Although a highly controversial topic, credit for the first entirely hand-drawn animation goes to often at the Anglo-American Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906, James Stuart Blackton) (McLaughlin).To this day, America continues to have a major impact on the animation industry, especially considering Walt Disney's Western media empire set in motion by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, David Hand) (McLaughlin). Over the past three decades, the Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries have seen their films transcend the boundaries of animation and achieve critical and commercial acclaim, culminating with Toy Story 3 (2010, Lee Unkrich) nominated for Best Picture and grossing $1,063,171,911 worldwide (IMDb) (while Frozen (2013, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee) surpassed the film financially, Toy Story 3 maintains more universal critical acclaim (Rotten Tomatoes)). Say No to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Across the sea, Studio Ghibli enjoys the status of "Japan's Disney", its founder Hayao Miyazaki being considered "the Walt Disney of Japan" (Deadline). Having debuted around the same time as America with Katsudou Shashin (1907, uncredited), the film industry Japanese animation easily dominates the Japanese domestic market, with growing international fame and recognition, particularly in America. To date, Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki) remains the only foreign language animation to win the award. 'Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, grossing $274,949,886 worldwide (IMDb), Toy Story 3 and Spirited Away are easily comparable to highly successful animated coming-of-age stories. in themes of nostalgia; however, in terms of national identity and cultural tradition, they are exceptionally different, with the implicit message of Spirited Away speaking against the cultural domination that the West has historically enjoyed over Japan, while that Toy Story 3 celebrates the powers and preeminence of this same country. the blockbuster status of both films needs to be established. The telling characteristic of “emphasis on spectacle…[and] big budgets and big box office returns” is highlighted in both cases (Shin and Stringer 58). While Toy Story 3's budget was a staggering $200,000,000, producing the hand-drawn Spirited Away still required a significant investment of $15,000,000 (IMDb). As mentioned above, both clearly exceeded expectations in terms of potential returns upon release. As for the show's foreground, both feature colorful, kinetic worlds filled with action and adventure. The spirit realm characters depicted in Spirited Away are constantly on the move, whether escaping from No-Face, cleansing a polluted river spirit, or flying. in Haku's dragon form. The plot of Toy Story 3 takes full advantage of the impressive visual spectacle guaranteed by a Disney/Pixar production, perfectly demonstrated by the escape attempt from Sunnyside Daycare and the final action sequence at the incinerator of the landfill of the three counties. Both films are entirely “visical, kinetic, and fast-paced” (Schatz 29); While both films offer captivating worlds for audiences to get lost in, the plots move at a rapid pace, constantly peppered with bright action sequences to keep audiences' attention. “The aesthetic and commercial value of the respective forms”(Schatz 41) are continually improved and emphasized; Toy Story 3 offers impeccable 3D animation and advanced computer-generated special effects made possible by the film's "excessive budget...and cutting-edge production values" (Schatz 18), while Spirited Away features hand-drawn designs with love and details. slides, with particular attention to the backgrounds and nuances of character depiction (note the exceptional attention paid to the shadows on Yubaba's face). Finally, both films are “Class A mainstream star vehicles” (Schatz 40). With actors such as Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles and Michael Keaton, the cast of Toy Story 3 speaks for itself. Although they may not be known in the West, Spirited Away features the prolific talents of Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, and Mari Natsuki, all of whom have played multiple film and television roles in their native Japan (IMDb ). Well known in their respective countries of origin, these impressive casts, coupled with the prestige of the studios that produced the films, allowed the films to fill theaters and generate buzz before their release. Both films are coming-of-age stories. featuring heavy themes of nostalgia, further increasing their accessibility. Audiences respond well to nostalgia because “reminiscence displays natural growth and progression while providing the security we associate with childhood” (Kruzel). “Nostalgic content…makes us feel…satisfied” (Kruzel), because “retro-themed entertainment fuels our tendency to reflect on the positive events that shaped our sense of who we are now” (Whitbourne). Spirited Away is a little more direct in its approach; as a standalone unit and not part of a series, the nostalgic coming-of-age story can be considered on its own. Regardless of