"The Bad Boy", which won the "Special Jury Award" at the 40th Sitges International Film Festival in Spain, although the animation tells the story of two children, I don't think the age distribution of this animation work is in the range of children , but belong to adults. This animation work fully shows all the characters and the "baptism of time" faced by the city .
The various reactions of people and things in the face of the drift of time all confirm the spirit of the times. There is a lot of hope, and at the same time powerlessness breeds. Developers forcibly develop the land and destroy the original living form of the land, even if it is full of dreams, it is powerless. Gangster leaders will also age, and their power will gradually be lost. Time has had an impact on people, it has changed the original appearance of personnel. In fact, the transformation is not entirely judged by good or bad, it is common to lose and gain.
There is an "evil" in the name of this animation, and throughout the whole animation, the characters that appear cannot be called good people on the moral level in various senses. What I call human nature remains in them at the same time. Support them day after day in this abandoned and deserted town.
Human nature has both divinity and "evil" nature at the same time. After all, I am a person who believes that human nature is inherently evil. Human nature is just like this. It is unreliable by itself. Just like Xiao Hei in the animation, he is a villain, but Is it because of "evil" that he does not need redemption? It is unjust to look at "evil" only from one side. If a world is divided into black and white according to strength and weakness, it is likely to be just a cube.
This animation is not a beautiful fairy tale, it is full of violence, malice, despair, and at the same time, it sings love and sincerity, truth and freedom. These are the things that coexist with that deserted town and that the people who live there are proud of. So for this animation, I will not strip it of its essence---"evil", this animation is based on "evil", and then dig down the glittering things of human nature. Even if some expressions are very subtle, they can be felt. Feelings are not desires and emotions, there is no "what to achieve" motive, only honest and continuous calm observation of things. This is something I thought about from Xiao Hei's "evil". So "evil" is not useless.
The beauty of "evil" revealed by violence
Although this is an animation work dubbed by Japanese voice actors, the prototype of the work is also a comic work by Japanese manga artist Matsumoto Dayo, but the director is an out-and-out American. He was the director of "The Matrix". The combination is wonderful, interpreting Japanese animation from an American perspective.
Violence Aesthetics is a Display of Japanese Aesthetic Values
The protagonists depicted in this animation are two teenage children, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai. They are orphans who grew up in this abandoned city. In a sense, the characters in the animation are all Social fringe groups, scavengers, indifferent police officers, underworld leaders, cat party members, and even killers who speak bird's language, they are all existences that cannot spread out in the sun, and can only rely on this city.
From the beginning of the animation, Xiao Hei has shown his extraordinary "violent talent". He can move freely on the roof, just like a cat. He is always accompanied by crows when he appears on the stage. He is in trouble. But the picture is not bloody, and even full of a sense of "beauty". Violence is also another aesthetic existence in Japanese culture.
The most obvious label of violence in the animation is the underworld. The leader of the underworld, Suzuki, represents the symbol of violence in this town. Although it is a violent gang, it also teaches his subordinates to have love. Another meaning of violence is that "righteousness" is an aesthetic concept unique to Japan. Violence and beauty are two irrelevant and even incompatible concepts, but art brings them together and merges them into a unity.
Violent beauty is the affirmation of human beings of their own strength. It is the appreciation and reproduction of one's own natural power. This kind of power is embodied in the individual, it is wild action and destructive power, but it is embodied in the human being as a whole, it is the power to break through resistance, difficulties, and move forward bravely, and what is shown in the animation is the Japanese "worship of the strong" cultural foundation.
Only the strong can obtain living space, develop their own territory, and slowly develop their culture. As shown in the animation, as an orphan Xiao Hei, if he wants to protect something, he must do his best to fight for his own living space, and the scope of the living space depends on the level of his own violence, as long as he can keep driving away outsiders. , can naturally protect what they want to protect.
