Spirits, Bath Houses & Music : A Qualitative Textual Analysis of the Music & Characters in Spirited Away

Abstract: This thesis delves into film music and how it can be used to shape and influence the viewer on different levels, as well as how the music in itself portrays a character. A qualitative textual analysis was used in order to get an answer to these questions. The object of study for this analysis was Studio Ghibli’s film Spirited Away, and the characters that were analyzed were Chihiro, No Face and Yubaba. Multimodality was one of the main theories used, since it was the most fitting for the subject of analyzing characters on a deeper level. It was used to make meaning of signs with personal and cultural references as a guide later on for the material that had been collected. Neoformalism was the main method for this analysis. Leitmotif or returning instruments are used to either indicate a character’s presence like No Face or Yubaba, or the character's emotion or motivation, like Chihiro’s leitmotif when she is reminded of the real world. The music was used to create a narrative with Chihiro and No Face, while the music for Yubaba was mostly to create a sense of emotion. The changes in Chihiro and No Face leitmotifs that can be heard throughout the movie, indicates character development. Yubaba’s music doesn’t change and is used more to settle an emotional impact when she’s shown. Silence was also heavily used, mostly in relation to Chihiro. Sudden changes from an abundance of music to silence to create an eerie feeling around elements that scare Chihiro is the most used, but also the loss of leitmotif for No Face to show change. The music is also used to highlight the difference between the real world and the spirit world, the real world has western influenced style of music while the spirit world has an eastern influenced style of music. This is also reflected in the characters, with No Face having Japanese bells to show he’s a spirit, while Chihiro and Yubaba having more western sounding music to show they do not belong there.