In mid-March, after watching the 12 episodes of "Animal Rhapsody", it took two or three days to catch up with the original comics. This article has been written intermittently for more than two months, and the full text has more than 17,000. , it can be regarded as a small paper, although it has not completed a complete exposition of "Animal Rhapsody".
I have to admit that Teacher Baliu has indeed inherited Itagaki’s blood, and some places where grass grows are even better than "Blade Tooth": for example, the black market quiz competition that started inexplicably in the latest few episodes, etc... But It can also be seen that, apart from the love plot that the female author is good at creating, and the battle scenes learned from her father, "Animal Rhapsody" has a more serious content than Itagaki Keisuke: a complex metaphorical structure for human society. .
The core interest of this work is, in the final analysis, the construction of an anthropomorphic animal society: in this animal society, humans are completely absent, so in order to allow those things that are produced by humans and human society to exist in this world. If the rationality of it is not obvious, then another process of historical evolution has to be completed first, and a special mechanism and logic of social production and generation are proposed: for example, in "Animal Rhapsody", cats and dogs are no longer caused by human beings. It was produced by domestication, but as an improved breed after the war. But in addition to this extremely novel social history and generation mechanism, we should also face the main body of this society, that is, animals as "human beings" in this animal society that exists in animation images.
The core interest of this work is, in the final analysis, the construction of an anthropomorphic animal society: in this animal society, humans are completely absent, so in order to allow those things that are produced by humans and human society to exist in this world. If the rationality of it is not obvious, then another process of historical evolution has to be completed first, and a special mechanism and logic of social production and generation are proposed: for example, in "Animal Rhapsody", cats and dogs are no longer caused by human beings. It was produced by domestication, but as an improved breed after the war.
But in addition to this extremely novel social history and generation mechanism, we should also face the main body of this society, that is, animals as "human beings" in this animal society that exists in animation images.
Note: This article does not actually talk about the relevant content of "Animal Rhapsody"
fully humanized
In fact, there has never been a shortage of artworks in which humans are completely absent and anthropomorphic animals are the protagonists. These are extremely common in fairy tales and fables: "The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Three Little Pigs", "The Little Tadpole Looking for Mother", "The Ugly Duckling"... But in addition to fables and fairy tales, we have also seen other similar works in our childhood, such as "The Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes", "Blue Cat Naughty", "The Lion King", " Kung Fu Panda, and so on—but unlike fables and fairy tales, these kinds of works don’t just replace humans as protagonists with animals, they become the subjects of society. At the same time, in these works, a unique animal society that is similar to but different from human society is formed, and is completely independent of human intervention. However, such works often can only complete an overhead and independent society, but cannot realize the reference to reality through it - and this is precisely what the above-mentioned fables and fairy tales are good at.
Such works of constructing social systems often share a common feature: the total absence of humans, and the homogenization of animals toward humans. In these works, there are no animals anymore, only human actors wearing some animal clothes, and this kind of animal clothes is just like a special role endows the actors with certain appearance characteristics, as well as identities and occupations related to appearance. with personality. But in the final analysis, pandas are humans, monkeys are humans, rabbits are humans, and dogs are humans too. This is just a human story performed by a group of grotesque human beings. It does not show any contradictions belonging to the animal society, and it cannot truly achieve the goal of the animal society. Complete imagination. Such works are not so much anthropomorphic of animals as they are completely humanized , with the behavior of all the characters belonging to the only species of Homo sapiens, the primate genus Homo sapiens. Then, the image of animals may only be used as a need for commercialization and "childishness", and in this way, some animation works that are aimed at minors and are sufficiently commercialized are completed.
In fact, I can never understand why both Zhu Wujie and Hei Xiaohu want to cross the reproductive isolation and plot against the blue rabbit? Why didn't Zhu Wujie kill the pig's head for the father and son of Heixinhu? Why is Sally the squirrel and Daben the polar bear a couple? In "The Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes", these are not questions that will be seriously explored-because in essence, all the characters in the work are "human beings", and the different images of different animals just correspond to different Identity and personality: Blue Rabbit is just a beautiful chivalrous girl, Zhu Wujie is a powerful villain under the command of the Demon Sect, Black Heart Tiger is an ambitious Demon Sect leader, and Sally is just a humiliated swordsman. Female - There are no rabbits, pigs, tigers, cats, dogs, squirrels, bears, etc. There is only a martial arts story about human beings.
Perhaps the construction of a modern and rational social system belonging to animals is an extremely complicated matter in itself. The difficulty is not only in the construction itself, but also in that it will force creators to give up some expected creative demands: when it is necessary to realize this kind of construction in literary and artistic works, the extremely powerful contradictions and directions contained in the social system itself Metaphors of human society will directly occupy the core position of image expression, and any other content that other creators want to realize will be similar to subsidiary products.
It can be said that, compared with fairy tales and fables, those animation works that complete the social construction of animals often abandon the description of animal differentiation and heterogeneity, as well as the ability of metaphorical reference to reality. But the two are one, because in these works, it is no longer possible to capture a unique power that belongs to anthropomorphic animals, and it is impossible to provide a deconstructive perspective on human beings and human society through metaphors.