Violent aesthetics are a norm in Japanese culture
Japanese culture is known for emphasizing perseverance and calmness, advocating the tranquility of nature and the poignant beauty of fighting are the ultimate tastes of Japanese culture. In Japanese, sadness and beauty are interlinked, and Japanese art works are often full of sadness and resentment. American anthropologist Benny Dickett once compared "chrysanthemum" and "knife" respectively. Chrysanthemum is elegant and gentle, knife is aggressive and cruel. The beauty of Japan is the sad beauty intertwined with chrysanthemum and knife. The Japanese she summarizes are both aggressive and kind, conservative and receptive to new things, martial and beautiful, arrogant and refined, submissive but not at the mercy of others.
Although "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" is already a study of Japanese culture written by early American scholars to investigate Japan, it is not without merit. I think the elaboration of violence in it is objective. After experiencing the anti-traditional modern aesthetics and the anti-aesthetic traditional contemporary aesthetics, the mass aesthetics has become increasingly materialized.
The so-called materialization actually has two meanings: one refers to the materialization of the content and objects of aesthetic research, especially centered on various material desires. Beauty should be the face of the soul, but now it has become the representation of materiality, so "somatic aesthetics", "violence aesthetics" and even "sexual aesthetics" are popular.
The needs of the audience and the drive of commercial interests have gradually receded the educational function and artistic quality of the film, and the film has become a commodity to a greater extent to meet people's daily needs. In such an environment, the role of violence is more. It is to be satisfied with the release of the audience's emotions and the release of pressure. People no longer have enough time to ponder heavy and obscure fragments and thoughts, and more images that stimulate the human senses begin to appear on the screen.
In this social context, on the one hand, the performance of straightforward and bloody violence regulates the audience and has the rationality of its existence.
Violence sublimates "evil" to a certain extent
Unlike other art forms, the powerful artistic expression of film and television and its broad mind allow it to fully accommodate all the beautiful things in the world and turn it into its own organic flesh and blood, thereby constructing a beautiful world and forming a beautiful world. 'The Great Exhibition of Beauty'. With the change of aesthetic concepts, it includes not only what we think is beautiful in the traditional sense, but also the "evil" thing "violence". The transformation of art makes "violence" a unique aesthetic to some extent. The form is displayed in front of people.
This is reflected in the animation vividly, the stretch and speed of Xiao Hei's body when fighting with the killer, the tears left when Kimura shot Suzuki, the atmosphere created when who killed Kimura, Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei The state that appears when fighting together.
They are all violent scenes, but these scenes that extend from "evil" allow us to see a different beauty. The reason why a lot of violence in animation is considered "beautiful" is precisely because it fits our pursuit of beauty in form to a certain extent. The beautified violent scenes and the romantic and poetic bloody fights make the violence have different meanings under the packaging of the sense of form.
Violence has accompanied the development of human society, and the description and revealing of violence in art works from ancient times to the present have never disappeared, from the hunting pictures in primitive rock paintings to the statues of Laocoon, from Picasso's paintings. From "Guernica" to the contemporary film "Schindler's List", these solidifications of human thoughts and emotions all reflect the concern and thinking about the ugliness and beauty, humbleness and greatness, helplessness and sorrow of human nature and society in realistic violence.
The development of society and the progress of civilization have long since kept us away from the era of throwing stones at fire and drinking blood, but violence has not disappeared. Armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, and violent cases continue to occur. Human beings are just using more modern means to commit violence. Violence is an objective existence that can never be eliminated.
What the animation shows is the trade-off between social benefits and human affection when the process of social industrialization is accelerating. Xiao Hei can't let go of the sense of belonging in his heart, and chooses to use violence to suppress violence. This cannot be said to be a A good choice, but not an extreme choice. If you can protect what you want to protect with violence, then this kind of "evil" power can become a kind of inner power? And such a strong inner strength does not belong to the category of beauty?
What are the criteria for judging "evil" in the choice between economic benefits and human touch?
