connor sleeping next to the tree monster
Watch "When the Monster Knocks on Your Door" and find that this is a truth or dare story.
Every day at seven in the morning, the hideous-looking tree monster would come to Connor's door on time, who was "too big for a boy and too young for a man", and told him a story, and when he finished telling three stories, Connor would He had to tell him the truth about his unspeakable nightmare.
Connor always refused, but under repeated questioning by the tree monster, he finally told the recurring nightmare: he let go of his mother's hand and let her fall into the abyss.
He breathed a sigh of relief the moment he uttered the nightmare, but then he leaned back and let himself fall into the abyss.
He thinks he deserves the most severe punishment, because he shouldn't have such "evil" thoughts anyway, and he should die if he has such a dream, and the reason why he suffers so much, has constant nightmares, and even "summons" out of the tree Strange, the big reason was that he didn't dare to face the recurring thoughts in the dream - wanting to let go of his mother's hand, wanting to end everything that made him miserable.
The dream was fake, but the thoughts and emotions in it were real, so real that Connor didn't dare to face it or admit it.
In reality, Connor not only has to take care of his mother, who is getting weaker and weaker in one treatment after another, but also has to face the bullying of his unpleasant classmates at school alone, while his father, who learned that his ex-wife is critically ill, came back from abroad, but Connor was only invited to his new home for Christmas because he couldn't afford to take care of him, which in turn meant that Connor had to live with his grumpy grandmother.
On the one hand, Connor loves his mother very much, is afraid that she will die, and is unwilling to be separated from her, so he does his best to take care of his mother and himself, washing clothes, baking bread, making tea, cleaning the table, and silently enduring school bullying , in order to prove that he can live well with his mother, without having to go to the new home of his father who does not have his own room, nor to get along with the grandmother he does not like.
But on the other hand, it was all too heavy for teenage Connor. In fact, he knew his mother was dying, and his inability to change that filled him with pain, fear, and anger. Inner emotions, no one can express or express their emotions, paintings and dreams become their tortuous and hidden outlets.
Connor, who painted with his mother since he was a child, used a pencil to describe the huge yew tree on the hillside of the cemetery, and this yew, which often appeared in his mother's stories, turned into the tree monster in his dream.
Although the film has been trying to create a sense of horror, the tree monster who proposed to exchange three stories for his nightmare is more like Connor's protector, and the three stories he tells are more like foreshadowing and guidance , the purpose is to make Connor face and accept his true feelings.
Some people say that this is a dark fairy tale, but I feel that the three stories told by the tree monster are really dark in nature, not the routine of the prince and princess living together happily, but closer to the true state of life: the prince is both a murderer Another beloved king, the pharmacist has both a bad temper and a firm belief, and the invisible man is seen and lonely.
These stories are telling Connor that real life is not as clear as fairy tales say, good and bad, right and wrong, and complex human beings always believe the comforting truth while clearly knowing the truth of pain. lie.
Connor's mother knew that her time was running out, but she couldn't bear to tell Connor everything. She just tried to comfort him. She was trying a new drug, and it was not too late.
Grandma who thinks he's too sensible
As for the grandmother, in order to make the ex-son-in-law who came to visit Connor feel that their life is not bad, she specially told Connor not to mess with anything, making Connor who didn't like living with her even more restrained.
As for Connor's father, he may be the only person in the show who dares to reveal his true inner thoughts, but his truth does make Connor more miserable. As a father, he has no ability to take care of his son and cannot let him live with him. .
And Connor, he was attached to his mother, unwilling to accept the fact that she was dying, and wanted to do everything in his power to protect her, but his powerlessness in the face of reality filled him with anger and pain. Subconsciously, he hoped that this The thought of it all coming to an end soon filled him with guilt, so he worked harder to save his mother, summoning the tree monster in his dreams, hoping he could heal her.
Scott Pike said in "The Road Less Traveled": "Our sickness is the result of the conscious resistance to the intelligence of the subconscious - the conscious is sick, the subconscious wants to heal it, and the conscious will follow it." conflict."
I love the watercolors in the video
Connor's dream was the healing message conveyed by his subconscious mind. Seeing his mother in the cemetery that was constantly collapsing, he desperately ran over to save her, and finally grabbed her mother's hand. He tried his best to pull her up. , but, after exhausting his strength, he finally chose to let go.
Connor believes that letting go means he killed his mother, so he chose to punish himself in another dream, and he also fell into the abyss. And the tree monster who pulled him back told him that it could only mean that he wanted to end the pain. People have the instinct to avoid pain. What's more, it doesn't matter what he thinks, what matters is how he does it.
Letting go is a symbol, which means that he cannot change the fact that his mother is about to die, and can only choose to accept the separation from his mother. This is not to murder my mother, but to let myself go, allow my mother to leave, and allow myself to live.
In fact, every kind of growth is accompanied by some degree of separation, but the parting of life and death with his mother came too early, and Connor, who was not ready, was caught off guard.
warm memory
When he accepted the true thoughts and feelings in his heart, and stopped repressing and criticizing, he was finally able to reconcile with his grandmother, and finally stopped being stubborn, and was like a child again.
And when he hugged his mother and cried and shouted, "I'm reluctant to let you go", my mother let out the last sigh of relief and ended her painful torment.
Connor is very unfortunate. At a young age, he has to face separation from his father and farewell to his mother, but Connor is very lucky to have a deep love from his mother, so deep that she is willing to understand no matter what he wants to say; he has a grandmother. The tolerance with the teacher did not punish him when he couldn't control himself and vented wildly; there was a tree monster in his dream, and he used stories to inspire him and let him learn to accept his emotions and thoughts.
However, this is just another fairy tale after all. In the real world, when a nightmare strikes, maybe no one will give you so much love and understanding, tolerance and patience, guidance and teaching, then try to tell yourself the truth first , try to look at the thoughts that frighten you yourself, the emotions that have been repressed into the subconscious, try to interpret the reminders they want to send to you, and stop thinking of them as floods.
See the picture book of my mother when I was a child
People are often reluctant to face the plight of reality because of fear, and hide their hidden desires, truths and actions in their dreams.
The so-called psychotherapy is actually "a game that encourages telling the truth". Whether you can face and accept your true self is the key to whether you can face and solve the real dilemma.
Just as when watching "King Kong" on my grandfather's projector, my mother said to Connor, who was snuggling in her arms: "People are always full of fear for things they don't understand." Once they understand, they can let go of their unnecessary fear and have the possibility of confrontation and reconciliation.
So, next time, when the monster comes knocking on your door, try playing a truth or dare game with it, and you will find that it may be ugly, but it really knows you, even better than yourself.
tree monster and mother
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