Two difficult to present "civilization forbidden area"
Although the so-called "homogenization of animals toward humans" has been expounded, this does not mean that humans themselves are homogenized. On the contrary, humans may be regarded as a completely heterogeneous thing. The reason why human beings are human beings lies in the overall formation of cultural structure - which may be more called the "essence" of human beings than the biological characteristics of human beings. When this holistic structure acts on a single individual, the cultural differences in cognition, ideology, concept, etc. of each individual may be infinite. This is the origin of heterogeneity—and this is actually Allows the possibility of taxonomy practice: animals with the same heterogeneity can use different roles, different animal species, and some internal conflicts formed by them in the image to realize the different aspects of human society. Metaphors and references to groups—and these are things such as "The Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit", "Kung Fu Panda" and other works have not been able to complete.
Another characteristic of this metaphorical model is that animal society may be similar to real society, with a similar level of civilization, even if it is still animal society after all. The animal citizens living in such a society have a rationality similar to our human citizens: but when those instinctive habits of survival conflict with the culture and morality in life, this makes rationality more extreme. torture. Some of the most difficult and unacceptable things in the real human society will inevitably become the norm here in the most extreme form.
For example, the same kind.
This kind of event, which we consider to be extremely barbaric and anti-civilization, may occur because of the differentiation between herbivorous and meat-eating in animal society. Perhaps saying that herbivorous carnivores are not of the same kind does not constitute homogeneity, but in fact they are both “humans” as defined in the cultural structure and rational society. They are the same kind of civilization and rationality, but in this The world can't be more normal - so the forbidden zone of civilization is opened in such a "natural" way that an important proposition of ethics, the most extreme aspect of reason, will also be discussed.
In fact, the so-called "rationality" is also structured and defined by us as human beings in the process of historical and cultural development. However, when we assume that such an animal society possesses such a civilized rationality, at the same time, the citizens living in it are also It is required to have this kind of rationality, so what kind of historical development did this society come into being? And what kind of difference does this rationality have in such a disparate background?
For works such as "The Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Heroes" and "Kung Fu Panda", although all kinds of animals have been homogenized into humans, and the social system has been constructed at the expense of the elimination of animal species differentiation, it has also Hence the lack of insight into reason—the inability to capture the subtle differences between reason in animal society and human society.
In fact, in most works of art, rationality is often used as a priori for creation: the action of the character, the development of the story, the setting of the situation, and the shaping of the space must be based on this. It defines the bottom line of the character's behavior and clarifies the role. The moral standard that defines the logic of the character's actions, which is not deliberately described but is in fact ubiquitous.
However, if in the interpretation of works of art, the existence of rationality is interrogated due to the occurrence of some extreme events, rationality itself is presented and stripped from the deepest part of the image, and at the same time, the image also tries to investigate the generation and function of rationality Mechanism - this in itself is a rare creation.
Regarding this kind of creation, in addition to "Crazy Zoo", we have to mention two other animation works: "Black Cat Sheriff" and "Crazy Zoo".
Three Civilization and Barbarism in Animal Society
"Black Cat Sheriff" is a cartoon that was censored abruptly due to its scale. It is actually very similar to "Zootopia": both animal police are the protagonists, and in a society dominated by animals, Handling all kinds of cases arising from differences in habits or conspiracy to commit crimes. Although the motivation for the creation of "Black Cat Sheriff" may be limited by a certain need for expression, education and inquiry, it was possible to create a work in the 1980s with a core concept so similar to the 2016 animated feature film. , it's surprising to think about it.
In these two works, they simultaneously place the conflicts of animal species differences in the context of a civilized society, and these differences and conflicts directly impact the conventionized social order—law and morality. In the first episode of "Black Cat Sheriff", the monkey-eating eagle ravaged the animal cubs and ate a small monkey, and the fourth episode of the mantis wife finally ate her husband; in "Zootopia", the carnivorous species always Considered by the herbivorous species as a violent person, including the protagonist, he also carries an "anti-fox spray" for a long time, and the villain's conspiracy is to use drugs to degenerate the carnivorous species back into mindless predators and cause social chaos.
Predation may be the most basic biological behavior, but the predation of "similars" is by no means tolerated by a civilized society. In "Zootopia", the "degradation" incident directly caused the entire Zootopia to fall into extreme panic, and even brewed large-scale racial conflicts, and these were not only the social disasters of the herbivorous citizens of Zootopia because of their lives. generated fear.
The "degradation" event is different from the riots and riots that are also social disasters. Although it also causes the masses to panic due to casualties, it also creates another kind of doubt: doubts about specific ethnic groups, doubts about social order, Doubt about accepted moral values—doubt also breeds anxiety:
What has become of the things that modern society depends on to exist, the things that we depend on to exist as citizens of this society?
This is actually rationality.
It is the foundation on which modern society is constructed and the foundation of all order. In the animal world, its core content is the effect of the joint action of morality and law: it suppresses the most primitive and barbaric desires of each individual, restrains the instinct of attack and eating, and ensures that all races can live peacefully Live together, not out of fear of being preyed on. It guarantees the civic basis for the existence of Animal City, so its existence and stability must be guaranteed, and there can be no concessions and compromises, otherwise the beauty of the moment will be gone.
