Zhuangzi was a thinker in the middle of the Warring States Period. As a representative of the Taoist school, his imagination was extremely rich and he advocated freedom. Zhuangzi's thoughts had a profound influence on later generations both at home and abroad. Shrek represents a new generation of non-traditional Hollywood heroes, and its story features such as hermit life, escape, inaction, and dialectics have many coincidences with Zhuangzi's thoughts. This article attempts to use the method of case analysis to explore how Zhuangzi's thought was embodied in a Hollywood movie on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and how Shrek was narrated as a heroic story with Taoist characteristics.
"Shrek" is an American DreamWorks film distribution company released in 2001, an animation work directed by well-known Hollywood directors Andrew Adamson and Alan Warner. The movie received a global box office of US$484 million [1], becoming the highest-grossing cartoon ever. Among them, Shrek's green, ugly, and negatively escapist image represents the unique paradigm of a new generation of Hollywood heroes. Rebelling against tradition, subverting routines, and deviating from convention are its main features. The author believes that this is related to the cultural integration under the background of globalization in the new era, alleviating the aesthetic fatigue of the long-term single story model, the expansion of the animation audience market, and the response to the current political correctness issues, and cultural integration is quite important among them. Part of the reason.
Shrek: Unconventional Hollywood Hero
The ugly green monster Shrek lives alone in the swamp. But the tyrant King Pugu, in order to build a "perfect" world, expelled all fairy tale characters in the kingdom. These fairy tale characters fled around and broke into Shrek's territory, breaking Shrek's peaceful life of living alone. So Shrek went to see King Pugu and asked his homeland to restore peace, but King Pugu needed to marry a princess in order to legalize his throne, but the married princess Fiona was trapped in the castle guarded by the dragon. The warrior can rescue him. King Fugua and Shrek agreed to bring the princess back in exchange for the peace of his homeland. On the way back from the princess rescued by Wise Fighting Dragon, Shrek fell in love with Princess Fiona, and finally succeeded in marrying her and King Fugua. The two then lived in a calm swamp.
American mythology scholar Campbell has searched and read myths and religious stories from all over the world for many years, and summed up a universal hero model from it. “Heroes start from the world of daily life, risk all kinds of dangers, and enter a supernatural and magical realm; in that magic In the realm of, encountered various incredibly powerful supernatural bodies and achieved decisive victory; so the hero completed the mysterious adventure and returned with the power that can benefit his kind." [2] Typical Hollywood The hero also followed this pattern. But in the storytelling of the movie "Shrek", Campbell's universal hero model no longer applies. Although there are heroes, princesses, castles, and happy endings in the story, in fact "Shrek" did not complete the entire storyline: Shrek stepped out of his swamp and embarked on a journey to save the princess, but afterwards Shrek did not destroy the previous His self, the transformation of his self, his return and victory did not benefit society, because according to Campbell’s theory, a hero’s victory is complete only when it benefits society. In addition, most of the traditional cartoons are smart, brave, strong, courageous heroes who save the people from water and fire. They are either heroes to save the beauty or benefit the world. And Shrek in the film has neither the qualities of wisdom and courage, nor the heart to save suffering. He asked King Fugua to give home to the fairy tale characters not because he sympathized with them, but because he wanted to avoid the world; he went to save the princess to restore peace to his own home; he did not kill the dragon when he saved the princess. Killing the people; it’s not Prince Charming that saves the beautiful princess, but the green monster Shrek; during the nervous "last minute rescue", Shrek arrived in time, but the kiss of true love turned the princess into a green similar to Shrek Monsters... The traditional mode has been completely subverted, and the storyline has twists and turns, making people experience endless new ideas.
"Shrek" in the 21st century opened up a new generation of non-traditional Hollywood hero models represented by the image of Shrek. The subsequent non-traditional Hollywood heroes also include Kung Fu Panda, Deadpool, Venom and so on. In this new hero model, we can see a series of expressions of rebellion against tradition and new ideas. The author believes that these new ideas are inseparable from the cultural integration under the background of globalization.
