1. The Secret World of
Arrietty
Ira Lapitan, Adam Acain,
Chuxiang Su, Clarity Gates-Stacy

2. Overview
How Does It End?
in
The Secret World of Arrietty
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

3. The Film & Text
The 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.

4. 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

5. Characters
Arrietty
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”.

6. Characters
Shawn
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.

7. Characters
Haru
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.

8. Characters
Pod 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.

9. Characters
Spiller
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.

10. 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.

11. Storyline
How 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.

12. Cultural Aspects
The 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.

13. Technical aspects of animation
& filming
The 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.

14. Major Theme
Topic: How does it end?
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.

15. Major Theme
Love & Trust
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.

16. Major Theme
Belonging
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.

17. Major Theme
Friendship
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.

18. Works Cited
"The Secret World Of Arrietty." TV Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.
"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.
<http://movies.tvguide.com/the-secret-world-of-arrietty/review/361079>.
Dargis, Manohla. "In Realm of the Tiny, Standing Up to the Big „The Secret World of Arrietty‟ From
Studio Ghibli." New York Times [New York, NY]. 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 1 Mar.
<http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/movies/the-secret-world-of-arrietty-from-studio-
ghibli.html?_r=0>.
Mondello, Bob. "'Arrietty': Good Things, Small Packages." NPR. Web. 1 Mar.
<http://www.npr.org/2012/02/14/146888983/arrietty-good-things-small-packages>.
"The Secret World of Arrietty." Common Sense Media. Web. 1 Mar.
<http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-secret-world-of-arrietty>.
Turan, Kenneth . "Movie review: 'The Secret World of Arrietty' is impeccable and pure." The Los
Angeles Times [Los Angeles, CA]. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.
<http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/17/entertainment/la-et-arrietty-20120217>.