Spirited Away: The Insufficiency of Western Capitalism Part II

THE YUYA AS A MODERN CAPITALIST SOCIETY

The Yuya is a unique portrait of modern capitalist society. A reevaluation of the power dynamic described above between Yubaba and her workers reveals a heavily class-oriented hierarchy. Yubaba, a bourgeoisie manager of capital, hires low-class workers who are effectively her slaves in a rigid socioeconomic pyramid. While her workers labor in the floors below, Yubaba fills out paperwork and manages finances in her office, clad in a dress not suited for physical labor. Kamajii, a man who works the underground boiler system for the Yuya, even introduces himself to Chihiro in an early scene as “a slave to the boiler that heats the bath.” Surrounded by buzzing mechanical beasts, Kamajii, his six arms flailing around robotically, blends in with his underground workshop as a piece of valuable new “machinery.” While wealth is a sign of power in Spirited Away, Yubaba’s dominance over her workers is a product of her magical abilities. Indeed, when Chihiro helps a Susuwatari, or soot worker, she is reprimanded by Kamajii who explains how if a worker slacks off, Yubaba’s life-granting magic will expire.

While Yubaba was born with her magical abilities, much as members of the bourgeoisie are born into wealth, lower class workers in Spirited Away can only climb the socioeconomic ladder by following Yubaba’s word as law. Even amongst the lower class, a rigid hierarchy serves to suffocate individual characters. For example, the men who manage the bathhouse customers, appropriately portrayed with Frog-like features, do not shy away from exhibiting feelings of superiority towards the women who do the behind-the-scenes work of cleaning and cooking. Perhaps the character most suffocated by his role is Haku. Seeking to acquire Yubaba’s magic for himself, Haku subsumes himself to carrying out Yubaba’s dirty work. While a gentle and kind boy at heart, Haku becomes cold and calculated when he works, epitomizing what Marx describes as the “alienation of labor” and highlighting the consequences of pursuing power or wealth as a means to an end.

The fundamental focus of the movie features Chihiro seeking to climb the socioeconomic ladder of the Yuya in order to persuade Yubaba, via dedicated work, to change her parents back into humans. That Chihiro must fill the void when her parents are no longer able to function in the exchange between labor and money reminds us of the inescapable nature of the socioeconomic ladder. Indeed, Chihiro’s catapulted entrance into the labor force hastens her maturation; forever leaving behind her childish days, as a full member of the capitalist Yuya Chihiro’s work now the focus of her life. Ironically, even characters in positions of power are suffocated by class roles. Bo, Yubaba’s oversize baby child, is confined to his jewel-littered room by Yubaba, unable to speak with anybody in the Yuya and forced to associate his mother’s constant gifts as genuine love.