The Terrible Tragedy of Tonari no Totoro

There has been much conjecture regarding the hidden truth of Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 anime, My Neighbor Totoro. A cursory search on google lists endless websites and forums spouting the same cut-and-paste controversies, all of which stem from the notion that four year old Mei Kusakabe is dead. Spoiler alert – she's not.

Mei's sandals.

Not Mei's sandal.

But if you are interested in reading about all the strange, coincidental links between a lovely G rated film and a 55 year old true story involving the rape and murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent suicide of her sister, then read this. And more recently, this.

It's human nature to search for deeper meaning in children's classics, and it's entirely justified to assume that all art exists on multiple levels - regardless of the artist's original intent. For instance, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and Gremlins; one is clearly about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, while the other is an allegory for sexual repression. You decide which is which.

Still feel an overwhelming desire to ascribe an adult reality to a beautifully nostalgic children's story with environmentalist overtones? Then consider this: The fantastical elements of My Neighbor Totoro can be chalked up to everyday, run-of-the-mill mental illness.

In the film, Satsuki and Mei's mum is hospitalised, despite showing no signs of physical malady. If we ignore the novelisation's apparent claims of tuberculosis, we can assume her condition is mental. When she tells Satsuki that she is the 'spitting image' of herself, she is referring to more than just her appearance. Schizophrenia, for example, is hereditary.

Mei is the first to suffer from schitzophrenic hallucinations of 'trolls' in her back garden, but these delusions are eventually shared between both sisters. Their hallucinations, created to protect themselves in times of stress, very clearly resemble images they may well have seen in the 1951 Disney film, Alice in Wonderland – the 'white rabbit' who is running late for an appointment, the hole through which they tumble down to find Totoro, and later, the Cheshire Cat/Catbus. In each instance, these hallucinations are brought on by anxiety:

• The girls see Soot Sprites when they enter their new house. Despite putting on brave faces, both girls are terrified of the dark turn their lives have taken.
• Mei meets Totoro on Satsuki's first day away at school. Totoro is the product of Mei's imagination (and mental illness), personifying her childlike concepts of the forest – something that seems equally inviting and threatening, but is ultimately benign.
• Sastuki sees Mei's 'troll' while waiting in the dark and rain for their father at a deserted bus stop. Totoro only appears when their father fails to show up at the expected time, and Satsuki's anxiety levels have increased to the point of hallucination.
• Satstuki's most vivid hallucination comes after the trauma of losing Mei. In her vision, she boards the Catbus in order to search for Mei, (noting that one of its potential stops is a place called 'Grave Road'). Her happy fantasy prevails, in which she rescues Mei and visits their mother who appears healthy and ready to return home. Unfortunately the movie ends here, so despite a credit sequence that suggests the Kusekabes lived happily ever after, we never find out for certain if Mei was found.

It's worth mentioning that the catalyst for most of the girls' anxiety is Granny. Her role appears to be matriarch of the town and caretaker of the Kusekabe's house, yet she is undoubtedly the antagonist of the film. 

In retrospect, probably the worst advice ever.

When the family arrives at their new home, they believe it is haunted thanks to Granny's laziness and ineptitude. The house is filthy, rotting and literally falling down around them. 

Her boasts of dusting are quickly proven false by the black marks on the girls' hands and feet. She responds to this irrefutable evidence by fuelling the girls' hallucinations with talk of Soot Sprites.

Soot Sprites? Sure, Granny. And the piles of garbage
you left under the house are Garbage Sprites.

Not only does she fail to do the job she was hired for, when she is on site, she manipulates the children into doing her chores for her (washing clothes, scrubbing floors). When she is tasked with babysitting Mei while their father is at work, she dumps Mei at Satsuki's school with the weakest of excuses. Her greatest crime though, is her insidious suggestion that her corn will heal Mei's mother. This sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mei's disappearance.

Whether or not Totoro and his woodland pals are 'real' is up for debate. Like any good piece of art, the film is open to interpretation - and all interpretation is subjective. What isn't subjective is the character of Granny. She is an insensitive, lazy and negligent woman, and no amount of rubbing kids' sandals will ever erase her terrible guilt.