year-old girls. So, he tried to change this with Spirited Away, wanting to give those girls a heroine they could look up to making this fan theory extremely ill-fitting.
Fan theories that subvert expectation, especially ones that put a dark twist on otherwise innocent films, are always popular. This is because they are fun to read and allow us to look at the things we love from another angle. While this dark Spirited Away theory does use some intriguing details of the film as evidence for its assertion, it seems that many are seeing something Miyazaki simply never intended.
