In my opinion, this story not only depicts personal experience, but also reflects the inseparable but bewildering relationship between human beings and nature/ancestors, with a strong idyllic nostalgia.
Firefly represents a typical modern person who lives in the city, goes to school, and only goes to the countryside to play in the forest during the summer vacation. It is conceivable that she may be a little white-collar worker in a city when she grows up.
Jin's identity is more complicated. At first, Ying regarded him as a monster—that is, an elves in nature. In fact, he is a human being saved by monsters, similar to the identity of a wolf child. It highlights that there is a certain difference between him and pure nature. It can be said that he is Humanized nature. So I linked him to our ancestors - we know that humans during the farming culture were much more connected to nature, a way of life that is now out of the norm.
At the beginning of the story, Ying was only six years old, and Jin was already a relatively mature young man. The timelines of the two do not coincide. For human beings, nature is an existence that has existed since ancient times, and even to modern people, ancestors or pastoral songs have existed since ancient times. When they first met, Jin warned Ying not to touch him, but Ying couldn't help but pounce on him. For primitive people/children, nature is always mysterious and fun, so this kind of closeness is involuntary, while for modern people/adults, this urge is slowly fading. From a natural point of view, human beings are obviously causing more harm than good, even deep harm. Therefore, gold cannot be touched by humans, and the monsters in the forest are also resistant to human beings. However, Jin is different from pure nature after all, and he has a certain acceptance of Ying.
About the mask. I think the mask is a link between Jin and Yingying. It represents the mystery that nature shows to human beings, and it also represents the way that human beings should get along with nature - it needs to be separated by a layer, close but keep a certain distance. The image of the mask is a fox. In traditional eastern culture, foxes are the most likely creatures to become demons, and humans often need masks as props in various "superstitious activities". But human beings didn't understand the truth at first, so the childhood Ying repeatedly hoped Jin to take off the mask. Taking off the mask, although it seems that no damage has occurred on the surface, it affects both parties subtly. Just like children often do cruel things ignorantly, they are close to nature, but they will hurt small animals and flowers and plants. The same is true of human behavior. From reclaiming wasteland and farming, digging rivers, building factories, dams, and nuclear power, all kinds of behaviors will have effects that we don't even know about. So, at this point, the idea of the story has been full of contradictions and embarrassment.
As she grew up, Ying gradually knew how to restrain her behavior, which is reflected in a girl as "becoming more and more ladylike". Growing up, she accepted the fact that she could not touch Jin for the first time (without trying it), and told Jin to "don't touch me under any circumstances", knowing that she was thinking of him. But after this realization, she cried sadly. She realized that she always hurt Jin, and only leaving him is the best love. It is true that without human beings on this earth, all things can exist and live better.
Ying has grown into a big girl who is a good match for Jin, and began to worry about Jin more. Occasionally, I heard grandpa say that it will be cold in winter, so I gave him a scarf. However, this kind of care is destined to be far away. She can't go to him in winter and can only stay in the city to miss him. She lived the city life after all, and she wanted to continue. Even the little boy who was watching her and holding her hand was inadvertently keeping her away from "non-city" things - "the road is icy and slippery". No one here understands her state of mind. Firefly/modern people are full of longing for nature/ancestors, but they know that it is difficult for them to go back. Even if they do go back, I am afraid it will hurt nature/ancestry. She can only continue to maintain their relationship with "occasional visits".
In the final ending, the most ancient people's "visit" to nature, the sacrificial festival, is used to give the two a close connection. It's just that this sacrificial activity is reversed. Obviously, sacrifice comes from man imitating nature, but here it is nature imitating man. The author still places hope and warmth on this story with a touch of sadness - the message sent by people has been responded to and accepted, and people are still part of nature at last.
Although the end of this relationship was at the most beautiful moment, it was an accident-because he accidentally helped a human child, Jin began to disappear, and in the last minute of his life, they spent each other together. At first I thought this ending was a little abrupt, but it actually makes sense. When Yingying was a child, he heard his grandfather mention the children who went to the yokai sacrifice. Grandpa also represents the ancestors and their way of life. For the urban/modern people, what he said is a distant legend, and there is no successor. The children Ying and Jin met not only symbolize the compatibility between man and nature, but also symbolize the continuation and hope of tradition. Although the child is still destructive, Kim can leave with a smile when he sees greater hope. Of course, this is also wishful thinking, but human beings still have to live by hope.
Finally, although there is no explicit statement in the film, the intention that exists repeatedly in the picture-firefly, I don’t know if there is more cultural explanation, but I know that fireflies are sensitive and beautiful creatures. It is very picky about its habitat. It is said that if the environment of a place changes, the first to disappear is the firefly. I hope that there will always be fireflies in the forest, and I hope that people and nature can coexist, perhaps that is the meaning of this title.
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