Week 7: Kiki's Delivery Service

In this week's film, KiKi's Delivery Service, we see Miyzaki once again treading the line between reality and fantasy, and it seems to be a theme that Miyazaki thrives on the idea of the supernatural existing completely normally with the normal world. In Totoro it was that spirits existed and people knew and were totally ok with that, and now it's witches existing in the modern (well in this case, maybe the late 40's Europe) world. People are initially surprised at the sight of a girl flying on a broomstick, but they merely act surprised and not scared as if seeing a witch flying around is not a common but completely plausible sight. Perhaps it's as Freud described the uncanny, the feeling that is associated with things lost in the past, but restored seemingly inexplicably. However in Miyazaki's case it's a little different, while Freud made it clear that that feeling of the uncanny derived from something unpleasant that was lost (like like Hoffman's Sandman), Miyazaki's variation on the 'uncanny' stems from something pleasant lost through time restored. Just as the uncanny makes for a powerful sense of uncomfortableness, I feel that it leaves the viewer with a strong sense of comfort and the wonder of something so subtly fantastic happening in the 'real' world. This powerful feeling gently drives a story without a whole lot of 'movement' (e.g. conflict, action, etc.). In doing this, it seems Miyazaki is using the art of storytelling to let the viewer's mind explore the rich, detail filled world the characters inhabit, as opposed to using the world as an unimportant backdrop to the story.