When Marnie Was There

Movies by studio Ghibli are great because they are for every age range. They actually take time to delve deeper and aren't afraid to create messages that other children's movies are too scared to tackle. They have a surface tale that a child can somewhat relate to,or at least sympathies with, but also a more mature message to send that older individuals can both empathize with, but also learn from. In this movie, the surface story is about a little orphaned girl who doesn't have a lot of friends and goes to live with relatives in the country and visits a magical house and finally makes a friend. If one were to dig deeper into this movie there's a lot about dealing with loss and death and depression, feeling invisible, or unloved or as if you were a burden. Later on in the movie we find out that Marnie was actually Ana's grandmother and that she was neglected and abused as a child, and she took this negative thing and tried to be a better parent, and although her daughter had never appreciated all Marnie had tried to do for her, she still put everything she had into Ana until she eventually passed . This movie teaches unconditional love, but also brings up issues of child abuse and grief and turns it into a beautiful story.