Has it ever happened to you that you dream of being as small as a pin and could travel around the world easily?
In my opinion, that is the absolute magic of Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty. This film will transport you to a world where there are few people, and they are borrowers because they borrow things from humans to exist and live below the floor.
But is Arrietty just a face like this picture, or is there more behind it?
The Story of the Secret World of Arrietty is about Arrietty, a tiny borrower, and Shō, a 12-year-old. These are their travels over one summer, the summer before they are both to start new phases in their lives.
Shō is going through a major heart operation, while Arrietty is on the verge of being a proper borrower. Now who are borrowers? Borrowers are teeny-tiny people, not more than a few inches tall, who live secretly beneath the floorboards of human homes. They take what they require to live from the humans (as they call them “human beans”) and avoid being seen at all costs.
Arrietty is a borrower, and she is about to learn how it is done when she is seen by Shō. Shō is with his grand-aunt Sadako because he has to be prepared for surgery soon. Living next to each other for some time, Shō and Arrietty become friends in an unlikely pair. Shō goes as far as offering the little dollhouse kitchen in Arrietty’s tiny home to them.
However, their secret place is revealed to their housemaid called Haru, who has a perception that borrowers are roaches that require them to be exterminated. The main concept is built upon introducing the reader to a courageous girl with outstanding stature and a kind boy. Haru becomes more and more obsessed with the borrowers, and the stakes rise, but the level of tension never gets high.
The most engaging part is when Arrietty’s father brings in another borrower from the outside world. They extend an invite to the little people to come watch but the concept of a community of borrowers out in the large world is never explored again.
The Secret World of Arrietty is undoubtedly a well-made movie, but it could have been so much more. They accumulate for a great climax but do not deliver it; thus, the audience remains unfinished. It just ends, and it feels like the start of a series anime, not a movie one, and the ending just came out of nowhere.
What is characteristic of most of the Ghibli movies, The Secret World of Arrietty is a movie with beautiful backgrounds. That is all that is needed to keep us watching from the beginning till the end. Character development and narration therefore take backstage to stunning visuals and enchantment. The final turn is the biggest one.
The main attraction is the borrowers’ interaction with a large world inhabited by giants and large people.
Each frame of this movie is a delight, and the audience gets to see familiar objects from a different angle.
The Secret World of Arrietty draws inspiration from traditional Japanese art with the fleeting beauty of nature. Just like Japanese gardens, Arrietty contrasts the beauty of nature.
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Writer,
Ferdous Ara Rimi
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE