Derek Miller
Dr. Childs
English 1301
11 October 2012
My
Neighbor Totoro Review
In 1988 director Hayao Miyazaki writes and directs the
warm family friendly film My Neighbor Totoro. A story of two young girls, Mei
and Satsuki and their father Professor Kusakabe. I’ve now seen this movie about
five times, and like with any movie the more you watch it the more you start to
notice things. Water plays a huge part in this movie which may raise more
question then they answer.
In the film Mei and Satsuki arrive at their new home and
once they get there they rush to the nearby river under the bridge. Soon thereafter
they start to see soot sprites,
small back puffy bugs. The Father seems to not notice them in the house. That
night both children bath together in what must be the same water from the
river. The very next day Mei and Satsuki take water from the river and use it
in the water pump. After doing some thinking it seems there may be more to the
water than we think. Hayao Miyazaki incorporates water in all of his films. He
believes water represents the contradictions of entrapment and freedom, life
and death.
It’s not completely crazy
to think there may be something wrong with the water in the small rural town in
Japan. On Oct, 11, 2012: 6 people reported to have side effects
when taking Arsenic Trioxide, Levetiracetam. Among them, 1 people
(16.67%) have Hallucinations. Arsenic
is commonly found in water. A lot of food is made with water and a lot of absorption
oh inhaling of arsenic can have serious side effects. If this is the case, it’s
easy to see how everything the kids are seeing is hallunations from the arsenic.
The mom as well could have arsenic poison and have something as simple as
bronchitis. If you take a closer look this theory is not that far out there.
As stated before soon
after they take a bath, use the river water and eat the food the boy brought
over they started seeing things. Mei sees two small rabbit like creatures and
follows them into the woods. There she meets Totoro. Later it starts to rain
and Totoro once again shows up. It would make since for the nanny to see these
things as well as she has been there for awhile and may be poisoned as well.
Later Mei goes missing and the entire town goes looking for her. Satsuki goes looking
for her and falls down the hole and hallucinates seeing Totoro as well as
riding on a Cat bus.
What was once one of
the top five family films ever now in the top 50. There have been many theories
about what this movie is really about, the theory that Totoro is an angel of
death and when you see him it’s your time, or maybe it’s just a simple innocent
family film with no hidden meaning.
Egbert, Robert. Rev. My Neighbor Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki. Rogerebert.com.
Rogerebert.com, 23 December
2001. Web. 27 September 2012.
“On the Internet Movie Database, it’s voted the fifth best family film
of all time, right behind Toy Story 2 and ahead of Shrek”. (Egbet)
Sustainablefuture.se. .sustainablefuture.se. Scarab Development,2010.Web.11 October 2012
“Arsenic is also
suspected to contribute to various other cardiovascular, pulmonary,
immunological, neurological, peripheral vascular and endocrine diseases but as
with the above symptoms, the epidemiological study of diseases caused by
Arsenic poisoning is only in its infancy.”
My Neighbor Totoro. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Perf. Tim Daly, Dakota Fanning,
and Elle Fanning . Tokuma Japan Communitations Co. Ltd, 1988. Film
eHealth.com. eHelth.com. 2012. Web. 11 October 2012
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