What I refer to here is the development behavior of the snake in the animation and the standard of Suzuki's behavior of human reservation and Xiaohe's value judgment. I will not discuss the snake's personal behavior here, because in the animation setting, the snake is an out-and-out villain, which is required by the plot. In order to develop this barren land, forcibly build a building on this land, And use violent means to expel the people who live in this land, and even recruit killers to kill Xiao Hei and the underworld leader Suzuki who stopped him. It can be said that the death of many people in the animation is inseparable from the snake, and the snake can't be whitened, so in the animation What I want to discuss here is the judgment between the economic behavior of developing land and the preservation of human feelings and bonds. Is it necessary to develop land to be evil? And to retain human feelings, must it be good?
There is a well-known theory in economics called "Bazel's Dilemma", which means that there will be many people taking advantage of things that have no owner. This dilemma has less to do with morality than an inevitable economic behavior.
Just like the background city in the animation, the abandoned treasure town, an unowned wasteland. The people living there are marginalized people who cannot integrate into the normal life of the society. Developers have set their sights on this piece of unowned wasteland. In the market economy, there is a well-known rule: buy and sell freely, and exchange for equal value .
The developer buys this land, develops it, and provides financial compensation to the people living in Baoding. This is the principle of the market economy. Some people may say that this is too impersonal, but economic behavior is not a moral issue, you can't Criticize with moral standards.
Therefore, from the perspective of economics, the snake's development behavior is not "evil", but conforms to the laws of the market economy, and then the various measures he has made are not desirable for his work methods, and his core pursuit is economic benefits. .
The purpose of pursuing economic benefits is development. And why are the people living in Takamachi trying their best to protect their city? Xiao Hei mentioned in the animation more than once that this is my city. This is what I think of as a "sense of belonging". Everyone has their own homeland. Attaching emotions to a figuratively expressed thing will create a so-called "sense of belonging". This kind of feeling is idealistic, it is the place where it conflicts with economic behavior, and it is also the key point of the confrontation between Xiao Hei and the snake.
I once saw a news story about a 12-year-old child who fought in the civil war in Sierra Leone, Africa, and killed many people. In order to avoid the unbearable feeling, he took drugs every day. The child later explained at the UN conference: "The reason we joined the army was that we couldn't find anything to eat, we lost our home, but at the same time we were looking forward to safety, looking forward to what we belonged to, where everything belongs. Fallen times."
This is the same as Xiao Hei, Xiao Bai and all the homeless teenagers in Baoding. They will become an uncontrollable factor. You can't predict what such people can do, so the way to fight extremes is more extreme expulsion. , Snake is so afraid of Xiao Hei. You can't divide the two forces here by good and evil. They all start from themselves, one pursues interests and the other pursues a sense of belonging. Of course this can be avoided unless we can give them a sense of belonging.
This is one of the strongest feelings in society today. In such a period of rapid change, traditional families and collectives are broken. New and not established, emptiness will only lead to consumption and destruction, only when people can feel the satisfaction of their own world, will not compare with others, will not feel abandoned because of money, because of external pressure, this is the true belonging.
For Xiao Hei, what is belonging? He and Xiaobai's secret base guards Xiaobai. Because children at that stage get their feelings through actions, they slowly reflect on their feelings, and then they guide their behaviors. Discipline can bring order, but it is passive. Only when a person belongs to a thing, a group of people, a society, can there be identification and a desire to take care of it from the heart.
This is also the core reason why Xiaobai must oppose the snake to the end. In Xiaohei's eyes, the developers of the snake are intruders. These people will take away their sense of belonging. This is Xiaohei's most precious thing. If it is taken away, there will be only emptiness left. For Xiao Hei, it is unknown, fear, and determination that cannot be told by others, so the confrontation with the snake is inevitable.
And what qualifications do these actions have to be called absolute evil and absolute good? Both sides are opposed to what they want to protect, and there is no "evil" standard here.
Could it be that Takamachi is an undeveloped city? the answer is negative. Although Takamachi is an unowned wasteland, the underworld organization led by Suzuki has built a unique economic development method, entertainment venues, and service industries on this land. These are all economic industries that cannot survive in normal social order. Takamachi is the soil for the growth of these industries.
