Religious Discourses Protrayed in Film

Salvation In the feature film ‘Spirited Away’ Shinto beliefs are portrayed throughout scenes in the movie. The film shows that ‘salvation’ is made through the connection with the Kamis (spirits). In the scene where Chihiro recalls a childhood memory about a near death experience, of drowning, while trying to retrieve a lost shoe, in this scene Chihiro informs Haku of this event and realizes that Haku’s true name is Kohaku River, and he was the spirit of the river that washed Chihiro to shore to save her from a near death experience.
Shinto is the only major world religion where it is not necessary for followers to express and/or agree with a governing opinion of life after death. However the main belief is that you will become a Ujiko (family spirit). To achieve success in life it is vital to have the favour of the spirits and to give them respect. Once a person develops respect for Ujikos and other important Kamis they will receive favour, like Chihiro received the favour of Kohaku River and therefore it saved her from death. This Shinto belief is or could be referred to as a realization, rather than salvation. Once at this realization of the Kamis one can start to respect, and therefore, receive the favor of their family Kamis or natural eddies Kami. This realization is seen as a form of salvation with the word salvation literally meaning “the saving from evil’’.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Likewise with the movie ‘The Matrix’, Buddhist ideology of enlightenment is portrayed to be a door that one can be shown, where it is (or how to receive) but no one, apart from the individual, can open the door for another. In a scene when Neo is trialing his new fighting skills against Morpheus, Morpheus explains he is trying to free Neo’s mind by showing him a door, but he will have to chose to walk through it or not.
Like the Shinto’s realization of the Kami, the Buddhist must come to the point when they have received enough information about how to eliminate suffering, by ridding themselves of desire. One can be shown where to look for the door of enlightenment and ultimately Nirvana but they must chose to walk in the path of the Four Noble Truths to build up enough good karma to achieve this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Role of Supernatural In the scene when Chihiro first encounters the Kamis of the bath house, she finds that her parent’s greed has turned them into pigs, which shows a Shinto relationship between the Chaos in the Cosmos. .

The world, in Shinto, is a place where Kamis co-exist with everyday life, which may be in an obscure way or, like in the movie, a very clear way as portrayed in the story about the Kohaku River, Kami have the ultimate choice in considering if Chihiro should live or die. Kami have power to decided life or death and therefore are seen to be a higher supreme class above humans.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The seen in ‘The Matrix’ where Neo is hurt in both the matrix and the real world, shows the concept of Buddhism that the Chaos and Cosmos are connected but don’t directly co-exist. Neo tries to free his mind and make a jump from the top floor of a high rise building to another; he does not make the jump and experiences pain in the matrix and also in the real world.

Previous lives are connected to each other with the mind being transferred from life to life. This cycle of Samara makes all the previous lives, as well as the spiritual life, directly affect each other. The mind is the key to Enlightenment and the mind can be affected by all the realms and be injured by previous karma. The supernatural exists within the natural but only through people’s minds, which creates unnecessary suffering, therefore must be controlled to end suffering.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Obtaining a Righteous Life ‘Spirited Away’ most dominantly portrays the path of obtaining a righteous life in the scene where Chihiro is offered anything she wants, including gold, by the Kami No Face but Chihiro refuses not putting herself above the need of rescuing Haku.

Chihiro does not get eaten by No Face because she does not judge the value of her life by her possessions or wealth, but rather by how many people she has affected. In the most ancient writings of Shinto, the story of the creation of Japan, even Kamis make mistakes and need help. Chihiro shows No Face an experience that life as a hated evil Spirit never shown to him, he is shown a person who does not crave ‘worldly things’ but craves to create the most overall happiness for all. Chihiro even shares a magical pill that she got for cleaning the dirty river spirit. She was keeping this for her parents, to change them back into humans from pigs, but when the need arose she sacrificed the pill (and the only known chance to save her parents), for a better life for No Face. This sacrificial love is a true Righteous Life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Buddhist concept of living a Righteous life is expressed in ‘The Matrix’, when Neo is first taken by the ‘freed people’ to have a chance to learn about the matrix. He is in a car traveling down the road when he has a gun pointed to his head and Trinity tells him ‘Please Neo you have to trust me …. You’ve been down there, you know that road’

This scene connotes that all people know where a decision will led them, they have been down it in previous lives, it is ultimately their choice to repeat the same mistakes, as they did in previous lives, in the cycle of Samara or work towards a better more Righteous life by heading towards enlightenment and ultimately Nirvana.