The utopia of "harmonious society" and "world harmony" is the dream of philosophers and moralists since ancient times. As for how to achieve this goal, people probably took several paths. Han Fei's method - using strict laws to make people dare not endanger the social order. However, people found that: the government was scrutinized, and the people were lacking—the stricter the law, the more cunning people were, and the harder they suppressed it, the stronger the people's will to resist. . The Confucian method is to teach etiquette. Confucius' theory of self-restraint and return to propriety was exaggeratedly extended by later Confucian scholars, to the point of annihilating human desires. This method is essentially the same as the cool method, and in a way, it is even more cruel. The shackles of Legalism are on people's bodies, and the shackles of Confucianism are on people's minds. People are taught the concept of good and evil from an early age, and are taught to suppress their nature. In this way, Confucianism hopes to stifle violence and instability in the cradle. But as with the result of the law, these repressed things still resist and cause trouble.
Plato stipulated the ranks of people in the Republic, and then deceived them with "great lies". However, there are still some shrewd people who have discovered that the law is actually the source of resistance and violence. If nothing weighs you down, if class is completely eliminated, what have you to resist? Therefore, Lao Tzu advocates that rulers do nothing, do not impose laws, do not set up concerns about right and wrong, and let the people return to the most simple state of desirelessness. Jesus Christ came to the world not to abolish the laws of the old covenant, but to bring people to the light of the new covenant where there is no class and hatred, but only love and harmony.
The essence of utopia is that each person is satisfied with his position and serves the great machine of society. It's hard to put everyone in their place with violence, they have to be willing to do it themselves. Therefore, to eradicate resistance and violence, it is not about punishment but thinking. Lao Tzu said, "The people are not afraid of death, but how can they be afraid of death". In George Orwell's "1984", the purpose of the party is not to kill, but to reform prisoners, using various methods to cleanse the sinners' minds until they are "purified" into normal people in society. In Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange", the prisoner is forced to watch violent videos until nausea and nausea, becoming a "good man" who is no longer capable of engaging in violence. In Angry Birds, birds are going to take anger management classes until they are no longer angry.
Dystopian works have been around since the twentieth century, so much so that today's utopians are mostly Hollywood villains. In recent years, Hollywood popcorn movies have also been trying to dig deeper from this point of dystopia. In "Captain America 2", in order to achieve world peace, Hydra uses equations to calculate all personal information of people, and picks out those who may become unstable factors to kill with helicarriers. In Assassin's Creed, "Golden Apple" is chosen to be used. "This artifact controls the mind and removes the genes of violence. In contrast, the way Angry Birds handles it is more unique.
"Angry Birds" tells a slightly dark story in a cheerful rhythm and bright atmosphere. A Hong, a character who has no skills in the game, is an alien to Bird Island in the movie. Bird Island is a beautiful utopia. Birds love each other, smile on the street, say hello politely, and live a life without conflict or stress. In this place where every bird is gentle and friendly, harmonious and united, Ah Hong is a poisonous weed in that harmonious society.
He was irritable, violent, and disliked everything, which made him isolated and even more angry because of it. He was ostracized as an orphan because of his status and appearance as an orphan, an abandoned baby with a broken shell in a lost and found attic. We can see that he seems to be born full of anger, with a genetic tendency to violence.
Nietzsche believes that utopia is a place where "there are no shepherds, but only a flock of sheep", which is also the trend of the future. There will be no government and rulers, and everyone will be content with the status quo, healthy and happy. "Whoever thinks otherwise, voluntarily to the lunatic asylum." In a place like Bird Island where everyone is happy, it is a crime to be unhappy.
The strong are no longer born, and people are becoming more and more degraded. Birds on Bird Island live too peacefully, and even degenerate to the point of being unable to fly, because "there is no other place to go". Nietzsche said such a society would not use violence even against criminals because everyone is so weak. Bird Island is also a place without violence, so the most terrible punishment is to go to an "anger management course". In the anger management class, there are a group of birds that are not suitable for living in society, Chuck who is super fast, Bomb who explodes when excited, and Terencce who is full of fierceness. Their teacher Matilda is a bird who can't do anything. An angry bird that stays zen.
Bird Island has welcomed pigs with malicious intentions under the closed life for many years, but the birds with stable lives have no doubts about the purpose of the pigs until all the eggs are stolen. When all the birds are helpless, Ah Hong's speech is to the effect that you are not angry? They stole your children, do you still want to stay calm and happy? Do you have any? Birds are not supposed to be easy to mess with. Birds are descendants of dinosaurs. While saying this, a bird below let out a dinosaur roar.
This is also arranged by the screenwriters when designing the characters. All the birds look cute and cute, but in fact they all like to play pranks, and even have some violent tendencies, because all birds have unsettled genes.
In the end all the birds became angry, including Matilda, who had been suppressing her anger, and was actually one of the most angry birds. As many dystopian works try to embody, everyone has genes for restlessness and evil, a subconscious desire for conflict. Utopia means harmony and stability, and at the same time it means suppressing all these deep emotions.
"Angry Birds" is not like other game adaptation movies, which pursues too much plot stimulation and visual effects. At this time, we can compare the comic book "Assassin's Creed" released this year. The Assassin's Creed movies also tried to use "violence" as the point of excavation, setting the Assassin bloodline as the genes of violence, resistance, instability, and anarchy. As long as these genes persist, it is impossible for human beings to unite and be peaceful. The Templars in the film are a utopian organization that "cures violence". But "Assassin's Creed" fails in not digging deeply into this subject, and the whole chapter is full of lethargic music and pretending to be deep dialogue. I think it is precisely because the plot of the original game of "Angry Birds" is too simple, that the adaptation of the movie has much wider scope than other games with complex plots. So instead of using the dystopia of anger as a point to add depth to the film, it revolves around Ah Hong's anger problem, with a compact plot, vivid characters, and dense laughs. Although there are inevitably many Hollywood routines, they are harmless. "Angry Birds" does not pretend to be deep, deliberately excavates, does not focus on the dark and cruel side, but inserts dystopia into the "anger" of daily life, creating a film that can make people laugh and make people think The movie, thinking about the existence of utopia, is really so beautiful.
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