Post By: Katherine Seastrand
The film Kiki’s Delivery Service
by Hayao Miyazaki shows the difficulties with a culture that continually
expands through globalization and attempting to keep cultural traditions and
values. Although this film takes places in a fairly European setting there are
still strong elements that apply to the continually changing and expanding
world of the Japanese. Kiki represents the balance that must come between
embracing new and modern culture and retaining one’s traditional culture.
In Kiki’s Delivery Service,
Kiki is a young witch living in what can be assumed is a northern European
country. Kiki has turned thirteen and is prepared to embark upon the
traditional year of training as a witch on her own. Once Kiki, and her
opinionated cat Jiji, find a city that she likes she struggles to find exactly where
she should fit in and stay. Upon meeting and befriending a kind bakery owner,
Osono, she secures lodging and soon is able to find a way to earn money by
beginning her own delivery service, with the help of her new friends. She then
befriends Tombo, a young man around her age who has a fascination with flying
and Kiki. Kiki later loses her powers of magic and quickly becomes depressed,
not knowing what to do with herself or where she fits in within this large city.
Luckily Ursula, a friend she had made during a delivery, takes Kiki to her home
in the forest, able to give Kiki the advice she needs to let her magic come
back naturally instead of forcing it. After the refreshing stay Kiki beings
with her delivery service again by visiting a previous customer, that had
become her friend as well. Upon this Kiki is offered a strong hand of
friendship and caring to allow her to feel more loved and a stronger sense of
belonging. After this tender moment Kiki sees the news of Tombo being in grave
danger, dangling from a rope attached to a blimp that has lost control. Upon
this Kiki is able to regain her powers to fly a broom and save her friend. She
is then able to find a way in which to live within the new culture happily.
In the
film Kiki begins in her home as a young witch, it is clear that the home is set
apart from the rest of the world in a very small town. As Kiki begins her
journey she changes from a lightly colored dress with a white apron into a dark
blue dress. This dress is given as her dress to embark upon the journey and it
is stated that it is the color that many past witches have worn. This dress
acts as a signifier of Kiki’s traditional culture as a witch. It is clear upon
her arrival into the large city as she gazes around to the other dresses worn,
all being fairly bright or lightly colored clothing. It is stated by her soon
to be friend, Tombo, that her dress is a sign she is a witch since they always
wear dark clothing. Kiki is unable in the beginning of her year within this new
city to understand where she belongs and how she fits in. She is consistently
wishing for clothing that is more similar to that of the other girls her age
from this city.
By the end of the film though, we are able to see that by
understanding how to balance her magical traditions and ways with her work and
friendships within the city she is able to finally belong while keeping her
true self. This is signified in the film when Kiki is once again looking into
the shop window and sees behind her a young girl walking with her mother
dressed to be like Kiki.
Another thing that helps Kiki when
she loses her powers is to stay at her friend, Ursula’s house. Ursula is an
artist and shows Kiki a work she paints of her and how she views Kiki’s flying abilities.
Before Kiki loses
her powers she is talking with Tombo and states that she does not enjoy flying
that much anymore now that it is her job and she must do it for money. It is
also clear that Kiki feels incredibly alone as she walks home alone after
Tombo’s friends drive up and make her feel like an outcast, although perhaps
not intentionally. We see with this walk home that Kiki does not understand
where she fits in this world as she struggles to walk on the stony and
dangerous side of the road as cars wiz past. When she arrives back in her room
she includes that she feels incredibly alone, alluding to homesickness. It is
later this day that she realizes she has lost all of her powers. With the visit
to Ursula’s house she is able to escape the busy city and feel more at home in
the less populated wood that the artist lives in. It is here that Kiki sees the
painting of herself, showing the perspective of Ursula on Kiki. Ursula is able
to restore Kiki to the understanding of the beauty of her gifts as a witch.
Urusla compares her work as an artist to Kiki’s work as a witch and that
instead of trying to force herself to retrieve her magical talents she must
relax and let them come back naturally, because these gifts are what Kiki loves
to do and therefore a part of her spirit/ soul. By looking at this with the
powers representing Kiki’s traditional culture we are able to see that these
values and traditions are a part of us. We should not covet the other new
modern cultures but rather let our spirits naturally combine the two to have a
harmony and a balance within ourselves.
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