The point was that her parents were incredibly selfish and "tainted" by western ideas (At least, just very unjapanese unpoliteness) like eating the food without asking for permission because "I have credit".

Chihiro is there to foot the bill her selfish parents racked up. Not the money bill, but the social bill owed in respect, good morals and humbleness. She goes from being a somewhat spoiled kid to a very self-sufficient one, for example. Or when the next generation are the ones who have to save the planet from pollution when she saved the river dragon god.

Most Ghibli movies where the morals seem kind of off, just remember that Miyazaki is a hardline traditionalist who has some harsh opinions about our current adult generations and pushes kids to be closer to their ancestors.

not really related to ghibli but, why didn't this meme gets an article? i've seen multiple versions of this meme, portal, spider-man atsv, gravity falls. why?