Suzuki represents the old world order: inefficient but human. Although it is an underworld, I can afford the word affection, so that when I watch this animation, it is easier for me to reach the underworld organization where Suzuki is in the moral aspect. At the same time, a delicate balance has been formed between the rat party they belonged to and the cat party where Xiao Hei Xiaobai belongs, so that Takamachi has been standing in the calm. If there is no snake coming, I think this balance will not broken.
He has lived in Baoding since he was a child, and learned everything here—gambling, alcohol, tobacco, women, making money, opening a strip show, becoming a gang boss, and he has never forgotten the favors the city gave him. . The deep love for Takamachi has become a footnote of his tenderness, so he will not forget to educate his subordinates after the cruelty: "Believe in love."
There is very old blood flowing in Suzuki's bones: urban development only needs to follow the footsteps of its predecessors, because it is simple and easy to do without worrying about failure. In his opinion, the entertainment life of Takamachi residents only needs a strip club. It is precisely because of such an inefficient urban development plan that Takamachi is out of touch with the era of rapid economic development.
Therefore, in my opinion, the "rat party" led by Suzuki is not suitable for the development of Takamachi, and Takamachi should also show its proper attitude along the rhythm of social development. Of course, on the moral level, we still hope that Suzuki will not die, which means that the era of human feelings and bonds has passed away and a new era has ushered in. In the development of the new era, there will inevitably be sacrifices and collisions of value.
So can Suzuki's reservation of human touch be called absolute "goodness"? I cannot agree. This is the inevitable result of the two economic development models. We can condemn Kimura's hypocrisy and ruthlessness, but we must not call Kimura's economic development model "good". The criteria for "evil" here are still vague.
What makes people feel the most deeply in "The Bad Boy" is that in Snake, Xiao Hei, and Suzuki, none of them can be regarded as absolute "good", but they are not absolute "evil", they are all at these thresholds In the middle value of , and erratic in the middle, we can never have a "evil" standard for the trade-off between human nature and economic behavior.
"Evil" is born in chaos, but it cannot defeat "love"
The opposition between Snake and Xiao Hei will still be mentioned here. The development behavior of Snake mentioned above is an economic behavior, which cannot be judged from a moral perspective. But the snake's nasty methods, such as hiring killers to kill Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai, bewitching Kimura to kill Suzuki who is kind to him, and finally sending killers to kill Kimura, these methods are extremely despicable and cruel, and they are "evil" in the value judgment. existence cannot be washed away.
And Xiao Hei's resistance and determination can be called justice to a certain extent. The resistance to extreme "evil" has faith, partners, and strength. These are positive energy, and the opposition of negative energy, which makes Xiao Hei's behavior. Rationalization is also beautified.
The animation does not explain how Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai met. They seem to have been together a long time ago. Xiao Hei uses violence and faith to protect his own values. Xiao Bai is a simple fool with a wonderful imagination and subtlety. Empathy. When I first watched it, I thought that Xiaobai was Xiaohei's oil bottle, but when I saw it later, I realized that I was wrong. Just as Xiaobai said in the animation, Xiaohei has the "heart screw" that I am missing. And I also have the screws he is missing, they are complementary existences.
In fact, the little black and the little white represent two different kinds of people. The reality of Xiao Hei, in order to survive, constantly changes his goals and moral values. Xiaobai, on the other hand, kept his dream alone and was not disturbed by the outside world. In the real world, these two are extreme marginal people, and it is understandable to have a foothold in reality.
I love Xiaobai's monologue, especially his elaboration on "The Screw of the Heart". People always have shortcomings, and it is our responsibility to tighten the loose part of the heart of the beloved. Xiaobai tried his best to prevent Xiaohei from being dragged into hell, and heaven became within easy reach. The starting point of all this is based on Xiaobai's "love" for Xiaohei.
Itachi is also mentioned in the animation, and Itachi is actually a concrete manifestation of Xiao Hei's extreme violence. It is the most realistic display of Xiao Hei's inner subconscious. At the moment when Xiao Hei was about to be killed, Itachi jumped out from the depths of Xiao Hei's subconscious, killed everyone, and protected Xiao Hei. It can also be said to be another sub-personality of Xiao Hei, a violent sub-personality.