Therefore, in the ending of "Zootopia", the reason for the "degeneration" of the individual is attributed to the malicious actions of the villain and the effect of some incredible drug, rather than the outbreak of hidden social conflicts. At the same time, the carnivorous species were only framed by conspiracies, and never had the ability to prey. The "degenerate" event is resolved by the individual heroic actions of the two protagonists, it is also socially masked in fact, and reason and order are protected - but in this sense reason never seems to be the kind of A solid enough thing is just an extremely fragile illusion. Whether it exists and is valid is only a matter of whether the whole society and the individuals in it believe it or not, and any event that is too real and terrible may bring this Belief in complete destruction, subverting rationality, and even causing the entire society to collapse.
There is another way in which reason can be maintained than by concealing or resolving these events: by giving irrational events some sort of order-keeping task, giving them rational value. In the fourth episode of "Black Cat Sheriff", the heinous and unforgivable thing of "eating her husband" is expounded as a "love story" about the traditional customs of ethnic minorities, and the mantis wife is in the black cat sheriff's "love story". Breed more vermin-eating baby mantises" was pardoned. So the behavior of mantis eating her husband is symbolized: about love, about the traditional customs of ethnic minorities, about the value of developing the economy, building society, and fighting "class enemies".
To a certain extent, the rational content and effect have actually shown a great difference from "Zootopia" in the decision of the black cat sheriff to treat the mantis: its core content is not the impulse to prey on animals Instead, it becomes a need to promote economic production and social development. At the same time, this also provides an excuse for the brutal law enforcement behavior of the black cat sheriff when dealing with many criminal acts, and he skips the public prosecution process and directly imposes capital punishment or provides an excuse: economic production and social stability are above everything else, detrimental to his That is, as criminals and enemies, those who help it will be preferentially treated and shielded.
There is no doubt that the rationality presented in the two different societies of "Zootopia" and "Black Cat Sheriff" is the same and different. Although its purpose and effect are related to social stability, the former is still trying to cover up ghouls as much as possible. The same kind of incident, while the latter incorporates this terrifying event into the social structure and the power structure - the former is mere paralysis and hallucination, while the latter makes the society itself also stained with a little haze.
It's worth noting that whether it's the cover-up in "Zootopia" or the excuse in "Black Cat Sheriff", these are not just on the animated screen, but refer to reality.
Four or two "familiar" societies
Although "Black Cat Sheriff" and "Zootopia" are both works that construct animal society and have to metaphorize the real society, there are still great differences in their meanings: this may stem from the real society they need to refer to. difference.
The difference between the works is particularly obvious from the beginning of the two protagonists: Judy in "Zootopia" is a herbivore, born in the countryside but has a cheerful temperament and the charm of an urban girl, and is petite and works in a large animal group. In "Black Cat Sheriff", the protagonist is a carnivorous, calm, taciturn, resolute, strong, with great authority, power and ability to work, and at the same time "treat comrades with the warmth of spring , to treat the enemy as cruel and ruthless as the harsh winter", a masculine middle-aged male black cat.
Comparing the entire films of the two works with the character images, it is not difficult to find that Judy in "Zootopia" is indeed a contemporary urban female image with many correct symbols; and for "Black Cat Sheriff", What this protagonist achieves is actually the display and praise of a male Muyouli under the Weimuyou system - just like the captain played by Zhang Hanyu in "Captain of China".
Regarding "Zootopia", the whole work is as far as possible to carry out the elaboration under the correct concept system of Zhengzhuangqitai, and even think about the moral rhetoric that is overkill in the correct social practice of Zhengzhuangqitai, and Its excessive verbal suppression of carnivorous males. It can also be noted that, even if we cut in from the perspective of political correctness to achieve a perspective on the whole of American imperial society, the basis for the creation of this social metaphor structure is still the clear reference to whites and colored races by herbivorous meat. relationships, and equally explicit gender-referential relationships.
This pertinent and explicit reference is even more explicit in "Black Cat Sheriff". Moving hamsters, monkey-eating eagles, and cat-eating mice, these villains have inherited the habits of house mice, ape-eating eagles and badgers, and have become vicious criminals, who were brought to justice by the black cat sheriff with brutal means. There is no need to say much about the metaphors of the black cat sheriff and other cat detectives, and the reference objects of several villains are equally clear: about the vicious crimes of the 1980s - gang theft of state property, child abduction and assault on police officers . In the other two episodes of the two stories of elephants, hippos and wild boars eating red soil and praying mantis eating their husbands, the former has the meaning of accusing the mischievous people of encroaching on collective assets, while the latter has the meaning of making the mantis symbolize ethnic minorities for the purpose of children's science popularization. inside.
Regardless of the industry tradition or social background, they all have extremely high requirements for the film's integrity and education. Even as an animation for children, "Black Cat Sheriff" seems to have to enter "class struggle" and social struggle (of course, the "class struggle" here and the "class enemy" associated with it, the meaning of these two words may have been misinterpreted): then the referential structure of this work, and its The reproduction methods of ideology as "image machines" are actually very prominent and clear - and the social outlook of the 1980s may also be seen in this animation.
In fact, both works are consciously forming a pattern of masking, that is, each character can have a clear image correspondence in the real world: this may originate from the works of good and evil, good and evil, class and race. The setting of the world view may also stem from the fact that it has to simplify the creation due to its use of children as the main audience.
