Although it is a very controversial topic, credit for the first entirely hand-drawn animation often goes to the Anglo-American Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906, James Stuart Blackton) (McLaughlin). Even today, America continues to have a major impact on the animation industry, especially considering Walt Disney's Western media empire set in motion by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, David Hand) (McLaughlin). Over the past thirty years the Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries have seen their films transcend the boundaries of animation and be acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, culminating with Toy Story 3 (2010, Lee Unkrich) being nominated for Best film and grossed $1,063,171,911 worldwide ( IMDb) (while Frozen (2013, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee) outperformed the film financially, Toy Story 3 retains more universal critical acclaim ( Rotten Tomatoes )). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Across the sea, Studio Ghibli enjoys the status of "'the Disney of Japan,'" with its founder Hayao Miyazaki regarded as "'the Walt Disney of Japan'" (Deadline). Having begun around the same time as America with Katsudou shashin (1907, uncredited), the Japanese animation industry easily dominates the Japanese domestic market, with growing international fame and recognition, especially in America. To this day, Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki) remains the only foreign-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, grossing $274,949,886 worldwide (IMDb ). Toy Story 3 and Spirited Away are easily comparable to successful animated coming-of-age stories that deal heavily with themes of nostalgia; however, in terms of national identity and cultural tradition they are exceptionally different, with Spirited Away's implicit message opposing the cultural dominance the West has historically enjoyed over Japan, with Toy Story 3 celebrating the powers and pre-eminence of same. First, the blockbuster status of the two films must be established. In both cases, in the foreground, there is the telltale feature “a featured show… [and] a big budget and big box office returns” (Shin and Stringer 58). While Toy Story 3's budget amounted to an astronomical $200,000,000, the hand-drawn Spirited Away still required a large investment of $15,000,000 to produce (IMDb). As mentioned above, both clearly exceeded expectations of potential returns upon their release. As for the show's focus, both feature colorful, kinetic worlds full of action and adventure. Spirited Away's characters from the spirit realm are constantly on the move, whether fleeing Faceless, cleaning a spirit from a polluted river, or flying. away on Haku's dragon form. The plot of Toy Story 3 takes full advantage of the impressive visual spectacle afforded by a Disney/Pixar production, perfectly demonstrated by the escape attempt from Sunnyside Daycare and the concluding action sequence at the Tri-County Landfill incinerator. Both films are entirely “visercal, kinetic, and frenetic” (Schatz 29); while both films offer captivating worlds for the audience to lose themselves in, the plots unfold at a brisk pace consistently sprinkled with brilliant action sequences to hold the audience's attention. “The aesthetic and commercial value of the respective forms” (Schatz 41) are continually valued and emphasized; ToyStory 3 offers the immaculate 3D animation and advanced computer-generated special effects made possible by the film's "excessive budget...and cutting-edge production values" (Schatz 18), while Spirited Away offers lovingly hand-drawn art detailed slides, with particular attention to the backgrounds and nuances of the representation of the characters (note the exceptional attention paid to the shadows on Yubaba's face). Finally, both films are “traditional A-class star vehicles” (Schatz 40). With actors like Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles and Michael Keaton, the cast of Toy Story 3 speaks for itself. While they may not be known in the West, Spirited Away features the prolific talents of Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, and Mari Natsuki, who have all had various roles in film and television in their native Japan (IMDb). Well known in their respective countries of origin, these impressive casts, combined with the prestige of the film studios that produced the films, ensured that the films occupied seats in theaters and generated pre-release buzz. Both films are coming-of-age stories featuring heavy themes of nostalgia, further increasing their accessibility. Audiences respond well to nostalgia, as “reminiscence shows natural growth and progression while providing the security we associate with childhood” (Kruzel). “Nostalgic content…makes us feel…content” (Kruzel), as “retro-themed entertainment fuels our tendency to reflect on the positive events that have shaped our sense of who we are now” (Whitbourne) . Spirited Away takes a slightly more direct approach; as a stand-alone unit and not part of a series, the nostalgic coming-of-age story can stand alone. Regardless of the respective culture, Chihiro will surely remind the viewer of the innocent and energetic naivety of childhood. As soon as she enters the bathhouse and is immediately put to