Even the little girl who befriends her, Sayaka, the one who provides her ample Evidence from which to force those recollections ( Objective Story Issue, along with the silo and the house), can't comprehend why Anna seems to have forgotten everything.īut Anna has. Seems the Japanese might know a thing or two about exploring problems having to do with Fixed Attitudes.Īnd these Fixed Attitudes affects everyone from her foster mother Yariko to the Oiwa's who take her in to the 'fat pig' Nobuko and ultimately to Marnie herself. Omoide no Mani litterally translates to Marnie of Memories. The same happens here-but in the original Japanese title.

Most films spell out their Objective Story Throughline in the title: Finding Nemo, Star Wars, A Separation. It is something vastly more sophisticated and heady: the imbalance in the story that everyone feels revolves around Anna's depression and her inability to recall her relationship with her Grandma. In fact Marnie's Objective Story Throughline-the part of the story that encompasses everyone-isn't about fighting, or getting back home, or training how to kill dragons. Hard to imagine talking toys dealing with the same thing. Like Hamlet before her, Anna's problem is how she thinks and specifically, how she thinks of herself ( Main Character Problem: Self-Aware).

Anna's perception of herself outside of the circle with everyone else inside defines her dysfunctional Way of Thinking. This is not some happy-bouncy-lampy thing here. The same kind of conflict, just wrapped up in a different package.Ĭontrast that with Anna from When Marnie Was Here: she hates herself. Incredible is overweight and stuck in a dead end job, Woody is falling apart, and Hiccup is a 98 lb. Incredible, Woody in Toy Story 2, and Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon all share a common problem with their physicality.

Take any Pixar or Disney film and you will typically find the Main Character Throughline in Situation and the Objective Story Throughline in Activity. This unusual-yet still fully functional-take on narrative structure sets the film apart from most animated fare. Studio Ghibli's When Marnie Was Here is a beautifully animated film with a unique and uncommon storyform.

When marnie was there scene