But there is also a problem that must be clarified: there is always a considerable flaw in this kind of facialized creation, because it is not a typical creation, but directly places the so-called "main contradiction" in an overly important position and let it dominate the world of images, so that different races in animal society are still just different groups of humans, and it also makes the historical generation mechanism of animal society lack credibility and convincing. At the same time, the society of the real world is also the same. It is never constructed around the "principal contradiction" - so the referential structure of the image is actually fragile, and its ability to face the real world is questionable.
So is it possible to have an image that, while constructing an animal society, does not need to emphasize the clear metaphorical composition of different roles, groups and animal species, but rather dispels the shackles of anthropocentrism and makes better use of The unique characteristics of animal characters, and avoiding the homogeneity of the world construction in the image and the homogeneity of the reference to the real world, to achieve a vague reference and complete the presentation of heterogeneity?
In fact, precisely because of the complete heterogeneity of human beings and even the whole world, there is a strange paradox: the more fragmented a text is, the more complete it is—because only in this way can it be more relevant to the world as it is.
"Animal Rhapsody" may have tended to this pattern.
Five carnivores and herbivores, male and female
The reference of "Animal Rhapsody" is ambiguous and ambiguous. It does not firmly anchor the real world with clear features like "Zootopia" and "Black Cat Sheriff", and thereby completes the real society. political expression. For "Animal Rhapsody", it lacks a clear political nature, it is more about depicting a special modern society, and the metaphors and allusions to different political systems are not its creative purpose. What it achieves is the description of many characteristics of different individuals in animal society, which refers to many groups in real society, and shows the universal emotion and rationality of intelligent life.
But it is also worth noting that since the construction of a modern and rational animal social system, the core position of image expression is still based on the extremely powerful contradictions contained in this social system itself: the contradiction between herbivorous and meat-eating, and The contradiction between meat-eating habits and civilized rationality.
Both "Animal Rhapsody" and "Zootopia" are based on the basic creative mode of Animal City, but there are also many differences: not only about the social system constructed by the two, but also in the sense of meat and herbivore. s difference. For "Zootopia", carnivores are more metaphors for all kinds of people of color. They are regarded as representatives of violence, barbarism, and backward civilization. At the same time, different from reality, they have always encountered all kinds of discrimination but lacked Protected by political correctness; while herbivores are metaphors for white people, and they have relatively more social privileges in animal cities.
On the contrary, the carnivores in "Animal Rhapsody" have more power to survive, not only have better physical ability but also often have stronger social power; on the other hand, most herbivores have been trapped in an extreme situation since birth. Dangerous dilemma: Not only will they encounter many embarrassments in work and study, but they may be attacked or even killed at any time.
Unlike "Zootopia", in the animal society of "Animal Rhapsody", the brilliance of civilization and rationality is not so dazzling, and animals of different species have not yet gotten along like humans: violence and blood are still the norm. In fact, a large-scale war between herbivores and carnivores broke out in this world decades ago, and because of this, for most animals, the concept of "killing herbivores is a taboo and a serious crime" does not really Rooted in the heart.
At the time when the story is told, violence against herbivores by meat is not uncommon. Apart from the lion group, an underworld organization that abducts small herbivores for food, there is even a black market that sells meat to serve carnivores. The venue is grand and open in the center of the city. As the lion mayor of a large carnivore, although he exchanged plastic surgery for a kind and gentle face to win the support of the herbivorous group, he always tried his best to hide or simply turn a deaf ear to the violent behavior of carnivores: some kind of In a sense, this actually means the political violence that meat eaters hold firmly.
It can be seen that the implicit social power possessed by carnivores is too powerful, and this power can dominate the life and death of herbivores, and any herbivorous civilian can only exist as a weakling: under the protection of social rules, herbivorous Individuals and meat-eating individuals can still maintain a balance, but in more life and work scenarios, grass-eating is still difficult. Like Saifen the sheep, its career is still like its life, always in an indescribable danger.
It’s worth noting that carnivores did not gain social power simply because of their physical abilities and desire to hunt—those are certainly important enough, but in a civilized society, these things may no longer be relevant: which is why that In the large-scale war between herbivorous and meat-eating, meat-eating also failed to achieve the final victory.
However, this advantage in physique and its own function was obvious enough in the early stage of civilization, and in the course of development from ancient times to modern times, the advantages of flesh and desire have been continuously internalized in animal society, and will even become a kind of The deep order and rules of society: those specific powers of carnivores that pervade the entire social system.
In a sense this brings to mind an extremely important event in Korea recently: Room N.
The large-scale male perpetrators and viewers involved in the incident in Room N spread throughout the entire Korean society in a very high proportion, and even every Korean woman had to scrutinize and be vigilant to any male beside her. At the same time, it has to be admitted that any audience should be counted as a participant in this brutal crime of sexual violence. The huge number of "criminals" may also mean another problem: a kind of sexual violence and sexual discrimination has thoroughly penetrated the entire Korean society.
The reason for the sudden mention of the N-room incident is that the black market and other undercurrents in the meat industry chain in animal society, the scale of the carnivores they serve, and their metaphor for carnivore power may also be extremely important. Something like Room N about Korean men. Room N actually reflects the basic problems that exist in Korean society, or in contemporary society: the gender prejudice that women generally suffer from in the life of male-dominated society, and the implicit but deep-rooted power that men have. In Animal Rhapsody, the relationship between carnivore and herbivore in the black market is also revealed.