Similar to what a hero sees: a chance encounter of Zhuangzi's thought
Perhaps the encounter between Shrek and Zhuangzi on the other side of the ocean was not accidental. The character design and animation consultant for the "Shrek" movie is Xu Chengyi, a Chinese who was born and raised in Hong Kong and later became an American citizen. Xu Chengyi has loved Chinese culture since childhood. He had read 16 Jin Yong's novels before elementary school. In his youth, he watched the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" every day. He once said in an interview that the image of Princess Fiona in "Shrek" was inspired by Maggie Cheung. Setting Shrek's skin green is also politically correct to avoid suspicion of racial discrimination. But Xu Chengyi’s more important contribution is the shaping of the character’s character: Based on the story line of Steiger’s original children’s novel, Xu Chengyi is responsible for giving the movie character the feelings of people, and clarifying the character’s personality setting: Shrek’s independent lifestyle of the swamp hermit, The life attitude of a monster with nothing to escape the world...Many of Shrek's image and character settings coincide with the philosophical ideas advocated by Zhuangzi.
Dialectical thinking
Princess Fiona is cursed. She is a young and beautiful princess during the day and a green and stout monster like Shrek at night. Only the kiss of true love can lift this evil curse, and Fiona will return to her true form. At the end of the story, everyone thinks that the kind-hearted and enthusiastic Princess Fiona who has recovered her true form after experiencing the kiss of true love is a young and beautiful appearance. After all, "truth", "good" and "beauty" are the common goals pursued by mankind. The three are often not separated. Under the traditional routine, the "good" princess must be "beautiful", even if the cursed princess is restored to the "true" form, it is still "beautiful". However, "Shrek" gave us a different answer. The kind princess may not be so beautiful. The boundary between ugliness and beauty is subverted here. What is ugliness and beauty? What determines ugliness or beauty? Is the beauty on the outside or on the inside really beautiful? They are all questioning the audience's soul in this subversion.
"Things are nothing but other, and things are nothing but yes. You don't see from the other, and you know you know it. Therefore, it is said: "He comes from the right, and the right is because of the other. The other is the theory of Fangsheng."
——"Zhuangzi·Qiwulun"
Zhuangzi believes that all kinds of things have their own opposite sides, and all kinds of things have their own opposite sides. You can't see this side from the opposite side of things, and you can know and understand when you look at the opposite side of things. In the final analysis, everything is the same, there is no difference, and there is no distinction between right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, good and evil, noble and bad. Zhuangzi believes that everything is integrated and is constantly transforming to its opposite, so there is no difference.
All things thought
The world view and cosmology of Taoist school of thought is monistic. Although heaven and earth, all things and people seem to be very different, in the final analysis they are all integrated.
"Heaven and earth live side by side with me, everything is one with me"
"Zhuangzi·Neipian·Qiwulun"
Nan Huaijin explained in his "Lectures of Zhuangzi", "Heaven and earth are with me, and everything is the same with me". In other words, the nature of the heaven and the earth, all things and me are separated-I am not a part of the heaven and the earth, nor a part of the all things, and the heaven and the earth and all things do not belong to me. Everything belongs to the Tao, and the Tao does not distinguish between upper and lower. There is no difference, naturally there is no level. So there is nothing to conquer, nothing to be defeated. According to the traditional heroic story, the prince goes to the castle guarded by the dragon to rescue the princess. He will definitely kill the dragon before entering the princess’s pavilion. But Shrek believes that he and the dragon have their own missions. He wants to save the princess. Killing the dragon is not a necessary step to save the princess. He did not put himself in a position against anything. He did not kill the dragon. On the contrary, he just let the donkey distract the dragon, thus saving Fiona.
Ugly beauty
In the book "Zhuangzi", six people with physical defects are described. However, the physical defects or the ugliness of appearance do not affect the high moral character of these six people. Wang Qi, who lacks one foot, and Shen Tujia, who also has only one foot, Shushan without toes, mourns him in a very ugly manner, and a hunched-back rickety man. The most special one is the sparseness: his cheeks are close to each other. The belly button, the shoulders are higher than the top of the head, and the hips are the ribs. This alien, sick, and disability is not what it looks like, but he can "sufficient a needle to survive", because his physical disability can swagger to face military service, and he can also enjoy government relief.
"A husband who is out of shape is still enough to support his body, and for the rest of his life, let alone a man who is out of his virtue!"
"Zhuangzi·Inner Chapter·The World of Humans"
Taoism advocates "the great sound and the sound, the elephant is invisible"[3] The most beautiful, magnificent, sublime and magnificent style and realm. They often do not stick to certain things and patterns, but follow nature and respect the truth. The most true is the most beautiful.
"Those who are virtuous can cultivate harmony. Those who are morally invisible, things cannot be separated."
