The Secret World of

Arrietty

Ira Lapitan, Adam Acain,

Chuxiang Su, Clarity Gates-Stacy

Overview

Introductions to film &text and major themes - Ira

Overview, storyline, characters - Adam

Video clips & related audio/video sites - Chuxiang

Cultural aspects & technical aspects of animation & filming - Clarity

How Does It End?in

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Film & TextThe Secret World of Arrietty is

the American title for the Japanese

animated fantasy film based on the

children's novel series The

Borrowers. The Borrowers, written

by English Author Mary Norton and

published in 1952, featured little

Arrietty and her family living under

the floors of a normal-sized human

household. They call themselves

"borrowers" because they take

things from the humans, such as

food and supplies, in order to

survive. The storyline and characters in the movie differ from the original text because in

The Borrowers the people are of different ethnicity/culture, there are more

characters, and events throughout the story happen and end differently. The culture

in the animated film is generally Japanese, but the original text tells the story

differently about an ill little boy returning to India after his adventure with Arrietty. The

original novel was written in 1952 by an English author, and since the film was

created more recently, it recreates the story to portray current society and a different

cultural context.

Video clips & related

audio/video sites

The Official Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp2nb9Vq0yY

“First Borrowing”

-Exactly what “borrowing” is-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jiRiRKCvhg

“Captured”

-What happens when the borrowers are seen by humans-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEAfhiqaSYI

CharactersArrietty

Arrietty is a young borrower, a

small race of tiny people who

“borrow” things from humans in

order to survive. Arrietty, along

with her family that consists of her

father Pod and mother Homily,

lives under the floorboards and in

the walls of Shawn‟s mother‟s

childhood home. Arrietty is an

adventurous and kind-hearted

borrower, and is very excited

when her father takes her out on

her first “borrowing”.

CharactersShawn

Shawn is an apathetic boy with

heart problems that has come to

his mother‟s childhood home to

wait for an operation to fix his

heart, although he knows the

operation has a low success rate.

Shawn‟s parents are on the verge

of divorce, so he is in the care of

his aunt Jessica and the house

maid Haru. Early on in the film,

Shawn discovers Arrietty and tries

to communicate with and befriend

her.

CharactersHaru

Haru is the maid of Shawn‟s aunt‟s house.

Haru is the antagonist of this film, and is

always coming up with ways to catch the

borrowers. She catches Homily and hides

her in the pantry, but Shawn and Arrietty

save her before Haru and show her

hostage to Jessica. Haru‟s character is an

old, grouchy woman that is obsessed with

catching the borrowers.

CharactersPod Clock & Homily Clock

Pod is Arrietty‟s father. He is strong and

tough. Pod is quiet but has no problem

speaking his mind when he wants to. Pod

takes Arrietty on her first borrowing and is

calm and level-headded when Arrietty

loses the cube of sugar.

Homily is Arrietty mother. She is constantly

worried about her daughter, especially

when she goes out borrowing. Homily is

loud and dramatic, contrasting Pod‟s

characteristics. Homily is kidnapped by

Haru and put in a jar in the pantry.

CharactersSpiller

Spiller is another borrower that helped Pod get home

when he was injured. Spiller‟s character is portrayed as

sort of barbaric, because of how he is dressed and

speaks. Spiller helps Pod and his family find a new place

to make their home.

Storyline

Beginning & Middle

When Shawn arrives at his mother‟s house, he discovers Arrietty as she

tries to take a tissue from the tissue box at his bedside. Shawn frightens

Arrietty, and she drops a sugar cube she has taken from the kitchen. He

tries to communicate with her, but she does not want to make her

presence known because she fears that human will destroy their way of

life. After several attempts at communication, Arrietty finally decides to

reveal herself to Shawn by sneaking to his bedroom and telling him that

her family does not need his help. While on her way back home, Arrietty is

caught by her father and the tiny family decides that they must move

somewhere else before the humans do their worst. While out searching for

a new place to call home, Arrietty‟s father, Pod, is injured and is helped

back home by another young borrower named Spiller. Spiller tells Pod of a

few places he knows of that might be a good location for a new home.

StorylineHow Does it END?

After Pod recovers from the injuries he sustained earlier, he decides to

look at a few places that Spiller suggested. The story takes a turn for the

worst when the maid Haru discovers the mythical borrowers living under

the floorboards. Haru plays the devil‟s advocate by kidnapping Homily,

which forces Shawn and Arrietty to team up to rescue her before Haru

exposes their secret world. Together, Arrietty and Shawn rescue Homily

but Arrietty and her family must quickly leave in search of a new home.