Then, in the metaphorical structure of Animal Rhapsody for the real world, a possible correspondence is that carnivores refer to male gender characteristics, while herbivores refer to females. It is worth noting that most of the main characters and important supporting characters in this work are male carnivores, while herbivores are split equally between males and females. Of course, this is not the actual ratio of males and females in animal society. It is more of a choice made by Itagaki Baliu as a creator, that is, the role of carnivorous and herbivorous is more suitable for which gender to complete.
6 " Women don't exist "
What we can know is that meat eating is indeed related to aggression, strong physique, and strong desire, but the meaning of herbivorous food is not clear: it may be a weak body, or a gentle character, or it may be a thinking and lack of refuge. Safe posture. Throughout Rhapsody of Animals, the basic qualities of most carnivores can be broadly defined, but the characteristics of herbivores are less clear--even what we can define, except for their frail bodies. It's just a description of them based on carnivores: a group that may be oppressed or even killed by carnivores.
Considering the carnivorous-male, herbivorous-female relationship mentioned above, that is, the "definition" of herbivory realized by meat eating, it seems to be a special reference: females are "defined" by males. Of course, this kind of metaphor also exists in the real world, and is seen in traditional culture and religion: for example, Eve was made from Adam's rib.
But beyond this decadent, socioculturally over-involved concept, we're still in the dark about the other traits of herbivores-females, it seems too hollow—but maybe this is something central to herbivores , or rather, it is also a certain core characteristic of women: vague and difficult to define.
Regarding the herbivorous-female image, Mr. Itagaki Baliu may have unintentionally completed the presentation of the core of the image: relying on the role of Xiaojiu, a female lop-eared rabbit.
As a petite rabbit, Xiaojiu has quite an excellent fighting ability, and this fighting ability is derived from a martial art. The basic point of martial arts is to imitate others and form a powerful image of himself. Xiaojiu's fighting style and fighting ability are derived from the imitation and image construction of his teacher, so that he is no longer just a rabbit, but "turned into" a large and sturdy carnivore - at the same time, this This image not only determines the fighting ability, but also includes Xiao Jiu's character: she is a determined, ruthless, aggressive, independent woman with intellectual beauty.
The construction of the image of Xiaojiu expresses the core characteristics of herbivorous-feminine: this is a kind of mask, and all the stereotyped femininity, including many "qualifications" of the female self, can only be used as a mask. A mask, not an expression of some transcendental femininity.
Lacan once put forward a concept: women do not exist. Without exception, this concept has been widely attacked by feminists, but the word itself does not mean the negation of women and femininity, on the contrary, it dispels the shackles of women in certain stereotypes, and provides women with more self-liberation. Possibility: Because "women do not exist" in the final analysis means that women defined by men do not exist, and women are not only symbols of power and politics - women have a society beyond the limits of male power. The symbolic structure of sex.
It is also understandable that Xiao Jiu is not defined by the meat-eating-male, nor does he construct himself by imitating the meat-eating-male. It is undeniable that Xiao Jiu's body itself has a powerful "grass-feeding-feminine charm", but this is only the charm defined by social culture: at the same time, this charm industry is dispelled by it, and it is replaced by an open-mindedness. The pose faces the carnivorous-male group, imprinting a strong, majestic figure that combines with itself to form a new and unique image of a female rabbit.
In fact, it can be extended to a related reality proposition: women's bust anxiety.
"50% think it's too small, 20% think it's too big, would you hate your chest?"
The survey in the Nutshell article above shows that more than two-thirds of women suffer from bust anxiety, but it also reveals another finding: Women's bust anxiety decreases with age. This may stem from the fact that women feel less pressure to materialize their breasts, and their breastfeeding experiences as mothers make them pay more attention to the function and function of the breasts than to their appearance and sexual attractiveness.
We’re bound by widespread bust anxiety to assume that women instinctively care about some sexual attraction content associated with their physical state, and even build parts of their personality around that sexual attraction—but this anxiety Because of the difference in age, it can also make people understand that the sexual attraction that women care about is nothing but a grotesque thing anchored in sexual desire and produced in social culture.
In a sense, in this society still dominated by patriarchal culture, the demand for sexual attraction is always put forward by men and ultimately serves the sexual desire of men. Social culture makes women seem to have an "instinctive" pursuit of sexual attraction, which makes women seem to be constantly consuming and indulging in their own sexuality - but of course, it is always men who are constantly consuming their own sexuality. This is roughly the same for women's sexual attractiveness requirements.
The so-called requirement of sexual attraction is only incidentally attached to a woman's personality structure in certain situations and becomes a social mask: it forces women to transform themselves for sexual attraction, but women are never instinctive pay more for sexual attraction.
But it is also worth noting that the mask of sexual attraction requirements does not mean that women's pursuit of their own beauty is only a service to male sexual desire, and in order to break this demand, they must give up the pursuit of beauty or their own sexual attraction. 's display. An important extension of the analogy to bust anxiety: the necessity of wearing an underwire bra.