"Zhuangzi·Inner Chapter·De Chongfu"
Therefore, beauty or ugliness is not determined by a person's appearance. The inner "virtue" is the criterion for evaluating a person's beauty. In "Shrek", even though Shrek is greenish, with bulging teeth, short nose, short stature...No matter from any aesthetic point of view, Shrek does not match the praise words such as handsome, cute, and chic. However, Shrek's heart is a kind, sensitive, considerate, and righteous soul, so his appearance does not prevent him from finding his true love, Fiona, and having a perfect life ending.
Inaction
If Lao Tzu's inaction is to teach us not to do anything wrong, Zhuangzi's inaction focuses on the "non-serving" of the individual's heart. In the article "Xiaoyaoyou", although the master's imperial wind is free from action, there is still something to be done. And the final conclusion is:
"Anyone has no self, gods have no merit, saints have no name"
"Zhuangzi·Inner Chapter·Xiaoyaoyou"
People with the highest moral accomplishment can conform to objectivity and forget themselves. Gods do not have the desire for merit, and the saints do not have the desire for fame. Shrek did not consider his fame at all in the competition field, and promised to save the princess was not in order to become a hero in everyone's eyes. Shrek truly practices "Wuwei": his plan does not seem to go beyond the current situation, taking one step at a time; however, no matter what he does, he can express himself well; Shrek is also fearless, even though he He was cautious in all his actions, but he even managed to help others overcome fear; he avoided plans and only acted when necessary, and when he took action, the effort required was minimal to achieve his The goal. Killing the dragon is not necessary for rescue, only needs to be drawn away; romantic kissing or chanting poems to give the princess a good impression is not necessary, just save her out...the motive is not for fame and fortune, but to do everything by fate , Taking advantage of the trend and not many incidents are all manifestations of "doing nothing."
Worldly thought
Professor Yan Shian of Nanjing University defined Youshi in his book "The Commentaries on Zhuangzi" as: "Youshiism, in its complete sense, is abandoning self-preservation... Traditional hermits do not take the world seriously, but they insist on certain To live a principled way of life objectively means to think that although the world is dark, there is always a clean place left, and one can still live alone. Chuang Tzu mocks the seriousness of being alone, thinking that the world is so dark that it is impossible to have seriousness. "His personal life" but deliberate "hidden" often ends at the end, and forgets the root; what's more, it is possible to use the hidden name to make a profit. "The characteristic of Zhuangzi's travel-world theory is that he does not resist this humble situation and makes the meaning of life ascendant. Instead, he uses exaggerated descriptions to crucify people in this humble situation. The protagonist who becomes humble can actually Use joking words to talk about your own miserable situation, and joking about yourself may sink into a more tragic and shameful situation. This shows that Zhuangzi is fighting against the darkness and irrationality of existence by deliberately exaggerating the posture of the game."[4]
"The so-called hermits in ancient times did not lie behind their bodies and see nothing, they did not speak out, they did not hide their knowledge but did not publish them, and their fate was ridiculous."
"Zhuangzi·Wai Pian·Song Xing"
Zhuangzi also explained the reason why the Taoist hermit was hidden: the so-called hermit in ancient times was not unwilling to appear in the world for the purpose of hiding his body, not for the sake of silence and unwillingness to reveal the truth, nor for the purpose of hiding intellect. I am willing to play a role because of the perverse and perverse circumstances and destiny. Therefore, seclusion and travel in the world are the last resort of people in troubled times and a dark society, and "Shrek" tells us that living in a peaceful and harmonious society, even if hiding in the world and traveling in the world is a personal way of life. A choice, but sometimes it’s good for you to step out of your comfort zone: even if Shrek stepped out of the swamp in order to restore the calm of the swamp, he found the love of his life in the rescue operation, and finally found company, "they live ugly ever after ." Live ugly together. Such experiences and gains might not be a beneficial choice.
Concluding remarks
The image of Shrek, a green and ugly monster, and the lifestyle of an inaction hermit coincide with the philosophy advocated by Zhuangzi. Therefore, "Shrek" is more like an American heroic story that combines Chinese Taoist philosophy, especially Zhuangzi's thought of inaction. While Shrek opens a new era of Hollywood hero story mode, it allows us to glimpse a steady stream of novelty and creativity in the future from the integration of world civilizations.
[1] For data, see TNABO (The North America Box Office) Box Results 2001.
[2] Joseph Campbell, "A Hero with a Thousand Faces", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 2000 edition, p. 171.
[3] Lao Tzu: Chapter 41 of The Tao Te Ching.
[4] Yan Shian: "On Zhuangzi's Thought of Traveling in the World" [J]. Journal of Nanjing University (2): 63-74.
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