one's culture, Spirited Away will definitely remind the viewer of the innocent and energetic naivety of childhood. As she enters the bathhouse and is immediately put to work with Kamaji, the viewer is left to reflect on her own journey into adulthood. Through her various trials and tribulations in which she falls in love, learns of loss, and discovers that the world is not painted chromatically, we see her become a woman (figuratively rather than literally); adults will fondly remember their own journey, teens and young adults will appreciate the fact that they are almost done with theirs, and younger audiences will look forward to their next transition. As for nostalgia, the setting of Spirited Away explicitly references "Meiji Japan in terms of architecture, a time when the style was a mixture of Western and Japanese" (Suzuki). Although it is likely that no Japanese audience member of 2001's Spirited Away remembers the Meiji era directly, the Japanese place great importance on their heritage and identity, and the rustic settings depicted trigger the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, “the imperfect, ephemeral beauty of things”. and incomplete… modest and humble things… unconventional things” (Koren). Spirited Away takes its audience back to a simpler, more authentic time that strikes a cultural chord “through its complex vision of a quasi-nostalgic fantasy realm threatened by pollution from within and without” (Napier 288). Even foreign audiences find themselves captivated by the beauty of rural Japan through Appadurai's “possibility of “nostalgia without memory” in which “the past becomes a synchronic storehouse of cultural scenarios” (Napier 289). Toy Story 3 is unique given that thethe nature of its nostalgic coming-of-age story depends on the series' final two episodes. Much like with Monsters University (2013, Dan Scanlon), Disney/Pixar assumes that millennial audiences grew up with the previous films. Although an individual who is currently a child can still get lost in the fascinating world depicted, part of the reason Toy Story 3 has had such an astronomical impact is that many audience members have experienced their own coming-of-age story. adulthood alongside Andy. We can immediately say that the beloved world we grew up in is different; there are no children present (even Andy's sister Molly has grown up) and the toys have been reduced to the "main" group from the first film (with the notable absence of Bo Peep). This engenders a sense of melancholic nostalgia, but nothing can compare to the final shot in which Andy passes his toys to Bonnie in an obvious metaphor for letting go of childhood. Nostalgia is strongly present, as children and parents can easily associate happy memories with watching previous films from a time they perceive as simpler and more innocent. Although in terms of theme and reception, Spirited Away is very similar to Toy Story 3, the respective connotations of the two films are poles apart. Ultimately, Spirited Away “[seeks] what we might call a cultural recovery, or perhaps a cultural rehabilitation, in a corrupt postindustrial society” (Napier 289). Spirited Away explicitly references the atmosphere and anxiety of the Meiji era. A period of rapid industrialization implicitly imposed on the Japanese by Western powers, "Japan's turbulent and phenomenal advance in the economic and political fields inevitably created new pressures and demands" (Morton 164), the main of which are considered to be " cultural pollution, alienation, and fragmented or lost subjectivities” (Napier 288). As many workers and families found their traditional culture and values ​​shunned in lieu of what was Western and modern, a loss of spiritual integrity was engendered that ultimately led to the existential malaise that proliferates in postmodern Japan. The spirits, believed to echo those of traditional Japanese Shinto religion, are completely cut off and ignored from the physical world. Consider the opening scene, in which we see Shinto shrines crudely dug up and dumped on the side of the road to ostensibly facilitate the construction of the amusement park. The bathhouse is the only thing that lifts their spirits, but the bathhouse represents class capitalism. society (with the implication that capitalism is the key to fulfillment and success) dominated by the cruel Yubaba. Yubaba represents the West with her Western clothing and decoration, only dealing with paperwork, living in a luxurious room, and using the capital to hire a lower class workforce. While the public baths “symbolize typically Japanese purification and purity” (Napier 290), the spirits are offered only a brief respite, eventually having to re-enter a world that neither respects nor recognizes them. Capitalism inspires a reevaluation of efficiency and identity, further accentuated when Chihiro literally has her identity reassigned upon entering the world of the bathhouse. Haku also experiences this loss of identity, and Haku is only freed from Yubaba's control when he remembers his true identity as the Kohaku River Spirit. Obviously, the film “revolves around the tension between Japanese cultural identity and otherness” (Napier 288) and delivers the «.