"No Bra" and the chest liberation movement are important contemporary feminist movements, which not only reflect the resistance to the demands of male dominance, but also women's comfort for their own life and work, freedom of clothing and protection of their own health requirements, and toward the pursuit of women's own beauty - but another question worth noting is whether wearing a bra without an underwire or even wearing a bra will be more serious if a woman has relatively fuller breasts How about affecting your own beauty, comfort and health?
The openness of the characteristics of the female mask, that is, there is no characteristic that is a priori, innate, can make a thorough requirement and definition of the female personality: this is not only a psychological conclusion, but also It should be an ethical requirement, and women themselves should have choices about their own personalities and desires. So the point is not the denial of underwire bras, but the denial of forced wearing of underwire bras.
It is also worth noting that beauty is actually the possibility of variety and complexity in perception, it is never anchored in sexuality. The pursuit of beauty, in the final analysis, is all about the integrity of a person's sensibility and rationality, as well as his freedom in thinking and personality.
Seven Herbivorous - Male
Additional questions can be asked about the character portrayals in Animal Rhapsody: Why are the vast majority of the carnivores depicted are males? Why are the females and males divided equally in grass-fed diets? And what about the very few carnivorous females and half the herbivorous males? There is also the mixed-race Mellon who straddles the grass-eating carnivores. What has it accomplished?
Maybe these characters are not handled consciously to achieve a certain ideological purpose. I am even more willing to believe that Itagaki Baru's choice of the gender of the character and the affiliation of the herbivorous carnivorous group, in addition to rational consideration and scrutiny, there are also more As an artist's unconscious choice: because only in this way can the different characteristics of the characters be more compatible, and they can be used as a modern urban citizen, a highly social whole: a weak herbivorous female, and a strong carnivorous male.
But of course, for those carnivorous females, herbivorous males and mixed-race Mellons, these LGBTQ-like "minorities", what more will their images in the works show us?
Extending the previous point of view: the herbivorous-female mask characteristics may have already been internalized into social culture, so women can also "imitate" men and have a masculine aspect, and this aspect is acceptable to a considerable extent : For example, contemporary social culture has a very high tolerance for a girl to dress up as a man, and can also accept a woman with a strong intellectual temperament, and even praise and worship women who retain masculinity.
But the carnivore-masculinity, or the patriarchal trait, is always required to be forceful and aggressive under the compulsion of power. At the same time, it also completes a kind of strong exclusivity in the construction of social culture. It is difficult to allow other traits to intervene - even for some males who are difficult to have enough power and aggression, they have to develop a disguise, the "herbivorous male", using this appearance to match that Endogenous frailty forms a kind of reconciliation in the sociocultural sphere in order to hide itself in exclusivity: they are still males rather than aliens to be excluded, only slightly limited by their other socioculturally recognized traits. It is only special, and can even rely on this special to gain greater advantages in social life.
Elephants, as herbivores, have a physique that far exceeds that of all carnivores, so under the animal social generation mechanism of "Animal Rhapsody", elephants should have the powerful characteristics of carnivores: they can disguise themselves as consultants in Mellon In the plot of killing the elephants to do the ivory business, they are portrayed as a very weak group - regardless of whether this is in line with the habits of elephants in the real world, but the strong contrast between this character and physique , not only to make elephants have the attributes of herbivores in a broad sense, but also to complete the special metaphor for the disguise of "herbivorous male": with a male body and a "non-male" personality, and ultimately Forced to assume the appearance of a herbivore.
The so-called "herbivorous men" seem to be able to define some of the disguised groups, that is, they are relatively passive in emotional relationships and interpersonal relationships, and are shy and shy . But the pretenders are not limited to them. The disguise of "herbivorous males" also involves all kinds of delicate or delicate males, and even groups such as Macho Queen ( King Kong Barbie ). However, camouflage is not different from the masks worn by women, but is more similar to strength and aggression. These rigid masculine characteristics that forced the birth of camouflage do not have enough openness to make this "herbivorous appearance". "There are also limitations.
In reality, this kind of disguise is necessary for this part of men anyway, but at the same time, this disguise must not be torn: that is, it must not actually present the completely "non-male" side of male individuals. In fact, it is very difficult for social culture to tolerate that men have some very typical "feminine characteristics", and even consider it a moral flaw. ) have enough tolerance, but it is always difficult for the T group (transgender people) to accept more,
Just like Xiao Zhan, he has already completed the deconstruction and re-creation of his gender in many XZF speeches and fan works, and this re-creation is undoubtedly based on his delicate face, thin body, delicate The character design, and the CP texture co-created with Wang Yibo in the film and television work "Chen Qing Ling". We don't know if Xiao Zhan really lacks that kind of strength and aggression (although based on his past remarks on cerebral palsy, I prefer to believe that Xiao Zhan actually has it), but business operations have already created that pair for him" Herbivorous Appearance" and achieved commercial success with it.
But the weird thing is that even though a lot of gender deconstruction has already been experienced, the cause of the previous 227 incident that triggered a large-scale boycott of Xiao Zhan due to the report of A03 was that a considerable part of XZF could not tolerate Xiao Zhan himself being portrayed as, A street girl and shampoo girl who consumes and sells her sexuality as a means of making a living, and also has the image of a transgender person with excessive "femininity".
