One of the ways that the English colonists expanded their territories in Ireland was to eliminate the wolves. The wolves are scary, and all Irish people are scared. The elimination of wolves is a vision brought to Ireland by the English colonizer Lord Protector. But are the wolves really so terrible, they kill and eat people? At least this is not the case in the world of the film. On the contrary, as the leader of the wolf pack, Wolfwalkers saved a person from the beginning. And if wolves are really so terrible, then it is a more reasonable method to establish a barrier between human society and wolf society and not to invade each other, so it is not how terrible the wolf pack is on an objective level.
Just like the real-world colonial history, colonists need to create a high-sounding excuse, and most of this excuse is to spread the gospel of God or help uncivilized places develop. In fact, the two are unified, which is the so-called bringing civilization. As the opposite of civilization, the wolf pack has naturally become a terrifying existence, and the fear of the wolf has aggravated the fear of the Irish people. In this case, Lord Protector can shape him as a colonizer by eliminating the wolf pack. It is also the identity of the protector, rationalizing colonialism and assimilating Ireland. So it does not matter whether the wolves are really scary, what is important is how terrible the wolves are shaped in the sense of human society and culture.
Robyn and his father, as characters living in the society in the film, naturally, they inherited this culture. In contrast, as an adult, his father has a higher degree of socialization, so the terrible wolf has a deeper impact on him. This is when the father and daughter talked about wolves in the beginning, the father was obviously more afraid of wolves. When a person is afraid of something, the instinctive reaction is to hide and avoid it, but Robyn's father, as a wolf trap, his job is to hunt wolves. Catching wolves is the basis for his livelihood or a foothold in the world. If he does not hunt wolves because of fear, he may suffer more punishment than the fear of wolves, so he has to go.
Robyn wants to be a wolf catcher. This may be due to his character. It may also be an imitation of the father in the absence of the mother. My father went out to hunt wolves during the day, and came back at night. The father and daughter rested after a few words, repeating this day by day. Robyn doesn't spend much time with her father, and hunting wolves has become a way for her to get along with her father and gain her father's approval. Especially when the mother is missing, the companionship and recognition of her father is the only thing she can get. This is consistent with what she said later that she could understand if it were her mother.
Therefore, for Robyn and his father, wolves are feared but they must face, whether from a social level or a personal level. Therefore, the wolf pack represents the fear of human beings. Human beings are afraid of their fears but cannot completely cut off from their fears.
As a wolf walker, the wolf emerges from the human body when the human is asleep, which is like a dream in the real world (the essence of daydreaming is not a dream, but a fantasy). Dreams appear when people are asleep, and the essence of dreams is that when a person is asleep, the conscious level of a person relaxes, and the subconscious content comes out by itself. The level of consciousness covers the social rules that people live in. The social rules in the film are that wolves are terrible, wolves are to be killed, or only humans are safe. Therefore, when the wolf walker is awake, the effect of the consciousness level will not let the wolf come out, and when he falls asleep, the rules of the consciousness level are relaxed, and the wolf will come out naturally. When Robyn's wolf came out, his father, as a wolf slayer, naturally wanted to kill the wolf. The thing that Dad did not accept was the wolf, and when she became a wolf, Dad could not accept her at all. When her mother is gone, her father's non-acceptance is like she will be killed by her father. This is actually the fear she had when she was a human in the beginning. The process of wolves coming out of the wolfwalker is the process of dreaming by people in the real world. Dreams, as a reflection of the subconscious mind, actually reflect the world within one's own mind. Nightmares represent people's fears, and those dreams are people's desires.
When Robyn ran out to meet Mebh, they played together, shuttled between the mountains and forests, enjoying freedom. Robyn is still a wolf at this moment, but she is not afraid of being a wolf. Because she is completely safe with Mebh. They are all wolves too, because the fear of not being accepted by their father is in stark contrast to the freedom that can be accepted by Mebh. This kind of freedom echoes Robyn's freedom to practice archery at home at the beginning of the film. So whether you are a person or a wolf, when you can be yourself safely and freely, the power of fear is weak, and the vitality of life blooms. This is the power of love. This is a sweet dream.
But when Robyn saw that Mebh’s mother who was much stronger than herself was arrested that night and was about to be killed, and at the same time she almost died that night, she dared not go to see Mebh, nor did she dared to sleep. In her identity life, she was actually afraid of her own wolf coming out. This is because as a wolf, as an outlier on the social level, she will be caught and killed. This is the fear of being excluded from society and unable to exist in the world. Robyn imprisoned Mebh in a cage, just like his father imprisoned her at home at the beginning. They felt that this was love, and what the other party felt was not love, but pain and anger of not being understood and accepted. In fact, this is because they accept the fear given to them by social culture, and they impose this fear on their loved ones, and the result is that fear pushes them even further.
Mebh has always been a wolfwalker, and her mother is also a wolfwalker. As a wolfwalker, mother accepts herself as both a human and a wolf, which ensures that she will fully accept Mebh who has the same characteristics, so Mebh will accept herself sincerely. Mebh rushed out of the cage and shouted that the wolf was her mother. She was not afraid of being repelled or killed as an alien. All she had to do was to save her mother. This was love. Similarly, when their beloved is in danger, Robyn and Dad let their wolf side come out to protect the one they love, no matter how powerful the fear is, as long as the power of love comes out, the bondage of fear will be useless. Up. At that time, it doesn't matter whether people are wolves or wolves. Some are the same fresh and vividly blooming life. Only at this time can people truly feel the completeness of life.
PS1: In the film, the wolf as the externalization of the subconsciousness of humans represents the most authentic characteristics of humans. Going back to real life, the same traits appear in different people and their reactions are not the same. Some people may want to hide this trait because of low self-esteem, fearing being discovered by others. But he can be content with the same traits in another person. The traits are the same, and their different reactions stem from how their family, especially the important role of their parents, perceive this trait.
PS2: In addition, the structure of ancient fairy tales or myths in Eastern and Western culture is very close to Freud's psychoanalytic principles. I can write about it when I have time.
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