This personality has an extremely "evil" side, but at the same time, it is extremely gentle towards Xiao Hei. He will tell Xiao Hei, be careful of the wound on your hand, don't be afraid, as long as I am here, I will always protect you. And I think this tenderness comes from the subtle influence of Xiaobai. According to Freud's theory, the sub-personality is a main personality and is a force with two extreme opposites. The sub-personality will definitely cause the pain of the container in order to devour the main personality. , and Itachi, as a sub-personality in the animation, has no intention of harming the main character at all, and even a sub-personality that exists to protect the main character. It's amazing.
This is Xiao Hei's only redemption, pressing deeply into his subconscious what he desires in his heart and releasing it at a special stall. Itachi's appearance can be described as a kind of extreme "evil" power, it is born with Xiaohei's chaotic inner world, and the only light is Xiaobai. Xiao Hei is a very precocious young man. At a young age, he knew the darkness of the world and felt desperate for survival.
In the animation, through the mouth of my grandfather---Xiao Hei is already desperate for survival at such a young age." I learned. In the subsequent conversation with Suzuki, I can also deeply feel the keen insight of Xiao Hei beyond ordinary people. Suzuki: "No matter how much we struggle, we can't reverse this trend. "Xiaohei:" You will die. It's written on your face. "Suzuki: "Then I'll go first. I am waiting for you in hell. "Xiaohei:" This city is hell. Here is hell. " Xiaohei represents violence, impulsiveness, and is a kind of "evil".
He lives for only two purposes: to protect Takamachi and Shiro. For him, Jiubao Town is his and Shiro's utopia: "flying" freely over the city every day, and whipping up anyone who doesn't like the eye. Grandpa always taught him: "Don't always say 'my city', 'black', bad habits. This city doesn't belong to anyone." Grandpa is right, Baoding doesn't belong to anyone, it's just the spiritual support he thinks That's it.
So after the animation, Xiao Hei, who lost Xiao Bai, is like a walking corpse. He is dominated by "evil" all day long. Most of the bloodshed in the streets is caused by Xiao Hei, because the screw in his heart has been loosened, and that The wrench that can tighten the screw in his heart was sacrificed by himself.
On the one hand, Xiao Hei has a deep sense of guilt for Xiao Bai's injury, and on the other hand, he thinks that he cannot carry Xiao Bai's hope and his ability to utopia. He developed a sense of powerlessness and despair, which made him no longer have the strength to be with Xiaobai, so he let Xiaobai leave. He was actually in pain, but compared to Xiao Bai's pain, he chose the former. "Evil" slowly grew in his chaotic heart.
And an important opportunity for finally choosing to turn back I think is Xiaobai's "love". What the animation shows us is a subtle tacit understanding and telepathy between partners. This telepathy is not determined by the genes of twins. What they show is a kind of induction between energy fields. It was said that Xiao Hei can trust himself to himself, and that he can protect what he wants to protect, but between the two choices, Xiao Hei still chose to believe in Xiao Bai and "love".
You can say that this is a display of upward values. For Xiao Hei, the constantly shaking values make his foundation unstable, and Xiao Bai's "love" is his only salvation.
those "villains"
This animation shows us the marginalized groups in society. While we see the "evil" they release, they also show us what the real "good" looks like. If you want to ask me, watch this movie . What is the biggest feeling of animation, that may be that I can see the truth of "evil", and I can also see the purity of "good".
Sawada
In many animations, the police are divided into two categories, one is the police with a sense of controversy, and the other is the police who are entangled with local forces, and Sawada is undoubtedly the latter.
Mixing up with the local underworld organization is an "evil" existence that desecrates the police profession. But you can't do it to condemn him morally. Sawada is a policeman who doesn't care about anything. When Takamachi took office, his boss asked Sawada what he thought about working in a small place, and he replied: "It doesn't matter. It's the same wherever you work."
