Spirited Away is Japan's highest grossing film of all time, and even though the Japanese mythology themes aren't fully understood by most non-Japanese viewers the film is still a delight to watch.
But there's one scene even Japanese audiences wondered about- the scene where Chihiro's parents suddenly become pigs.
It was fairly easy to tell the scene was commenting on gluttony and/or greed, but Twitter user @0910noncha wanted to know for sure so she messaged Studio Ghibli- and they answered.
The studio sent her a two-page long reply, explaining that the pig scene is meant to represent “the greed that took place during the Japanese recession of the 80s”:
The letter also explained that the transformation was irreversible in order to reflect the nature of greed in the real world. The letter continued by saying that Chihiro knew that none of the pigs in the pen were her parents because her mindset had changed following her experiences in the underworld.
-Via Bored Panda