--Updated 2021.5.31--
Hands up for Pixar for asking a clever question, a very big philosophical question: Who am I? where am i from? Where am I going?
The visual image of this problem is the "fork" that suddenly appears.
[What the hell is a fork? 】
Cha Cha thinks that he is trash, so he will run to the trash can without hesitation. And Woody can only correct it countless times, day and night digging it out of the trash can and throwing it back to the little master.
When the Gaby doll appeared in the story, it was the movie that asked this question again:
【What is Gaby? 】
Her function is broken, and she has been trapped in a glass showcase for more than ten years. She has a small and moving dream, and is eager to go to the side of the little girl and play house with her once. When Gaby is finally noticed by the girl but unclaimed, in the next shot she falls into a box that looks very much like a "trash can". Is she trash?
...
These two questions may not be so interesting and need less discussion, because we seem to be on the same front as Woody during the viewing process, and we use the same standards as him and get the same answers.
It is the mission of the toy to make the owner happy. This strong belief has driven him countless times to do various adventures. Woody will jump out of the car to save the fork in spite of everything, and will turn back to encourage Gaby, all because he believes in the sense of mission that the identity of "toy" gives them.
And Woody took us to meet a "variable": the original fragile porcelain doll - Baoer.
Boa is not a romantic symbol, but a maverick. Because I was tired of standing beautifully in the window, the active choice became a "garbage". Losing her identity as a toy completely changed her, becoming strong and charismatic. She didn't even make a clear love invitation to Woody, more like a heroine who extended a helping hand to an old friend for many years. Boa's presence shook Woody's mission, and it all came naturally.
Woody finally lets go of his past identity and makes a new choice: he's reconciled with his mission, and he's no longer a toy to his master.
At this time, Woody has changed from an answer to a philosophical question that cannot be easily answered.
【What is Woody? 】
Obviously, we know that toys come from a certain factory and are branded by a certain company in a certain assembly line; we also know that they are destined to be scattered around the world, sold, to a child's room; we know even more Their ending, they were gifted, repurchased, dismantled, discarded...
But we no longer know how to predict Woody and Shepherdess, are they still "toys"? They go to a turbulent new life, where they go, what they do, what they see, who they meet. We don't know, just like many of us don't know what our future holds.
【What is Woody? 】
I can't answer because the previous answers are all invalid.
This movie is actually very healing. The story is full of courage, strength, friendship, and growth, which warms my heart. This movie is also very sharp, secretly poking at a pain point in life: Who are you? What is your mission?
If you write a novel, you know that we have to set a mission for the protagonist and give him a direction of action. A mission is enough to make a child an adult and make all the stories happen. Some people are lucky enough to set goals early on and work toward them for many years. But some people are very confused. After their youth has passed, they still don't know what to do and where to go.
Mission, we look for it and stick to it. Maybe some people also need to shake hands with it, or even wave goodbye, just like what Woody said softly to Buzz Lightyear: To the infinite and beyond.
So...【What am I? 】
Faced with the heavy philosophical thinking of life, no one can easily have the answer, because everyone has to personally become the answer.
At the end of the movie, Cha Cha said to the "newcomer": We are toys, let me explain to you slowly.
We always get our own answers.
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