Not only that, Suzuki took the police duo to watch the dancers dance striptease in his own show. Sawada's boss was blushing, while Sawada was calm. When asked why he didn't blush, he said lightly: "Ah, that's because I'm cold." He represents calmness and neutrality. In his opinion, no matter what happens to Takamachi, it has nothing to do with him. Because Takamachi is not what he wants to protect, or in other words, there is no thing he wants to protect in the world, and no one will risk their lives to fight for something they don't care about. Akutagawa Ryunosuke said: "The most wise way of life is to disregard the laws of the world and live without violating it in the slightest."
Zetian is not like this, looking at Suzuki's limousine, he will sigh "the underworld is so stylish", but it's just talk. His attitude towards the city is very indifferent, so Shintakamachi accepts him. Frigid Sawada can't feel the most primitive happiness of human beings, and you can never see any excess emotional expression from him. Because of the lack of belonging, he is never nostalgic and is quick to accept new things.
But that doesn't mean he is ruthless. He is very kind to Xiaobai, and will stay by Xiaobai's side to paint with him, and let him hug and comfort him when Xiaobai is mentally broken down and hysterical. This is also his indifference. A "good" expression of the "wicked".
He has always held a neutral attitude towards Baoding, as he said: "Since Hammurabi built Babylon, the city has always been indifferent." His attitude towards Baoding is also indifferent, When Takamachi became unrecognizable, he neither cried nor was depressed. He knew very well that there was no room for tears or time for depression, otherwise, he would be killed by the city and abandoned by "gods".
noob
Xiaobai never regarded himself as a human being, calling himself a "white player", and came to earth in order to defeat the cosmos. Every day, he entertains himself and reports to the aliens about his defense of the earth today.
Xiaobai, who seems to be too neurotic, has an extraordinary insight and foresight, and already has all the answers, but it will take some time to form. Xiaobai told Xiaohei: "'Bai' guessed that 'God' was angry with us."
The industrial colonization of Takamachi is an irresistible trend and an inevitable choice of history. It chooses to let desire determine its own shape, so any existence that tries to resist it will be expelled.
If I want to talk about Xiaobai, I think he is the freest person in this animation. He knows the inevitable choice of history, and he chooses to be an observer without disturbing the path of history. And when Xiaobai burns gasoline on the killer, you can't say such behavior "good", if you say "evil", and this is a self-defense choice, it is a last resort.
Xiaobai's existence is mixed, he is a collection of "good" and "evil", maybe the "good" part will be bigger, so he will affect Xiao Hei invisibly. He is a transparent child. He has seen through it very early. Most of the crying of human beings is because of the existence of expectation. In fact, there is nothing necessary in life, only unnecessary expectations. A life without any expectation and face is beautiful and free, because in this way, people can hear their own hearts.
snake
"Snake" is the land developer of the virgin land of Takamachi, and he represents the new world order: efficient and ruthless. He was ambitious, completely destroyed the original order of Takamachi, reshuffled everything, and then built his ideal city.
He was very confident, saying that he wanted to speak for God's will, and told his subordinates: "There are only a few people who are qualified to pursue their dreams." In his opinion, the development of the city is far from enough to rely on the government's thighs and gangsters. To change the character of the city, it is bound to introduce a more powerful force. This power is the spirit driven by industry, using modern systems and high technology to speak for the restless mind under material desire and pursuit of interests.
The first step in "Snake"'s transformation of the city is to dismantle the "Rat" strip show and build a large children's playground here. However, the playground has imitated all kinds of dolls, but it cannot simulate the innocence.
The exaggerated expressions of the dolls are more like the funny faces of land developers distorted by financial interests. "Snake" is the agent of "God". His invasion is a torrent sweeping progress, innovation and development. The unprecedented explosion of technology and rapid economic development are the trend of the times. the will of the group.
In the book "The History of Urban Development", "the ultimate task of the city is to promote people's conscious participation in the process of the universe and history". All the characters in the animation have participated in this historical process, which is wrapped in the "good" and "evil" of human nature, you can see the distorted face, the suppressed pain, the helpless despair, everything is in The riverbed of "evil" nourishes, but the unknowns that "evil" metaphors are not terrible. What is terrible is that all the samples of love that have passed away will slide into the tendency of self-destruction.
View more about Tekkonkinkreet reviews