Obviously, under this kind of complete deconstruction, Xiao Zhan has completely become an anomaly without male attributes. In the past fan creations, even though Xiao Zhan may be completely described as a woman, these "Xiao Zhans" still continue to have some disguised qualities and inherent masculine attributes. More importantly, "Xiao Zhan"'s sexual desire has never been Encountering thorough consumption, the vulgar side of the so-called "femininity" does not fully descend on this image. However, under the description of the street girl and the shampoo girl, Xiao Zhan's "prototype", or the disguise and fantasy created by capital, collapsed in an instant, and only fragments of certain moral flaws remained - this symbol Sexual destruction is not tolerated by fans and induces many cerebral palsy behaviors.
Baharu and Legacy's Dangerous Relationship
In Animal Rhapsody, any animal social identity that has a clear correspondence in human society is more ambiguous due to the biological characteristics of feeding population and size, and the social identity characteristics associated with it. , vague referential relationship.
The whole work has a unique structure of expression, it decomposes many characteristics of different groups in the real world, and in the very special relationship between herbivorous and carnivorous in animal society, it is assembled into many beyond the "typical". The special images of categories, which together constitute the unique face of animal society, and at the same time make the whole metaphorical structure facing the real world more complex and diverse.
For the portrayal of Haru as the heroine: a petite female mini-rabbit who used to live a chaotic life, gentle and kind but independent. So can we find a clear counterpart to this role?
Obviously, Haru's counterpart is nothing more than the kind of adolescent girl whose family background is ordinary and happy, but because of the dull life, she pursues some more exciting things. This kind of role is not uncommon in Japanese youth movies, even in Japanese youth movies. This is close to the template role of a genre film. But the difference is that ordinary high school girls do not have only a dwarf-like body shape, nor do ordinary girls experience being eaten and killed, and ordinary girls do not always perceive their weakness, powerlessness and danger in their daily life. , Ordinary girls will not choose to have sexual relations with many male animals in order to reconcile with their own insignificance and frailty.
In this sense, the role Haru refers to tends to be in other directions: a stray girl in a dangerous situation, but also an independent woman in this environment, and even if her family is ordinary, she is wealthy, but she is confined to society. The environment has become a vulnerable group and endured more predicaments, and at the same time, because they cannot bear their own weakness, they have sex with other groups—in a sense, it is difficult for individuals with these many contradictions in their identity to exist in human society. : But at the same time, it refers to different groups, and at the same time, it places different character traits in a very special situation, and shows the possible encounters and actions of these different groups as much as possible.
As the content described in the work, the love relationship between the protagonist Legacy and Haru seems to be summed up as follows: a violent but gentle boy and an ordinary but determined girl, struggling to survive in a world full of malice - this is actually a An important motif of youth love movies, such as "Youth as a Teenager" is also well described. In this motif, some of the marginalized attributes of the male protagonist and the difference in social identity between him and the heroine make both of them tend to be completely marginalized: and this marginal attribute is in "Animal Rhapsody" The proposition refracted in the book should be the possibility of equal coexistence and emotional relationship between herbivorous and meat-eating.
But contrary to the reference to human society, it was never Legacy's marginalized status that made this relationship so dangerous and idiosyncratic: on the contrary, it was the abyss and thin ice between the two. Dangerous relationships, and the grotesque erotic desires mixed with appetite, are what drives Legacy to the edge of extremes—it's all about the contradictions and differences predestined by social order and bodily instincts. In fact, Haru, a college student, and Legacy, a young migrant worker, are far inferior to Zhou Dongyu, a high school top student, and a four-character guy, a ruffian, in the sense of the general status of social citizens. , contrast and conflict - but it is precisely because of these occupations and identities that are quite reasonable in a civilized society that their relationship is more extreme and dramatic.
The symbolic structure that every animal citizen has been bathed in since birth makes it impossible for the erotic relationship between herbivorous-female and carnivorous-male to be born only from the so-called "mutual understanding": because of a deep-rooted contradiction. The encounter between Haru's college classmate Ako and her lion boyfriend proves it all. In fact, the production of feelings realized by the relationship between Legacy and Haru, as well as the metaphor and reference to reality, are more dangerous and extreme than the rebellious teenager × introverted girl such as "Youth of You". the category of youth love movies.
The identity contradiction between the male and female protagonists has led to discussions on many other topics, such as racial differences, human gender differences, and the potential for violence in intimate relationships.
Nine meat eaters - female
Corresponding to the emotional relationship between Legacy and Haru, another set of relationships is directly provided in the work as a counterpart: the gray wolf, Judy, as a female, and the red deer, Louis, as a male—but this relationship is in the whole. This work has not yet been fully developed, but in the completed space, Juno, the female wolf who is the active party, deserves a more in-depth analysis.
In the topic of "herbivorous males", we have discussed the relevant symbolic references to a certain extent, but the discussion of carnivorous-females has only one sentence: women rely on "masks" to complete the imitation of masculine traits. But the point is, in this "imitation", in the referential structure under this gender relationship, is the carnivore-female closer to the male or the female?
As a big bad wolf, Julie also has the strength and aggressiveness that carnivores should have, and even she will directly face this personality to the other two herbivores as the protagonist. At the same time, she is also extremely active in emotional relationships. From Legacy to Louis, it will be extremely active in pursuit, even close to the behavior of "hunting".
