![]() Assurance comes from the old just as much, if not more, than the young, particularly from those who stand out as individuals, as outcasts. Conversely, she becomes most anxious and combative when in a large company of children, all of them conforming to each other’s behaviour, denying the individuals within. What conflict Anna perceives is her own misunderstanding, and presented as such.Īlso significantly, she is not intimidated by other people for their age – she shies away very little from speaking to older people, especially if, like her, they also seem to be loners. Trouble comes overwhelmingly from what is unsaid, which seems much truer to me of teenage experience. Indeed, she gets on well with Yoriko’s kindly relatives who she stays with. But never is she discourteous, there are few arguments at all between children and adults. ![]() ![]() Anna is troubled, lonely and misunderstood. Linked to this is the relative absence of conflict between the generations that I might have expected from a coming-of-age film. It’s refreshing that the generational abyss separating Anna from a sense of belonging in her family is revealed to be the greatest fantasy in the film. The alienation and sense of neglect the two girls share is separated by generations, and so Anna is in fact also learning from the experience of the elderly. But, as becomes clear, Marnie is more than imaginary, but a real girl whose life is echoing now from days gone by. The young find their security independently of the old. ![]() Furthermore, one of the final pieces of the puzzle comes when a younger girl, Sayaka (Ava Acres), arrives in the town. Her contact with Marnie is primarily what shapes Anna’s journey of self-discovery – contact with another child. Anna is undergoing a transition, as shots throughout of her crossing bridges or rowing across the water to the deserted marsh house where she finds Marnie go some way to convey. The key to this, also, is that the journey is emphasised. Under the opening titles, we see her train vanish into the distance across a vast landscape, away from civilisation. Yonebayashi goes to considerable lengths to frame Anna as isolated in the world, and the remote location, with its wide, open spaces, lends itself well to this. She isn’t enthusiastic, but her journey ultimately proves to be one of self-discovery, and through her relationship with the seemingly imaginary Marnie (Kiernan Shipka), she finds a sense of belonging. Adapted from Joan G Robinson’s novel, it follows teenage Anna (Hailee Steinfeld in the English dub), her feelings of alienation, loneliness and insecurity in contemporary Japan, and her triumph over them through dream-like interactions with ghostly echoes of the past.Īnna is unhappy in the city and, due to poor health, is sent by her foster mother Yoriko (Geena Davis) to a rural seaside town. Now discussed as the last film that will emerge from the studio as we know it, Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There (2014) continues this infusion of different thematic concerns. The Wind Rises (2013) blended a sombre reflection on Japan’s role in the Second World War with the vibrant dreams of a creative artist. Just as often, that distinction is a false one and the line has felt especially blurred in some of the company’s later offerings, making for even richer films. Studio Ghibli’s output is often separated into two thematic strains, vivid explorations of fantasy worlds populated by spirits and demons, or reflections on real cultural issues in contemporary or historical Japan and beyond.
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