According to relevant data, nearly 53% of people in the world have one or more pets, and nearly 59 million households in China have pets. Dogs (33%), cats (23%), fish (6%), birds, lizards, spiders and other animals (6%), this ranking is the most popular pet among people all over the world.
When "sucking cats and dogs" has become one of the life and social topics of modern urbanites, more and more live-action movies featuring animals are appearing on the big screen. In 2017, a "A Dog's Mission" had a domestic box office of more than 600 million; its companion piece "A Dog's Way Home" was released this week.
The intimacy between dogs and humans is a theme that runs through both films. In "The Stray Cat Bob", which was released last year, based on true events, a meow rescued a lonely and depressed person. In 2017, the highly acclaimed literary masterpiece "Pete on the Horse" connects the growth of a teenager with a horse, and the communication and comfort of the soul come from the horse.
In short, in films that interact with real people, animals either serve as a symbol or become an anthropomorphic object. Humans endow animals with the strongest emotional projections and place the highest and warmest qualities on animals. body.
Relatively speaking, the volume of dog movies is the largest among the live-action movies in which animals are the protagonists.
The motif of the dog movie:
The fairy tale of "Lacey the dog" and the story of "Hachiko the loyal dog"
"A Dog's Way Home" is about a bulldog named Bella who for some reason has to be temporarily separated from his owner Lucas and placed in foster care in New Mexico City. Bella, who has not yet figured out the situation, thought that she would be separated from Lucas forever, and a rope of fate led Bella to open the way home for two and a half years.
On the way home, Bella encountered many adventures. It meets new partners, grows up with a "big cat" jaguar in the jungle, is taken in by kind people, lives with homeless people, and is even attacked by wolves.
Bella's journey home in 2019 runs through two words, and two beautiful things: loyalty and miracles. And these two words also represent the core theme expressed in almost all dog movies. It hasn't changed since the early days.
("Lacey the Dog")
If you go back, you can go back to the famous British children's book "Lacy the Spirit Dog" that appeared in 1938, and the true story of the loyal dog Hachiko that happened in Japan in 1935.
British author Eric Mobley Knight adapted a story he saw in the newspaper about a sheepdog and the life of a working Yorkshire family. "Lacey the Dog" is about the eve of World War II, the little boy Joe's family had a hard life, but he was accompanied by a small colleague. Because of the economic situation, Dad had to sell Lacey to the Duke. Lacey, who was sick of longing, ran out of the dog farm and returned to Joe's side after a long journey.
In 1943, Lacey the Dog was adapted into a film of the same name. Later, it was adapted into many movies, TV series and radio dramas. From the comparison of the plot, we can see the similarities between "A Dog's Way Home". There are also models in other countries for the "Lacey the dog" narrative. Of course, compared with Hollywood movies, which pursue sensational and moving narratives, European countries such as the Soviet Union in the 1970s have added a display of current politics and darkness and ugliness. For example, the famous movie "White Bim and Black Ears" from the former Soviet Union tells that Ivan took in a stray dog and named him Bim, because Ivan went to Russia to see a doctor and put him in foster care. Beam thinks he has been abandoned and embarks on a journey to find Ivan.
("White Bim with Black Ears")
The dangers that Beam encounters on the road are obviously more realistic than those in Hollywood movies. It has met good people, but also ugly faces. This is reminiscent of the 1950s, when Italian neo-realist Dana de Sica directed his most satisfying work, "Tears of the Wind and Candle" (also known as "Umberto D"). A person who cannot live in reality with a meager pension is rejected everywhere. The dog's perseverance gave him a glimmer of hope.
The dog's perseverance to the owner is a kind of emotion that is difficult for human beings to realize in their life experience and in human-to-human interaction. This perseverance is a miracle. The greatest achievement of this kind of miracle is the story of the loyal dog Hachiko.