work with Kamaji, the viewer is able to reflect on her own journey to adulthood. Through her various trials and tribulations in which she falls in love, learns about loss, and discovers that the world is not painted in colors, we see her become a woman (figuratively rather than literally); adults will fondly remember their journey, teenagers and young adults will appreciate the fact that they are almost done with their journey, and young audience members will anxiously await their impending transition. As for nostalgia, Spirited Away's setting explicitly references "Meiji Japan in terms of architecture, during which the style was a mix of Western and Japanese" (Suzuki). While it is likely that no Japanese audience member of Spirited Away in 2001 directly remembers the Meiji era, the Japanese highly value their heritage and identity, and the rustic settings depicted trigger the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, "the beauty of imperfect, impermanent things". and incomplete...of modest and humble things...of unconventional things" (Koren). Spirited Away returns its audience to a simpler, more authentic time that strikes a cultural chord "through its complex vision of a fantastical realm almost nostalgic threatened by pollution from within and without" (Napier 288). Foreign audiences also find themselves involved in the beauty of rural Japan through Appadurai's "possibility of 'nostalgia without memory' in which 'the past becomes a synchronic storehouse of cultural scenarios'" (Napier 289). Toy Story 3 is unique considering that the nature of its nostalgic coming-of-age story depends on the last two installments of the series. Just as happened with Monsters University (2013, Dan Scanlon), Disney/Pixar assumes that the audience ofMillennial grew up with the previous films. While an individual who is currently a child can still get lost in the fascinating world depicted, part of the reason Toy Story 3 had such an astronomical impact was that many audience members experienced their own coming-of-age story right alongside Andy. We can immediately say that the beloved world in which we grew up is different; there are no children present (Andy's sister Molly is also grown up) and the toys have been reduced to the "core" group from the first film (with the notable absence of Bo Peep). This generates a sense of wistful nostalgia, but nothing compares to the final shot of Andy passing his toys to Bonnie…in an obvious metaphor for leaving childhood behind. Nostalgia is strongly present, as children and parents can easily associate happy memories with watching previous films in times they perceive as simpler and more innocent. Although Spirited Away is very similar to Toy Story 3 in terms of theme and reception, the respective connotations of the two films are polar opposites. Ultimately, Spirited Away "[seeks] what might be called cultural recovery, or perhaps cultural rehabilitation, in a corrupt postindustrial society" (Napier 289). Spirited Away explicitly references the atmosphere and anxiety of the Meiji era. A period of rapid industrialization implicitly imposed on the Japanese by Western powers, "Japan's turbulent and phenomenal progress in both the economic and political realms inevitably created new pressures and demands" (Morton 164), the primary of which is considered "cultural pollution , alienation, and fragmented or lost subjectivities” (Napier 288). As many workers and families found their traditional culture and values ​​shunned in place of what was Western and modern, it engendered a loss of spiritual integrity that would ultimately lead to the existential malaise that proliferates in postmodern Japan. The spirits, meant to echo those of Japan's traditional Shinto religion, are completely cut off and ignored from the physical world. Consider the opening scene, in which we see Shinto shrines crudely dug up and thrown on the side of the road to ostensibly facilitate the construction of the amusement park. The bathhouse is the only thing that cheers them up, but the bathhouse represents a class-oriented capitalist. society (with the implication that capitalism is the key to fulfillment and success) dominated by the cruel Yubaba. Yubaba represents the West with her Western clothes and furnishings, deals only with paperwork, lives in a luxurious room, and uses capital to hire lower-class labor. While the bathhouse "emblemates quintessentially Japanese cleanliness and purity" (Napier 290), the spirits are offered only a brief respite, only to have to re-enter a world that does not respect or recognize them. Capitalism inspires a reevaluation of efficacy and identity, further emphasized when Chihiro literally gets her identity reassigned upon entering the world of the bathhouse. Haku also experiences this loss of identity, and Haku is only freed from Yubaba's control when he remembers his true identity as a spirit of the Kohaku River. Clearly, the film "revolves around the tension between Japanese cultural identity and otherness" (Napier 288) and conveys the message that a return to the authentic and traditional will benefit the nation (Suzuki). In contrast to Spirited Away's implicit critique of Western ideals and actions, Toy Story 3 continues the trend of the series and offers a subtle but convincing glorification of the same. While Toy Story 3 deals.