I watched Karigurashi no Arrietty the other day and I gotta say, I wasn't all that impressed.Let me preface this by saying that, like all Studio Ghibli productions, the animation is absolutely gorgeous. Although the cuteness of the "puff out like a bird when you're alarmed" thing is wearing off a bit.
Cuteness aside, I had some serious issues with the story. Arrietty and her family are tiny people (not fairies) that sneak into human homes and "borrow" supplies. When Arrietty turns 14, she goes with her father to her first "borrowing." However, by an unlucky coincidence a boy with a bad heart, Sho, has moved into the home. Sho sees Arrietty.
Okay, basics explained, I had two major issues with the story. Let me start with the first.
In his autobiography, Leonard Nimoy gave the best advice about story telling I have ever heard to date- if a character does not further the plot, get rid of them. Sho effectively served no purpose in the story. He is just a sick little boy who finds Arrietty and starts the plot off.
There is a one weak attempt to show how they have influenced each other. Sho has a bad heart and is, more or less, resigned to dying. A single conversation with Arrietty, and suddenly his will to live is rekindled. The film was trying to show us that Sho is inspired by Arrietty’s will to live (despite her difficult circumstances.) It failed. That scene was not strong enough to convey that message. That was a pivotal moment for Sho. It was the moment he found his fight, his fire, his desire to live. Think about a scene like in the same vein that’s done well. For example, in the CP9 arc when Luffy screams out to Robin (who is about to sacrifice herself,) “tell me you want to live!!” This isn’t One Piece, and the scene doesn’t have to be that dramatic but, however subtle or sedated, it should be powerful.
As Arrietty motivates Sho, he shows her that not all humans are bad – which, I assume, was his role in her life. But… wait a minute. We got that exactmessage already from Arrietty's father at the very beginning. On their first “borrowing” he says she doesn’t always have to run away from people – some people are good. When they are actually discovered however, he completely does a 180 and forces the family to flee.
To quote a Johnny Depp classic, “that's just bad writing.”
The other issue I had with the story was an even bigger one, the entire concept. The philosophy of Arrietty’s family is that they aren’t bad people because they are “borrowing.” This idea of “borrowing” is reinforced thought out the film and is very important to the plot. When they are discovered by the housekeeper she treats them like pests claiming they are thieves. Sho defends them by saying they don’t steal.
Oh, but they do.
In fact, that’s pretty much all they do. Yeah, they steal tiny amounts, one tissue, a single cube of sugar, but taking something without telling anyone and with no intention of returning it, is stealing. The plot cannot enforce the “wrongness” of the antagonist (the housekeeper) and the inherent right of the Borrowers to live, based on the flawed concept that they do no harm. The housekeeper rants that things go missing. She may be stingy but she’s not wrong. However, minor it may be, the Borrowers are a negative influence in the home. They produce nothing, they help no one and they are only concerned with their own survival.
In the film Ratatouille, Remy the rat, decides he is sick of stealing. He doesn’t want to just exist at the expense of others. He wants to create. He wants to give something back to the world. This elevates him above the other rats. It brings him to a higher level of existence. Even though he is small and furry, he is, in the eyes of the audience, no longer a rat, a pest, a creature that cares only about its own survival. He has transcended and become something greater. The audience gets indignant when he is treated badly. He isn’t a pest anymore, he’s a chef.
Karigurashi no Arrietty badly needed a scene like this. If it were up to me, I would have said Sho was at home recovery from the operation. It was successful and they put a pacemaker in his heart. Later on, while trying to help Arrietty’s family, his pacemaker fails. Arrietty’s father, who specializes in tiny contraptions, could find a way to repair the pacemaker and save Sho’s life (possibly at the cost of some item they direly need for their own survival.) This would show us that the Borrowers care about something other than themselves and would make their taking a few tiny things here and there, insignificant. Right now, the only reason the audience is given to see them as anything other than pests is because they look human. That’s just not good enough.