But it is also certain that she has a very "feminine" and very sexually attractive body. At the same time, the body owned by Julie encounters the focus of the camera in the work - and this camera lens contains a strong desire and sexual implication, a male perspective realized in the form of "voyeurism" voyeurism: the object of voyeurism, or the object of desire, always points to women.
In the presentation of the work, Juno must first exist as a woman: this "definition" even goes beyond its carnivore identity, because the social and cultural definition of "female" overly dispels the aggressiveness, strong physique, Strong desire and other traits - in fact our perception of Juno, including the animal society's perception of carnivorous-females in the works, is hardly similar to other large carnivorous males such as Legoshi and Ibuki: we still It will subconsciously deny the authenticity of Juno's strength and aggressiveness, and even Juno himself will not pay more attention to some of the "traits" that he carries as a meat eater.
Throughout the work, emphasis is placed on the carnivorous-female and Legacy's mother: while the portrayal of this character focuses more on the pain and struggles he faces as a cross-species hybrid, there is no doubt that he It is still a carnivore, but the carnivorous attribute has never been mentioned. Even aside from the experience of the mixed-race, the description of it is more about its excellent beauty, as well as its cheerful and generous personality.
Mellon's mother gets a glimpse throughout the work, and while the portrayal of the character includes plot hints that she ends up killing her antelope husband, most of the time she's just an empty, false, even Insane, even the weak figure who was eventually killed by the young Mellon.
In a sense, the common characteristics of carnivores-females are the seemingly but absent power and aggression. They have more and still various individual attributes. Power and aggression are only a It is an implicit framework realized by a social culture, and at best it can provide only intellectual qualities, not fixed masculinity.
In this sense, for Juno and Louie's emotional relationship, what we will experience may only be a romantic relationship between an intellectual female and an elite male with a "grass-eating appearance".
A special place in the ten gender structure
The presentation of the symbol system of herbivorous-female occupies a considerable space in the entire work of "Animal Rhapsody", which not only realizes the reference of herbivore to women, but even utilizes male herbivore and female herbivory throughout the work. The difference between the two, as well as the positions and "roles" played by many herbivore roles in human relationships (CP), to explain this symbol system more abundantly.
Of course, the word "CP" will not be talked about by Itagaki Baliu every day, but in the whole work, 86 is clearly juxtaposing many characters by means of Lalang, and creating a very ambiguous Sensual sexual relationships—even though the characters involved may be two males: for example, the protagonists Legacy and Louie the Red Deer. Everything that happened between the two most important male characters can probably show the extremely strong sense of CP contained in this work.
A question has to be asked: Why did Louie and Legacy have such a natural relationship? It's not just about the large amount of brush and ink that Semicircle describes, it's more about the character's own characteristics that allow this description to take place. In fact, in the metaphorical structure composed of herbivorous, meat-eating, male, and female, the whole work also creates a lot of content with the quality of romantic comedy. At the same time, these many love relationships are also the complex referential relationship of this work. Added a new dimension: desire. The work also implicates a number of characters, including Legacy and Louie, based on explicit or implicit desires.
In each ambiguous relationship, Legacy, as a marginalized individual, possesses a complex sexual attraction: a personality model based on violence and Asahi, order and rebellion, a high degree of coexistence of multiple opposing traits, and the The charisma of conflict and complexity contained in the pattern.
As a hero (and anti-hero) protagonist, Legacy's desires are not limited to erotic relationships—or rather, it indulges in all erotic desires without suffering from "the constant thirst for meat" It is more like the execution of the "will of the Dionysian", it is heading towards the moral and ethical sublime, but it is rushing towards a more extreme marginalization, and it will vaguely fall into a certain destiny. the abyss.
So in the love relationship, Legacy is not only a persistent suitor, it is more like a black hole of desire. Because of the pursuit of the sublime, it will only use all the desires about love as the driving force and fuel for its actions, so it will always swallow and purify the turbid desires of many individuals around it, and at the same time, it is also using its unique personality model. , attracting other individuals to bet on it - at the creative level, Legosi, as the heroic protagonist, is indeed worthy and needs to be bet by many individuals at the same time.
But for Louis, its desires are all the more bizarre. After all, as a herbivorous social elite male, it should have a tough, abstinent, or patriarchal erotic image - it seems that it is difficult to attract and chase Legacy. But what we should pay more attention to is Louis's hidden under the guise of "herbivorous male".
In a sense, the shaping of Louis' character is similar to Plato, the gun-wielding boy in "Rebel Without a Cause": a similar cowardice inside, a certain obsession with external force, and a vague Expressed similar homosexual traits—in fact, Louis’s place in the gender structure doesn’t simply stop at one pole.
But unlike the human society described in Rebel Without a Cause, the metaphorical relationship between herbivorous-female and carnivorous-male in "Animal Rhapsody" makes Louis's desires for Gracie and Juno refer to both meanings. It becomes more complicated - in fact, just like Plato, Louis has never really realized love for his male best friend, but because of this, his position in the gender structure as a "perverted carnivorous" is also Even more elusive: Does his veiled demeanor toward meat-eating males, and his explicit desire for meat-eating-females, really signify his sexual minority status?
Are there other things, mannerisms, metaphors for the inner quality
View more about Beastars reviews
