Let me talk about the first question first, because I have raised the height of the film to the level of "Flying House" and "Robot Story". This made some friends wonder. The film is excellent, but it is not excellent.
First of all, at the technical level, I think there should be no objections. The film is exquisite in workmanship, complete in story, exquisite in detail, full of jokes, and rich in imagination. Of course, we can regard this as Disney's standard. Failure to meet this standard is unqualified. So what are the elements that make cartoons stand out from this fundamental? I think the world view is one.
For a magnificent fairy tale or science fiction or fantasy novel, a very important task is to design a world, and then set a world view based on this world. You have such settings as "Harry Potter", "The Hunger Games", "Divergent", etc. Of course, the settings are different. Compared with "Harry Potter", "The Hunger Games" and "Divergence" The design world of "Zher" is too crude. Not to mention Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", George Martin's "Game of Thrones", the mountain stands still.
Last year, the most shocking part of Pixar’s masterpiece "Mind Agents" is the design of a person’s brain world. It can even be said that this setting accounts for 90% of the value of this cartoon, because it is said that this cartoon is The story is not so interesting. But a good worldview can kill most cartoons in seconds.
Going back to "Crazy Zoo", it designed a world where carnivores and herbivores live in peace. It seems that many cartoons have this situation, but it is because they avoid this problem, rather than solve it. "Madagascar" tried to explore this issue, because the animals can live in peace in the zoo, but once they return to the grassland, the carnivores are a little uncontrollable.
In "Zoo City", an imaginary utopia solves this problem. It is said that screenwriters go to Africa to collect the scenery and see lions and zebras. It is not always dead or alive. When the lions are not hungry, they can actually drink together by the river in peace. This gave him inspiration.
This naturally makes me think of a question, where does the food for carnivores come from? It may be those non-mammals that did not appear in the animation, of course, it may be that they have developed alternatives. This is reminiscent of the American TV series "True Love as Blood". Because of artificial plasma, people and vampires can live in peace, but will people's fear and vampire desire disappear? This is the source of contradictions in this American drama. The same fears and desires have also become the source of contradictions in this animal utopia. Whether an imaginary community can tolerate real animality is the world view given by this cartoon. Really, as far as the cartoon is concerned, this world view The setting is absolutely excellent.
Then came a bigger difference. Under such a worldview setting, what exactly do the animation directors want to convey? Many friends mentioned a word, politically correct.
This animation has never shy away from their political ambitions, whether it is hints in details or direct expressions in language, it can be said that it has a strong preaching meaning, but the way of preaching is extremely exquisite.
Some opinions are simpler. For example, rabbits are stupid, foxes are cunning, gang bosses have an Italian accent, civil servants are inefficient, and politicians are hypocritical.
Others may be slightly more obscure, such as the setting of the block. On the surface, animals come from all corners of the country and naturally need to live in a suitable environment, but in fact, the isolation of the block is the isolation of the class, such as the police officer intruding into it. In that small animal block, Police Officer Rabbit is like Godzilla to them. In the United States in reality, people divide neighborhoods according to ethnic groups, and white people are never willing to set foot in black neighborhoods. The rich may not feel safe in the neighborhoods of the poor.
Another example is the setting of Police Officer Rabbit. She has taken on several layers of cultural connotations. First, she has a minority level. There is a detail in it that is particularly eye-catching. When the Fat Leopard Police Officer praised her for her cuteness, she solemnly pointed out that only rabbits can do it. This is how other animals are called rabbits. Isn’t it familiar? Only black people can call themselves niggers, others can’t. In the United States, this is an overcorrection brought about by a typical affirmative act. The former affirmative act has gradually been alienated into reverse privileges. Blacks have indicators for entering schools and looking for jobs, while whites must give in. In terms of appellation, from niggas to blacks to African Americans, this is America's greatest political correctness.
The rabbit, in turn, represents the position of white Americans, which is the distrust of minorities. That bottle of spray is the most interesting prop. The rabbit parents were resolutely hostile to the fox at first. Just like those old-school American Southern farmers, the rabbit herself was hesitant. After all, she is a modern young man, but she eventually brought and planned to use the spray, which was exposed. The fear hidden in her heart. If you look at her police status, it’s even more interesting. In recent years, so many police shootings of black men have occurred in the United States. To a large extent, it is the product of this inner fear. . In the same setting, on the one hand, the fox has become a victim of anti-discrimination (whites), and on the other hand, it has become a target of fear in mainstream society (minorities).
And what finally detonated the contradiction was the sentence "Barbarism is engraved in their DNA" by Police Officer Rabbit at the press conference. Although the plot behind the cartoon proves the error of this sentence, I think this sentence itself definitely says. It is the voice of the Americans. Recently, Don Trump has become a candidate for the Republican Party of the United States. It is said that his biggest weapon is all kinds of politically incorrect statements. This can make the people at the bottom who have been suppressed by mainstream American values over the years, because they think so. , It’s just that the media is dominated by leftist elites. By the way, why are the reporters in the cartoons all pigs?
Therefore, it is difficult to say that this cartoon is instilling political correctness. In fact, it reflects on the problems caused by political correctness. But again, the origin of this cartoon is doomed to its own class. Hollywood, which is in the leftist camp, is a global giant entertainment company that faces audiences with children and families as the mainstream. It is absolutely impossible to shoot. When a counter-mainstream cartoon comes out, it is impossible to give a dark ending. Therefore, if you are not satisfied, it is really demanding. If it is in Japan where the dark culture is prosperous, it is almost the same. But because of this, this film should almost have been scheduled for next year’s Oscars.
One more interesting thing is the date of the film's release. A cartoon is released on such a non-holiday day. I can only interpret it as a conspiracy theory as a "tribute" to the US election. It is interesting to see the Mayor Lion and the Deputy Mayor Sheep in the animation. One is to spoof votes to win over disadvantaged groups, and the other is to promote racism on stage, like the Democratic and Republican parties nowadays? The cartoon’s view is that they are all liars. A cartoon talks about politics to this point, it's hard work.
Having written this, I thought of another reason for the disagreement, the issue of personal preference. Not everyone is interested in politics, so I find the interesting part that others think is the same. For me who likes politics, this movie is an absolute masterpiece, just as "Robot Story" is an absolute classic for environmentalists.
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