Shawn and Arrietty are both sad to part ways because their friendship has

grown so strong. Shawn reveals that Arrietty has restored his will to live,

and Arrietty gives him a clip as a token of their friendship. Shawn and

Arrietty say their goodbyes before Spiller, Arrietty, and her family embarks

on their journey downstream in a tea pot.

Cultural AspectsThe Secret World of Arrietty was adapted from the novel The Borrowers by

Mary Norton. The Secret World of Arrietty was directed Hiromasa Yonebayashi

and scripted by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. Since this movie was adapted

to the Japanese culture it is not 100% representative of the original novel by

Norton. The Secret World of Arrietty has been dubbed into an English version.

Because of this, some of the cultural aspects conveyed from the Japanese

language have been lost in translation.

The Secret World of Arrietty is representative of the Japanese culture

through the animation technique and animation of the character through their

expressions. A good example of this is when Arrietty or any of the other

characters are surprised or mad their hair spikes up and their facial expressions

are exaggerated. This is typical of Japanese animation in many other films.

Technical aspects of animation

& filmingThe Secret World of Arrietty is an animated film with animation by

Hiromasa Yonebayashi who is also known for his works from

Howls Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea and Spirited Away.

Because of the size difference in character scale in the

movie, some aspects of filming are employed. Throughout this

movie there are many “low point of view shots” to show just how

small Arrietty and her family are, this technique gives the viewer

the perspective of what the Borrowers see.

Another unique technique of this film is presented when

shots are established, typically they show a close up of a human

in contrast to a Borrower. In a typical movie these extreme close

up establishing shots would not be used. But because of the size

difference in characters these shots again give a better

perspective of the size difference between the Borrowers and

humans.

In the beginning of the movie this next technique is

utilized a lot. When there are shots of the Borrowers, their bodies

never take up much of the screen. When the shots change to the

humans their heads and shoulders take up the whole screen in a

close up. This again is to give emphasis on the size difference of

the characters, especially when doing back to back shots.

Major Theme

The Secret World of Arrietty is represented by the topic How

Does it End?. How Does it End is also a general theme for

this movie because it brings together several other major

themes of the story such as love, trust, friendship and

belonging.

The ending of the story is significant to such themes

because of the impact that Arrietty and Shawn had on

each other after their adventure throughout the film. They

developed a deep friendship with one another and based

on love and trust, Arrietty restores Shawn‟s will to keep on

living.

Topic: How does it end?

Major Theme

Love & trust are a major theme of the film because everything that each of the protagonists and good characters do are out of love and trust.

Arrietty trusts Shawn with her family‟s secret of borrowing and living within the walls and floors of Shawn‟s home. She is aware of the risk of any humans knowing about the borrowers but she opens up to him, they build a special bond, and she completely trusts him that he would not harm her or her family in any way. Arrietty also trusts Spiller in the end, as another borrower, when they make the big decision to leave the house and start over elsewhere, and Spiller accompanies them with help.

Pod Clock also risks his life and a possibility of the humans finding them when he goes out borrowing. He does this to provide for his family, which is out of love. Meanwhile, Homily is at home always cooking and cleaning for her family, but is also always concerned for her husband and daughters safety and well-being when they are out.

Love & Trust

Major Theme

Belonging is a theme of the film because the Clock

family finds themselves in a dilemma between belonging

in this home where Shawn lives, or having to live

somewhere else.Arrietty‟s ancestors have been living in

this home for generations, and in the end they needed to

make the big decision to move out in order to remain safe.

Belonging

Major Theme

Friendship is a very significant theme in the film because Arrietty

and Shawn built a friendship that was extremely strong

regardless of the circumstances they were in. Shawn helped

Arrietty save her mother from Haru and Arrietty helped restore

Shawn‟s will to survive. This was out of their friendship, which

developed strongly and rapidly even after their first encounter

when Arrietty was afraid. She was afraid that he caught her

borrowing, but he reassured her that he means no harm and

that he just wanted to get to know her.

Friendship

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"Project MUSE - Arrietty, Homily, Pod: Home, Size, Gender, and Relativity in The Borrowers." Project

MUSE - Arrietty, Homily, Pod: Home, Size, Gender, and Relativity in The Borrowers. N.p., n.d. Web.

08 Mar. 2013.

"The Secret World of Arrietty (2012)." The Secret World of Arrietty (2012). N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar.

2013.

Buchanan, Jason. "The Secret World of Arrietty." TV Guide. Web. 5 Jan. 2013.

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