MovieChat Forums > Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2003) Discussion > She is still wearing her protective hair...

She is still wearing her protective hair tie!

posted 11 years ago by volkstraum
6 replies | jump to latest

The FAQ on this site states she has no memory of her experience. However, she has a physical memory -- the special hair tie given her by Granny and made by her friends. It you watch closely it shines brightly several times in the short time during which she is reunited with her parents and they get back to their car.

Might this artifact resurrect some memories?

"I can't help but notice that there are skulls all over everything. Are we the baddies?"

[–] foebane72 11 years ago

I would say that she remembers something akin to EMOTIONS and FEELINGS about the event, but no specific imagery or event would be in her head.

Yes, the hairband is proof that it WASN'T solely a DREAM, which is rewarding to us as viewers.

As for the hairband shining: me and a few others discussed this film endlessly back in the day, and on my many viewings of the film, I noticed that the shining happens AFTER she stops turning her head to look back before she enters the tunnel with her parents, and once more when she turns to head to their car to their new home - I always figured that the hairband was somehow telling her that she'd made the right choices in both cases. But then again, that's the beauty of such classic films, that it's open to interpretation.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

She ended up remembering about drowning years ago.

[–] legendlength 10 years ago

Why does the faq say that? I didn't see anything at the end that implies she forgot about the events?

[–] moggfree 9 years ago

she had a blank look on her face as she looks back to the tunnel at the ending of the movie. Also in the original Japanese version, there was no dialogue between her and her father. Remember the "I can handle it" line? Disney added that for the English version.

But the hair tie gave hope that she will someday remember Haku and her time at the spirit world.

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

I didn't seen a blank look on her face. If anything, it was a pensive look pondering the events she'd just gone through.

There's no real indication she forgot anything.

Let's be bad guys.

[–] watcher101 9 years ago

Miyazaki said he intended for her not to remember, but he also said that not recalling and forgetting are two different things, and Chihiro could remember in the future, and there's also Haku's promise to her that they will meet again. Miyazaki also said that it's open for interpretation, so really it's up to US to decide if she remembers or not. Further more, the English dub strongly implies that she DOES remember, and that Studio Ghibli itself approved of things in the script change when it was dubbed. So in the dubbed version, and as far as I'm concerned, in the Japanese too, she does remember.