(Two editions of Hachiko's story)
In 1924, the Akita dog Hachiko was brought to Tokyo by its owner, Hidezaburo Ueno. Every morning, Hachiko watched Hidezaburō Ueno go to work at the door of his house, and picked him up from get off work in the evening. The day after Nohide Saburo died, Hachiko returned to Shibuya Train Station and waited for nine years until he died.
Subsequently, "The Tale of the Loyal Dog Hachiko" was written by the famous Japanese director Kanto Shinto in 1987 and directed by Seijiro Kamiyama. It was the box office champion in Japan that year, and won the box office of 5.4 billion yen. In 2009, the American version of "The Story of Hachiko" was released, which also earned countless tears.
The loyalty and miracles brought out by dog stories are beyond the experience of human life. In fact, people themselves love to watch such films that transcend life experience, reminding themselves of the existence of these beautiful qualities all the time. That's why there are so many movies with dogs as the protagonists.
Hollywood vs Japan:
One side is a business "hero" and the other side is a warm companion
Needless to say, Hollywood and Japan are the two places that produce the most dog movies. However, the two methods of dealing with the subject of dogs are completely different.
For Hollywood, dogs in movies are often anthropomorphized. Their behavioral logic is more separated from the daily actions of dogs, but in line with human behavior styles, such as "Jungle Heart" and "101 Dalmatians". In some movies, dogs are even able to talk. They can even talk to humans, such as the "Buddy Dog", "The Voice of the Cute Dog" series, or even if they can't talk to humans, they can communicate with the audience off-screen through dubbing.
("101 Dalmatians")
These patterns naturally exist in dramatic genre films, and dogs have become a complete complement to live-action genre films. They are the protagonists of adventure films, heroes who can go to space, and masters who can solve crimes and catch murderers. In addition, with the perfection of film technology nowadays, the animals in these films can do superhuman movements and beaming expressions, and sometimes it is difficult to tell whether it is a dog or a person whose soul is trapped. in the body of the dog.
This probably has something to do with the heroic complex advocated by Americans and the pursuit of self-worth. Dogs are as intelligent and optimistic as people, and they have gone through hardships one by one to become heroes. This is also reflected in "A Dog's Way Home". The protagonist Lucas works in a hospital that helps soldiers wounded on the battlefield. Bella healed the hearts of many battlefield heroes in the hospital; in the end, these heroes used their identities to protect Bella. Bella's heroic journey home, a miracle, has been recognized by human heroes.
In contrast, there are no gods in Japanese movies, and more shots are aimed at the life of dogs. Use a relatively simple story to convey a truth: your ten years is its life. For example, "Guide Dog Q" is about the process of Xiao Q's life from birth, becoming a guide dog to his own death; "Ten Agreements with Dogs" records a puppy and accompanying a girl The course of ten years of life.
In fact, both European and American movies and Asian movies are increasingly pointing dog movies in the direction of healing. The documentary drama "The Day I Named You" starring Satomi Kobayashi focuses on the cats and dogs that were abandoned near the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the 311 earthquake in Japan. The process of the pet being rescued, the friendship between the dog and the elderly healed each other, and helped people after the earthquake to get out of their pain.
Similarly, in films such as "The Day of the Dog" and "My Enemy is a Dog", the dog has become the link to heal the life of young men and women in the city, and the connection between people starts from the connection between people and dogs.
Epilogue
There is a line at the end of the movie "Marley and Me", "A dog may not be as valuable as a villa, a famous car, or a famous brand of clothing. But it doesn't matter how poor, rich, smart or clumsy you are, as long as you give your heart, it will be Use its sincerity to repay you. How many people can do it in the vast crowd?"
Yes, in life, you may feel countless dark moments when life betrays you. Thinking that there are still these cute little guys waiting for you in the light, the heart-warming healing is more than once or twice. Art comes from life and is higher than life, which must be the reason why pet movies including dog movies cannot be lacking on the screen.
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Public number: Director Gang (daoyanbangwx)
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